“What happened to you is so wrong, hun. It’s horrifying and I’m sorry you had to go through that. But if the authorities see this, they can punish the people who did this to you. Okay?”
Instead of answering, she dropped her head on my shoulder and began to sob.
Chapter Sixty-four
There was a road in the back.
A dirt one, but a path back to civilization, nevertheless.
Katy drove silently while I kept one eye on our prisoners and the other on my phone.
It had taken five minutes to bundle everyone into the truck. Isabella and Sally had struggled, but gave up when they saw Nick get inside, too wounded to object.
The three of them sat in the back seat, their hands tied to their backs, while Brianna sat in between Katy and me in front.
We were only five minutes into our ride when the cellular bars on my mobile slowly turned from red to green.
“Stop the car,” I said.
Katy pulled the truck over to the side of the road and turned off the engine.
I brought the laptop toward me and turned it on. Then, I made my call.
Win knew what to do immediately.
She didn’t ask for details other than if we were okay. Then, she showed me how to connect my phone to the laptop, and upload the incriminating video to a secure place in the cloud. After the video, I uploaded the recordings from my phone.
The three in the back sat silently, sullen expressions on their faces, as we waited for the slow connection to finish the job.
I wished we could dump everything in that laptop and Nick’s phone to the cloud, but that could take hours and we didn’t have time.
“So, do I send this to the FBI using my avatar again?” asked Win when the files were uploaded.
“Please,” I said. “However way you do it, make sure it’s anonymous. I’d hate it to be tracked back to you.”
“I’ve done this before, Asha. They’ll never know.”
“What about the gates?” I asked, before Win hung up. “How were they locked?”
“Someone sabotaged them. Simple trick really, just changed the clock, so the gates locked down. It’s an easy fix.”
Heavy breathing came from behind me. I knew it was Nick, realizing his handiwork was being outed.
“Shall I open them?” asked Win. “I was waiting for your green light. Didn’t know if there is someone out you don’t want inside the school.”
The mayor. I didn’t want that low life anywhere near the girls, but he was probably in his mayoral office in town, blissfully unaware of the chaos reigning at the school.
“Open them now.”
After saying goodbye to Win, I turned to Katy.
“Call Tetyana and give her an update. Tell her to call her contacts at the FBI and say it’s urgent. Win will send the files, but it would be great to give them a heads up. Anonymously.”
With a nod, Katy pulled out her phone.
“It’s time for me to talk to Martha May,” I said.
“You’re calling her?” said Katy, giving me a surprised look.
I nodded.
“She needs to know.”
I put the phone to my ear, wondering how she was going to take this news.
The principal was a strong woman, and she didn’t like to hear anything that would derail her plans, even when it was a student who’d been bullied to death in her own institution.
“Martha May,” came the gruff voice on the other end.
“Asha Kade here.”
“Where the hell are you?” she barked.
I pulled the phone away from my ear. Martha could be loud.
“We have good news,” I said. “We found Brianna Madison. She’s alive.”
“Thank goodness.”
The relief in her voice was genuine.
“We also found the person who murdered your two staff members and former Phys Ed teacher. I’m afraid it’s one of your closest staff members. Sally Robertson.”
I felt a kick on the back of my seat and automatically leaned forward. It was Isabella. I turned around and glowered at the girl. She glowered back.
We should have tied their feet, I thought as I turned back to the phone.
“Martha?” I said.
“Sally?” said Martha in a whimper.
“Your assistant, Nick Davies, is not just a jewelry thief who has been pilfering high-end pieces from your students,” I continued. “He’s also been procuring your students for the mayor.”
“What? What did you say?”
“I’m sure the FBI will have a few good questions for all of them,” I said.
On the other end of the line, I heard a commotion. Doors banging. People hollering.
Win must have opened the gates.
I gripped my phone tightly, hoping that video and the audio files uploaded okay.
For all I knew, Martha May could be in cahoots with Nick and the mayor. They could even be working with Sally and Isabella. A nice inner circle designed to blackmail their rich students and abuse them.
There was a rustling in the background at the other end. Then, a male voice came on the phone.
“This is the police chief.”
This was the man who’d berated us to stay away from his business. It was the same man who took a bribe from Martha May to stop an investigation into a missing child.
“Chief,” I said, keeping my voice even. “We made three civilian arrests.”
“What in god’s name do you think you’re doing?”
“We have two adults, Sally Robertson and Nick Davies. Robertson kidnapped the missing student and nearly shot her just now. She also confessed to her involvement in all three murders at the school, and it’s all recorded on my phone.”
Another angry gasp came from the back seat.
“We believe Nick Davies might also have had a hand in the killings,” I said. “Plus we have evidence of him selling girls for sex. Or should I say rape?”
Silence.
“Are you there, Chief?”
Low murmurings came on the other end. Then, a loud thud like the phone fell to the floor. Feet shuffled, another thud, then urgent whispers came through the speaker.
