by Laura Greene
“Yes, Ella Conwell.”
“I need to talk to her.”
“Let me check.” Amy places a call to Judy while Tina studies the room further.
What was haunting you, Anna? Tina thinks.
Amy returns with an answer, “Just like I thought, she’s not here. She and the hockey team are out of town for a game. They won’t be back until later tonight.” Looking out of the small window protruding out of the wall, Tina can see that it’s already dark outside.
“Can you set up a meeting first thing in the morning?
“Sure, but why don’t you go home and get some rest? You probably have some unpacking to do?”
“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s call it a night.” Tina takes out her notebook and jots down that she has taken Anna’s journal as evidence. Then she takes a quick walk through the room, being careful to return everything back into its correct place.
“Oh, Judy said that she looked online and that there is no sign of a challenge or anything of the sort. She even extended it to the past two weeks just to be sure.” Amy says this while raising her hands in the air. “Does that mean we’re back to square one?”
“We’ll know for sure tomorrow when I talk to Ella.” Tina has a pit at the bottom of her stomach that she can’t shake. Whenever this happens, it usually means something is very wrong. She’s not sure what that could be, but if Tina has anything to say, she’ll do everything she can to find out.
They step out of the room and Tina is startled; she almost reaches for her gun, fingers lightly tingling over the holster. “Who are you?”
“Oh, I’m sorry ma’am. I… I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just cleaning up a spill.” A frail and rather pale-looking man who can’t be more than in his early thirties stands in the dim corridor, hunched over a mop and bucket. He stands in stark contrast to the upper-class and prestigious personnel that she has been running into all day. This draws pity from her. Tina has always had a tender regard for the less fortunate. It’s one of the reasons why she went into law enforcement – to defend those who are unprotected. This private school and all its pretenses are oddly out of her comfort zone, even though she herself comes from a relatively well-off family.
“Oh Charlie, my boy, you really need to stop appearing everywhere like this,” Amy says. “I can’t tell you how many times he has caught me off-guard. He’s our school janitor.”
An opportunity has presented itself. Tina inches closer and says, “You were here this morning weren’t you? When the girl was found?”
“Yes.” Remorse is forming on Charlie’s face and his eyes drop down to his mop.
“I’m sure it was quite an ordeal for you, Charlie.” Tina slowly edges her hand away from her weapon. She needs the support of the staff if she’s to make any headway in her investigation. “Did you see anything unusual or out of place?”
“It was actually Charlie who found Anna at the water tower,” Amy says, recalling that she has left out an important piece of evidence.
“Is this true?” Tina is now pressing. Anyone is a suspect at the moment.
“Yes ma’am. I was driving, searching the perimeter for tree branches that might have fallen during last night’s wind. I might have missed her if I hadn’t caught a flash of white from the bed sheet wrapped around her. She was at the bottom of the water tower. That’s also where the coroner picked her up from.”
“Can you show me exactly where this is?”
“Yes; it’s dark now, but I can show you in the morning when you come in.”
Tina leaves the school with more questions than answers. Such is expected, this being the first day of her investigation. She feels she has a few leads to work with and she plans to follow through with each one.
Chapter 5
The drive home is dark and eerie. No procession of bushes to welcome her is in sight; even the towering trees that once flagged her path to the school have been swallowed by the night. All that remains are the infrequent car lights appearing and disappearing at will.
It is in the night that most evils occur. And for Tina, who is in a new town with new people, the night is closing in and suffocating every ounce of safety with each mile that it consumes behind her.
She has no friends yet; well… except for Nick. Being an agent can be lonely, so she’s grateful to see Nick was friendly to her today. Another great thing is that at least this is an easy case for her. Even though she came close today, she hasn’t had to lift her gun once. That is unheard of in Roxbury. Right now she would be out on a beat or trying to fall asleep to the sweet lullaby of police sirens.
The silence here is unnerving.
Reflecting on her day at the school and encounter with Nick, Tina fails to see until now a car encroaching and now turning into her neighborhood right behind her. Glancing into her rearview mirror she is first alarmed; the car is driving dangerously close to her. She picks up the speed. The car tails her, not allowing an inch of breathing room. Who could it be? It’s too early in the case for her to have made any enemies, surely. Squinting and shifting her eyes between the rearview and side mirrors, it’s too dark to tell the make, color or even the driver of the car. She’s thinking of a plan. Do I fake a turn or exit the neighborhood to a more well-lit area? Even the street lamps are merciless tonight. She can’t think of anything close by that could be open and have enough light to reveal who is tailing her. The car is now inches from hers. Any sudden moves and her Acura will be hit.
Just what I need, one more thing to annoy Dale with tonight. After all, he didn’t understand why she had to take their personal car instead of her assigned Bureau SUV this morning, but she needed to avoid all unnecessary attention on the school.
