by Margaret Kay
Ava Grier was the last one in. “Hello, I’m Ms. Hayes. You are?”
“Ava Grier,” the little girl said softly. She was the shortest of all the girls, dainty with striking dark features.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ava. I’ll see you in the gym.” Madison beamed her a smile.
Ava merely nodded. She didn’t return the smile.
“There is something very off with that little girl,” Madison said, speaking to her team as she left the locker room.
“Well, her roommate did just die,” Yvette replied. “I’m sure that’s it.”
“Maybe,” Madison agreed.
The girls lined up in their normal alphabetic order. Madison counted them, looking over the faces of the girls she’d just met. All sixteen of them stood there, and yes, Ava Grier was dwarfed by several of them. Remembering Molly Corbin’s measurements, Molly couldn’t have been more than an inch taller than Ava. Interesting.
“So today we are going to do yoga, which is a different type of stretching than you normally do and I’m going to teach you something called wind-sprints to do as our cardio exercise. It’s a favorite of mine.”
One of the little girls raised her hand. Madison nodded at her and smiled. “Excuse me, Ms. Hayes, but aren’t you going to take attendance? Mrs. Michaels always takes attendance when we line up.”
Madison smiled. “I already did, when you introduced yourselves to me in the locker room.”
“But you didn’t have a clipboard,” one of the other girls said.
Madison laughed. “I didn’t need one. I read through your names and recognized each name as you introduced yourself. The class list has sixteen names, and you are all standing in front of me.”
The girls were in awe when Madison recited their first names in order, beaming a smile at each one as she said each name. She had only memorized the names of the girls who were in Molly’s grade level.
“Now let’s spread out and we’ll do some good stretching and deep breathing. Mrs. Michaels said she has given you an introduction to yoga, but we are going to learn more today.”
Madison led the girls for twenty minutes in some basic poses and stretches, something she could do very easily, even in a button-down shirt and dockers. Then she had them walk one lap all the way around the gym. She stood at the starting mark and watched the clumps of girls form on their own, indicating friendship groups or clicks. Ava Grier walked alone without talking with any of the other girls. Then, Madison had them spread out along the line. She explained what wind-sprints were and demonstrated what she wanted them to do.
“I will yell out run or walk as you do them,” Madison said. “Ready, set, run!”
She alternated between run and walk, noting that Ava Grier was the fastest runner of them all. Behind that quiet, petite exterior was the heart of a fighter. She wondered what Molly Corbin had been like.
She gave the girls a water break and then sent them walking the perimeter of the gym again. She detained each of the girls, asking them what their favorite sport was to play, and if there were any, they had not tried but wanted to. She worked herself around to Ava.
“Hi Ava, nice effort today,” she said, halting Ava as she had the others.
“Thank you, Ms. Hayes,” she replied quietly.
“You run very fast. What else do you like to do?”
“I don’t know,” Ava answered.
“I noticed you don’t seem to have a best friend in the class,” Madison said, watching her carefully.
“I did, but she’s not here anymore.”
“Would that have been Molly?”
Ava’s eyes filled with fear. Not sadness, fear. “How do you know that?”
“I spoke with Mrs. Michaels about all her students. She was very sad that Molly died. You were her roommate, so I figured the two of you had to be friends. Mrs. Michaels is sad for you too, knows you have to miss Molly very much.”
“I don’t want to think about it anymore,” Ava said, a look of terror on her face.
“Sweetie, no one’s going to hurt you. If you need anyone, ever, I am here to protect you. Please remember that.”
Ava nodded and walked quickly away, catching up with the other students.
“That was weird,” Madison said aloud. She relayed the facial expression Ava Grier had. “Yes, I will definitely be watching out for that kid.”
“Affirmative. We’ll all be,” Doc’s voice came through her comms.
The remainder of the afternoon had three more Physical Education classes pass through the gym. Madison didn’t note anything odd with any of the girls, not like she had with Ava Grier. Afterschool, Madison finally went back to her room and hid her gun, FBI credentials and the camera in the air vent. She got her bag from her car and unpacked a few things in the drawers.
At the early dinner time for the younger students living in the north wing dorms, Madison reported to the dining hall to eat and supervise the girls. The four other Dorm Monitors invited her to join them at their table in the center of the room. A second later dinner time was for the one-hundred older girls and their Dorm Monitors. Four to one-hundred didn’t seem a very good ratio to Madison. Even with her added, that made it five adults to one-hundred children, or one adult for every twenty students.
“This center table is ours, so we can watch the girls while we eat,” Patricia Bodean, one of the women said. “Just help to keep watch of the tables in your line of sight.” She was the art teacher at the school.
