by Jack Parker
"Hi, Meaghan," Gracie said. "There's so much here it's hard to decide what to eat first, isn't there."
"I know, right?" Meaghan said. "It's just that I'm not feeling very good tonight, my stomach's upset, and all this stuff looks so greasy."
"Hope you're not coming down with the flu," Gracie said, concerned. She scooped up some queso with a chip and munched.
"No, it's not that," Meaghan assured her, looking a little queasy at Gracie's gusto. "I haven't been sleeping very good; I think it's stress from getting everything ready for Homecoming. Hopefully I'll feel better after the weekend."
"Then you don't want this stuff, it's really spicy!" Gracie told her. "A few chips might help settle your stomach. Get some rest over the weekend, and I hope you feel better."
"Thanks, Gracie," Meaghan said with a wan smile. "I hope so, too."
There was a crowd around the buffet when she returned, so she squeezed in next to Kelly. They re-hashed the night's game and festivities, added bits of gossip and opinions on the latest music. Jake had joined his teammates clustered around Maggie Lane, but now wandered over to the food table.
"Hey, Maggie!" Jake called loudly, adding a piercing whistle to get her attention over the loud music and buzz of conversation. "Got any more of this queso?" He pointed to the Crockpot.
"Sure do!" Maggie called. She turned to the others and said, "Back in a jiffy."
Maggie sauntered across the room, her hips swaying in an almost exaggerated motion, and disappeared into the kitchen. She came back carrying a sauce pan and began pouring its contents into the Crockpot. When she was through she used her finger to wipe the edge of the pan so it wouldn't drip, and then stood there looking for a napkin.
"Here, let me take care of that for you," Jake said.
He took Maggie's hand and brought it to his open mouth; she got the idea and stuck her finger in up to the knuckles. Jake made a production of licking and sucking the sticky cheese from her finger, and Maggie closed her eyes as if in ecstasy. Jake's teammates roared their approval of this display.
"That was disgusting!" Amy said.
Everyone else seemed to agree. Gracie made a mental note to herself to ask Kelly just what kind of rumors he'd heard about the teacher. Thankfully the noisy group left the dining area after that scene, taking the noise level down so they could actually hear each other for awhile.
Gracie was only half listening to a discussion of a new movie she had no desire to see, one whose main purpose seemed to be showing as many explosions and car crashes as possible resulting in way too much blood and guts for her taste. She noticed Allison wander through the room carrying an empty plastic water bottle. Although there was a trash can at the end of the folding table Allison headed for the kitchen. When she came out a couple of minutes later the bottle was about one quarter full.
"That's odd," Gracie muttered to herself.
"What?" asked Elyzabeth.
"Why would Allison put just a little water in her bottle? Why not fill it all the way up?"
Elyzabeth laughed. "Because she doesn't want to drink a whole bottle of vodka!"
"Vodka?" Gracie asked, shocked. She knew some of the students drank when they could, but she'd have never thought it of Allison.
"You didn't know?" the other girl asked. "I thought everyone knew that."
"But Allison's always going on about how she wants to be a doctor," Gracie said. "You'd think she'd know better."
"Yeah, and she's always under stress, at least to hear her tell it. She's got to get good grades so she can get into med school. Plus every time she has some odd symptom she's convinced she's contracted some weird disease."
"Sounds like my Aunt Jeanine," Gracie told her. "She's always coming down with something but never has the money to go to the doctor. I think it's just an excuse not to get anything done, myself."
"I think Allison takes all that medical stuff too seriously," Elyzabeth said. "Or maybe it's her way of getting attention. Did you see that smirk on her face when she came in with Jake while ago? Like it was some kind of coup? He'll be taking someone else out tomorrow night."
"That is so true," Gracie agreed. "I bet Mrs. Lane will be mad when she finds out about the vodka, though."
"Oh, like she cares. I bet most of the bottle went in those cups the team have."
Gracie's first thought was that she'd promised her mother there would be no liquor at the party; her second that since she and Kelly weren't drinking she could ignore the situation, and know better than to attend another of the teacher's parties. She began to understand why her mother hadn't thought it was such a good idea to come.
