by Helen Gray
The bell rang, sending Toni scurrying for the door.
“Meet me as soon as the last bell rings,” he called after her, taking up his post by his door as students began to enter the room. “We won’t be gone long. Your boys will wait for you.”
*
By three o’clock Toni’s doubts and questions had morphed into near panic. John entered her classroom and waited while she answered a question for two students who had lingered after class. As soon as they left, she grabbed her coat and pulled it on as they hurried from the room. John closed the door behind them.
“It was last year when the boys found that rabbit,” she said as they exited the building. “It was around the first of October when Harry died and the class put him in the body farm. We put a milk crate over him and charted his decomposition throughout the school year. By summer the remains had skeletonized, and I put them in a box and let the boys help me bury it.”
“So Garrett knows exactly where the grave is located.”
Toni nodded and traipsed across the road ahead of John. She veered into the woods behind the school. About halfway up the hill they came to a less heavily wooded area. The air smelled of wet decaying leaves—and more. They approached a crude fence constructed of plywood, the sheets nailed to posts provided by the maintenance staff. Toni raised the latch of the hinged gate and walked inside, John close behind her. As the odor grew stronger, Toni noted a dead raccoon lying about four yards from the back fence.
She held her breath and tramped past the dead animal to where a small strip of wood was nailed to a stake in the ground. White with black lettering, it bore the name HARRY RABBIT. Next to the marker was a rectangular mound of soggy leaves and clumps of dirty snow.
“There’s something here, but it’s probably an animal.” Her hand trembling, Toni pointed toward the corner of the fence. “There’s a shovel in that locker.”
“I’ll get it.” John went to the black footlocker where the class stored large trash bags, small plastic bags, a shovel, and some small garden spades. He opened it, picked up the shovel, and returned to the leafy mound.
Gently he probed along the edge of the leaves, pushing back debris until something black appeared. “I think it’s a big trash bag.”
Toni watched him move the shovel again. When something thunked, she squatted and raked leaves away with her hand. A purse came to light. Trying not to be sick, she picked it up. With a terrible sense of inevitability she extracted a wallet and opened it. And stared at Marsha Carter’s driver’s license.
She clenched her fists against her stomach. Oh, God, what have I done?
Toni reached into her pocket for her cell phone and discovered she had left it in her room. That must never, ever happen again, she promised herself.
“Let’s get back to my room and call the police,” John said, noting her fruitless motion. “I don’t have my phone either.”
They began to run.
Chapter 3
Toni’s hand trembled as she dialed the secretary from the phone extension in John’s classroom. “Pam,” she gasped as soon as she got an answer. “Please call the police for me.”
“What’s wrong?” Pam Wesley had been anchoring the front desk in the principal’s office for over ten years and was one of Toni’s closest friends.
“We may have found Marsha.” Toni tried to keep her voice steady.
Pam paused, but only for a moment. “Where shall I have them meet you?”
“In the lobby.”
“I’ll notify Ken and have the teachers with after-school activities send their students home.” The phone disconnected.
Toni hung up and raced to catch John, who had already taken off. They reached the glass walled lobby and had only waited about two minutes when two police cars swung into the drive and skidded to a halt in front of the building. Police Chief Buck Freeman emerged from the first car, Deputy Dale Brown from the second. John pushed the door open for Toni to exit the building ahead of him.
“Hi, Toni,” Chief Freeman said as they met outside the door. Six foot two, white haired and broad shouldered, he had gone to high school with Toni’s dad. His face grim, intelligent dark eyes under bushy eyebrows raked over them. “Tell me what you found.”
“We think it’s a body,” Toni said, her voice strained.
“We found a mound of leaves and uncovered Marsha Carter’s purse,” John explained.
“You better show me,” Buck said as the deputy rounded his car and joined them. In his early forties, Dale’s four inches shorter height, thinning brown hair, and ruddy skin were a striking contrast to Buck.
John set off at a brisk pace, Toni and the two officers following single file behind him.
“Hey, I’ll go with you.” Phil Norton, the school’s Resource Officer, caught up to them. “Pam called me,” he explained briefly.
“Where are we going?” Buck asked as they rounded the corner of the building.
“To the body farm,” Toni said, trotting to keep up with him. “It’s a small, fenced plot up the hillside. My forensics class built it,” she explained, noting Buck’s puzzled look. “We place bodies there, in the open or buried in shallow graves, where we study and chart their process and rate of decomposition.”
“Bodies, huh?” the chief grunted without breaking pace.
“Squirrels, birds, fish, a rabbit…”
Toni and John led the little procession through the gate and back to the mound next to Harry Rabbit’s grave marker. She pointed. “There.”
The chief and deputy knelt next to the mound, and Buck pushed more debris away from the spot John had already cleared. Dale picked up a stick and ran it through the handle of the purse, pulling it upright.
Buck kept clearing debris until they could see that a black plastic bag covered the upper torso of a body. At the end of the bag a woman’s muddy skirt appeared. As Toni recognized the blue plaid, her knees went weak. She fought to control the nausea rising in her throat.
