The giggles stopped, and the girls stared.
There were four of them.
Isabella was lying near the center of the court, smoking a joint, surrounded by three friends. I recognized them from among the crowd who’d cheered her bullying. Isabella turned her head nonchalantly, a glazed look in her eyes.
Her friends, in contrast, pulled back, startled at being discovered. One of them hurriedly put her cigarette out on the polished floor, making Jayden groan out loud.
“What are you girls doing in here?” he said, as we walked up to the group.
They stared at us silently.
Isabella turned a sullen face toward him.
“Hello, Mr. Brown. Did you come to snoop on us?”
“You have a curfew,” said Jayden, hands on his hips. “You should be in your rooms, sleeping.”
Isabella let out a gruff laugh. The other girls giggled nervously, as if torn between standing with their pack leader and fleeing to protect themselves.
“So? Whatcha gonna do?” asked Isabella, blowing a cannabis-laced smoke ring our way.
I glared.
“How old are you?” I said. “Sixteen? Seventeen? This is illegal, not to speak of your school’s rules.”
She laughed, provoking the others to join her.
Jayden let out a long, resigned sigh, like he knew he had his hands full.
“Look, pack up and go to your rooms. No one has to find out. Just promise me you won’t do this again.”
“You’re not the boss of us,” said Isabella, shooting a scornful look at him. She turned her dark eyes to Katy and me. “And you’re outsiders. As if we’re gonna listen to you.”
I don’t know what came over me. Maybe it was her snark. Maybe it was seeing how she got away with bullying that girl in the schoolyard. I stepped up to her, bent down, and plucked the joint neatly from her fingers.
“Hey, that’s mine,” she cried, lunging toward me.
She twisted the weed out of my fingers and hissed. She was tall for a teen and towered over my five-foot frame. I stood my ground, but Katy jumped in and pushed the girl away.
“Whoa,” said Jayden, stepping and creating a wall between Isabella and us. “Come on, settle down, will you?”
Isabella tried to get around him, but Jayden stayed put. Defeated, she stepped back toward her posse, glaring at me, hot anger flashing in her eyes.
“You bitch!” she screamed and kicked a handbag on the ground. The bag flew to the side, spilling its contents on the basketball floor.
One girl gasped and another let out a shriek, covering her mouth quickly.
We stared at the contents scattered across the court. No one spoke for a while.
It was the small white packages among the high-end lipstick and makeup pieces that had got our attention.
“Are those packets what I think they are?” asked Katy, pointing.
Isabella glowered, realizing her mistake. Her friends shuffled their feet and looked away.
“Is that heroin?” I asked, trying to catch their eyes. “Cocaine? Fentanyl?”
“None of your stupid business,” snapped Isabella.
Jayden was staring at them, his face pale. “Where did you even get this stuff?”
No answer.
One girl bent down and picked up the spilled contents and pushed them into the purse with shaking hands. The expressions on the girls’ faces were clear. Their cockiness was gone. Even their pack leader looked uncertain now.
Jayden opened his mouth, then closed it, like he had no words.
“How could you do this?” he said finally, his voice breaking. “How could you do this to yourselves?”
Isabella smirked, but the other girls were now studiously avoiding eye contact.
“Look,” said Jayden, wiping his brow. “You know you shouldn’t be here, let alone smoking this crap. Imagine what Ms. May would say if she knew what you were all doing during the curfew?”
That seemed to give Isabella the confidence she needed. She laughed out loud—a hollow, emotionless sound.
“I expected so much more from you all,” Jayden said, shaking his head.
“You’re totally scared of Ms. May,” said Isabella, licking her lips. “But I’m not.”
She stepped up to Jayden, making him jerk back in alarm.
“Me neither,” piped a girl from behind her. “I’m not scared of that bulldog bitch.”
“Me too,” said another.
The third girl straightened up, like she got a burst of confidence from somewhere.
“Ms. May will never tell our parents. My father is going to donate a ton of money this year and she won’t want to lose it.”
Isabella was still advancing on Jayden.
The power structure had turned.
He staggered back, his hands in the air, as if that would keep the girl away.
“Isabella, please step back,” I said.
But the girl kept her eyes on the teacher. Jayden hit his back on the wall and stopped. He was cornered.
“There’s a reason we have these rules,” said Jayden, his voice pleading now. “Whatever you’re taking isn’t good for you. I’m trying to help you here.”
Isabella laughed.
I stepped up to her. “Stop playing these games. Show some respect for yourself.”
“How do you know they’re no good?” said Isabella, with a wink at Jayden. “Have you tried any? Wouldn’t you like to, Mr. Brown?”
“Leave the man alone,” said Katy. “He’s trying to help you, for goodness’ sake.”
“Try this,” she said, stuffing her joint into Jayden’s mouth and clamping her hand on his lips.
Jayden pulled away, spat the weed out and started gagging.
Isabella whooped, like she’d won the game. Her friends doubled over in laughter.
“Isabella!” I shouted. “Stop it!”