"Coach would be mad if he found out," Gracie said a little lamely.
Elyzabeth shrugged. "I'm not tellin'. But I think I'll make sure to leave before any of them get behind the wheel."
The party went on and Gracie and Kelly moved from group to group, though they avoided the noisy throng hanging around Maggie Lane. From time to time they could hear her high-pitched laughter and it seemed obvious that she was imbibing fairly heavily whether she was spiking the football team's drinks or not. They were enjoying themselves and uninterested in whatever was going on with that bunch.
Gracie was looking over the food choices again, though she found herself avoiding the queso even if it had been tasty. She happened to look out the sliding glass door to the patio as she tried to make up her mind what she wanted to eat. Though it was a cool night, people had been going in and out during the evening; some couples wanted privacy to make out, a few went to smoke a cigarette or maybe a joint. But what caught her attention was seeing Jake and Meaghan sitting at the patio table in earnest conversation.
She watched a couple more minutes, then beckoned Kelly over. "What's up with them?" she asked.
"You think she's mad because Jake brought Allison to the party?" Kelly suggested.
"Could be, I guess," Gracie allowed. There was just enough moonlight that they could sort of see Meaghan's face. "But she looks more upset than mad, don't you think?"
"Don't know why she'd be upset," Kelly offered. "Jake does seem to date her a lot, but it's not like they're a couple or anything."
"Maybe she's breaking up with him," Gracie mused. "She told me earlier that her stomach didn't feel good, it could've been nerves."
"How could they break up if they're not a couple?" Kelly asked innocently.
"Well, maybe she wants to be a couple," Gracie said, one eyebrow raised at the unaccustomed denseness of her boyfriend.
"Oh, yeah," Kelly said. "Like that will happen. She ought to know that Jake plays the field, both in and out of the stadium."
Gracie shook her head at the pun, but laughed as well. "None of our business, I guess," she said.
They went back to the party. Emily Parker was in the middle of a breathless recitation of some minor event that she managed to turn into a crisis. She waved her hands wildly in the air and used her expressive blue eyes to help make her current point; then, suddenly conscious of her looks, would finger-comb her long curly auburn hair while she enjoyed the reaction her story had gotten. Gracie reflected that it was appropriate that the Drama Queen belonged to the Drama Club.
"Hey, stop that!" Maggie Lane suddenly shouted. She lunged out of the protective circle of young men to point a finger at Madison Stevens who was gliding across the living room on heelies. Maggie took a step forward and swayed a little, glaring at Madison. "You're leaving black marksh on the floor," she accused.
Madison turned toward the teacher and let her toes dip toward the floor to stop herself. She grinned, unrepentant, mumbled "Sorry", and bent down to work the mechanism that retracted the wheels into the soles of her shoes. She shook her head to settle the reverse bob of light brown hair and walked off. Maggie retreated to her spot on the couch, helped by one of the boys. She handed her cup to another young man who took it and headed toward the kitchen.
But Madison couldn't resist one more trick. Always the tomboy, she stalked up the two steps into
the dining area, then slid down the wrought iron handrail calling out "Whee!"
Jake whipped his head around at the sound, then dashed across the room to catch her in his arms as she flew off the end. He set her on her feet, kissed her cheek, and went back to his teammates.
Madison grinned, and walked to Gracie's group. "I was just having a little fun," she remarked.
"If you do it again, I'll catch you this time," one of the guys offered.
"Maybe we'll get to watch Mrs. Lane throw you out of the house," a girl suggested.
"Madison, if you get hurt then Mrs. Lane could get in big trouble," Gracie said quietly. Having gotten Madison's attention she nodded meaningfully at the noisy group around the teacher, Jake prominent among them.
"Oh. Yeah, I wouldn't want to get Ja, uh, Maggie in any trouble," Madison said. "You'll be there tomorrow to do the recycling, Gracie?"
