“I’m sorry, Officer Walishovski.” The receptionist at Heritage Mountain School for Girls looked at us through a thick pane of glass with a small circle cut into the center. “Jasmine Peterson isn’t in today. Her mother called to inform us she was feeling ill.”
“Is that so.” It was obvious to Amelia that Dan didn’t believe that story. He believed Jasmine wasn’t in school. He just didn’t believe it was her mother who had called, nor did he believe she was feeling ill. “Is the principal available?”
The receptionist looked insulted that Dan didn’t believe what she was telling him.
“I’d like to ask a few questions about Miss Peterson’s school habits. That’s all,” Dan said.
“I understand, Detective.” In a hushed voice, the receptionist spoke on the phone, whispering and acting as professional as possible while girls came bopping through the office asking for Band-Aids, scheduling meetings with counselors, and dropping off classroom paperwork. They all looked Dan up and down and stared as if they’d never seen a man before. Amelia found it creepy.
“Detective Walishovski.” A portly woman with glasses and short hair emerged from a large office behind the receptionist’s desk. “I’m Principal Harris.”
Dan looked at Amelia, who nodded and hung back with the receptionist as he went to the principal’s office.
“You know, it never gets better,” Amelia said, trying to put the receptionist at ease. “No matter how old I get, going into the principal’s office is always a scary ordeal.”
“How do you think I feel?” The receptionist giggled. “And Miss Harris is tough.”
“Is she really?”
“She has to be. Some of the girls who attend this school…” She shook her head.
“Bad?”
“Worse than bad. The things they say and do to each other are criminal. Okay, maybe not criminal but certainly immoral. I just don’t understand what parents are teaching their kids these days.”
“I hear you,” Amelia encouraged. “Do you ever have any problems with Jasmine Peterson?”
The receptionist looked behind her before she spoke then looked at Amelia.
“If you repeat this, I’ll deny I said it.” Amelia nodded that she understood. “But that girl is trouble. Not just for the other girls but for anyone out in the world. I don’t know what it is, but she is cruel for sport. She just loves attention. Especially male attention, and some males are too dumb to realize.”
“Really? She’s got a lot of boyfriends?”
“No. She’s got a lot of MAN-friends. They come to the school on their lunch breaks from work to drop off roses or candy or whatever. We tell them they can’t see her since they aren’t on the parents’ list. That doesn’t stop them from loitering around like alley cats.”
“What do her parents say?”
“Not much. I think they have one of those open relationships. It’s cheaper than getting a divorce.”
“Wow. That poor girl. She doesn’t realize what she’s doing to herself.”
“Nope. And you can’t tell these kids anything. They know it all. I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but I miss the good old days at the public school.”
Amelia chuckled and looked at her watch.
It didn’t take long for Dan to emerge from the principal’s office, shake hands with Ms. Harris, and leave the building. Amelia waved good-bye to the receptionist, who smiled pleasantly and waved back.
“What did she tell you?” Amelia asked excitedly.
“Not too much. She wanted to know what this was all about and why I wanted to see Jasmine. I gave her the skinny on the murder and watched all the color fall from her face.”
“She didn’t know about it?”
“She didn’t know the details or that one of her students was fraternizing with the deceased, according to post after post on Instagram and Facebook,” Dan muttered. “I just never understood the attraction of putting all my business up on those things. I never hung my underwear on the line outside to dry in the summertime. Some things you just don’t need people seeing.”
Amelia laughed.
Their adventure for the day wasn’t over yet. Principal Harris had given Dan Jasmine’s home address.
“If the little darling is feeling poorly, then I think we should pay her a visit,” Dan said. “You don’t think she’s actually home with the sniffles, do you?”
Amelia shrugged.
“I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that she’s not there, and the hired hands won’t know where she is either unless they have something to gain out of it.” As he drove the car with one hand, Dan reached into his back pants pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Count how much I have in there.”
Amelia let out a whistle. “Two hundred and seven dollars.”
“That might be enough.”
“Enough for what?”
“It’s illegal to bribe a cop. It’s not illegal to bribe an informant.” He snickered.
“What kind of topsy-turvy world do we live in?” Amelia rubbed Dan’s shoulder as he shrugged and gave her that sexy smirk she couldn’t get enough of.
Jasmine Peterson’s home was a beautiful place with white pillars, black shutters, and a bright-red front door. The lawn was impeccably manicured. The driveway was perfectly smooth, without so much as a single blade of grass growing up through a crack. As Amelia approached the door with Dan after he parked the car, she didn’t see a single cobweb or smudge of dirt anywhere.
“This place is spotless,” she muttered, deciding that this weekend, she and the kids were going to have quite a bit of lawn work to do.
“It gives me the creeps,” Dan said as he rang the doorbell. “Places this clean always have something dirty to hide.”
A burly woman with a long face and black hair streaked with gray answered the door. Dan launched right into his introduction and flashed his badge. Amelia was surprised he introduced her as his associate. That left a lot of room for interpretation, but she knew he could be in trouble if he called her a detective or even just a cop. Associate was fine.
“We’d like to speak to Jasmine.”
“Jasmine isn’t at home,” the woman said with an accent that sounded British. “She’s at school. May I ask what this is in regard to?”
“Yes, ma’am. Are you Mrs. Peterson?” Dan asked. Amelia didn’t plan on opening her mouth at all.