Madison remembered that she was the one binge-watching Orange is the New Black when Molly supposedly snuck out of the dorm. “Will do,” Madison said.
“Why did you move into the dorm?” Kimberly Wang asked. Kimberly was one of the math instructors.
Madison recalled that her alibi had been that she was on the phone with her mother. “I just took this job, moving from upstate New York. I have no where to live yet, so I figured, why not? Besides, I kind of need the extra money that comes with it.”
“Why did you leave your last school this soon into the year?” A third woman asked. Her name was Laura Miles. Her statement indicated she had taken cold formula that knocked her out the night Molly Corbin died. Laura Miles taught English.
“Okay, I’ll tell you,” Madison said, feigning embarrassment. “I kind of had an affair with the headmaster of the last school I was at. But I really did think that he and his wife were getting divorced. That’s what he told me, and I was stupid enough to believe him. They of course weren’t, and when it came out, I lost my job.”
“Is he still at the school?” Laura Miles asked. Madison nodded. “What a dick. He was the one in the wrong, but you lost your job, typical, the old boys club in action. I am so sick of men getting away with anything they want.”
“Yep,” Madison agreed. Laura Miles definitely had man issues. “So, that’s why I’m here now. I was lucky to get this, even if it is temporary.”
“It may be for longer than you think. I reached out to Vanessa Michaels today, and she said she’s on an indefinite leave. I sure hope that baby is okay. She had a miscarriage last year. I don’t blame her for being careful and going on bedrest,” Kimberly Wang said. “If I was her, I wouldn’t come back.”
“Lucky for her, her husband is a cop, and she isn’t under suspicion,” Laura Miles said.
“Suspicion of what?” Madison asked.
“Molly Corbin’s death,” the fourth woman at the table said. Sarah Riddings was the second woman who claimed to have taken cold formula that helped her sleep well. Sarah was a chemistry instructor.
“That’s the little girl that was found in the refrigerator in the science building, isn’t it?” Madison asked. “I thought they believed the night-time custodian had something to do with it. He lost his job, didn’t he?”
“Yes, but not everyone believes he did something to Molly or that the authorities are done investigating the rest of us,” Sarah said. “I know of about a dozen other faculty members that are looking for other positions.
Poor Emma Cornwald, whose classroom she was found in, can’t even go back into her room. She’s switched rooms with another instructor, Mark Chase.”
“I’m not sure I could go back in a room where someone died, either,” Madison said.
“Yes, well Mark is happy. It’s a better room he’s wanted for a long time,” Laura said and then shrugged.
“What do you guys think happened?”
Kimberly and Sarah exchanged nervous glances.
“We really shouldn’t speculate about it,” Patricia Bodean answered. “I’m not so sure a few of the kids weren’t just playing Hide and Seek or Ghost in the Graveyard, or something like that in a building they shouldn’t have been in. I know I snuck out and did things I wasn’t supposed to a lot when I was a kid. It’s like we somehow expect these kids to follow all the rules and everyone around here is shocked when they don’t.”
The topic got changed, but Madison made a mental note to circle back to both Kimberly and Sarah separately. They both looked like they wanted to say more. After dinner, they accompanied the girls to the basement of the dorm where the four-lane bowling alley and arcade were.
“The younger girls get this space on Friday nights, the older girls on Saturdays,” Sarah told Madison as they entered the large room. “Saturday nights the younger girls get the movie theater under the other dorm, under the west wing.”
“There’s only five of us to supervise one-hundred girls. Isn’t that kind of a bad ratio?” Madison asked.
The other women laughed at her. “At my last school it was thirty to one,” Kimberly said. “It’s not like they are babies. They are completely self-sufficient.”
“We just have to watch that they aren’t going to do anything stupid that will hurt themselves or someone else,” Patricia said. “I’m glad I’m with the younger kids. Those pre-teens and teens can be very catty and nasty to each other.”
“Especially that Monica Cahill. That girl is destined for a jail cell one day,” Laura Miles whispered. “I hate to think badly of any child, but that girl defines what a mean girl is.”
Madison listened closely. She had not met this Monica Cahill yet. She had not been in any of her classes. She’d keep an eye out for her though in case Molly’s death was at the hands of a fellow student as Cooper theorized.
“Do the older girls have much interaction with these younger ones?” Madison asked.
“Not in the classrooms, but during some clubs they do,” Laura replied.
“And at lunch, that’s the only meal the girls all eat together,” Patricia threw in. “The older girls eat breakfast a half-hour earlier than these younger girls because they have an extra half-hour of classroom instruction every day.”
The three hours the girls played in the large recreation room passed without incident. After Madison watched the routine of making sure each girl was in her room, Patricia Bodean armed the alarm on the outer doors. She explained the doors were not locked keeping anyone inside, just out, but an alarm would sound if anyone exited without permission.
