Taylorwood (Alexandria Whitney Mystery)

by McCarthy, G. L.

“Yes, I made a suggestion, and I’m sure she’s thinking about it. How are you this morning? Are you ready for your sit down with Mrs. Greenway?” Cyn was hoping this would be the end of this whole drama and Alex could rest easy.

  “You bet. I hope to find a note in my inbox confirming my request for an appointment. I’ve also been thinking about starting to pack some boxes on Saturday – you know all the stuff you never seem to use, but never want to throw away.” Packing was not how Alex wanted to spend her weekend, but she had to start sometime.

  “Did you call about the house yet?” Cyn thought maybe she could use some help.

  “I left a message on their machine, but the recording gave me all the info. It sounds perfect and fits my budget. I hope I can see it this weekend. Would you like to come along?” It was one way Alex could delay packing.

  “Absolutely. As you know my weekends are wide open.” Cyn would go anywhere with Alex, even if they were just going to be friends.

  “Great! Is breakfast ready? You know, we could even carpool and save some money on gas and oil. What do you think, switch off each week? Whoever drives gets to eat breakfast at the other’s house for that week. Then we could talk all we wanted with no interruptions or intrusions by the other teachers. Just a thought.” Helping Cyn save money was something Alex was going to work on. More money saved meant more cruises. Alex poured herself a cup of coffee and took her toast to the table.

  “That sounds like a great idea. I don’t know if you’ve ever ridden in my car, but it’s so clean inside now that I’m sure you’d be happy to accept a ride from me.” Smiling wide, Cyn knew for sure they were going to be great friends forever.

  Alex left the lounge early and headed over to the administration building to see if she had an appointment slip in her box. As she walked into the office she stopped dead in her tracks. A tall man was talking to Mrs. Greenway. Could this be him? They didn’t see her as she ducked around a corner. They talked for a few more minutes and then he went up the stairs to the offices on the second floor. That had to be him. The hair on the back of Alex’s neck was standing up. She quietly slipped over to the wall with the teachers’ inboxes and found her confirmation. Tonight was the night, and she was ready to let Mrs. Greenway have it with both barrels.

  Alex left the main building and headed for her classroom, as Richard stared out the window holding his digital camera with its telephoto lens. He wanted to snap off several pictures of Alex as she walked to her room, but couldn’t because her umbrella was in the way. He was completely unaware that she was on to him and his little game was soon to be over. Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200.00.

  It was still raining at lunchtime which meant a quick dash to the cafeteria for everyone. Thursday’s special was potato and beef burritos or spaghetti. Alex decided to stick to her grilled cheese as her pants were starting to get a little tight. All this food she was consuming lately was not her normal diet. She needed to get back on the stationary bike and get some of this extra weight off. She checked the cafeteria thinking she may catch sight of Richard again. No sign of him meant he must be eating in his office, but then she didn’t see Mrs. Greenway either.

  “Who are you looking for?” Cyn noticed Alex scanning the cafeteria.

  “I think I saw Richard this morning in the office when I went in to retrieve my appointment confirmation. He was talking to his mother. They didn’t see me. I was just checking to see if he was in here – you know, watching me from afar.” She wanted to know if it was the same guy Cyn had seen over the past month.

  “Okay, if he is here today, I’m going to be with you when you meet Mrs. Greenway. I don’t want you in there alone.” Cyn had a sick feeling in her stomach.

  “What do you think he’s going to do with his mother in the room? Besides, my meeting is with her not him. He should be on his way home by then.” Alex thought Cyn was being a little too overprotective. “Cyn, he doesn’t have a clue why I want to talk to his mother, and anyway, Frederick will be in Mrs. Cline’s office as backup.”

  “Well okay, but can’t I just tag along for my own peace of mind?” Missing this meeting would be like missing the end of the movie. Being told what happens isn’t the same as seeing it or hearing it for yourself.

  “All right, but could you wait in the hall? I don’t want Mrs. Greenway knowing anybody else knows about her son in case this doesn’t go well. I mean, I think she’ll go my way on this and send Richard away, but it is her son and you never know what a cornered mother will do to protect her child. I don’t want to risk your job too. Deal?” Alex was going to be firm on this part.

