“So, you see, Roger, I simply don’t know how to act around any man except Nick.” She chuckled. “There was one who I thought might be sincere but when he left, he said I treated him like I did Nick and he didn’t want to be my brother.”
Roger didn’t laugh, and he was sure that scored some points for him from the almost startled look that appeared briefly on her face.
“Nicole. If you feel more comfortable treating me like you do Nick, I’m okay with that because I think eventually, you’ll change and treat me differently.”
“I hope so.”
She clapped her hand over her mouth. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
“That’s okay. I hope so too.”
* * *
Nicole couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with Roger McCracken, the lawyer, the sheriff’s brother. He was even her best friend’s brother. He was all those things to others but what was he to her? She didn’t know but surprisingly, she wanted to find out.
The amazing thing was that the longer they talked the more comfortable she became. In fact, she was even enjoying the conversation.
But then, a picture of Darla lying on her classroom floor with the letter opener in her back came into her mind and all the air went out of her lungs all at once.
Roger looked into her eyes. “You just remembered what happened in your room. Didn’t you?”
She only nodded since she couldn’t speak for a moment.
He almost startled her when he extended both hands across the table toward her. She didn’t hesitate but placed her hands in his and they clasped hands while looking deeply into each other’s eyes.
She didn’t know how long they might have sat there that way if the doorbell light above the sink hadn’t started flashing. She looked up at it and dreaded going to the door for she knew it was way too early for Nick. The only other person it could be was Floyd, the sheriff, coming to talk to her about Darla.
Roger looked into her eyes. “Do you want me to go let him in?”
She was surprised but quickly agreed. “Would you?”
It didn’t delay the inevitable by much. It did take a little longer than she had thought. Then she realized that Roger was probably talking to Floyd, trying to get him to go easy on her. Good, but not really necessary. She’d been in a lot of questionings like this, but she’d always been on the other side of the questions.
Floyd came in with his cowboy hat in his hands.
“Have a seat Sheriff. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
He nodded. “Yes, ma’am, that would be great. It’s already been a long day. Black with no sugar is fine.”
She busied herself pouring his coffee and then taking it to him.
They all three sat there drinking their coffee for a few minutes before Floyd leaned back in his chair and looked at Nicole, apparently to make sure she was looking at him.
“Are you ready to tell me everything that happened this morning one more time but this time I need to record it? Is that okay with you?”
She knew that was standard procedure. “Yes, that’s fine.”
He pulled a small digital recorder out of a pocket and set it in the middle of the table, then clicked it on.
First, he talked into the recorder, giving the date, his name and Roger’s as a witness and then Nicole’s name.
“Okay Nicole. Tell me what happened from the time you left your house this morning until you went into your room and discovered Darla Chadwick on the floor.”
She blew out a breath. “I got ready to go to work and suddenly realized that I hadn’t called your dispatch to let them know when I was leaving.”
She frowned and shrugged her shoulders. “Knowing it would take another fifteen minutes if I did, I decided to go ahead and drive in without an escort.”
She paused and Floyd interrupted. “You know how that could look to the wrong person, that you planned it that way so no one would know what time you actually got to the school.”
She knew better than to comment on that, so she went on. “Before I got out of my van, I looked at the clock on the dash and it was eight o’clock. Then I looked all around the parking lot. In fact, I even drove around the parking lot before I parked, making sure there wasn’t anyone lurking about.”
“That was a good idea.” Then he laughed. “I keep forgetting about your police training. Go ahead.”
“Then I hurried inside the building. I stopped in the office to check my mail and talked with Shelly for a few minutes before going down the hallway to my classroom.”
This time when she paused, Floyd didn’t interrupt.
“I started to unlock the door, but it came open when I touched it with my key.”
She looked him in the eye. “I remember wishing I had my M9 with me, but I pushed the door the rest of the way open, anyway. I saw nothing at first but when I turned on the light, I saw someone lying on the floor next to my desk.”
She paused again to remember exactly how she felt when she saw Darla.
“When I realized it was Darla lying there, I started to back out of the room but when she didn’t move, I went closer.”
“When did you realize something was wrong?”
She snickered. “You mean other than the fact that someone was in my room which should have been locked and wasn’t?”
He only nodded.
“As soon as I got within ten feet of her, I saw the knife sticking out of her back.”
“Did you go up to her? Did you touch her?”
She shook her head. “No. I rolled a little closer until I could see that she was still breathing. So, I left the room quickly without touching anything. Then I went back to the office and told Shelly and she called 911.”
“Did you get a good enough look at the knife to recognize it?”
“No, I didn’t. When you came though, you told me it was a letter opener, and it had my name on it. If that’s the case, then it was mine. My brother gave it to me as a gift when I started teaching here. One side says, ‘Nicole’ and the other side says, ‘Love Nick.’”
Floyd sat there for a long moment saying nothing. Then he scratched his head just above his left ear.
“Do you have any idea why Ms. Chadwick would have been in your room?”