Then Tina wonders if she can turn into a different house, park and quickly ready her firearm. She’s getting close to her home; this is the time to act now and act fast. Before she can respond to her harassers, the car slowly backs off and it’s just as well – her house is only three doors down. Next, the car turns into a street on the right and it’s… gone.
She still hasn’t learned the streets well enough to name them.
Is someone trying to send a message? If so, they have her attention. Is that how people drive in Newport? Or maybe she is perceiving a danger that’s not really there.
Tina turns into her driveway and waits inside her car to see if anyone shows up. No car is in sight. It was probably just an aggressive driver.
Inside, Dale does not know it yet, but his presence in the home is unintentionally protecting Tina from her dangerous attackers, who are now parking their car on the side of the road just one door from their home. They wait in silence.
Dale is watching TV, already wearing his pajamas. Some show about house flipping is playing with the volume low enough to reveal it’s just background noise. He’s waiting for me.
Tina prefers reading a good mystery and thriller over TV. They used to love these differences. They were what drew them to each other, but now they’re what annoy them most about each other.
“I’m sorry we had to cancel dinner.” A cold breeze is flowing through the room but when Tina turns around, the door is closed. More concerning to Tina is the tightness forming in her chest.
Dale turns off the TV and turns to look at Tina from the couch, while she in turn is standing by the entrance to the kitchen. “Are you sure we can do this?”
Tina has been dreading this conversation. She knew it was coming, but now that it’s here, she doesn’t know what to say. The chill of the room is overwhelming. She needs to say something, anything, to apprehend the coldness. “Dale, I thought we could. I think we just want different things right now.” The room begins to warm up.
“We can at least say we tried,” Dale says, smiling. He walks up to Tina, away from the living room window where Tina’s stalkers have now tip-toed their way to unnoticed, and are now looking through the window, finalizing their baleful plans. “Now you can have carte blanche as an agent. It is what you always wanted.�
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She takes his hands into hers, “You’ve always known what to say at the right time. Honey, I will always love you, and you deserve more than cold dinners and canceled reservations. You deserve someone who shares the same dream as you.”
Dale leans in and hugs her, holding her safely in his arms, then says, “Thanks babe. I guess I should tell you that I got offered my job back today.”
“In Boston?” Tina says with excitement. She doesn’t want Dale to go, but it’s time they move on. The tightness in her chest has subsided, but she is too excited to recognize it. “Are you going to take it?”
“Yeah,” Dale says, nodding his head. “They want me to start before the week is over, what with tax season around the corner.”
Tina doesn’t hide her sadness, “I’ll miss you.” Dale and she may not be compatible enough to be lovers, but they have become close friends, if not the best of friends.
“Come on, it’s getting late. Let’s head to bed. You won’t believe what I’ve done with the place,” Dale says proudly, and takes her hand in his. Heading to the bedroom, he turns the lights off to the on looking world outside.
Her assailants deliberate in the night, briefly, then return to their car and leave. What Dale and Tina did not see hidden in the dark may have saved them a night of restlessness. They sleep peacefully, unaware of the terror retreating by night. For now they are safe.
Chapter 6
“God does not teach us an eye for an eye. In fact, He says vengeance is Mine. If someone hurts us it’s easy to take revenge, but it takes more restraint to hold back and let God deal with it.” It is Nick in a dark blue dress shirt and khakis who is speaking at the front of the chapel. The room is quiet and the students are listening in.
Tina vaguely remembers the familiar message from years ago. Her nanny, Grace, went to church every Sunday and once in a while shared what she learned with Tina over ice cream. It was one of her favorite past times.
Since then she has seen so much vengeance at the hand of ordinary men and women that the message is a little tough to chew on. She fancies herself more of a ‘nothing is new under the sun’ kind of girl. The wisdom of King Solomon has helped her wiggle out of many difficult situations.
One time, she cracked a case rather unexpectedly about an Italian kingpin only known as Old Sal. She was working undercover in a bar near Columbus Avenue when a tip came in that Old Sal was known for frequenting Molly’s Bar. It was owned by a friend of his from the old country, and he would leave in a drunken stupor. That day, Sal was in a good mood after striking a deal with a local drug lord which was going to increase his reach all the way to Hyde Park.
Tina offered to buy him a round of drinks to celebrate. Old Sal drank like a fish, and so did his men. Tina, however, recalled King Solomon’s advice that alcohol can make one foolish, and pursed her lips tightly on the glass to look like she was drinking, but didn’t take a single sip. Soon enough Sal was cursing like a sailor at his old boys, singing and clinking glasses. Tina just kept the rounds coming, hoping to secure a friendship with Sal, until in a moment of poor judgment Old Sal jumped to his feet too quickly and plopped to the ground, rolling and chuckling enough to rumble his round belly. Tina ran to his side, his goons still singing and laughing, in what she can only describe as being in the right place at the right time.