  “Deal.” Cyn wasn’t happy, but she understood Alex’s reasons.

  After last period Alex wished she had a glass of plum wine to help relax her. She knew her case was solid, but was still a little nervous. Cyn met Alex on the first floor, and followed her up, and waited close by in the stairwell. Alex took a deep breath and entered Mrs. Cline’s office, who was already gone for the day. She heard Mrs. Greenway in her office.

  “Mrs. Greenway? Alex Whitney here for my appointment.” Alex closed the door but didn’t shut it all the way. She didn’t want Frederick to be heard when he came in.

  “Please come in, Ms. Whitney. Right on time. Please have a seat.” Mrs. Greenway was a very pleasant woman and liked by the whole staff.

  Alex entered her office and realized she hadn’t been in it since she interviewed for the job over five years ago. Alex took the seat directly across from Mrs. Greenway and started from the beginning, telling her about the flowers and note, then the medal and creepy poem. Taking a deep breath she told her that she knew it was her son Richard that was responsible, as he had done these same things to the teacher she had replaced. When she suspected it was him she had a friend check on his activities in Hollywood and was told he had been let go for doing the same to two different women at the studio where he worked. She would provide their phone numbers if she needed to talk to them herself. Mrs. Greenway sat very still and let Alex tell her everything she had found out. Alex finished by stating she hoped Mrs. Greenway was going to send Richard away from Taylorwood, for good.

  “I am extremely disturbed by this information, Ms. Whitney. Richard had promised me he would never do this again. I’m as guilty as he is for believing he would change. I’m so sorry you have been put through this. I can’t even imagine what it would be like knowing you’re being watched all the time you’re here trying to do your job. I appreciate you coming to me first instead of going to the police. I need to put an end to this immediately. Has he ever confronted you in your classroom?” Mrs. Greenway was shaking from anger as she finished her sentence.

  “No, since I knew his pattern I’ve made it a point to leave as soon as my last class was over.” Alex felt sorry for her as she knew she must feel betrayed by her only child.

  “Ms. Whitney, I hope you believe me when I tell you I will handle this matter. He will have tomorrow to get his affairs in order, and then I will have a restraining order issued against him to prevent him from ever stepping foot on this campus again – or going near you or any other teacher on my staff. I hope this information will be enough to keep you here as our English teacher for a very long time.” Mrs. Greenway looked directly at Alex with tears in her eyes.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Greenway. I would love to teach here for as long as you’ll have me.” Alex was relieved this had been so easy.

  She wondered if Frederick had heard it all as she had felt a presence in Mrs. Cline’s office. Mrs. Greenway let Alex out her door into the hallway, and as Alex walked by Mrs. Cline’s door, she saw it was closed. She went down the hall and found Cyn and Frederick waiting in the stairwell.

  “So how’d I do?” Alex looked at Frederick thinking he had briefed Cyn on what was said in Mrs. Greenway’s office.

  “Alex, I just got here. I asked Cyn if she heard any fireworks. I was going to let myself in Mrs. Cline’s office when we heard someone coming and here you are.” Frede
rick had to handle cleaning up after a plumbing problem in one of the dorms.

  “Then who was in Mrs. Cline’s office? Did anyone pass you Cyn?” Alex wondered if Richard had come back and had heard everything.

  “No, but this isn’t the only way in. There is the stairwell at the back of the building and anybody could have gone in her office.”

  “Do you think it could have been Richard?” Alex suddenly realized she may not be out of the woods yet.

  “No way, Alex.” Frederick spoke up. “I saw him leaving around three o’clock, which is his usual time.” Seeing Richard leave was one reason Frederick handled the plumbing problem first. “Otherwise I would have been here as promised.”

  “Any chance he came back?” Cyn looked at Frederick for assurances it couldn’t be him.

