Natalie found Grace’s biology class on the third floor. Grace was grading papers at her desk. Beams of sunlight wove through the dusty, old-fashioned windowpanes. Natalie knocked, and Grace looked up and smiled.
“Come on in, Nat.”
“How are you feeling?”
She put down her pen. “Like a safe just dropped on my head.”
“Been a lousy couple of days,” Natalie sympathized.
Grace leaned back and folded her arms. “I thought coming to work might take my mind off things, but my students have been so sweet and considerate, it breaks my heart all over again.”
Natalie nodded solicitously, then glanced at the diagrams hanging on the wall, full-scale renderings of the Invisible Man and Invisible Woman, their anatomy exposed. Natalie wasn’t the only sibling who’d been affected by their father’s profession. When your father was a cop, you learned not to fear the human body. He used to leave crime-scene photos lying around, and Natalie and Grace would sneak a peek, fascinated at an early age. As a family, they used to watch Law & Order, NYPD Blue, and Hill Street Blues together, and afterward Joey would interrogate the girls about the shows’ procedural accuracy. He wanted to make sure they understood which stories were factual and which ones were false.
“Have a seat,” Grace said. “You look like the cat that ate the canary, Natalie. What’s up?”
“Did you know that Daisy was having an affair?”
Grace brushed it aside. “That’s complete BS.”
“But there are rumors…”
“Oh God.” She rubbed her forehead with her fingers. “There’s a group of teachers here at the school who’re a bunch of gossiping magpies. Whatever happened to girl power? Anyway, Daisy and I just ignored them.”
“But not everything was perfect between Brandon and Daisy, right?”
“Who has the perfect relationship, Natalie? Tell me. I really want to know.”
“So there was trouble in paradise?”
Grace wiped the weariness from her eyes. “Daisy told me they’d been arguing about the farm in Chippaway … Brandon wanted to move up there, but it’s so isolated and desolate. Daisy didn’t want to have to commute to work. Plus, he wants more kids, but she’d just reached her first trimester. She wasn’t ready to think about it yet. So yes, there was some tension between them. But isn’t that perfectly normal?”
Natalie folded her hands together. “I found a few love sonnets in Daisy’s possession. They’re all handwritten and signed ‘Tristan.’ Any guesses as to who that might be?”
“Love sonnets?” Grace repeated skeptically. “Well, I don’t know. She was popular with the students, and some of the boys had crushes on her. Girls, too. And Shakespearean sonnets are de riguer for the upper grades. We like to emphasize the classics.”
“What about Riley? Could he have written them?”
“I don’t think so.” Her teeth dug into her lower lip. “Well, it’s possible, I suppose. Daisy was trying to submit some of his rap songs in place of the required essays. She talked to Seth about it. It makes sense, since scholars have compared the Bard’s work to hip-hop—you know, rhyme schemes, alliteration, meter, form, iambic pentameter.”
“What happened? Was she able to substitute the rap songs?”
“No. Seth’s hands were tied. The tests are pretty standardized now.”
Two female students knocked on Grace’s door.
“Sorry. My study group.”
“One more thing, Grace. What were the magpies saying about Daisy?”
“The rumors?” She brushed it away. “You hear things in the faculty lounge. Marriages get rocky sometimes. I hate gossip. I won’t participate in spreading lies.”
“So you figured they weren’t even remotely true?”
“Oh please. Teachers are worse than the students. You have to ignore it.” Grace held up a hand, signaling to her students to wait a minute. “Anyway, she was my best friend in the world. I would’ve known if she was cheating on her man, right?”
“These rumors about Daisy. Give me a name.”
A soft silence pressed between them.
“Grace, this is important. I’m not interested in spreading gossip. But if she was having an affair with somebody here at the school, then I need to find out.”
“Ethan Hathaway.”
“The English lit teacher?”
She nodded. “Isn’t that ridiculous? For a handsome guy, he’s such a stuffed shirt. I feel guilty for even bringing it up. It’s complete nonsense. But…”
“But what?” Natalie pressed.
“I don’t know,” Grace said uneasily. “I’m only thinking about this in retrospect. Because after the rumors started, they always made a point of completely ignoring each other.… For instance, if one of them entered the faculty lounge, the other would leave immediately … and that was like … methinks thou doth protest too much. It only fueled the rumor mill.”
Another knock at the door. Half a dozen students were peering through the glass.
“Sorry, I can’t keep them waiting any longer.”
“Thanks, Grace. This helps.”
“I really hope it isn’t true, for Brandon’s sake,” she said.
The door swung open, and the bright-eyed students swept into the room, brushing past Natalie on their way to their seats, bringing in the wisteria-soaked smell of spring.