Just as he was about to speak, Ron Jennings rushed over and got between Sister Pat and the girls. A small crowd of onlookers had assembled out of curiosity. Ron explained to his fellow assistant principal that both girls had legal excuses written by their parents for them to leave school. He waved the notes in the air as he spoke, signaling to the girls that they were free to go. “There’s nothing we can do when a student has the permission of a parent,” he said, hoping to reason with Sister.
“Well, that stinks!” she said emphatically as she turned around and noticed some of the students still gathered nearby. “What are you busybodies standing around for? Get some place fast!” The group could not have dispersed more quickly had they seen a ghost. Bishop winked at Ron as he made his way to lunch.
He made a point of walking through the kitchen. He wanted to be sure that Debbie had returned to work. She didn’t see him, but he did catch a glimpse of her stirring the contents of a large pot on the stove. The steam was swirling into her face. It was a tough job with little pay and little thanks, but until she could find something else, it was better than no job at all.
As he entered the lunchroom, he saw his old friend, Sister Annunciata, seated at a table by herself. “Well, hello there, stranger!” She stood up to greet him as he gave her a hug. “It’s so good to see you!”
“Oh, Michael! It’s good to see you too!” Sister Annunciata wore the simple black habit of the Sisters of the Holy Rosary. A veil covered most of her white hair, and large wooden beads hung from her belt. No one knew exactly how old any of the sisters were, but it seemed a safe assumption that she was well into her eighties. Her clear blue eyes radiated warmth when she smiled. A demanding but excellent teacher, she had obediently accepted a retirement orchestrated by the nefarious Sister Pat.
“How does it feel to be back in the classroom?”
“It’s something I hadn’t expected, but I’m enjoying it so far.”
“I’m sure that it must be difficult to step in at the last minute.”
“Not really,” she said modestly. “It’s not as if they’ve changed the Articles of Confederation,” she said with a laugh.
They spent a few minutes catching up on old times and old friends. “When I walked in this morning, I realized that none of the students would know who I am, and I don’t recognize half of the faculty either,” she admitted.
“Well, you know how it is around here,” he winked, knowing that she knew exactly what he meant.
“I was so saddened to hear that there had been a death here earlier this week and a fight here yesterday,” she said, “and to think that teachers were involved!” She shook her head in disbelief.
He assumed that she meant teachers were involved in the fight and not the murder. As a master of understatement, he said, “It’s been a difficult time for the faculty.”
“Sister Ann was so upset when she called me yesterday and explained the situation.” She dipped her spoon into the Styrofoam cup holding her soup.
“Everyone was quite shocked by Frank’s behavior, and his suspension for the remainder of the school year was a bit of a shock as well,” he said truthfully.
“To attack Dan Morehouse of all people,” she said as she finished her soup and looked at the clock. “Michael, you’ll have to excuse me. I better get back to my room before the kids do.”
“Of course,” Bishop said. “I’m just curious, though. Why did you say ‘of all people’ when you mentioned Dan?”
He assumed that she would refer to all of Dan’s hard work on the board over the years. He was wrong.
“Because Dan is Sister Ann’s nephew,” she said softly as she left the room.
***
As he walked back to his room for his afternoon classes, he thought about what he had just learned. Why hadn’t he known that Dan was related to Sister Ann? That certainly helped to explain why Dan was on the board and on the finance committee. It was more than the donation of a car to the school. If Sister Ann had somehow mismanaged the school’s funds, she had her nephew in place to cover her tracks.
He saw Hannah walking towards him in the hall, but she avoided eye contact with him as she passed by. Tim had probably filled her in on his conversation with Bishop that morning. Perhaps she felt some guilt that she hadn’t mentioned their confrontation with Ed Cooper. Perhaps she was embarrassed that her former teacher now knew of her intimate relationship with Tim. Yes, people were far more comfortable with their masks firmly in place.
His afternoon classes were uneventful, and for that he was grateful. It had been a long week. A sense of exhilaration was palpable in the halls as the seniors prepared for their big night, and everyone else headed out for a weekend of rest and relaxation. With finals quickly approaching, some of them would even manage to squeeze in a little time for study.
Bishop remained at his desk in the empty classroom. He picked up the folder containing Charlie Mitchell’s replacement exam for Modern Novels, hoping that he wouldn’t need to ask Charlie to make any changes. As he read through the exam, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the extensive section of multiple-choice questions had been replaced with some identifications that required answers of several sentences each. There was also a section of questions requiring one-paragraph answers as well as a final section requiring a full-length essay. Each section had several options so that students could choose which questions they felt most prepared to discuss. Overall, the exam was challenging but fair. It would provide the students with an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the course material as well as their writing ability. The exam could easily be completed within the three hours allotted. It was a major improvement over the exam that Charlie had been recycling for years. Bishop was almost glad that the folder with the old exam had been misplaced.