  “I know his car and it wasn’t in its spot when I headed this way. If someone was in Mrs. Cline’s office it wasn’t Richard. Maybe it was one of the parents working on their hours. That’s a possibility.” Frederick was sure he was right about Richard being long gone. “I’ll go check and see who, if anyone, is in that office.”

  Alex and Cyn went downstairs and wandered over to the teacher’s inboxes to wait for Frederick.

  “Can I help either of you with something?” A woman neither Alex nor Cyn had ever seen before was holding some files and walking towards them.

  “Oh no, we were just checking for messages. We’re both teachers. And you are?” Alex wanted to meet everyone who worked at the school.

  “Sally Jennings. I’m working off my hours. And you are?” Sally held out her hand to the two teachers.

  “I’m Alex Whitney, English teacher and this is Cyn Montgomery, History. Do you have a daughter named Megan?” Now Alex had a face for the woman who kissed Dez. She was attractive in a straight looking kind of way.

  “Yes, I do. Megan loves your class, because she can write about her pony. That girl is really horse crazy.” Sally was smiling as she talked about her daughter.

  “Yes, she does love to write about Phantom. Well, we need to be on our way. It was nice meeting you.” Alex had noticed Frederick was coming down the stairs and figured he could tell them his findings outside.

  “Okay, nice meeting you too.” Sally headed back towards the filing cabinets.

  Alex and Cyn went outside and waited for Frederick. When he came out he was shaking his head. No one was in either office except Mrs. Greenway, who was on the phone and not very happy with the person on the other end. Frederick assumed it had to be Richard.

  “Okay, maybe I just assumed there was someone in that office because I expected there to be someone. I feel like celebrating. Let’s all go out to dinner, my treat.” Alex looked at both of her friends for acceptance, although she knew it was short notice for Frederick.

  “Can I have a raincheck for now? The Missus will already have my dinner waiting for me.” Frederick knew on Thursday it was meatloaf.

  “Anytime you say, Frederick, I’ll be ready to take you and Mrs. Schmidt to any place in the county. How about you Cyn? Any restaurant you say.” Alex was ready to party.

  “Okay, how about Chinese again. I would love a glass of plum wine to celebrate the end of the Richard drama.” Cyn could hardly wait to eat those great eggrolls again.

  “Excellent, let’s go.” Alex gave Frederick a big hug and kiss on the cheek, thanking him again for all his support. Before they parted Frederick wanted both women to have his phone number in case they ever needed anything. He had never wanted kids, but looked at these two as daughters. He wanted to be there for both of them, if they needed something outside of school.

  After numbers had been given to all, Alex and Cyn headed for the Tea Room. Arriving before the dinner rush gave them a choice of seats and Cyn asked for the booth by the wall. She felt it was a good luck spot, like it was the night everything had changed for the better for her. Ping came by with menus, but both knew what they wanted. When the plum wine came Alex made a toast to her friends, Frederick and Cyn, who had helped her resolve her dilemma.

  “I’m so glad that’s over. What do you think Mrs. Greenway said, or will say, to her precious little boy?” Alex would have loved to have heard that conversation.

  “Who cares, as long as he gets the hell out of here. What a creep. I question Mrs. Greenway’s judgment in the first place for letting him come back. Maybe she didn’t know the truth about how he lost his job at the studios or she chose to close her eyes to it.” Cyn would love to hear Mrs. Greenway’s explanation.

  “Let’s face it, most parents want to think their kids are good. It’s hard to think of your child as a criminal, and being her only child she really must have had a rough time seeing him for what he was.” Alex admired Mrs. Greenway’s loyalty, but enough was enough.

  “Well, enough talk about poor little Dickhead. Have you any plans yet about moving, that is if you get that house?”

  “Gosh, not really. I mean, I have thought about getting organized at home. But as far as moving my stuff out of storage it would be nice if it stopped raining. I know moving in the rain is supposed to be good luck, but it’s such a pain moving wet stuff.”