No alarm had sounded the night Molly Corbin died.
All the Dorm Monitors retreated to their own rooms, including Madison. She sat on her bed and gazed up at the camera in the air vent. “That was interesting,” she said.
She heard the team snicker at her comment.
“Do you really think this Monica Cahill could have had something to do with Molly’s death?” Yvette asked.
“I’ll know Monday. I have her in third period,” Madison replied.
“We have three working theories to investigate. One is this Monica Cahill, or another student was bullying or hazing Molly Corbin. Two, teacher Mark Chase wanted to scare the Cornwald woman from the room he wanted, and three, an unknown assailant with unknown motives killed Molly Corbin,” Cooper speculated.
As Madison lay awake, long after she turned the light out, she knew she was already emotionally invested in this case. The fearful look on Ava Grier’s face was something she would never forget. There was no doubt in her mind that Ava either knew what had happened to Molly or she was scared about something else.
First thing Saturday morning, Madison contacted the team, asking for a tracker she could plant on Ava Grier. She had a nagging feeling they needed to keep close tabs on that little girl. She met up with Garcia that afternoon. He brought a child’s heart necklace that he had planted the tracker in. It also had a panic button imbedded in it. Three quick presses to the decorative pink stone and the team would be alerted.
Ava Grier’s father visited the next morning. After he left, Madison approached her. “Did you have a nice visit with your dad?” Madison asked her.
Ava looked very sad. “Yes, but he had to go back to his other family.”
This statement surprised Madison, but she didn’t ask. “Ava, what can I do for you? If anyone here is hurting you or threatening you, I can help.”
Terror flashed over Ava’s face. “No. I have to go now.” She tried to move away.
“Listen to me, Ava,” Madison said in a whisper, dropping to one knee in front of the little girl, blocking her attempt to leave. “You are not in any trouble, and if anyone has told you that you are, they are lying.” Madison watched her.
She shook her head no.
Madison pulled the necklace from her pocket. “This is a special necklace. Please keep it on at all times. If you are ever scared or in any trouble, I want you to press the pink stone in the center, here,” she pointed to the fake pink diamond in the middle, “three quick times. It will call me, and I will come to help you. You don’t have to tell anyone it's from me. You can say your dad just gave it to you.” She slipped the necklace over Ava’s head.
As she came back to her feet, Patricia Bodean rounded the corner. Her face flashed in confusion for a moment before she forced a smile. Madison could tell it was forced.
“There you are, Ava,” she said rushing towards them. “I saw your father drive away. Did you have a nice visit?”
“Yes,” Ava said with a sad expression on her face that didn’t agree that the visit had been nice.
Madison saw another emotion wash over Ava’s face, guilt.
“Better get back to your room,” Patricia told her. “Ms. Wang will be doing room inspection soon.”
Ava nodded and took a few steps.
“What a beautiful necklace,” Patricia told her, fingering the silver heart charm. “Did your dad just give this to you?”
Ava flashed a glance at Madison. She cracked a small smile. “Yes, daddy gave it to me.” Then she walked past Patricia, rounded the corner and was out of sight.
“What was that about?” Patricia questioned Madison.
“Nothing. She seemed very sad after her dad left. I was just making sure she was okay.”
“Ava always gets very emotional after her father visits. That’s why I came looking for her.”
“She said her dad had to get back to his other family.”
Patricia Bodean sighed and shook her head. “That man is the biggest prick I’ve ever met.”
This statement shocked Madison. “How do you mean?”
“Michael Grier is happily married with four children. Except nine years ago, his mistress of many years got pregnant and had a precious little girl, Ava. They continued on as they had been. Ava and her mother were his second family until Ava’s mother died in a car accident. Ava was four years old. He told his wife about the affair and they tried to have Ava live with the family, but his wife just couldn’t accept her. It wasn’t a healthy place for Ava to be, so he enrolled her here.”
“That’s terrible. Wasn’t there anyone else who would take that little girl? A friend or family member of her mother’s? Or another relative of her father?”
“No, there wasn’t. Her dad visits every Sunday morning, and he takes her on two, one-week long trips a year, other than that, he’s pretty much absent from her life. She’s sad every Sunday when he leaves. That’s why I make a point of being near at the end of the vis
it.”
“That’s really sad. That poor girl,” Madison remarked. She’d have the team run these facts, just to be sure it was the truth. Without thinking, Madison pulled her hair back into a hand-held ponytail.
“What’s in your ear?” Patricia Bodean asked.
Realizing what she had done, Madison released her hair. “A hearing aid. I’m deaf in that ear.”
“How’d that happen,” Bodean asked.