Buck got to his feet. “Better get some help out here.” He pulled out his cell phone and called, spoke briefly to someone, and ended the call.
“Don’t touch anything else,” he ordered. “The coroner will be here in a few minutes. And the County Sheriff.” He looked up at the sky. “We don’t have much daylight left. Phil, you go down to the parking lot and direct them to us. And keep unauthorized people away.”
“Will do.” Phil took off in a run.
Dale stood and surveyed the area. “Do you think this is where she was killed?”
Buck shook his head. “I doubt it. She’s obviously been here awhile, so any signs of a struggle will be hard to find. I think this is just the dump site.” He faced Toni and John. “Have you seen anything that looks like a weapon?”
“I took a shovel from Toni’s supply locker and used it to check … that.” John pointed.
“I didn’t notice anything like blood on it,” Toni said.
“What have you touched besides the purse?”
“Everything in here,” Toni snapped defensively. “It’s my body farm.”
Buck gave her a curious look, but his eyes gleamed with shrewdness. “I see. Do you notice anything else that’s different, changed in any way from how you left it the last time you did anything class related up here?”
Toni studied the area around the grave and beyond. “No,” she said, thinking. “Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“The trash bag.” She pointed at the plastic covered torso. “We keep some like that in the supply locker. It’s mostly tools, a shovel, a couple of small gardening spades, and some small plastic bags. And a few of those bigger black ones.” Her teeth chattered from the cold.
“Look closer at that skirt,” Deputy Brown said, pointing at a particular spot. “It’s real muddy from being buried, but it looks like there’s damage to it, too. Some pulled threads, like maybe she was dragged.”
“I don’t see any blood around here,” Buck observed.
Dale to
ok out a notebook and began to sketch. “We need to search for a hidden weapon,” he said as he drew a map.
“You two stay right where you are while we search,” Buck ordered, motioning at Toni and John.
The two men were working their way around the small, enclosed area when they saw the coroner’s vehicle pull alongside the edge of the road at the bottom of the hill, another police car behind it. Following them was a vehicle Toni recognized as belonging to Tammy Benson, the local newspaper reporter.
By now curiosity seekers had begun to gather at the bottom of the hill, staff and students who had stayed after school and Pam had apparently been unable to persuade to leave. Phil prevented them from advancing past the edge of the parking lot.
Ken Douglas came puffing up the hillside, his authority as principal having gotten him past Phil’s barricade. “What’s going on?” he demanded as he reached the gate to the little farm. “Pam said you found something.”
“Hi, Ken. I’m afraid we have bad news.” Chief Freeman walked over and placed a hand on the principal’s shoulder, preventing him from getting any closer to the grave site.
His gaze traveled past the chief. “Have you really found Marsha?”
“We can’t confirm anything, but it looks that way,” Buck said grimly.
Two more cops arrived. “Hi, Frank. Rod.” Buck acknowledged them briefly. “Get this area secured and let me deal with the reporter I see trying to get past Phil down there.” He glanced back at Toni. “You’re shivering. Why don’t you and John go back to your classroom and wait for me? I have to ask you more questions. I’ll find your room.” He headed down the hill.
Toni hugged her coat around her and trudged alongside John behind the chief. At the parking lot Phil stood guard while Buck talked to the reporter.
“Omigosh, I forgot the boys,” Toni gasped, breaking into a run.
They found Garrett and Gabe sitting on the hallway floor next to the locked door of Toni’s room. They bounced to their feet when they spied her. “What’s happening?” Gabe demanded, his voice shrill with fright.
Toni opened the door and ushered them inside.
“Don’t treat us like little kids and try to hide things from us. We know something bad happened.”
She dropped into the chair beside her desk and eyed both boys across it. “Okay, have a seat.”
They sat in student desks facing her. John stood behind them.
“John and I found Mrs. Carter,” Toni said quietly.
“She’s dead, isn’t she?” Garrett asked, his voice solemn.
“I’m afraid so. We found her buried in the … uh, the body farm.”
“Next to Harry Rabbit,” Garrett whispered, his big round eyes locked on her.
Toni nodded.
“Your mom and I have to wait here for the police chief to question us,” John explained calmly.
“Your dad should be home by now.” Toni went to the phone and dialed quickly. She was relieved when Kyle answered.
“Can you come get the boys?” She gave him a quick summary of what had happened, and he said he would be right there.
Kyle arrived within five minutes. “I’ll take them somewhere to eat,” he promised Toni as the boys put on their coats. “And I’ll pick up something for you.” He gave her a quick peck on the mouth and left.
A coldness like she had never experienced before seeped through Toni, making her feel she could never be warm again.
John leaned his head forward onto his arms on the desk. Toni sensed that he was praying. She wished she could do the same, but she couldn’t think, much less pray.
It was another half hour before Chief Freeman entered the room. “Thanks for waiting.” He sank into the chair John had vacated before leaving the room.
