Appliqued to Death

by Kathleen Suzette

  I bit back the words I wanted to say. There was something called decency, but apparently, Bill hadn’t heard about that.

  “I’m sure a lot of people aren’t actually mourning his loss, but they showed up anyway,” Peggy pointed out.

  He snorted. “What kind of a memorial service could it possibly have been? Everyone knows Principal Jefferson just threw it together to try to impress his family. They come from a lot of money, you know.”

  This was news to me. “Really? I didn’t know that.”

  He nodded. “I hear they’re important people back in Indianapolis. His father was a doctor before he died, and he had an entire wing of one of the Indianapolis hospitals dedicated to him. That only happens when you donate lots of money.”

  “I had no idea,” I said thoughtfully. “Still, it seems like a kind thing to do. Going to the memorial service, I mean.”

  “He was a coworker after all,” Peggy added. “I would feel terrible if anyone that I was related to, or was close to, was murdered like Darren was.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah well, you can feel bad all you want to, I guess. But I’m not going to.”

  “Why not?” I asked, still trying to sound neutral.

  He shook his head. “Everyone knows Darren Peabody was a drug fiend. You just had to take one look at him to know it. Did you ever notice the dark circles under his eyes? Did you see the kind of people he hung around? He was a terrible influence on the students.” He snorted and shook his head again. “Darren Peabody’s death was the best thing that could happen to this school.”

  I was shocked. I didn’t expect him to cry over Darren’s death, but I couldn’t imagine anyone saying it was a good thing someone had been murdered.

  “You can’t mean that,” I said. “I mean, he was a human being after all.”

  “Sure, I guess you could say that. But he was leading our students astray. They all wanted to be like him. Did you see them? Did you see them when they came to school dressed in black turtlenecks and berets?” He laughed derisively. “Black turtlenecks. Berets. I never saw anything so ridiculous in all my life. He’d have had all those kids on drugs before we knew what had happened.”

  “They were just trying to express themselves,” Peggy said. “You know how kids are. They’re always trying to figure out who they are.”

  “Yes, they all go through it. I bet even you went through it when you were in your teens,” I said to him.

  He shook his head. “Nope. I’ve always known who I was.”

  “And who is that?” Peggy asked him.

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “Maybe that’s my business.”

  I was suddenly starting to think that Bill Woods had secrets to keep. And I wondered if one of those secrets was Darren Peabody’s death.

  “What’s the real reason you didn’t like Darren?” I asked him.

  He sat up suddenly. “What is this? Twenty questions? What difference does it make if I didn’t like him? Why are you two in here asking me these things?” he asked suspiciously.

  The longer our conversation went on, the more I thought Bill had murdered Darren, and I wanted to get to the bottom of it. I shrugged. “We just came down here to talk.”

  “Talk? Other than when you were killing time waiting on your husband the other day when was the last time you came down here to talk? What do you two really want?” He leaned forward in his chair and put both hands on his desk now. “Seems mighty suspicious to me.”

  “We’re just concerned that one of our coworkers was murdered. We’ve been discussing it, and I guess we just wanted to know what other people’s opinions were. I worry for the safety of the rest of the faculty since the killer hasn’t been found yet.” I shrugged again and gave him a smile, hoping I sounded convincing.

  “I’m sure the rest of the faculty is safe. And the rest of the faculty knows why Darren was killed. He messed around with the wrong people, probably buying or selling drugs, and that was the end of him.”

  I nodded. “I suppose that’s a possibility, but we were just worried about it happening to someone else.”

  “Well, you rest that pretty little head of yours,” he said. “I’m sure your brother will figure out what’s going on and what happened to Peabody. He can do the job, can’t he? Or does he need his little sister to sort things out for him?”

  I felt my eye twitch and my jaw tighten. He was getting on my nerves now. “I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t speak that way about my brother. He’s a professional and he will find the killer, no matter who it is. Even if it’s someone on staff.”

  His eyes got big as this sank in. “What is that supposed to mean? Someone on staff?”

  I shrugged innocently. “I don’t know. You tell me. Maybe someone on staff took a great enough dislike to Darren to end his life.”

  He held up the palms of his hands toward me. “Whoa. Wait a minute. You aren’t saying what I think you’re saying, are you? You don’t think that I had anything to do with Peabody’s death, do you?”

  I shrugged again. “I don’t know. Did you have something to do with his death?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Peggy’s eyes go wide. I didn’t intend to ask him that question, but he was being a jerk and he deserved to be asked.

  Bill’s face went red. “You take that back, Mary Taylor,” he warned. “I had nothing to do with Peabody’s death. Not one thing. I’m not at all sorry he died, but I had nothing to do with it. And if you run around telling people that I did, I’ll make you sorry.”

  The threat shocked me. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised since I had asked him the question, but I hadn’t expected him to threaten me.

  “I’m not running around telling anybody anything,” I said. “It just seems odd that you have so much anger toward Darren Peabody when he didn’t do anything to deserve that anger.”

  “He was a freak,” Bill spat out. “I hated him, but not enough to murder him.”