Sal, lying on his side, see-sawing to either side of him, but making no attempt to get up – Tina surely wasn’t going to risk hurting her back to pick him up on her own – turned to Tina and said, “You know how I pinned Tony?” Tony was the drug lord Sal had just struck a deal with. “I underhanded him by taking care of the competition.” He chuckled then coughed, spluttering a couple of times, “Two bullets to your partner’s head will convince anyone to make a deal with you.” And with that one piece of advice from an old king and a timely confession from a more modern king of the streets, Tina had her confession – enough to complete the Bureau’s case and put Sal away for life.
Still, she agrees with Nick that restraint when provoked is best.
From where she is sitting at the back left entrance of the room, she already has enough to chew on as it is. After yesterday’s silent interview with the students, Tina is confident that any minute now she will find someone who is breaking down from the pressure of silence or the pain of losing Anna.
There. She has her target. A girl in the third row is sobbing into her sleeve; each attempt to suppress her quiet sniffles betrays her and turns them into louder cries. The poor girl is clearly in pain and her friends are now reaching over with arms around her shoulder to try and console her. All she can do now to ease her hurt as students start to turn and whisper to each other is lean into the shoulder beside her and continue weeping softly.
The Bureau does a good job of preparing detectives for assassinations, heated negotiations and self-defense. Emotional moments are what Tina struggles to relate to more. She has to tap into more than her by-the-book agent brain and look deep into her own heart.
Amy is not surprised by the sudden outburst. “Ella, she’s Anna’s best friend,” Amy whispers, leaning in to explain what’s going on. “I’ve set up a meeting for you with her after chapel.”
“Are you sure she’ll be up for it?” Tina’s not convinced Ella will make it through chapel.
“We’ll see!” Amy says. She makes her way to the front of the room to share closing remarks and dismisses the students.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Ella. Right now you are the best person to give us a glimpse of what was going on with Anna.” Ella sniffles and nods, then she makes an effort to sit up and compose herself. Tina leans forward and rests her hand on Ella’s shoulder, “What can you tell me about Anna?”
After years spent in the Bureau, Tina has picked up a few tricks. She knows exactly when to turn up the heat and disarm her witnesses as needed. She watches on as Ella’s shoulders drop and she leans back to express that she feels safe. Tina knows that she’s in. Ella trusts her enough to speak.
Ella stammers a few times before collecting her thoughts. “Anna is… was my best friend.” She’s doing her best to hold her tears in. “When she died I was distraught. I… I still am. I mean, look at me, I’m a mess.”
“It’s expected in a time like this, Ella.”
“Detective, Anna and I did everything together. It wasn’t until a couple of months ago that she began to act strangely. We didn’t talk as much and she seemed evasive.”
“Had something happened to cause her to change?”
A moment passes with Ella looking at the tan walls at an inscription that read Love your neighbor as yourself. “I don’t think so. She was struggling with math and she was worried about all the pressure of maintaining her perfect GPA.”
“Who was pressuring her?”
The worry for Anna leaves Ella’s face for a moment and she looks angrier and angrier. “This hellhole of a school has done nothing but push students to their limits. No wonder Anna was going craz...” Ella holds her hand to her mouth.
Tina can’t let her get away that easily, “What are you talking about, Ella?”
“I’ve said too much already.” Ella is clenching her chair, preparing to push herself up and leave.
“Ella, what are you not telling me?” Tina leans in to block the view from Ella’s eyes which are now staring at the door. She knows she is the only obstacle between Ella and the door; Ella is not under arrest, she can leave at any moment. Tina has to distract her quickly. “Look, I know about the voices, Ella. Anna wrote in her diary that she heard voices. What else did you see?”
As though released from her pressing plan to escape, Ella shifts her gaze and drops her eyes to the floor. “The night that she died, she came to my room and she was jumpy. Her face was pale and her hands were shaking. I thought it was just her anxiety flaring, oh!” Tears are streaming down Ella’s face and she’s sobbing uncontrollably.
“You wish you had known and stopped her.” Tina finishes Ella’s thought
.
Ella nods in response.
“You can’t blame yourself, Ella. You didn’t know that she was going to end her life. What she did is not your fault.”
The sobbing subsides into quiet sniffles.
“Do you know if Anna was mentally well or taking any medicine?”
Ella shakes her head. Her quiet sniffles start gaining strength into sobbing again.
“Come on, I think this is quite enough for today.” Tina takes Ella’s hand and leads her out of the chapel. “Besides, you’re probably still tired from your hockey game last night.”
Ella is distraught and Tina’s gentle hand seems to console her for the time being. “I didn’t go, I was sick,” Ella says, her voice trailing off.
Maybe it’s the lifeless hallways of Hartford, but something about Ella’s statement makes Tina uncomfortable though she does not know what it is yet.