“All right, let’s go over some things and see if you can help us.” Buck spoke tiredly as he took out his notebook.
“It is Marsha, isn’t it?” John asked as he returned with his own desk chair.
Buck nodded. “She was the administrator, so therefore your boss, right?”
They both nodded.
“Okay, so your relationship to her is clear. Now let’s see if you can help determine when she was killed. Do you remember when you last saw her alive?”
“I guess that would be the last day of school before Christmas break,” Toni answered after a moment of thought.
“Yes, at the staff’s manda…uh, Christmas party,” John confirmed.
Buck’s gaze sharpened. “What did you start to say?”
John hesitated.
Buck repeated the question.
“Mandatory Christmas party,” John said. “It was sarcastic. I’m sorry.”
“But what did it mean?” Buck’s dark gaze drilled into him.
“She announced that the Christmas party was mandatory,” John explained hesitantly. “Marsha made a practice of announcing special meetings at a moment’s notice and making them mandatory, because that was the only way most of the staff would attend.”
“So her relationship with the teaching staff wasn’t very good. What about other staff?”
“I don’t think she was liked by very many,” Toni said, mentally cataloguing the few who were the woman’s favorites. “So if you’re asking who might have wanted to harm her, you have about seventy-five percent of the staff to consider. But, as much as everyone resented her, I can’t think of anyone who might have actually killed her.”
Buck jotted in his notebook. “Anything happen recently that might have triggered an explosion?”
Toni and John exchanged glances as they thought it over.
“I can’t think of anything specific,” John said, the corners of his mouth pulled back in a grimace.
“Just the usual grumbling and dissatisfaction,” Toni confirmed.
“Ever hear of any money problems?”
Toni shook her head. “I don’t know anything about her personal affairs.”
“Me either,” John seconded.
A thought hit Toni. “You might check her computer.”
Buck made a note, and then focused on Toni. “What were you doing up there in your body farm on a cold day like this? Were you working on something, or did you go up there specifically to look for her?”
“I, uh, we went looking for her,” Toni stammered.
“Why?”
“I’d rather not say.” She clamped her mouth shut.
“I think you have to,” John said quietly.
“Yes, you do.” Buck’s stern order left her no choice.
Toni chewed her lower lip, still reluctant. “If I tell you, will you keep it confidential?”
He ran a critical eye over her. “It depends. Make me understand.”
Toni took a deep breath. “There have been some incidents over the past few months when Garrett found things that someone lost.”
“Your youngest son.” He knew her entire family. He was just confirming which son.
“Yes.”
Skepticism colored his expression. “Sort of a sixth sense, you mean?”
Toni nodded. “Things no one else could find. We didn’t think anything of it the first time or two, but it got to be kind of a joke. If you can’t find something, have Garrett look for it.”
“For example, I lost a calculator and he found it,” John interjected.
Buck frowned. “Are you telling me he’s the one who found Marsha?”
Toni shook her head. “No, but he had a strange dream.” She told him about it. “All that triggered the awful idea that I should check the body farm. I spoke to John during lunch today, and he offered to go with me.”
“I should book you for lying to a police officer,” Buck threatened when she finished. “But it’s so farfetched that I have to believe you wouldn’t tell me such a story if it weren’t true.”
“The horrible truth is that Marsha would have been found sooner or later, and probably by me,” Toni said in a steadier tone. “Logical or not, it was just sooner this way.”
Buck considered her statement and made more notes. “I don’t see any reason to make a big deal of Garrett’s part in it,” he said when he finished writing. “But can either of you pinpoint exactly what time you last saw her?” He glanced from one to the other of them.
“I remember her last party activity, when she announced that everyone should take an ornament off the Christmas tree and look for a red dot on it. If you found one, you won a prize,” John explained. “I don’t remember seeing her after that.”
Something occurred to Toni. “I don’t recall seeing her after the tree ornament thing, and I know she left the gym before cleanup, but I remember seeing the light on in her office as I left the building.”
“What time was this?”
“Around five, I think. It was right after a couple other staff members and I took the Christmas tree down and cleaned up the gym. Everyone else had left by then.”
“I left at five,” John said.
“I left about fifteen minutes after that,” Toni said, remembering.
“Which exit did you use?”
Toni thought back. “The east one. As I was going down the hall, I noticed that the door to the administration offices was open, and there was a light on in Marsha’s office.”
He frowned. “Was that unusual?”
Toni shook her head. “No, she was known for being at the school at all hours. It wasn’t unusual to arrive in the morning and find a note on your desk commenting on something she had found in an evening room check, so her office light was often on at night. I didn’t think anything about it.”
“You were likely the last person to have been near her on that date then, which was …”
“December twenty-second,” John supplied. “Which would have been eleven days ago.”
Toni suddenly remembered something else. “Her car was parked at the end of the building that day, instead of in her usual reserved space by the front entrance.”
“She parked there because it was handier for hauling in the boxes of stuff she brought for the Christmas party,” John explained.