by Helen Gray
Toni returned his laugh. “He’s right, but I promised the boys I’ll attend their baseball game after school.”
“That’s okay. I haven’t watched a game in a long time. I’ll drop by and chat with you there. I’m sure there’ll be a Coke available at the concession stand. See you about three-thirty.”
Toni returned to her grade checking, comparing those in the computer to the ones in her grade book. Her heart sank when she found two incorrect grades in her A & P class and one each in all three of her general biology classes. The forensics class was okay.
During fourth hour Toni had to force herself not to stare at the student in that class who had a higher grade in the computer system than he had actually earned. When the lunch bell rang, she snatched her lunch from her desk and hurried to John’s room.
Their eyes locked as she pulled up a chair next to his desk. “How many did you find?”
“Eight.” He pulled the plastic bag off his sandwich. “How about you?”
“Five.” She took her own sandwich from its wrapping. “Two in A & P, one in each section of general biology.”
John emitted a heavy sigh. “It looks like we’ve got a hacker. Should we talk to Doyle and then go see our principal after school?” He bit into his sandwich hungrily.
Toni frowned, shaking her head. “I promised the boys…”
“Your super trio?”
She nodded. “I promised to attend their home baseball game today. Plus, Buck Freeman is coming by the game to talk to me.”
“How about I talk to Doyle after school and compare notes with him? Then the three of us can talk to Ken in the morning.”
“That’ll work for me. You know,” she said, a thought occurring to her, “I’m thinking those changes were made right after spring break.”
John finished his sandwich and soda. “You’re probably right.”
“I’ll see you in the morning.” She stood and left.
Dack, Q, and Jeremy were not present in seventh hour because the baseball team had been excused early to prepare the ball field for the game.
When Toni reached the lobby after school and met Gabe and Garrett, they were ready to go. When she had told them the evening before that she planned to stay for the baseball game, they had been delighted. They would find friends there to sit with, or, if they got bored, they could go play catch or bat a tennis ball around in the tennis court.
There were three sections of bleachers behind the wire screened home plate area, one directly behind the plate, and one to each side of that section. Constructed of metal, they were about twelve feet across and six tiers high. Toni found a seat behind home plate, choosing a spot near the top and far enough toward the end that no one was likely to sit there. There would be plenty of room for Buck to join her there when he arrived.
Originally organized in 1859, their public school district had weathered hard times. After a fire destroyed the building in 1909, the board had approved a bond and erected a three-story brick structure. Currently the district served about twelve hundred students and had a faculty of close to a hundred. They offered a wealth of programs for their students.
Toni wasn’t one of those rabid sports addicts who put sports ahead of everything, but she did see value in the motivation and healthy exercise they provided. She saw too many students, and adults too for that matter, spend too much time in sedentary activities such as video games and watching television.
Buck walked around the end of the bleachers and climbed up to join her, a paper cups in each hand. “Here you go.” He handed her one of them and sat on the end of the bench as she scooted over.
“I was already planning to call you when I learned you had tried to call me. I guess that means we both have questions to ask or information to share. Why don’t you go first?”
Chapter 4
Toni took a big swig of her Coke, followed by a deep breath. “The three boys who found the bones have decided they’re going to solve the crime, find out the identity of the man who was killed, and who did it.”
Buck’s eyed widened a little, and his mouth tightened. “We don’t need a bunch of kids hanging around and meddling in things that are none of their business.”
Toni made an I-can’t-help-it shrug. “I agree, but it’s a free world, and I don’t know that they can be stopped from chasing their big ideas.”
“Have they said or done anything yet that I should know about?”
“That’s why I called you. Jeremy has been searching the Internet for stories about missing persons in the area, and he found three stories.”
Buck’s look changed from outright skepticism to slight interest. “What did he find?”
“There was a teenage runaway from another town, but Jeremy doesn’t think that’s our skeleton because the skull was too big and not shaped right. I didn’t tell him that,” she added quickly. “That’s his conclusion.”
He nodded. “Not bad. That would be the Sharon Chandler case. Are these boys in your forensics class?”
“Yes, and Jeremy is a very bright student. The second story he found is a husband who told his wife he was going out to have some work done on his car and never came back. Jeremy thinks that one’s a possibility.”
A slight twitch appeared at the corners of the chief’s mouth. “Finnegan. And the third story?”
Toni hesitated. For someone known for her solid approach to scientific reasoning, she somehow sensed, deep within her—as irrational as it might be—that this was their skeleton.
Buck studied her face that must have revealed the difficulty she was having articulating her next words. He waited patiently.
“He found a story about the preacher who disappeared two and a half years ago with the money from the Fall Festival,” she said slowly.
Buck’s stare intensified. All activity on the ball field and on the seating around them faded from Toni’s mind.
He nodded, and then spoke grimly. “Garrett dreamed about finding gold by the water. Reverend Goldman disappeared, and now a skeleton is found by the water.”