"You bet!" Gracie replied. "I checked before we left, and there's a lot of bags, so we got a good response. Wish it would be a little warmer, but we'll deal with it."
"Wish we could mark them as 'plastic', 'paper', and 'cans' so it won't be so much of a mess to sort them out," Madison complained.
"Always is," Gracie said. "But it's dark at the game, people can't see the labels. If we make it too hard they won't do it."
"Yeah. It's a lot of work passing those cloth bags down the rows during the game, and most of 'em don't care why we collect the stuff, it's just easier than walking to the trash can."
"Good thing the local grocery stores donated a lot of those bags!" Gracie said.
The discussion was interrupted as Jake, leading an entourage, moved toward the front door. "Hey, Jake!" someone called out. "It's only midnight, afraid you'll turn into a pumpkin?"
"Jake, you're not leaving now are you?" Amy asked loudly. "Uh, I mean, the party's not over yet."
Jake favored the room with a broad grin. "I worked hard today, I need to get to bed. "See you later." He waved at the crowd and walked out, followed by teammates Shaun and Tyler.
As the front door shut behind them Gracie heard someone say, "Yeah, but whose bed!" People laughed.
A few minutes later Allison joined the group. She didn't look particularly happy.
"You need a ride home?" Kelly asked.
Allison's eyes flashed for a moment, until she realized Kelly wasn't so much pointing out that her date had left her there alone, but offering to help. She made an attempt to smile. "Thanks, but Jennifer said she'd take me. She's gotta leave early, but I don't care." She wandered off again, as if she couldn't quite figure out what she wanted to do.
Meaghan walked up with her coat on and purse over her shoulder. "Goodnight, everyone," she said cheerily.
"Leaving so soon?" someone inquired.
Meaghan smiled. "Yeah, it's been kinda a long day. But a good one! See you guys Monday, take care." She too went out the door.
The party was winding down, though Maggie was still holding court on the sofa in one corner. It wasn't long before Jennifer Myers left too, with Allison and Amy.
Kelly pulled his cell phone from his jeans pocket to check the time. "We ought to go too, Gracie," he said.
"I'm having fun," Gracie said. "But you're right, it'd be embarrassing if Mom sent Clay over here to drag me home."
"Your step-dad's a nice guy, would he do that to you?" Kelly asked.
"Let's not find out," she suggested.
CHAPTER 3
It's cold out here at 7:00 AM, Sandra Michaels thought as she held the back door open for the cat to go out. She looked up at the sky, trying to judge what the day's weather would be. It didn't look like rain, so when it warmed up in the afternoon she could probably bundle up her two young children and let them play outside for awhile.
She glanced at Maggie's house next door, surprised to see only a few paper plates littering the yard after last night's party. Something caught her eye and she looked closer – the sliding glass door was standing wide open. She knew her neighbor wasn't an early riser on weekends, but surely she'd locked the house up after the kids had left. Unless she'd passed out before they left.
"I'd better go check," she said to herself. "I won't bother her, I'll just pull the door shut. Her house must be freezing by now."
Sandra continued to mutter to herself as she wrapped her bathrobe tighter around her chubby body and went out her back gate. She trudged around the front of Maggie's house, careful to notice that her front door was closed and everything looked normal. Maggie's car wasn't on the drive, she'd probably put it in the garage. "Heaven knows there were enough cars parked up and down the street last night," she said out loud, though she knew Maggie probably couldn't hear her complaint and wouldn't have cared if she had.
She opened the gate and stepped into the backyard, feeling just a little uncomfortable at the trespass. As she walked across the patio she glanced at the windows. "I'm not snooping, I just want to make sure no one broke in and then left through the patio door," she justified her actions under her breath. But everything looked normal and she began to relax.
She walked up to the glass door and grabbed the handle, preparing to give it a hard shove so it would close well. But she couldn't resist just a little peek inside the house. She hadn't been inside since the previous owners moved and wondered what Maggie had done with the place. The mess was far worse inside, paper plates and cups left everywhere, and a folding table along the wall still held platters and bowls of snacks that hadn't been put away.