She shook her head rapidly. “No, not at all. As far as I know, she’s never been in there since I’ve had it.”
“Can you think of anyone who hated her enough to do this to her?”
“I don’t think she is very well liked among the other teachers and definitely not the janitorial staff. She is always complaining about her room not being clean or they moved things she didn’t want moved.”
When he didn’t comment, she went on. “I’ve been told that the school will not offer her a contract for next year.”
She didn’t feel bad about saying that since she had learned about the rumor even before Ron or Shelly told her.
* * *
Roger sat there quietly while Nicole gave her statement and was pleased with the way Floyd was treating her. He’d been involved in criminal law his whole career so far and he’d set in on a lot of interviews like this one.
Then it hit him why Floyd may have wanted him to be there. Was Floyd even considering Nicole as a suspect? He couldn’t be. Anyone who knew her knew she couldn’t do something like stabbing another woman that way.
Floyd pulled out a little notebook and thumbed through it until he got to where he wanted.
“I have statements from two other teachers saying you were there at seven o’clock, a full hour before you said you were.”
“That’s simply not true. I got there at eight o’clock like I said before.”
They continued to stare into each other’s eyes. Roger almost laughed when he realized that Nicole knew exactly what Floyd was doing and wasn’t about to flinch. She’d probably done what he was doing many times to others when she was with the MPs.
After that continued for another minute, Roger decided he had sat still a
nd quiet long enough.
He pointed at the recorder and Floyd turned it off.
“Don’t you think that’s enough for now Floyd. You and I both know Nicole did nothing to that woman no matter what lies those other teachers are telling you. In my experience, they would be possible suspects just because they lied.”
Floyd kept looking at Nicole while he answered Roger. “That may be well and good Roger, but it doesn’t get me a real suspect.”
Roger started to argue some more but Floyd held up a hand. “Until I have a real suspect, I can’t let others know I’m not considering Nicole as a suspect.”
“But Floyd …”
“No, Roger.” Nicole interrupted. “Floyd is right. He can’t let anyone know he’s eliminated me as a suspect. He needs for whoever did this to think they’ve gotten away with it until they make a mistake and then he can catch them.”
Roger couldn’t think of anything to say to that. Basically, he was relieved that Nicole wasn’t getting mad at Floyd. He was also glad that Floyd didn’t seem to consider Nicole as a suspect.
Then Floyd surprised at least Roger when he looked Nicole in the eye. “Would you be my investigator there at the high school Nicole? None of my people can go in there and blend in the way you already do.”
She didn’t seem too surprised by his strange request and answered right away. “I’ll do what I can Floyd, but I probably won’t be able to get very close to René or Linda since I’m sure they’ll stay away from me and just keep saying bad things about me.”
Roger could tell Floyd was surprised when Nicole mentioned those two names. They must be the ones who claimed she was there earlier. Interesting. He realized then that it was like he was watching two very good chess players squared off against each other.
He almost laughed when the sudden thought hit him that he never wanted Nicole mad at him. She would certainly make a formidable opponent.
Floyd grinned at Nicole for a moment then threw back his head and laughed loudly. “I think I’m going to like working with you on this case Nicole. You sure you wouldn’t want to come work for me. Your talents are wasted teaching high school English.”
Roger wasn’t sure how Nicole would take that but wasn’t too surprised when she laughed with Floyd, just not as loudly.
Floyd stood then and slipped first the notebook then the recorder into his pockets. “Well, I need to get over to the hospital and check on the victim. I haven’t heard anything yet.”
He turned in the doorway. “I’ll expect a preliminary report after school tomorrow.”
With that, he left and neither Roger nor Nicole moved from the table. He heard the front door close and turned to Nicole.
“You are good. I wasn’t sure there for a while whether I would have to step in and act as your lawyer or not.”
She only smiled back at him and he had a thought.
“You wanted him to ask you for help all along. Didn’t you?”
She continued smiling and nodded her head. “Yes. Your brother is smart enough to know he’d never be able to investigate inside the high school. So, the logical conclusion is for me to do it for him.”
She took her coffee cup to the sink and turned around to him. “It’s lunch time. Would you like a sandwich? I have ham and cheese. I also have rye, wheat and white bread. The bread is in the freezer, but it warms up nicely on my cast iron grill.”
He smiled at her and stood to help. “That sounds great. But I should probably get to my office after that. I’m sure Gina will have lots for me to do this afternoon.”
Five minutes later, as they sat eating their sandwiches, Roger paused to look at Nicole. “I just realized something. Nick isn’t around.”
She laughed and again, he liked the sound. “He drove back up to Kansas City to put his house on the market and bring back enough things to stay here until he gets a house down here. Then he’ll have the rest moved down here.”
“That’s great but what’s he going to do down here?”
“Since college he’s been an investment broker at our dad’s firm in Kansas City. He’s learned enough and also invested enough of his own money to open up an office here and only work part time just to keep him busy and off my back.”
He laughed with her then a thought hit him.