Either I’d confounded him, or they were all in this together and were scrambling to cover up their involvement. If it was the latter, we’d be walking into danger.
I shot a side glance at Katy.
“Prepare for ambush,” I whispered.
Katy nodded as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her Glock. She had Sally’s revolver in her other hand.
We didn’t have Tetyana’s firepower, but this would have to do.
Brianna took a sharp breath in and gave me a wide-eyed look. Our captives in the back were silent.
Too silent.
My phone crackled to life. I turned my attention back to it.
“You’re on speakerphone,” came the principal’s voice. “I’m in my office with the police chief and the mayor. What in god’s name is going on and where the hell are you?”
I raised my eyebrow.
“The mayor is there too? Why did he come over to the school at this time?”
“He said Nick called him and told him we had an emergency.”
That explained what Nick had been doing while we were talking to Sally inside that crumbling old manor.
“Martha,” I said, “we need to speak in private.”
“Whatever you say to me can be said to everyone here,” she snapped.
I took a deep breath in.
“Be very careful. The people in your office are part of a—”
“Don’t listen to her!” screamed Isabella, startling me.
A series of powerful kicks thundered on the back of my seat. Brianna and I leaned forward to avoid the impact. Isabella turned sideways and started kicking the door next.
“The door’s locked,” said Katy, looking at the girl. “You can’t get out if that’s what you’re trying to do.”
“Shut up, bitch!”
&
nbsp; “Settle down, Isabella,” I said, turning around with a glare.
Isabella pummeled the back of my seat with her feet again. I wasn’t sure what would be worse. Taking this girl back to the school or transporting a wild animal.
“Isabella?” came Martha May’s voice, concerned. “Where are you? What’s going on?”
I turned back to the phone.
“Your favorite student has been busy,” I said. “With not so legal activities, I’m afraid.”
“Isabella?” came the headmistress’s voice, high-pitched, as if she couldn’t believe her ears.
“Don’t listen to her, Mom!” shouted Isabella.
Mom?
Katy and I turned around in shock.
“Martha May’s your mother?” said Katy.
“They took me hostage!” screamed Isabella, kicking the door again.
“What are you doing with my daughter?” shouted Martha. “I’m sending the cops right now.”
“Please do,” I said. “We need all the help we can get. I’m sure they’d love to hear the recording of her confessions too.”
That stopped the principal in her tracks.
“What are you doing to her?” she asked. “Where is she?”
“We found her in an abandoned farmstead at the edge of your school grounds. She was an accomplice to Brianna Madison’s kidnapping and to the three murders at your school.”
“My god.”
“Shut your mouth, bitch!” screeched Isabella from the backseat.
Even Sally and Nick had inched away from the girl’s violent thrashing.
I raised my voice so Martha could hear me over the din.
“She bought and distributed cocaine among the students, and she might have had a hand in the jewelry heist that targeted your students.”
Silence on the other end.
“Brace yourself for this last one,” I said, pausing, wondering how to even articulate the words. “She may have also been involved in getting girls for your town mayor, who abused them.”
“My lord,” came Martha’s voice, faint now.
“Tell the mayor not to leave town. We have his videos.”
On the other end, someone shouted, and a door banged. This was followed by hollering and yelling.
Was that the mayor? Did he just walk out? Run off?
“Martha?” I said. “Did you know any of this?”
There was no answer.
Seemed like I had finally shocked her into silence.
Chapter Sixty-five
“FBI notified,” said Katy in a low voice, putting her phone away and starting the engine. “They have the files.”
I nodded.
“Keep your video rolling,” I said. “Just in case.”
The commotion was still raging on the other end of my line, but Martha May had gone silent.
Something crackled on my phone.
“How far are you?” came the chief’s voice in my ear.
“Fifteen minutes ETA,” I said.
“Where are you?”
“On a dirt road that heads south. We should be at the school gates shortly.”
“What are you driving?”
“A tinted black pickup truck.”
“A black pickup truck?”
“You heard that right,” I said, trying not to sound too smug. “It’s the one that rammed Jayden Brown’s car. We found it. You’ll see from the damage in front of the truck that it matches with what happened to the Prius.”
More harried murmurs came on the other end.
The chief didn’t know I had another card up my sleeve. This one was an ace.
“Okay, keep driving,” came his voice again. “Two squad cars are on their way.”
I crossed my fingers.
“We have contacted the FBI,” I said.
“The FBI?” His voice came several notches higher than normal.
“With a triple murder, a high-end jewelry thief, and a town mayor caught raping a girl on video, this case will be of special interest to them. Don’t you think?”
Silence.
“How do you know the FBI?” he asked finally.
“This isn’t our first rodeo, Chief.”
I paused to let that sink in.
“We have a laptop with us,” I said. “It belongs to Nick Davies or Sally Robertson. Found it next to the missing girl. You’ll find ample evidence in there to piece this puzzle together.”
