by Vivien Chien
Even though the two had been dating for several months now, it still weirded me out to see them together. Kimmy was brash and loud and loved a good crowd. Peter, on the other hand, kept to himself, preferred playing video games over leaving the house, and was one of the most introverted people I knew. But it must have been that whole “opposites attract” thing that made them work.
Kimmy softened her otherwise rough demeanor as she responded to Peter. “No clue, yet. She was just about to tell me before you came.” She turned back to me. “So … what’s up?”
“Um,” I stammered. I couldn’t talk about it in front of Peter. Not only would he berate me for getting involved in something I shouldn’t be, he’d be even more upset that I was dragging his girlfriend into things. “Well, it’s kinda…”
“Ohhhh, wait,” Peter said, nodding his head as if he already knew. “That’s right, you got some girl stuff going on, right?”
“Yeah,” I replied quickly. “Yeah, you know me and my girl stuff. I was hoping to borrow your girlfriend for some advice.”
He continued to nod and removed his arm from around her shoulders. “Right on, man. I’ll leave you guys to your girl talk.” Before walking off, he squeezed Kimmy’s arm. “Call me later, I’ll be at home.”
I waved goodbye as he left and sighed relief that it was easy enough to get rid of him.
Kimmy whipped around to look at me. An agitated excitement lighting up her eyes. “Okay, dish. What’s going on? The good detective isn’t so good anymore is he? I’ll punch him.”
“Huh?”
“Your girl problems. Did Trudeau do something to upset you? I’ll break his nose,” Kimmy replied, balling her hands into fists.
I laughed. “What? No. Everything with Adam and me is fine.”
“Oh,” she said, sounding slightly deflated.
“I appreciate the fact that you’re so protective, but that’s not why I wanted to talk to you.”
“Well then, out with it, Lana. Geez, a girl doesn’t have all damn night.”
I pulled her off to the side near the koi pond so we could talk without getting in the way of passing shoppers. When I finished my story with, “Well, what do you think? Are you free or do you have to work tonight?” I expected her to take a minute to think about it, but she didn’t even pause.
Instead she grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the plaza’s main doors. “Come on, let’s go. It’s about time you came to your senses and asked me for help.”
CHAPTER 22
We arrived at Barton’s Adult Learning Center about a half hour later, only getting stuck in some mild traffic one time on the way over. Kimmy had been hyper the entire car ride, going on about conspiracies that had to do with staff betrayals and multi-layered affairs. “I can’t wait to question the hell out of this guy,” she said as we pulled into the school’s parking lot.
I turned the engine off and twisted in my seat to face her. “Kimmy, this is serious, and I most likely have one shot to get this right. I didn’t ask you to come so we could play good cop, bad cop. You’re just backup in case he turns out to be a creep. I don’t really want to be alone with the guy, and we definitely need to talk to him in private.”
Kimmy crossed her arms over her chest and looked out the passenger side window. “Oh, I see. So, you only call on me when you need muscle then, huh?”
I groaned. I didn’t have time for this. “Of course, you’re not just my muscle, Kimmy, come on. It’s just that I’ve been working on this for over a week now and I’m more familiar with the details than you are. That’s all. Like I said, we have one shot at this and can’t afford to waste time or mess up.” I was hoping that she’d accept this explanation and we could get going. The longer we sat in the car, the more anxious I became. What if Robert Larkin wasn’t even working tonight and I’d have to wait yet another day. I wouldn’t be able to take it.
She lifted her chin. “So, what am I supposed to do? Just stand in the background and give him dirty looks? That sounds like muscle to me.”
The idea of banging my head against the steering wheel crossed my mind for a split second. I felt like I was talking to a cranky five-year-old. “Okay, how about this? Let me ask the main questions, but you can ask follow-ups. How’s that sound for compromise?”
Kimmy slowly turned her head to look at me. “Well, I guess that’s acceptable. I suppose you’re right about me not knowing as much as you. I just learned about it an hour ago.”
I exhaled loudly. “Okay, good. Let’s go.” I took the keys out of the ignition and stepped out of the car.
The lobby and hallways were pretty empty when we walked in and I assumed that most of the classes were currently in session. It was a little past six o’clock.
“So how do we find this guy?” Kimmy asked, scanning the open space. “Is there like a janitor’s closet or something?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m guessing so. Let’s just walk around and see if we can casually bump into him. Let’s go this way.” Leading Kimmy down the left side of the common area to avoid the administration office, I told her that I wanted to check out the room where the murder had occurred. I’m not sure why I felt the need to look at it again, but it had been hanging over my head since the last time I’d stopped by.
The crime-scene tape had been removed, and the classroom door was wide open. I poked my head inside, and glanced around. “It’s so weird how everything just goes back to normal after a tragedy. You’d never know that something terrible happened in here.”
Kimmy assessed the room. “So, you found her up here?” She asked, pointing at the instructor’s cooking island.
“Yep, she was facedown there, right in the center.” The memory flashed through my mind like a scene out of a horror movie. I squeezed my eyes shut trying to erase the image.