  “Don’t worry. When you’re ready to move I’m sure Mother Nature won’t rain on your parade. And besides, you’ll have enough help so it won’t be a chore you’ll be doing alone.” Smiling, Cyn knew what Alex had been thinking. The two talked all through dinner about the move and other subjects like giddy school girls, unlike the last time Alex had been here with Dez. Fortunately for Ping, Thursday wasn’t a busy night as the two spent over three hours eating their dinner. Alex finally looked at her watch and commented they needed to get going as both had a bit of a drive, especially Alex.

  On the way home, Alex couldn’t help but dwell on the past four years. How could she have just let all these issues go unquestioned? Was it because she was living in a house and not an apartment busy with so many house chores and a big yard to work on that had kept her from seeing the flaws in her relationship sooner? She hadn’t been miserable, but she hadn’t been all that happy either. The sadness seemed to have slowly come over her the past few years.

  She always hoped she would be able to be friends with any of her past girlfriends. No relationship should ever get to the point that both parties hated each other. At least Alex hoped none of hers would ever get that bad. Sure, Dez was hurting, but in time Alex hoped she could see her side of it and wouldn’t blame her for wanting her own happiness not to mention being able to see where she had let her down in the “couples” department. Right now the reality of their relationship was hitting Dez and her anger was coming through. Not that she should be angry at Alex, but Dez wasn’t ready to take ownership of her major part in their failed pairing. It wasn’t as if they never talked about what was missing to make Alex happy. They had discussed it and what both could do to help keep the relationship alive. It just seemed that Alex was the only one doing her assignment. Dez, on the other hand, was under the assumption that she was doing just fine, but the truth was although she had good intentions, she never seemed to be able to do as she promised. Helping Alex in the yard did not interest her. Making a point of going to bed with Alex, if only for thirty minutes, was more time than she was willing to contribute after promising on more than one occasion to do so. But if one forty-eighth of her day was too much to give to her lover then Dez deserved to be alone. Just because she owned the house didn’t mean she owned Alex and her feelings. Alex had done her fair share of contributing to the running of the house and paid her half of the expenses not to mention bought all the food. She wasn’t using Dez in anyway and in hind sight felt like she was the one who had been used. But she needed to let it all go and stay focused on the future and the positive that lay ahead. Yes, tomorrow would be a great day, and it was Friday – even better. Woo-Hoo!

  Chapter 21

  No rain, but then no sun either. The clouds seemed to be waiting for orders, to either drop more rain or move on. Alex was hoping
they would move on. The ground was already saturated and standing water was everywhere. Her beautiful truck now had mud spattered all over the sides. Living out in the country did have its drawbacks.

  The couple with the house for rent had called back and would meet Alex on Sunday at one o’clock. Everything was moving forward in a positive way. Now if she could just snap her fingers and have everything packed, that would be heaven. But then that wasn’t going to happen, so she needed to spend Saturday getting her stuff out of the attic that she had never unpacked from her last move. She couldn’t even remember what she had up there.

  As she drove to work she went over several things that she should do tomorrow besides pack. One thing was to move some money from her savings to her checking account for the first and last month’s rent, which she could do in the morning online. She would even be able to sign up there for all the utilities, as soon as the place was hers. The internet was an amazing tool and she wondered how she ever got along without it. The house was closer to town and maybe she could finally get DSL. That would be even better. She also wanted to get a cat from the local rescue group. She was thinking of an older cat that may have lost his owner to old age. Although rabbit was the best food, grinding them up was definitely not something she was going to do. She would make sure her cat had the healthiest canned food on the market. No dry for this cat, as Dez would have a coronary and Alex wanted to be a good cat owner.

  It was sprinkling when Alex arrived at school, so with umbrella in hand she ran for the lounge. Cyn, as usual, had everything ready and waiting.

  “Good morning. How are you today?” Cyn was already sitting at the table when Alex walked in.

  “Peachy keen, and you?” Focused on her breakfast Alex took her seat and began to consume her toast. “I’m looking at the house on Sunday at one. Can you make it?”

  “You bet. Are you excited about getting a place of your own now?” Cyn knew Alex had mixed feelings about moving and that she and Dez could still live together as roommates, if Alex wanted to.