“Oh?”
“All the evidence which incriminates the mayor, and the others has already been transferred to the FBI. I don’t think you have to call them. They will be calling you.”
There was a long silence.
I wondered if he was contemplating early retirement.
He couldn’t ignore the evidence now. He’d be in deep trouble if anyone found out he’d looked the other way when things got rough at this school.
If he’d been taking payments from the principal—which I suspected he did from what Sally and Cathy had said—his career would be in serious jeopardy.
“Who else do you have in the vehicle?” said the chief, his voice strained.
“Isabella, whom you just heard. We also have the kidnapped girl, Brianna Madison, the school nurse, Sally Robertson, and Nick Davies, who seems to have had his finger in everything.”
I heard a pencil scribbling on the other end. The chief was taking notes. That had to be good news. He knew his federal colleagues would demand standards—standards, I was sure, he hadn’t kept up with for decades.
“If I were you, I’d get a medical examiner and forensic specialists to take another look at the three deaths. I’m sure you will be expected to do autopsies now.”
“I, er, will be making the call….,” came the chief’s subdued voice. “I’ll ask the county over for reinforcement.”
“Plus, you’ll get assistance from your federal colleagues pretty soon.”
“Yeah….”
“Aren’t you glad we got involved in this business, after all?” I said, this time failing not to sound too smug.
The chief hung up without even saying thank you.
I turned the video recording app on and placed the phone on top of my laptop. My shoulders were still tense, and I was on full alert, but I also felt relief as all the loose threads I’d been grappling with had finally come together.
Behind me Isabella had fallen silent.
How did I never guess her relationship to Martha?
There had been small clues.
One was how everyone gave her special status and let her get away with misbehavior the other students couldn’t.
Katy and I had scoured the files that night in the principal’s office, but there had been nothing to indicate Isabella was Martha May’s daughter. She even had a different last name.
Just like Sally and Clara had.
“Wait,” I said out loud. “How did I miss that?”
“What? What?” asked Katy, giving me a startled look. “Do I stop?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Just thinking of surnames.”
I twisted around in my seat to see Isabella and Sally’s dour faces behind me.
“Isabella,” I said, softening my voice. “Are you adopted?”
“I’m not, you idiot,” she replied sullenly.
“I’m sorry,” I said, trying to rack my brain for another solution.
“Did you take on your dad’s surname?” I said, looking straight at her. “While Martha May kept her maiden name?”
She glared back, but her face told me I got it right.
“You lying, double-faced pond scum,” snarled Sally. “You said you’d help me. You… you… I hate you!”
I looked away, thinking that didn’t deserve an answer.
I felt bad for both of them.
I had no idea what was going to happen to Isabella, but she was sure to get leniency for her age.
Sally’s past had been more than traumatic. Then again, I knew of many others in this world who had overcome horri
fic adversity and didn’t turn toward cold-blooded revenge.
If she hadn’t taken that shot at Brianna, and if she hadn’t been involved in or at least known about that girl’s assault, I’d have stepped up. But now, this woman deserved everything that was coming to her.
I hoped both Nick and the despicable mayor would rot in jail, where they deserved to spend the rest of their miserable lives. My only regret was the mayor hadn’t been at the old house, denying me the pleasure of taking a few well-placed blows at his savage skull.
The person I felt the worst for was young Brianna.
Whether she liked it or not, that laptop with that video was going to the authorities. That meant what had happened to her would get exposed to the world.
I could only hope they’d give her the privacy she deserved. But that was out of my hands.
I turned to her and touched her shoulder.
“You hanging in there, hun?”
She reached out and gripped my hand.
I squeezed hers back.
“What’s gonna happen to me?” she asked in a cracked voice.
“You’re going to go home. You’ll get to take a break from school and hopefully start in a new school somewhere else. In a much nicer place than this.”
“I hate it here,” she said. “I never want to come back. I just want to go home.”
“Don’t give it another thought, sweetie. We’ll escort you home if you want us to.”
“Promise?”
“Promise,” said Katy and I at the same time.
We exchanged a knowing look over the girl’s head. Brianna was going to need a lot of therapy and time before she would get over this harrowing experience.
We were five minutes from the school grounds now.
Two squad cars came to meet us, sirens and lights blaring. One was driven by the junior officer we’d met before, but the second car had a decal from a neighboring county sheriff’s department.
“Hello folks,” called out the officer in the second car. “The FBI is on their way to the school. We were asked to escort you there till they come.”
Katy slowed down as one did a U-turn and positioned himself in front of us to lead the way, while the other followed us from the back.
I settled back in my seat, knowing we’d have to answer a thousand questions when we returned to the school.
But I was certain of one thing.
Merciless Crimes: A Thrilling Closed Circle Mystery Series (Merciless Murder Mystery Thriller) Page 27