Bishop walked down the hall with the folder in hand hoping that Charlie was still in the building. The lights were still on, and the door was open. His room got the afternoon sun that made for some uncomfortable conditions at this time of the year. It also made it a perfect place for plants. Along the back wall and suspended from hooks along the windows were as many plants as there were in all of the other classrooms combined. Bishop recognized a snake plant in an enormous container and some sort of a palm that was taller than Charlie. He was either talking to himself or to the plants while he watered them.
Bishop rapped on the open door to get his attention. Charlie turned to see who it was. “Come in, Michael, come in.”
“I had a chance to look over the exam, and I wanted to make sure it got back to you safely.”
“I appreciate that. There’s no way I would write a third one. What did you think?”
“It’s a good exam, Charlie. You just need to adjust the point values. What you have adds up to only ninety points.”
“What a relief! That’s easy enough to fix. I’ll drop it off in the office on my way out. Thanks for looking it over so quickly.”
“Not a problem.”
Charlie started laughing to himself.
“What’s so funny?” asked Bishop.
“I messed up the point values on purpose just to see if you’d catch the mistake.” Bishop had no way of knowing if that was true or if Charlie was just covering for his error. Charlie shook his head as he laughed again. “I should have known better. You’re still as sharp as ever.”
As he walked back to his room to pack up for the weekend, he thought about what Charlie had said. If he was still so sharp, why hadn’t he figured out what had happened to Ed Cooper?
***
He had wanted to talk with Tim Kelleher, Jack Slater, and Elwin Crimins at some point during the day. He had managed to catch Tim before homeroom period, and from that conversation he had learned that Ed had taken money from the young man in exchange for his silence regarding the actions of Tim and Hannah. If Tim was telling the truth, what did that say about Ed? If he was capable of blackmailing those kids, what else might he have been doing? He had told Debbie that he w
as coming into some big money. Twenty dollars wasn’t big money by anyone’s standards. Who else might have been the target of a shakedown?
He hadn’t seen Jack all day. For a guy who usually spent a fair amount of time hanging around the faculty lounge trying to pick up the latest bit of gossip, he had been practically invisible for the last few days. He had even missed the pizza and wings fiasco. Something was clearly not right. Was he simply worried about his wife’s health? Luigi, the pizza man, had mentioned that Jack had been spending a lot of money on lottery and scratch-off tickets, and then suddenly stopped. His changed behavior coincided with Ed’s death. Hannah said that she had seen Mr. Slater in the area. Bishop and Jack needed to talk and the sooner the better.
Elwin was next on the agenda. Since he lived so close to the school, Bishop decided to walk. Instead of going up to Elm Street and then down Newbury, he took the shortcut through the wooded lot. If his theory was correct, this was the path taken by Ed’s killer. He had parked on Newbury Street, and Crimins was the only person who saw something. How reliable a witness was a man suffering from dementia? He was about to find out.
There was a fairly well-defined path through the lot. Apparently, a number of other people besides the killer found this a convenient shortcut. Once he was off of the hot pavement at the back of the school, the air became noticeably cooler. The air was still quite damp and muggy from the morning rain. Wouldn’t it be ironic if he found something like a monogrammed cufflink or packaging from a special brand of cigarettes that would lead him straight to the culprit? Other than a few cans of Bud Lite, there was nothing to be found.
When he emerged from the woods, he faced the back yards of the even-numbered houses on Newbury Street. Most of them looked as if they had been built by the same contractor. All were one-story structures with a small back porch on the right. Most had a detached garage in the back with a long narrow driveway leading to Newbury Street. A few of the yards were fenced in, but most were not. He walked into the back yard of the nearest house without a fence, down the driveway, and onto the sidewalk. The neighbors must not be overjoyed to have strangers trespassing on their property in order to take that shortcut to the school. He just added his name to the list of offenders, but at least, he hadn’t used the shortcut simply because he was lazy. As far as he could see, each house had its own driveway, so there was no need for a car to park on the street, unless of course, its owner wasn’t from the neighborhood.
224 was only a few houses down from where Bishop had cut through the yard. The cement walk that led to the front door needed repair. Some of the sections had shifted over the course of many winters. Weeds left unattended had taken over in the many gaps and cracks. Although the roof looked new, the rest of the exterior gave the impression of benign neglect. As he approached the front door, he heard the sounds of a television coming through the open windows.
A middle-aged woman looked out at him before answering his knock. She was short and heavy. She was wearing a pink blouse and a pair of tan slacks that only emphasized her shape. Her short hair was mostly gray, and the wrinkles on her face indicated that she either spent a great deal of time outside or that she was a smoker.
“May I help you?” She probably assumed that he was lost.
“Yes, I hope so. My name is Michael Bishop, and I teach at Holy Trinity. I was wondering if I might speak with Elwin Crimins for a few moments.” From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the old man seated in a recliner watching Judge Judy on television.
“My Dad isn’t well. What’s this about? My name is Shirley. Maybe I can help.” Her smile revealed her nicotine-stained teeth.
“That’s very kind of you. May I come in?”
“Yes, of course. Let’s go in the kitchen.” She pointed him in the right direction. He glanced again at the old man in the living room. He kept repeating, “You’re a liar!” to someone on the program.
