by Helen Gray
She gave her brother an I-don’t-know-what’s-wrong shrug.
“Well, let’s get in there and watch him show his stuff.” Quint led the way inside the ballpark. When they were seated, Toni could see the green roofs of the OTC campus where she was teaching.
“Is anyone ready for snacks yet?” Kyle asked.
Everyone told him what they wanted—except Gabe.
“How about you?” Kyle asked him. “Want a soda?”
“Okay,” Gabe said without expression.
By the seventh inning stretch, the Cardinals were ahead four to two. The young pitcher had done well. Garrett had been a noisy, cheering fan. But Gabe, an avid baseball fan who planned to play on the Clearmount Junior High team that fall, remained subdued.
Suddenly he began digging around in the pocket of his jeans, his face twisted in distress. “What’s the matter, Son,” Toni asked.
“I can’t find my pocket knife, the one I got for Christmas.” He searched the other pocket.
“Are you sure you put it in your pocket?”
He nodded, his subdued manner turning to panic. “I’m sure I did. I…” He paused, thinking and frowning. “Maybe I didn’t.”
“When was the last time you remember seeing it?”
He concentrated, squinting as he tried to remember. “I always put it next to the bed. But now I’m not sure I remember seeing it this morning,” he finally admitted.
“Where could you have left it, or lost it?”
As his face went through a series of contortions, thoughtfulness slowly turned to horror. “Oh, no,” he gasped. “The last time I really remember seeing it is when I was cutting a stick down by the lagoon at the park.”
“We can go by there on our way home and look for it,” Toni said.
“No!”
Quiet fell over the small group, the game forgotten.
“Don’t you want to find your knife?” Kyle asked.
Gabe’s head bobbed up and down, and then shook back and forth. His eyes became shiny with tears he fought to keep from shedding. “I can’t,” he finally managed to choke.
Toni’s heart caught in her throat, unsure how to handle her child’s distress. “Can you tell me why you can’t?” she asked softly, reaching over and taking one of his hands in her own.
Gabe gulped. “We can’t go back there. Someone is killing people there. They might hurt Garrett.”
That pretty much confirmed Toni’s suspicion about what was bothering him. His concern about Garrett was understandable, even justified, considering that someone had actually tried to harm Garrett the first time a dream of his had connected to a murder. “We’ll all go together, and it’s broad daylight,” she reassured him. “We’ll all keep a close lookout for anything out of the ordinary. You want to find your knife, don’t you?”
Gabe nodded wordlessly.
“Okay, let’s finish the game. Then we’ll go.”
“I’ll tag along if you like,” Quint offered, looking at Toni for a response. “Then, afterward, we can swing by the station ford you to give your formal statements.”
Toni glanced at Kyle and received a nod of agreement. “Okay.”
“It’ll be pretty cut and dry,” Quint said. “Each of you will be asked to tell your story, and someone will write it down. I’ll do everything I can to keep Garrett’s…uh, extraordinary motivation confidential,” he said softly to Toni.
“I’d like to ride with Uncle Quint, since he’s a cop.” Gabe eyed his parents for permission.
“It’s all right with me,” Toni said, relieved at his improved demeanor.
*
When they returned to the park an hour later, it was a quiet oasis. Toni took in the almost magical feeling of the tree and shrub laden refuge that was now so unlike the previous day. Only three or four people were on the lawn, but she heard what sounded like youngsters out of sight over around the caves.
They let Gabe lead the way to where he remembered having his knife. “I was sitting here,” he said, stopping near the end of the lagoon and looking around.
“It’s not here,” Quint declared after they had searched the area thoroughly. “Which isn’t surprising, since this is such a public place. If he lost it here, someone surely found and kept it.”
Toni felt bad for Gabe. She started to say something to him when her attention was drawn to Garrett. He had gone to the very edge of the water and squatted to stare into it. She walked over next to him.
“I see it,” he said, pointing at a spot two or three feet out.
Quint joined them and peered at where Garrett was pointing. “It might have rolled in there, but I’m guessing someone came along and unknowingly kicked it.” He dropped to his belly and reached out. Unable to reach the knife, he edged forward a little more, and almost toppled into the water.
Gabe darted behind him and grabbed a foot. “Get the other one,” he ordered Garrett.
Quint glanced back over his shoulder and grinned. “Think you can hold me?”
“Sure,” Gabe answered. “But if we can’t, you get dunked,” he added with a laugh.
Toni stepped over alongside Gabe and grasped Quint’s right ankle. Kyle joined Garrett and grabbed the left. Together they held him while he stretched out to where the knife lay and plunged his hand down. When he did, his head and shoulders went in the water. As he tried to rise, everyone pulled, and he was yanked back onto dry ground.
Rolling over and holding up the knife, he grinned through the water streaming from his hair over his face and soaking his tee shirt.
Gabe took the knife. “Thanks, Uncle Quint. You’re funny.”
“Think so, huh?” Quint sat upright and wiped his eyes and face with the tail of his shirt. “Do you feel like going to the station with me now?”
Both boys nodded and broke into a run toward his pickup.