Kimmy tilted her head. “That’s a pretty tight space.” She walked into the room, and approached the cooking island. “Come over here.”
“Why?” I hissed. “We shouldn’t be in here.”
She shrugged. “Why not? Who cares? Just come over here already.”
I stomped my foot in defiance of her bossiness, but sulked into the room anyway. I knew she wasn’t going to let this go, and I didn’t want her to cause a scene that would attract unnecessary attention.
Kimmy grabbed my shoulders and maneuvered me to stand in front of her at the cooking station.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my pulse quickening.
“So, if I was standing behind you—” Kimmy paused.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw her raise her right arm as if she had a knife in her hand. “And I tried to stab you like this…?”
“Excuse me, can I help you two?” A deep voice traveled from the doorway.
I flinched and turned in that direction, and then gasped when I realized it was the dimple-chinned man I’d seen talking to Margo that night, right as I was leaving. He was dressed in a casual, navy blue suit with no tie, and the button at his collar was undone. His sandy brown hair that I vaguely remembered being smoothed down was now mussed as if he’d just been running his fingers through it incessantly. He was attractive in that clean-cut, academic sort of way, but there was something about the dramatic curve of his lips that made him seem as if he were permanently smirking, and that bothered me.
The man appeared startled by my reaction. “Sorry to catch you by surprise, but you can’t be in here unless you’re students.” He studied me a moment longer. “Do I know you? You seem familiar.”
My voice caught and I found myself emphatically shaking my head in response.
Before he could object, Kimmy interrupted. “Oh, but we’re going to be,” she said. “We’re going to take an arts and crafts … thing.”
“This is a cooking room,” he replied matter-of-factly. His attention drifted back in my direction.
“Well, right,” Kimmy stammered. “We were just scoping out the rest of the school in case we wanted to take other classes.” S
he said in a manner that implied a “duh” could be added to the end of her explanation.
“I see,” the man replied, his eyes returning to Kimmy momentary. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. Then he looked at me again, his brow furrowing. “Are you sure I don’t know you from somewhere? I can’t shake the feeling that we’ve met. Perhaps you’ve been in one of my classes before,” he suggested.
“I’m sorry,” I said, finally finding my voice. “I don’t believe I have. What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t, but it’s Anthony. Anthony Bianco. I teach Italian.”
So, he was a teacher here. I adjusted the context that I remembered him in, originally thinking he was a student. When he came to visit Margo that night, it was a colleague coming to chat. I assessed his stature against my memory of the picture, and concluded that he could be the man in the photos.
He jutted his head forward. “Italian, have you taken it?”
I started to say no, but Kimmy cut me off. “Actually, she is a cousin of one your janitors, Robert Larkin. That’s probably why she seems so familiar to you. She comes here to visit him from time to time. Does he happen to be here tonight?”
“Oh, Bob…” the man replied, his eyes never leaving mine. He nodded his head, briefly shifting his glance to Kimmy as he responded. “Yeah, he’s around here somewhere.” He gave me a once-over. “I wouldn’t peg you for a cousin of Robert’s.”
I forced a chuckle. “Well, you never know who’s in someone’s family tree, do you?”
“I guess so. I can help you guys find him if you like—”
“Sure, that would be great!” Kimmy said enthusiastically. “We’re kind of pressed for time anyways.”
We followed Anthony out of the classroom, and I pinched Kimmy’s arm when he had his back turned to us. She gawked at me and mouthed “What?”
He led us to a group of doors on the opposite side of the common area down a small hallway. The door on the right had a placard that read: JANITORIAL ROOM. He knocked assertively on the door before twisting the knob and poking his head inside.
“Bob, you in here?” he yelled.
A muffled “yeah” could be here coming from deep inside the room.
Anthony opened the door wider and stepped off to the side, allowing us to pass through. “Your cousin is here.”
“My cousin?” the voice returned in confusion.
The narrow, cement brick room was painted a drab gray and outlined with metal shelving that covered both walls as you walked in. They were filled with cleaning supplies, replacement parts for plumbing needs, cans of paint, and every tool you could think of. Half of the stuff in here was beyond my knowledge of building maintenance.
Robert Larkin finally stepped into view from behind an area in the back of the room where there was a makeshift worktable. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that it was me. It took only a few seconds for recognition to set in.
“Hi, cousin Bob,” I said through gritted teeth.
Kimmy whispered in my ear. “No one talks like that, weirdo.”
I elbowed her in the stomach while maintaining the forced smile on my face. “We thought we’d stop by and see how you were doing.”
“Yeah, you know while we signed up for our arts and crafts class…” Kimmy added.
“Oh … right,” Robert replied. “Nice to see you again … cousin.”
Anthony looked between the three of us, then took a step backward out of the room. “Well, I’ll just leave you to your family reunion then. Have a good evening.”
Robert’s eyes drifted from mine to acknowledge Anthony. “Yeah, see ya later, Tony.”
I waited until I heard the door shut behind us. I felt as if we had just escaped a close call.