  “Why on earth would you hate him?” Peggy asked him quietly.

  “Because,” he said morosely. “He stole a woman I was dating from me.”

  I was shocked again. I couldn’t remember the last time I had heard Bill was dating someone. “Who?” I asked.

  “None of your business. I have work to do and I would appreciate it if you two ladies would leave my office. Now.”

  We stared at him a few moments longer, then we both got up and did as he asked.

  “What do you think of that?” Peggy whispered after the door had shut behind us and we were headed toward the teacher’s parking lot.

  “I think Bill Woods has some explaining to do. Robert needs to have a conversation with him. Soon.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  First thing Monday morning, I sat at my desk as my class filed in. It was a minute before the bell rang and I looked up and smiled at the girls as they headed over to their cubbies, ready to get to work on the day’s projects. There was the usual laughing and cajoling out in the hallway from the art class across the hall and I wondered how Miss Anderson was getting along. I pulled out my attendance sheet for my class and laid it on my desk.

  When the boys in the hall got louder, I got my feet and went to my classroom door and looked out at them. Jennifer Anderson stood at her door and smiled at me, and then her eyes went to the boys entering her classroom, pushing and shoving one another as they went. She looked up at me nervously.

  “Let them know who’s boss,” I told her with a smile. “Otherwise they’ll run all over you.”

  She gave a curt nod of her head and stood up straighter, then turned and went back into her classroom. I pitied her. Darren Peabody’s class was not the best class to learn how to be a teacher with.

  The bell rang, and I looked across the hall at Peggy’s door. She stepped out and gave me a little wave. I waved back and then went back to my class. Things were nearly back to normal here at the school with the student body having finally adjusted to Darren Peabody’s death. At such young ages, it wa
s sometimes hard for students to process the fact that someone they knew had died. Particularly when they had been murdered.

  “All right, girls,” I announced to the class. “We’ll say the pledge of allegiance and then get to work on our projects. There’s not a lot of time left in the school year and I want to make sure everybody gets their requirements finished with plenty of time to spare.”

  At the beginning of the school year I handed out a list of projects the class would work on, and if things weren’t done before the end of the year, it would reflect on their final grade. Most of the girls were on top of things and had their required projects done and were now working on projects of their choosing, but some were lagging behind, and I didn’t want to hear excuses come June.

  Margaret Atkins stood in front of me. “Mrs. Taylor,” she said with a whine in her voice. “My mother isn’t at all happy about me not being able to make a dress.”

  Were we still talking about making a dress?

  “That’s fine Margaret,” I said, nodding. “I’ll give her a call and explain things before the day is over.”

  Her eyes went wide, but she nodded and turned away without another word, heading back to her cubby. I sighed. Margaret wasn’t going to finish her last two projects before the end of the school year.

  ***

  The bell signaling the end of first period rang, and I watched my students leave the classroom. When I looked up, Peggy was standing at the door and she hurried over to my desk.

  “What’s up?” I asked her. She was wearing a cabbage rose print chintz dress with a white background. It brought out her rosy skin.

  She put her hands flat on my desk and leaned over, looking at me intently. “Did you hear the news?”

  I shook my head. “What news?” The look on her face said that whatever it was, it was big.

  “Bill Woods is dead,” she hissed. Then she looked over her shoulder to make sure no one had entered the room.

  I gasped. “What do you mean dead? Dead how?”

  “Somebody ran him over,” she said, her eyes wide.

  I sat back in my chair and stared at her. “Are you sure? Who told you?”

  “It’s the rumor going around school,” she said, nodding. “I can’t believe it. Who would kill Bill Woods?”

  “He was run over? Like Darren Peabody was run over?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know if it was exactly like that. It’s just a rumor that’s going around. I overheard two of my girls whispering about it, and when I asked them what was going on, they told me that somebody ran him over.”

  I was flabbergasted. The thought that he had been killed in the same way Darren Peabody was killed made my mind spin.

  “Have you talked to any of the other teachers? Does anyone know anything for sure?”

  She shook her head. “No, I just heard it about ten minutes ago. You don’t think someone’s running around killing high school teachers, do you? Are we next?”

  The idea was absurd, but since we had two dead high school teachers, it wasn’t something that could be ruled out.

  “I certainly hope not,” I said slowly. I looked up at the clock on the wall. My second period class would begin in three minutes and that wasn’t enough time to call Robert to ask him about it.

  “I wonder where Principal Jefferson is this morning? I didn’t see him when I pulled into the parking lot and he’s usually hovering nearby. It isn’t like him to not keep an eye on everyone.”

  I nodded. Had I seen him this morning? No, I didn’t think so. “Maybe he’s at the gym with the police. Have you seen any police cars on campus?”

  She shook her head. “No, I would’ve noticed if they were here before school started.”

  I got up and went to my classroom door. A stream of girls were heading in my direction. “All right girls,” I said to the closest ones. “Let’s get our projects out and get right to work.” I headed over to the railing that ran along the hallway and leaned over. I could just see the side of the gym from where I stood, but I couldn’t see the door.