“What a wussy,” said Isabella, marching back to her group. “Give me another,” she said, snapping her fingers.
One of her friends jumped on her handbag, pulled another joint out, and lit it for her.
Jayden straightened up.
I didn’t think he was capable of anger, but it was a changed man who stepped up to the four chortling girls.
He squared his shoulders and stood with his feet apart. Something about his stance got the girls’ attention. The guffawing stopped.
“I know you think you can push us around,” he said, his voice calm but a hard undercurrent running through it. “I’ve had enough of this. If you think I’m afraid of your families, your names, your parents, you got it wrong.”
His voice rose.
“You can’t bribe me. You can’t threaten me, and you definitely can’t play me. You hear me?”
“Oh, come on,” said Isabella, pouting. “Don’t be so serious, Mr. Brown.”
He snapped his fingers.
“Time to go to bed. Hand over your joints and get back in your rooms.”
The girls glared.
He glowered back.
“I said, now!” he shouted, his voice echoing across the court. “I’m not leaving this place till you do. And I’m not afraid to speak with your parents about everything I’ve seen you lot do. I’m serious!”
That seemed to do it.
With disgusted expressions on their faces, the three girls marched out of the gym, slapping their contraband on Jayden’s upturned palm on their way out.
I watched them sashay out of the basketball court.
Instead of relief coming over me as the drama ended, a sense of dread filled me like the show was just about to begin.
TUESDAY
Chapter Twenty
“He was fired.”
“What?” I said, staring at Nick.
We had come down first thing in the morning to get the key to Brianna’s room, but we hadn’t expected this bombshell.
It was Katy who had spotted the two-sentence letter laid out on Nick’s desk when we walked in. It was Jayden’s re
lease form, signed by Ms. May.
Nick had snatched it when he saw us look, but we’d already read it.
“What did Jayden do?” I asked.
“Sexual harassment or something,” mumbled Nick. “Supposedly happened last night.”
“You’re not serious?”
“Four girls complained this morning,” he replied, busily re-arranging the files, which did nothing but make his desk look messier. He was sending us clear signals he was busy, but I wasn’t about to leave until I learned exactly what was going on.
“It was four against one,” he added, turning away from us toward his computer.
Four privileged students from powerful, wealthy families against one junior teacher with little influence?
Katy looked like she wanted to shake Nick. I wanted to kill him. Why was this man always so cagey?
“I’d like to see Ms. May,” I said, my voice firm. “If this has anything to do with what happened last night at the gym, we were there. We were witnesses.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” replied Nick, shaking his head at his monitor, deliberately keeping his face turned away from us. “Ms. May is on the phone with the police chief. Can’t be disturbed.”
“Fine,” I said, marching over to the couch next to the headmistress’s door. “I’m staying right here until she—”
The principal’s door flung open and Martha May stepped out.
“Nick!” she hollered, glaring at him.
The man jumped up like he’d been kicked in the back.
“Didn’t I tell you to get those student files on my desk an hour ago?”
He bounded over to the orange cabinets at the back of the office and opened the drawers with a clang. He shuffled through the files like his life depended on it.
Martha hadn’t even noticed Katy and me by the couch, her attention on her assistant. She spun on her heels and stomped back inside her office, leaving the door wide open.
Signaling to Katy to follow me, I marched inside the principal’s office.
“Good morning, Martha,” I said.
She looked up, startled.
“Oh, it’s you,” she said and moved behind her desk. “Unless you’ve found Brianna Madison, I have other emergencies to attend to.”
I walked up and leaned over her desk.
“We heard Jayden Brown got fired.”
She gave me a surprised look. “News travels fast.”
“Can you tell us why you let him go?”
She sat down, leaned back, and stared at me for a minute. It felt like an eternity, but I kept my eye contact steady and my face composed.
“What’s it to you?” she said finally.
“We were out patrolling the school with him last night. We were with Jayden when he walked into the basketball court. In fact, we went in first and he followed us.”
“Is that right?”
“We would like to give our version of the events.”
“Whatever you say won’t change my decision,” she replied in a crisp voice.
“Was this the first time he’s been charged with harassment?” I asked.
“What if it is?”
“I admit we don’t know his full background, but he came across as a good teacher who wants to do the right thing. We think you need to hear the truth about what happened in the sports center. It’s those girls you need to interrogate.”
“They disobeyed your curfew,” said Katy coming over and standing next to me. “We caught them smoking cigarettes and weed. We saw packets of dru—”
“My decision is final,” barked the principal, cutting Katy off in mid-sentence.
She didn’t want to hear the truth.
She leaned forward, her eyes angry and dark.
“I’m not in the habit of swaying back and forth on my decisions.”
“Even when you get new and unbiased information?” I asked.
A part of me wondered how I’d ever got into this position of arguing for the accused.
I normally sided with the women in these situations. But I was there, I reminded myself. I had been there when it had all played out.
“How can you make a final decision without hearing all sides of the story?” I asked.
“Their complaint was sufficient for me.”
The principal turned her cold eyes on us.