“Say, Nicole. The office I’m leasing has an outer office and two private offices. I’d thought about using the second one for a conference room but there’s a big one in the main part of the building we all use on a sign-up basis. He could take the other office and we could share the expenses and my secretary.”
She tilted her head. “I’m not sure. He talked about trying to find a place where he could live and have his office too. But I’ll tell him, anyway. I would think your arrangement might work better for him.
With that, Roger left Nicole’s house and headed for his office.
* * *
As soon as she closed the door behind Roger and set the alarm, Nicole suddenly felt lonely. Why? She knew Nick would be there in a few hours. Why did she feel lonely?
Then as she wheeled her chair up to her recliner and crawled into it, she realized that she had enjoyed being with Roger. They had talked about lots of things. She usually felt self-conscious talking to a man that long. But as they’d agreed, it had felt almost like talking to Nick.
Of course, as soon as she was situated in her recliner, Snowball jumped into her lap and settled down for a nap.
Nicole idly petted Snowball while thinking about how much her life had changed in the last two weeks since she’d gone into Roger’s office and met him.
She was awakened later when her wrist receiver vibrated. She looked up in time to see Nick come in and quickly turn the alarm off then reset it.
That was when she woke up enough to realize it was dark outside. Nick turned on a light and closed the drapes. How long had she slept?
Nick came over and sat on the sofa in front of her. “Hey sleepy head.” He held up a pizza box. “I’m home now and I don’t know about you but I’m hungry. Let’s go eat.”
Nick went into the kitchen while Nicole climbed out of her recliner and into her wheelchair.
When she wheeled into the kitchen, Nick already had plates and two glasses of iced tea on the table and he was sitting there with a slice of pizza on his plate. He waited though for her to get a slice for herself before he bit in.
“Say, Laine, you never did tell me what you were doing in church yesterday. What did all that stuff mean?”
She spent the next ten minutes explaining to Nick what she’d told Roger yesterday out on the farmhouse front porch.
She knew she should have told him about Darla right away, but she decided to answer his question first.
They were finished eating, sitting there sipping their tea when she felt the time was right.
“Nick, when I started to unlock my classroom door this morning, it was ajar. When I went inside, I found Darla on the floor with the letter opener you gave me sticking in her back. As far as I know, she’s still alive.”
Nick didn’t speak for a long moment then he whistled softly. “Man, Laine. It sure sounds like someone wants to implicate you for that. I’ll bet your fingerprints were the only ones on the letter opener too.”
She nodded. “That’s right, but that’s not all of it. Floyd, the sheriff, said two of the other teachers, René and Linda, told him I got there an hour before I actually did.”
He slammed his fist down on the table. “That’s not good!”
“No, it isn’t. But I’m pretty sure Floyd believes me and doesn’t think I had anything to do with it.”
When Nick just kept staring at her, she went on. “He asked me to be his investigator there at the school.”
“That could be dangerous Laine. You’re not going to do it are you?”
She smiled at him. Her parents had never accepted her going into the Army, but Nick had. That still didn’t mean he understood all she did there as an MP.
“Yes, I
am. Remember, that’s exactly what I did in the Army.”
He still didn’t look very happy about it, but he changed the subject.
“You didn’t teach today, did you?”
She shook her head. “No, Floyd talked Ron into sending me home for the day and Roger came with me. Then Floyd came over later to get my statement.”
“You sure the sheriff doesn’t think you did it?”
She sighed. “I’m not sure. If I was in his position, I would keep someone like me in sight but not do anything without a lot more evidence.”
“I don’t like this Laine.”
She laughed. “Neither do I Nick.”
Just then, she felt her wrist receiver vibrating for the doorbell.
Nick jumped up. “I’ll get it. It’s either the sheriff or your boyfriend.”
“Nick! No one ever said he was my boyfriend.”
Even though she couldn’t hear it, she knew he laughed all the way to the front door.
She cleared the table and put the glasses and plates in the sink to rinse for the dishwasher later.
When she got to the living room, Nick and Roger were still standing by the door. She headed for her recliner and the other two took the sofa across from her.
Roger looked at Nicole. “I just talked to Floyd on the way over here and he said Darla Chadwick made it out of surgery okay and they think she’ll make it.
“Oh, Roger, I’m so glad. I don’t like the way she has treated me but I still don’t want anything bad to happen to her.”
They were all quiet for a minute then Roger looked at Nicole. “Does he know everything?”
“He knows all about the stabbing, but I haven’t had a chance to tell him about the office yet.”
“What office?” Nick looked from one to the other.
She smiled at her brother and looked at Roger. “Do you want to tell him about it?”
“Sure.”
Roger turned so he could face Nick, and Nicole could still see his face. She liked that. He was so considerate.
“Nicole told me you were going to move here and open up a small investment office. Well, my office was originally designed for two private offices and a reception area. I don’t really need the other office and I have a secretary who I’m sure isn’t keeping busy all the time with my work.”
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