“Mrs. Peterson is at the spa for the day. I’m her personal assistant, Eloise Furton. Can I give her a message?”
“Well, we were hoping to talk to Jasmine in regard to a murder. We went to the school, and they said her mother called in sick for her. Do you know anything about that?”
Eloise gasped then rolled her eyes. Amelia knew that look. It was the look all mothers, fathers, and teachers used when their kid did something stupid.
“Not again,” Eloise muttered. “I have to call her mother, not that that will do any good. I’m sorry. If you’ll excuse me, I…”
Dan slipped his foot in the door. “I’m just wondering if I could have five minutes of your time,” Dan said.
“I’m sorry, Detective, I don’t think Mrs. Peterson would be very happy with me talking to you. Regardless of her daughter’s behavior, I need this job.”
“Sounds like the girl is quite a handful,” Dan said.
“To say the least.” She folded her arms in front of her. “But I’m just the assistant. I have no control over what Jasmine does. I’m just to alert her mother if there is an issue.”
“I understand. Mrs. Peterson doesn’t need to know. Can you just answer me a question?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill.
Eloise snatched it out of Dan’s fingers, looked over her shoulder, and then quickly leaned in toward Dan.
“What do you want to know?”
“Who does Jasmine hang out with?” Dan asked quickly.
“The real question might be who doesn’t the little tart hang out with,” Eloise said. “She has no real girlfriends to speak of, but there’s a new bloke climbing up the ivy or parking at the end of the drive every other night.”
“Did she ever mention someone by the name of Spencer Randall?”
“Old Randy Randall? I know all about him. Nothing but a pervert in my opinion. Can’t manage a woman his own age, so he’s got to scope out the high schools.” Eloise was on a roll. “You’d be wise to get that predator off the streets.”
“Someone beat us to it. He’s dead,” Dan said.
Eloise stood there shocked. Her brown eyes went wide, and she put her hand up to cover her gaping mouth.
“Really?” She chuckled, but it wasn’t an indication of happiness. She was in shock. “That’s an interesting turn of events. And you think the little princess might have had something to do with it?”
“According to her social media, she was seeing Spencer against her parents’ wishes. Is her father a big man?”
“Yes.” Eloise did laugh this time. “He’s a big man who hasn’t seen his feet in over a decade.” She laughed again then looked behind her, suddenly remembering she was talking about her employer. “But Mr. Peterson has been out of the country for about two weeks. He’s due back in another week, maybe ten days.”
Dan nodded at Amelia. She could see that Dan was thinking maybe the father had put an end to the forbidden relationship, but he was out of town. That still didn’t rule out a hit.
“Well, you’ve been very helpful, Miss Furton.” Dan handed her another twenty. She took it with a nod. “One last question. You don’t know where I’d be able to find Jasmine, do you?”
“Well, it’s still fairly early. She’ll probably be at Metro tonight. If she’s skipping school, that is just the preparty. The main event ought to be at the club starting around eleven.”
“The last thing I want to do is hang outside a club waiting for an underage girl to roll out of there. I’m in bed by eleven,” Dan grumbled as he and Amelia drove off the Peterson property.
“Would you like some company?”
“A little Chinese takeout?”
“Hot coffee from a thermos?”
“You sure do know the way to my heart, Amelia.” Dan smirked again. “I’ll pick you up around ten. That way the kids will see you for a while.”
“And you know the way to my heart, Detective.” She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek before hopping out of his car and letting herself into her house.
She made the kids a special dinner of hamburgers and hotdogs with chips and pickles. There was some frozen pound cake in the freezer for dessert if they promised to eat some strawberries with it.
“I’m just trying to make it a little healthy for you guys. That’s all.”
“Mom, we know you put spinach in our smoothies in the morning. Come on. We aren’t in kindergarten anymore,” Meg joked with a mouthful of burger.
“Nope. You’re not.” Amelia sighed.
She told them she’d be with Dan and that she’d have her cell phone if there was any kind of emergency but to call 9-1-1 if they needed help right away. Amelia had been telling them that same procedure for more than a year, and still she was afraid if she didn’t say it, the kids would forget those three magic numbers.
“Got it, Mom,” Adam said, squirting mustard on his third hotdog. “If Meg starts acting up, put her outside and call 9-1-1.”
“Adam, don’t you ever get tired of sounding stupid?” Meg shot back.
“What is with you two?” Amelia said. “Do you really like fighting with each other all the time? Because if you do, I’m going to have to move out. I just can’t take it anymore.”
“It’s how we say we care,” Adam said.
“Yeah, Mom. Don’t you know that?” Meg giggled.
“This is how you say you care? By insulting and picking and whining at each other constantly to slowly drive your mother insane?” Amelia shook her head. “I think you’ve got it wrong. Sorry. I’m at the end of my rope. I’m putting you both up for adoption.”
“No one will want Adam. Unless you advertise him as a guard dog. Then maybe.” Meg laughed at her own insult.
“At least I’m housebroken,” Adam shot back, making Meg laugh as well as Amelia.
“All right. If you guys are enjoying yourself, I’m going to take a shower. Dan and I will probably be late like I said. Call me if you need anything.”
The kids nodded and then went on discussing some tidbit of gossip that had happened at school. Someone had broken up with someone, and someone else was happy about it while another person was sad about it. Teenage drama never changed.