“I hired you to find a truant girl. As far as I can see, you’ve done nothing. But you seem to have time on your hands to get involved in business that has nothing to do with you.”
“We’ve been on the case since we arrived,” replied Katy, an edge coming to her voice. “We got here yesterday afternoon and we have only had four hours of sleep.”
“Your assistant didn’t hand over the keys to Brianna’s room till just now,” I said. “Plus, we had to contend with the sudden death of your gardener.”
Martha’s face hardened.
“Chitchatting with that old man didn’t help you find the girl, did it?”
“Martha,” I said, keeping my voice level. “I gave you our commitment we’d look for Brianna Madison. To do that, we need to talk to the right people, get to know them, and find out where they were the night she disappeared.”
“So, get to it,” she snapped. “Just stay away from nosing into Sam’s death and other extraneous affairs that have nothing to do with your task. You’ll only be wasting my patience and your time.”
I leaned forward and locked eyes with her. She wouldn’t like what I was about to tell her next.
“We believe Sam’s death might have a connection with Brianna Madison.”
“Really?” she said, her voice dripping in sarcasm. “Pray tell, what would that be?”
“I suspect he saw someone or something that had to do with her disappearance. It could be probable cause for his sudden death.”
“That’s not what the police chief said.”
“I’m not sure I’d trust that chief to follow procedure.”
The principal’s eyes bulged, and her face turned pink, like she was on the brink of exploding. I had half a mind to step back, but I stood my ground.
“They tested the syringe!” she shouted, half rising from her chair. “He died of an opioid overdose, for heaven’s sake!”
I raised my eyebrows.
“That’s interesting. Did Sam seem like a drug addict to you?”
Maybe it was our stubborn refusal to run away like her staff and students, but something made the headmistress sit back in her chair.
She turned away, her face stony, but she was chewing her lower lip. Something was troubling her.
“Look,” she said, finally turning back to us. “I’m doing everything I can to keep this school afloat. I’ve managed this school for two decades now. My reputation is on the line. My career. My legacy. Do you understand that?”
Katy and I merely stared back.
“This week’s board meeting is the most important event this year and I can’t have anything mess that up.”
She swallowed hard.
“If the police chief tells me Sam died of an opioid overdose, then Sam died of an opioid overdose. That’s it. That’s all. I don’t have time for speculation.”
“What’s going to happen to Sam?” asked Katy. “Are you going to send him to his family?”
“He didn’t have any. He’ll be buried next to his father in the small plot near the greenhouse. And now, Sam is not your concern.”
I gritted my teeth. The way she dismissed Sam’s death made my blood boil.
“I don’t do half jobs,” I said, suppressing the urge to slam my fist on her desk. “You hired me to investigate a girl’s disappearance, then it’s my job to look into all the loose threads.”
She glared back.
“You’re skating on thin ice. First, you barge in here telling me how to manage my staffing affairs. Then, you want me to tell the local police how to do their jobs. I have half a mind to—”
A knock on the door made us turn.
&nb
sp; It was Nick, standing by the door, a file folder in his hands. He dipped his head in a low bow. I wondered how long he’d been standing there, listening in.
He cleared his throat.
“I, er, have your files, Ms. May,” he stammered.
“What are you waiting for?” barked Martha. “Bring them over.”
She turned back to us.
“I’m giving you twenty-four hours. One more day to find this girl. If you don’t, you can pack your bags and head back to New York.”
Chapter Twenty-one
“It’s the town mayor,” said Win, her voice coming clearly over my phone’s speaker.
“The mayor is shagging the girls in this school?” cried Katy, looking like she was ready to tear her hair out.
“Shh…” I said. “Keep your voice down.”
We were in our room, getting an update from Win who’d already tracked down the license plate.
Part of me felt bad for encouraging our friend to engage in hacking, while the other part was relieved to have her help. If there was anyone good at getting in and out of a computer network at lightning speed, it had to be Win.
“Randall Briggs is his name,” said Win. “Got a nice family too. Pretty brunette wife, two adorable kids and a cute Terrier. Goes to church every Sunday, and is the local pastor’s biggest supporter. A fine man, by all accounts.”
“A sick pedophile,” growled Katy.
“I have his home address if you want. Here’s his pic. Got it from the municipal site.”
A ping came from my phone. I swiped to the next screen and clicked on the image.
“That’s him,” said Katy, sitting up and punching the bed. “It’s him! We saw him last night.”
“Tetyana said she’d love to help you bury the man,” said Win. “Happy to help you too.”
“Wait,” I said as I realized a mistake. “If he has Brianna, why would he come to meet another girl here last night? Maybe this man, pedophile as he is, has nothing to do with Brianna’s disappearance.”
Katy shook her head.
“I want it to be him.”
“Okay, if, and it’s a big if, he’s holding Brianna against her will,” I said, “we’ll have to find him without putting her in more danger.”
Merciless Crimes: A Thrilling Closed Circle Mystery Series (Merciless Murder Mystery Thriller) Page 9