Sandra shook her head with a superior attitude at the idea of leaving the mess until the morning, but then she wouldn't have had a big noisy party in the first place so she had no idea how daunting the idea of cleaning up before bed might be. She looked beyond the dining room, curious now that she was there. "Oh, dear," she said.
Maggie Lane was lying on the cold tile floor in the living room. Sandra rushed in, suddenly unconcerned with her impropriety. "Maggie?" she called out. "Maggie, are you okay?"
She rushed down the steps into the sunken living room and stopped, unsure what to do next. "Maggie?" she called again, but the woman on the floor didn't move. She was trying to remember what she'd learned about CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when she'd taken that Red Cross class, what, three years ago? That was something you were supposed to know, but you never thought you'd actually have to use it.
Cautiously Sandra squatted down and put her finger on Maggie's neck. The skin was cool and she couldn't feel a pulse though she was sure her finger was on the carotid artery. She jerked her hand back and sat there on her haunches, her heart beating hard. Was that movement? Did I just see her chest rise a little? she wondered. She pulled a tissue from the pocket of her robe, the clean one she always kept there just in case. Smoothing it out she held it in front of Maggie's nose, but it just hung there; there was no telltale flutter of breath.
Sandra jumped up and let out a little squeak. She spied the phone on a small table nearby and called 911. Thankfully she heard sirens just a couple of minutes later, and opened the front door to see the ambulance pull up. The EMTs rushed inside and went straight to Maggie. But it only took them a few seconds to determine what Sandra expected, the woman was dead.
An hour later Sandra heard the expected knock on her own front door. She'd had time to dress and feed the kids, though she'd only had a cup of coffee as she felt too unsettled to eat.
"Good morning, Mrs. Michaels. I'm Lieutenant Ken Freeman of Homicide." She glanced at the proffered badge out of formality. The man standing on her porch looked like a homicide detective, Sandra thought; brown suit and short brown hair with a touch of gray, a few extra pounds around his middle.
"Come in, Lieutenant," she said, beckoning him inside. "The officer told me someone would want to talk to me, though really I don't know anything, I just found her lying there. Can I get you a cup of coffee?" Sandra felt like she was running on but she was still flustered from her morning's unaccustomed experience.
"That would be great," Ken said
. He followed her into the kitchen and sat down at the small table. Although he heard young children in another room he noticed there was no sign of them here, the kitchen was neat and clean.
Sandra's hand shook a little as she set the mug in front of Ken, then took a seat herself. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. This has me rattled – I've never seen a dead person before!"
"I understand completely," he said. "You were the one who discovered the body?"
"Yes. I was letting the cat out and noticed her back door was open and went over to check. And then I saw her lying there, and I thought she was hurt or had slipped on the steps or something, but…there was no pulse." Sandra shuddered.
"Did you know Ms. Lane well?" Ken asked.
"Only to speak to; she was friendly enough, but kept to herself most of the time. She was single and, well, frankly we just didn't have that much in common I guess."
"Do you know if she had a boyfriend?" he wanted to know.
"Boyfriends, is more like it," Sandra replied a bit huffily. "And parties," she added significantly.
"Did you happen to notice if anyone was visiting last night?"
"Only about half the high school!" she said.
"What?" Ken asked, surprised.
"She's a teacher, English Lit I believe," Sandra explained. "Last night was Homecoming and apparently she had a party to celebrate."
"I see," he said. He thought it a bit odd for a teacher to have a party for students, but wasn't about to jump to the conclusion that anything untoward was going on. Even if there was some hanky-panky it didn't have to be related to the woman's death. "Wasn't that rather irritating?"
"It's not so bad in cool weather, not many kids go out in the backyard and I don't hear the stereo with the doors closed. Though there were cars parked all up and down the street until all hours."
"So the back door was closed last night?"
"I didn't look," she said. "We watched TV after the kids were in bed, so we wouldn't have heard the noise if people opened it to go in or out. We went to bed ourselves at 11:00. We're not nosy neighbors, Lieutenant."