Once we knew that Anthony was gone, Robert turned his attention back on me, running a hand through his shaggy hair. “What the hell are you doing here? And why did you pretend to be my cousin?”
Kimmy held up her hand. “That was my idea. Your pal, Tony, caught us snooping around in the cooking room so we had to be quick on our feet.”
“And you dragged me into it?” he asked. “I don’t need no trouble, and I don’t know what you girls think you’re up to, but leave me out of it.”
“We came here to see you, smarty-pants,” Kimmy replied.
I grabbed her arm and squeezed, urging her to step back a few feet. “Sorry, my friend is a little hyper tonight. I’m Lana, it seems you recognize me, so you know we met the night of Margo Han’s murder.”
“Yeah, I know who you are,” he said. “And like I said before, I don’t need any trouble.”
“Well, that’s just too bad, tough guy,” Kimmy blurted out. “Because the cops already have their eye on you and my friend here. Only, we know she didn’t do anything, so…”
Robert clenched his fists, and I remembered the charges he’d had on his record for assault. I whipped my head around at Kimmy and gave her my best glare. “Let me handle this.”
“Ugh, whatever,” she said, holding up her hands. “Fine, do whatever.”
I took a calming breath and smiled apologetically at Robert. “Like I said, she’s hyper tonight, but she does have a point. That’s why I’m here actually. I think both of us are being investigated by the police.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and what of it? I didn’t do nothing wrong, so they can look into me all day long for all I care. I’m on probation, girly, so I’m not trying to get myself put back in jail for nothin’.”
I took a step closer. “Aren’t you worried they’re going to try and make something up that isn’t there? I don’t know what your experience was with Detective Bishop, but I can’t say that I enjoyed mine.”
“It won’t be the first time that something crooked like this happened. That’s why you can’t trust nobody nowadays. But I ain’t gonna let it get the best of me. I’m just gonna keep my head down and let them do what they gotta do. You’d be smart to do the same.”
I sighed. “I wish that I could. But, if I knew that something I did could make a difference, I’d feel pretty bad that I didn’t at least try.”
“That’s nice and all that you still see the good in humanity, but that’s how people end up like Margo Han. Always giving people chances.”
“Did you know her well?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nah, not really. She was a class act though. Probably one of the nicest people in this whole damn building. A lot of people don’t tend to pay me much mind because of my position here. They think I’m lower than them or somethin’ because I clean out the toilets. But, not Margo. She’d at least ask me how I was. One time she even made me a nice care package with leftover food from her class.”
“Do you know if she was involved with anyone here at the school?”
He cocked his head at me. “Involved? Like how.”
I blushed. “You know, like romantically.”
“Oh, that kinda involved.” He rubbed the side of his cheek, which was covered in five-o’clock shadow. “Eh, maybe she was seein’ someone, but if she was, I didn’t know who.”
“Did you notice a change in her appearance?” I asked, thinking about the conversation I’d had with Sabrina.
He folded his arms across his chest and shifted, leaning to one side. “Yeah, now that you mention it, yeah. She did look kinda different to me after a while. Kinda sad-like.”
“What about an affair?” Kimmy interrupted. “Do you know anything about any affairs around here?”
He snorted. “There’s a lot of that around here. Sometimes I think it’s something in the water.” Robert laughed to himself. “Bunch of heathens, if you ask me.”
I hated to ask, but I had to. “Do you know if Margo was somehow involved with something like that going on around here?”
He let out another snort. “Margo? Nah.”
“What about enemies?” I suggested. “Do you know if she had any of those?”
“There’s a lot of two-faced people around here
. So, if you’re wondering about that, your guess is as good as mine. But from upfront appearances, no, she didn’t have any enemies.”
“This sounds like a terrible place to work,” Kimmy commented.
“It pays the bills.” Robert checked his watch. “Speaking of which, I gotta make my rounds and get things going around here. You guys done asking me twenty questions?”
My shoulders sagged in defeat. “I guess so.”
“Good, now try to stay out of things. You don’t want to get mixed up with them cops if you can help it.”
We started to leave, and as we exited the confined room, I stopped and turned back around. “Robert, can I ask you one more thing before I leave—then I swear I won’t bother you anymore.”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Why do you think Margo got murdered? I mean, you must think something. And if you don’t think she had any enemies in the school, then what could have happened that night?”
“Look, kid, sometimes bad things just happen to good people. It’s a cliché for a reason, you know? My best guess is she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. And that’s about all I can say. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some floors that need mopping.”
CHAPTER 23
“What a bunch of BS!” Kimmy shouted when we were back in the common area.
“Shhh!” I hissed at my friend. “Don’t attract any more attention to us. We’ve already been caught staging a reenactment in the classroom.”
She waved a hand at me. “Oh, like he knew what we were doing anyways. Don’t be so timid, Lana. I can’t believe I haven’t rubbed off on you more by now.”
I said a silent prayer of thanks for the fact that she hadn’t. I couldn’t even imagine myself being quite as abrasive as Kimmy often was. “Anyways, that was a total bust. We might as well go home.”