The kitchen was clean but badly in need of an update. There was a tray with a number of prescription medications on the counter. Shirley offered Bishop some coffee, but he declined. She sat across from him and waited for him to explain the reason for his visit.
He hadn’t planned out what he wanted to say. “As you know, there was a terrible tragedy at Holy Trinity on Monday.”
“Oh, yes!” she interjected before he had a chance to say any more. “To think that that happened so close by. This has always been such a quiet neighborhood. I’ve been keeping the doors locked.” She looked at the well-dressed older man with kind eyes sitting across from her. “I only let you in cause you don’t look like a murderer to me.” She laughed half-heartedly as she probably hoped that her assumption was correct.
Bishop responded with a reassuring smile. “The police are doing their best to apprehend the culprit, and we’re all trying to do our part. I know that Officer Hollins was here earlier in the week, and I’d like to follow up on what your father told him. It would only take a moment.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know that Dad can be of any help. The last few months his dementia just seems to be getting worse.”
“That must be very difficult for you,” he said although he actually had very little idea of what was involved in the 24/7 care for such an individual.
“He took good care of me for a lot of years,” she said as she stood up. “Let’s see what he remembers, but don’t expect too much.” She led the way into the living room. The carpet was worn in places, and portraits of John F. Kennedy and Pope John Paul II hung on the wall behind the sofa. Elwin looked confused when he saw a man walking into the room behind his daughter. Apparently, he hadn’t noticed when Bishop had come into the house. He was wearing a flannel shirt, a pair of baggy pants, and slippers. He had numerous liver spots on his hands and face. He was mostly bald except for a few wispy white hairs. “Is this the mailman?” he asked his daughter.
“No, Dad.” She picked up the remote and hit the mute button. “This is Michael Bishop. He teaches at the school across the way. He wants to talk to you for a minute.” She stood beside her father and put her hand gently on his shoulder.
Bishop sat in a wooden rocker next to the television. “Hello, Mr. Crimins. It’s nice to meet you.” He gave him a reassuring smile.
“Are you the mailman?”
“No, sir. I’m a teacher.”
He thought about that for a moment. “Why would a teacher be delivering the mail?”
“I’m not delivering the mail. I wanted to ask you a question. Do you remember talking to Officer Hollins earlier this week?”
“Hollins? Is he the mailman?” Shirley shook her head as if to tell Bishop what he already knew. Elwin was not going to be able to help.
Bishop answered patiently. “No, sir. Hollins is a police officer.”
“Well, that’s just who I need. Somebody has been stealing my mail!”
“That’s not true, Dad. Some days we just don’t get any mail.” Bishop got the impression that they had had this conversation a number of times. He stood up to say goodbye.
“I’m sorry,” Shirley said. “Some days are better than others.”
“No need to apologize,” said Bishop. “I was hoping that he would remember the car that he described to Hollins.”
She picked up the remote and turned the sound back on. As she walked him to the door, Mr. Crimins spoke. Bishop thought that he was talking to the television again. “That car had numbers all over it. I didn’t think that was the mailman.”
Bishop turned back so quickly that he stumbled on the edge of the carpet. “Yes, that car. Can you tell me about that car?”
Elwin became more animated as he talked. He kept pointing to the street. “I was looking for the mailman, but that wasn’t him. I think that somebody has been taking my mail.” He looked to Shirley as he asked, “Is this Hollins? Is he going to find out who’s been taking the mail?”
“No, Dad. This is Mr. Bishop. He’s a teacher. No one has been stealing our mail. Sometimes we just don
’t have any mail.”
Bishop knew the chances of getting any meaningful information from the old man were slim; nevertheless, he felt that he had to try one more time.
“Does the mailman park his truck in the same spot on the street every day?”
“Yes, that’s right.” He seemed pleased that Bishop understood him.
“Was a different car parked in that spot early Monday morning?”
“That’s right. It was a different truck. It had numbers all over it.”
“Did you see who was driving the truck?”
“How could I see him? There were numbers all over it.” He took a sip of water from a cup on the small table next to the sofa. He then turned his attention back to the television where Judge Judy was listening to the story of one of the individuals before her court. “You’re a liar!”
Bishop once again headed for the front door. He thanked Shirley for her cooperation.
“I’m sorry that he wasn’t able to provide you with any information.”
“There’s no need to apologize. He’s a very lucky man to have you as his caregiver.”
Bishop took the same route to get back to the school. He thought about the old man. He wondered if he would end up like that in another twenty years. Who would take care of him? He forced those fears from his mind by focusing on what Elwin was trying to tell him. Every vehicle had a license plate. Were those the numbers that he meant? If the vehicle was a truck, it might have had a company phone number displayed on the side panels. He had a feeling that Elwin Crimins had seen the murderer that day, but the identity of that person was lost in the recesses of his mind.
Chapter Nineteen
Spring weather is quite unpredictable, and this day was no exception. The driving rain of early morning had given way to a perfectly delightful afternoon. It was not as if senior prom would have been cancelled due to bad weather, but Bishop was happy for the students that the weather would cooperate.
Schooled in Deception: A Michael Bishop Mystery Page 16