  Peggy joined me and leaned further out. She was taller, and I thought she could get a better look than I could. “I can’t see a thing. I bet if the police are here, they parked on the other side of the gym where they won’t be so obvious. Having the police show up twice in the same month will set the kids to talking.”

  I moved further down the hallway, glancing over my shoulder at my classroom door. As I passed more of my students, I smiled at them. “Go on inside girls, and get your projects started.”

  Peggy followed along behind me, and we stopped at the door that led into the main building. “I’ll stay here and mind both of our classrooms,” she whispered to me. “You go see if you can find out anything.”

  I nodded and walked quickly inside. The halls were filled with students rushing to get to their classes and I stepped around several, nearly colliding with Biff Williams, one of the football players.

  He stopped and stared at me wide-eyed. “Sorry, Mrs. Taylor,” he said. “I didn’t mean to run into you.”

  “That’s okay, Biff,” I said. “I wouldn’t want you to be late for your class. Say, what is your next class?” I wondered if he had PE and was headed to the gym.

  “History,” he said with a smile. “I love history.”

  I didn’t know if he was being funny, or if he meant it, but he seemed to be sincere. I nodded. “Good for you. It’s good to pay attention to your education.” Biff was hoping for a scholarship to play football with Ball State, but becoming a professional football player was nearly impossible, and I hoped he was sincere about enjoying his schoolwork.

  He nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I better get to class.” He stepped around me and headed to his classroom.

  I walked further down the hallway and saw Marsha Eubanks, one of the secretaries in the main office. “Marsha,” I called to her. She stopped and turned to look at me

  “Yes?” Her bouffant was listing to the left just a bit, but that wasn’t unusual for Marsha.

  I waved her over to me and she maneuvered through the crowd of students.

  When she got to me, I said, “Is there anything going on today? Anything different?”

  She stopped and thought about it a moment. “The senior girls are doing a fundraiser at lunchtime. For the starving children in Africa.”

  I stared at her. Her face was passive, and she didn’t seem to be hiding anything. Maybe the news wasn’t out. Or maybe the girls that spoke to Peggy were just spreading rumors. I nodded. “Okay, that’s good to know. Thanks.”

  I turned around and headed back to the door. If something terrible had happened to Bill Woods, the ladies in the office would be the first to hear about it. News like that would spread quickly, and they would most likely overhear important telephone conversations.

  I headed back to the home economics wing where Peggy stood in the hallway, trying to keep an eye on both of our classrooms. I shrugged and held my hands up to let her know I hadn’t heard anything.

  “Nothing?” she asked me, sounding disappointed.

  I shook my head. “I spoke to Biff Williams and Marsha from the office. No one seems to know anything. I think those girls may have overheard some gossip and have overactive imaginations.”

  She nodded. “Maybe so. Well, I’m glad then. I’d hate to hear someone else had died.”

  “You and me both,” I said and headed into my classroom. “All right, girls, let’s get to work. We’re almost at the end of the school year and we don’t have time to waste.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  The remainder of the morning was business as usual. Occasionally I would catch some of the girls whispering to one another, but when I asked them what was going on, no one seemed to know anything. When I called the roll and got to Christine Tidwell’s name, there was silence. I looked across the classroom, but she wasn’t here. She was the one to tell me about Darren Peabody, and if any of the other girls knew something about Bill Woods, they weren’t wil
ling to share that information.

  After fourth period, I headed over to Peggy’s classroom. I knew she’d have something tasty made for lunch. My best friend being the cooking teacher at the high school had its merits beyond the friendship.

  “Have you heard anything?” I asked her soon as I walked in the room.

  She turned and looked at me. “Sandy Mills said Bill Woods is dead.”

  “Have you heard anything from any of the other teachers though? I’d hate to think this is just gossip going around. You know how the kids can be. I saw some whispering going on among my girls, but no one would tell me anything.”

  Daniel walked through the door, his face serious.

  “What’s that look for?” I asked him. “What’s going on?”

  “Bill Woods is dead. Someone ran him over.” He looked at me, his eyes sad.

  I sighed. “That’s what Peggy heard. Who on earth would want to kill Bill Woods?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. But then again, I don’t know who would have wanted to kill Darren Peabody, either. I don’t know what’s going on around this town.”

  “Maybe it’s a crazed student that has just had enough of certain teachers,” Peggy suggested.

  I eyed her. “Let’s just hope we’re all among our students’ favorite teachers then.”

  She nodded. “You can say that again. I hate to think it’s a random killer on the loose that might kill anyone that crosses their path.” She turned to the refrigerator and began taking containers out of it. “I’ve got tuna noodle casserole, salmon mousse canapes, and pineapple upside down cake for lunch.”

  “What, no gelatin meat salad?” Daniel teased.

  She shot him a look. “Watch it, buster.”

  “Ignore him.” I went over to help her. “Are the police here yet?” I said to Daniel over my shoulder as I took out a pitcher of iced tea and the plate of salmon mousse canapes.