Kyle and Toni drove behind Quint and the boys across town. Toni liked the logical checkerboard layout of the city’s streets. She found them easier to navigate than any city in which she had driven. The south district station was located on West Battlefield Road, between Scenic and Clifton Avenues.
Quint used his key card to get them inside. A female receptionist or dispatcher sat behind a glass window in front of them, but they didn’t approach her. To the right were a metal detector and a fingerprinting room, according to the signs. Quint led them past a collection of chairs to a doorway and turned left.
“These are interrogation rooms,” he explained to the boys, indicating each side of the hallway. “Think of them as conference rooms if that title bothers you. I’ll put you in this one and let the detective on duty know you’re here.”
The boys stepped inside and surveyed the room, suddenly silent, and chose chairs side by side at the conference table. Toni chose a chair directly across from them, where she could watch their faces. Kyle sat next to her.
Quint and a suit clad man entered the room. “This is lead detective Meacham. He’ll be the one asking questions. He’ll want to know a lot of details, and your answers will be taped, but don’t let that make you nervous. He’s good at what he does.”
Detective Meacham took the chair at the head of the table. “Thank you for coming,” he said, arranging papers in front of him. “Let’s see if I can get your names right.”
He looked at Toni. “You’re Quint’s sister, right?”
Toni nodded. “Yes. I’m Toni. And this is my husband, Kyle.”
“Glad to meet both of you.” He glanced at his notes, and then focused on the boys. “Will you two tell me which is Garret and which is Gabe?”
Gabe spoke first. “I’m Gabe. He’s Garrett. He’s two years younger than me.”
The detective grinned at Gabe’s extra information.
Quint checked his watch. “I hate to leave you, but I need to go home and get into uniform so I can report for duty. Will you guys be all right?” he asked the boys.
“We’re fine,” Gabe assured him. “Will you come see us again before we
go home Thursday?”
“I’ll do that,” he promised, and left the room.
Toni bounced to her feet and caught up to Quint in the hall. “I want to say thanks for the extra attention you’ve given the boys.” She gave him a quick hug.
“Aw, shucks,” he drawled in a bumpkin manner. “’Tweren’t nothin’.” Then he turned serious. “Believe it or not, big sister, I like your kids. In fact, I almost wish I had that youngest one on the force with me.”
Toni swatted at him. “Go to work.”
She hurried back inside and resumed her seat. The next hour was tiring, but she was proud of the way the boys told their stories. And pleased at the way the detective drew the facts from Garrett without relying on Gabe. The worst part was when he asked Garrett why he had come to find the body and heard the story of the dream. He made notes and never indicated that he found the story unbelievable, but Toni knew he surely had reservations.
The questions he put to her and Kyle were straightforward, and answered without hesitation. When they were finished, the detective gathered his notes into a pile, thanked them again for their time, and saw them to the door.
When they arrived back at the Donovan house, Toni was just taking her purse to the bedroom when her phone rang.
“Hello, Kara,” she said, reading the caller ID.
“Toni! Tell me about the story in today’s paper. You were at the park yesterday for a family reunion, weren’t you?”
“Yes, I was.” She didn’t elaborate.
“My gut says you’re the teacher whose family found that coach’s body. I want to hear the details.”
“On the phone?”
Kara paused. “It would be better if we could visit face to face. How about getting together tomorrow after class.”
“I could meet you in the student union. You know your class schedule better than I do.”
“I’ll be at the entrance at one-thirty.”
Toni grinned as Kara disconnected. She should have anticipated her friend’s interest. After all, they were both scientists—and over-endowed with curiosity.
Monday morning Kyle left at five a.m., saying he would get something to eat on the way to the airport. An hour later, dressed in lightweight white slacks and an aqua blouse, Toni went downstairs.
“Good morning,” Barb Donovan greeted her as she entered the kitchen. “Breakfast is ready, but the boys are sleeping late. Have a seat.”
There was toast, juice, bacon and eggs on the table. Toni took a chair next to her father-in-law. “I’m not usually a big breakfast eater, but this looks good. I won’t need lunch.”
“What time will you be back here?” Barb asked, putting an egg on her own plate.
“I’ll be in class until one, but I’m meeting Kara at the student union at one-thirty. I should be in no later than four, in plenty of time to help you with the evening meal.”
“Oh, you don’t need to do that. I already have things planned. We’re taking the boys to the zoo today, so if we’re not here when you get in, don’t worry about them.”
Toni wished she felt more at ease with her mother-in-law. Barb Donovan was a good woman, but she was so intense, so determined to do everything just right, that her nervousness was contagious.
Forced to take early retirement from the Corps of Engineers after suffering a stroke, her father-in-law had a number of health problems. But he seemed content with his life since making the move to Springfield a few years ago. He was more laid back than Barb, more relaxing to be around.
Toni ate quickly and left the house, knowing her boys were in good hands—even though they might feel a little stifled. Barb, the life-long stay at home mom and epitome of domesticity, would see to their every need once they were done sleeping in late.
It was almost seven-thirty, and Toni needed to set up for lab after lecture. Lectures were from eight-thirty to eleven Monday through Thursday, but on Mondays and Wednesdays they were followed by a two-hour lab.