Toni took a deep breath. “Do you think it’s him? I tried to keep my thoughts from showing when Jeremy was relating the story, but I’m not sure how well I did.”
“His research is parallel to my own,” Buck said. “The teenage runaway hasn’t been found, and I don’t think she intends to be found. I’m pretty sure she ran away from an abusive situation. I don’t have the official report back on the skull and bones yet, but I trust your judgment that it’s an adult male. Definitely not a fit to the young girl.”
Toni glanced up and saw that the game was starting. Sipping at her Coke, she returned her attention to Buck.
“I found records of social security earnings on the missing husband,” the chief continued. “That tells me he’s another runaway and doesn’t want to be found.”
“What about the third one?” She waited tensely for his response.
“I found the story on Reverend Goldman and made the same connection you did,” he said in a somber tone. “It was enough to make me do some serious checking. There’s been no activity on the man’s credit cards since he disappeared, and his driver’s license has expired and not been renewed.”
Toni released her long held breath. “It sounds like he didn’t take off with the town’s festival money.”
“I don’t think he left at all,” Buck stated with grim certainty. “We found a pair of shoes up the creek line about a hundred yards from where the skull was found. They were size ten men’s shoes, of top quality with thick rubber soles. They looked like the animals had played tug of war with them, but they match your theory of a male victim. Later, when we searched the area with the metal detector, we found a bullet. We tested it and ran it against our database, but we got no hits. The last time anyone can remember seeing Goldman was the night the festival ended two and a half years ago.”
“Now what?” Toni asked.
“I’ve requested his phone logs from the year preceding his disa
ppearance, and I’ll be checking on more things while waiting for a report from the state DNA lab. We’ll compare it to a sample of Reverend Goldman’s, which I’m hoping to locate by then. In the meantime, I hope you’ll keep a close eye on your wannabe detectives and keep them out of trouble.”
A yell erupted from the crowd, drawing their attention to the field. Q Lakowski had just made an outstanding catch in center field, sliding on his belly and holding the ball aloft.
*
The next morning Toni and John arrived at their classroom doors at the same time. “I’ll be right with you,” Toni said as she unlocked her door.
A minute later they headed down the hall and up the two flights of stairs that curved up to the second floor. They met Doyle Ross coming down the hall from the opposite direction, his face grim. “I’ll join you in a minute,” he said, stopping to unlock his door. He took his lunch and books inside and came right back out.
The three of them went back downstairs and directly to the principal’s office. Pam Wesley, the secretary at the front desk, looked up as they entered. T tall and slender with long blonde hair, she wore a mint green silk blouse. Her smile faded as she read the looks on their faces. “Trouble?”
“Is Ken in his office?” John asked.
“He’s been in a meeting with the special education personnel, but he should be here any second. Why don’t you go on in there and wait?”
There were only two chairs in Ken’s small office that was located behind the front office. Pam brought in a folding chair and set it near the door. John sat in that one. Toni and Doyle took the other two.
“What’s up?” Ken Douglas asked moments later as he came hustling into the room.
Toni and Doyle both looked at John, silently electing him spokesperson. “We’ve found some discrepancies between grades in the grading system and what we entered,” he said.
They each related the differences they had found, and by the time they were finished, Ken was leaning forward on his elbows, staring at them in dismay. “Are you telling me that someone has hacked into our system and changed grades?”
John nodded. “It sure looks that way.”
“Any idea how? Or who?”
“As for how, there are a number of keylogger programs out there that can be bought for under a hundred dollars,” Toni said. “I think there are even some that can be downloaded free. And there are always pirated copies of such things. But as for who would have done it, I have no idea.”
John and Doyle gave shakes of their heads that indicated no knowledge.
Ken picked up a pen and began making notes on the notepad on his desk. “I’ll talk to Dillon and have him start checking things.” He referred to the district’s technology director. “Then I’ll schedule a faculty meeting for tomorrow morning before first hour.”
Toni glanced at her watch. “We’d better go, or our classes will be arriving to locked rooms.”
It was a hectic day, one of those that seem to be filled with a multitude of extra, and mostly unnecessary, distractions. Doyle, John and Ken all called Toni at some point in the day with questions or comments, and the students were not very attentive. Half of Toni’s microscopes seemed to have burned out bulbs, causing Toni’s bulb to threaten to burn out. Two students broke slides, and she spilled glue on her lab coat. By the end of the day all Toni wanted to do was go home and crash. But she needed to stop at the grocery store and pick up some milk and orange juice.
When she finally entered the grocery store, d the store, her eyes gravitated to the headline of the newspaper on top of a pile by the door: STUDENTS BONING UP, FIND SKELETON IN PARK.
The Clearmount Clarion was issued weekly, hitting the streets each Wednesday afternoon. Subscribers received it in their mailboxes on Thursday. Toni’s parents subscribed and passed it on to her on Friday, insisting there was no need for both of them to subscribe. Normally that was okay with Toni, because she usually didn’t have time to relax and read it before Friday anyhow. But this was different. She grabbed a copy from the pile, and then headed for the dairy coolers in the back of the store.