Ozark Technical College had originally opened in 1991, at Cox Medical Center North, with about twelve hundred students. Focused on job-skill training and college transfer preparation, the school had achieved accreditation by 1996. Then it grew quickly, spreading to locations all over town and opening satellite campuses in other towns—and was still expanding.
Toni exited Chestnut Expressway into the parking lot of the main campus and parked near the technical center where the science classes were taught.
Inside her classroom were six tables, with four chairs at each, and a microscope cabinet below them. At the front of the room were a white board and a pull-down screen for projecting PowerPoint presentations. Against the walls were cabinets that contained models of human body parts. In one corner of the room stood a model of a full human skeleton that Kara had whimsically introduced to her at the beginning of the summer as Mr. Bones.
Three students entered as Toni finished arranging materials on the lab tables. They were chatting.
“. . .paper didn’t give the name of the person who found the body. . . just that it was the family of a teacher who was attending a get-together at the park. The police must be protecting someone.”
Toni turned slightly so the speaker couldn’t see her face.
“Since it just says her family, I’m betting there’s a minor involved,” another student theorized.
“I don’t care who found him,” the third one said. “I bet there are a bunch of people who are glad he’s dead.”
“But he was a coach at Ozark,” the first speaker objected. “Who in the world would want him dead?”
The third one snorted. “Don’t you know he was fired? And it wasn’t the first time.”
As they moved on to the back of the room, Toni couldn’t distinguish any more of the conversation. She went to the computer and pulled up her PowerPoint presentation.
Chapter 4
The mid-term exam at the end of the first four weeks had been over biochemistry and the skeletal and muscular systems. The second four weeks had begun last week with the nervous system. Today they would be studying the five senses.
The two and a half hour lecture served to take Toni’s mind off her boys and the murder case. Thinking she might have trouble concentrating today, it was nice when material that was so familiar to her that she could have presented it in her sleep soon had her back in control.
Teaching wasn’t always easy, but Toni genuinely enjoyed the work—and most of the students she taught. There were always a few who had problems and caused distractions, but she loved being able to make a difference in young lives. This was different, though, because she was accustomed to teaching high school students. There were seventeen enrolled in this class, most of them in their twenties or older, and they commuted from all over that part of the state.
“Let’s start with the sense of touch.” Toni moved with the students from their desks to the lab set-ups behind them. “If you’ll look on your tables, you’ll find some calipers. They have two adjustable arms, or jaws, and are usually used to measure diameter or thickness. Today we’ll measure our sense of touch. I want you to press the instrument into your index finger, your back, and your neck. Start with the caliper arms close together, touch repeatedly, and keep adjusting the arms until they’re far enough apart that you can tell you’re being touched with two arms instead of only one. Work in pairs and take turns touching your partner.”
“Oh, goody, we get to play touchy-touchy,” someone quipped.
There were some snickers, but they all tackled the assignment.
They were given small, unlabeled containers of coffee, garlic powder, cinnamon and cocoa butter to smell and identify. The next containers held salt water, sugar water, lemon juice, and alum for them to taste and identify salty, sweet, sour, and bitter. Vision testing was done with a Snelling chart, and hearing was tested with tuning forks.
At the end of lab Toni dismissed the class and began to tidy her desk, but Nicole Warren lingered in a manner that indicated she wan
ted to speak to Toni.
There were a lot of single mothers enrolled at the school, and this class drew a high percentage of nursing students. Nicole was both. Somewhere in her twenties, with long dark hair that fell nearly to her waist, she was one of those who had gotten married right out of high school, ended up divorced, and returned to school to try to acquire a better way of supporting herself and her child. Toni knew from past conversations that Nicole had a little girl and was struggling to meet her bills.
Somewhat hesitantly Nicole approached Toni, a folded newspaper in her hand. She paused and glanced around, as if checking to be sure they were alone.
“May I help you?”
Nicole shoved the newspaper toward Toni. It was the front-page section of yesterday’s Sunday edition, with the story about the body being found at the park staring up at them. “I’ve been reading this,” she said in a rush. “It doesn’t name the people who found the body, but it says it was a teacher and her family and a friend.”
Toni knew the article only stated the simple facts, that the body of an Ozark coach had been found in the Sequiota Park lagoon, a homicide victim, and an investigation was being conducted. It noted that the victim had a wife and two stepchildren living in Ozark. She met Nicole’s intense gaze, debating how to answer.
Nicole pointed at the picture. “That was taken from a distance. It’s of the crime scene, but that looks like you in the background at the left of the police officers.”
Toni had been startled at seeing the picture the night before after returning to the Donovan home. The police had honored her request to keep their names out of the story, so the picture had been a shock. It had only caught part of her and John in profile, so she had hoped they would not be recognized. She was thankful that the boys had been far enough away that the reporter’s camera had missed them.
“Is there a particular reason for your question?” she asked evasively.
Nicole nodded. “I was wondering if you know any more about who killed him than what’s in the article.”
There was something about the girl’s manner that made Toni wonder if she knew something relevant. “It’s me,” she admitted quietly. “But I have no idea who killed him. Did you know him?”