As soon as she arrived home and had things put away, she landed in the recliner with the paper. What shocked her was seeing a picture of the skull in the rotten log at the top of the article.
The Clearmount Police Department received a call Friday from a teacher at the local high school relating that, during an outdoor activity at the park below the ball fields, some of her students had discovered bones that appeared to be human. When the students took Mrs. Toni Donovan to the site of their discover, a human skull was found nearby. Officers have been scouring the area with their K-9 unit and metal detectors, looking for clues.
The police are not releasing details of their investigation, but indicated that identifying human remains is a lengthy process. When asked if this appears to be a crime scene, Chief of Police Buck Freeman said, “Anytime we have human remains, we treat it as a homicide until we learn otherwise.” He indicated that investigators will be going through police records and missing person reports. According to the chief, they have some leads, but he declined to elaborate.
*
Thursday, May 3
Toni and John locked their classroom doors and went up the hall to the library for the special faculty meeting Ken Douglas had announced at the end of seventh hour the day before. As staff members filed into the room that was buzzing with speculation, they found seats at a table near the far end of the checkout counter.
Hal Warren slid into the chair next to Toni. “Do you know what this is about?” he asked in a loud whisper.
“Probably just some wrap-up matters,” she replied vaguely, forcing herself to smile at him. Hal had been hired during the middle of the first semester to replace a math teacher their superintendent had fired. Hal had nothing to do with that blow-up, but his personality was less than appealing. He usually managed to comment aloud about something at every meeting, whether he knew what he was talking about or not. Toni knew the main gossip topics of the day had been the skeleton and the article in the paper. Hal was obviously intent on pumping her for details.
“What are the police…”
“Okay, let’s get started,” Ken Douglas announced from the front of the room, effectively cutting off Hal’s questions. He glanced over at the door as Loretta Mullins, the librarian, eased her way into the room, late as usual. “I have one quick announcement before we tackle business. Tomorrow is the last day for turning in library books and materials. After that they’re overdue and subject to fines and grade cards and diplomas being held. The library will be closed after Tuesday the eighth for inventory.”
Hal’s hand waved in the air. “What do we do if books are lost?”
A fleeting look of annoyance crossed Ken’s face before he could prevent it. “Talk to the librarian,” he said briefly. “Now let’s move on to business. There are two items I need to talk to you about. First, someone from the police department called me at home last night to ask if I could tell them how that picture got in the paper with the article about the human remains found during a school activity. If anyone knows who took it and gave it to the media, please talk to me later.”
Toni’s attention had strayed during Loretta’s late arrival, but that comment snapped her to attention. She visualized the boys sitting on the grass while she checked the area and found the skull. She would nail them as soon as they came to class seventh hour. She was sure they wouldn’t be present more than half the period, since they had a home game after school and would be dismissed early to get ready for it.
“There’s another matter that requires your assistance,” Ken continued. “It’s been brought to my attention that there are discrepancies between grades that were entered into the computer system at the end of third quarter and what’s there now.”
Stunned silence fell over the room.
“You mean grades have been altered?” someone asked in loud astonishment.
“It’s possible,” Ken ad
mitted, his expression pained. Then he resumed his business-like composure. “I want all of you to access your grades and compare them to what you entered. You should each have a hard copy of them in your grade book. Make a list of every student whose grades have been changed and turn it in to me by tomorrow morning.”
He let his gaze travel from one side of the room to the other, scanning faces. “If anyone knows, or even has the slightest suspicion, who is behind this, please let me know. Dillon is already examining the system, but any information you can provide will be appreciated. Of course, it goes without saying that this is not to be discussed with anyone at this point.”
Whispering accelerated amongst the gathering.
“Is there anything any of you needs to bring up before we go to class?” he asked.
A hand crept up.
Ken acknowledged it with a nod.
“I don’t know who is hacking into our system,” Dixie Thomas said hesitantly. “But I know of only one student in our present enrollment who might be capable of it.”
Heads began to nod agreement.
“Jeremy Barnes,” someone whispered loudly enough to be heard from the back of the room.
“He’s the only student we have who’s capable of doing it,” another staff member seconded.
Toni’s heart sank. She knew Jeremy personally, and she couldn’t imagine him doing such a thing. His own grades were very high. In fact, he was the salutatorian for this year’s graduating class. The timing for such an accusation was also terrible. Graduation wouldn’t be until the eighteenth, but senior finals were the tenth and eleventh, with their grades due Monday the fourteenth. If he was convicted of this mess, he might not be allowed to graduate.
“If anyone has any relevant information, please come see me during your plan period today,” Ken said. “I’ll try to stay close to the office. Get those lists to me no later than 8 a.m. tomorrow. You’re dismissed.”
Toni’s brain was spinning, but generating no answers. Throughout the day she wrestled with questions. When seventh hour finally arrived, she took roll and started the class on a reading assignment. Then she beckoned to her troublesome trio.