Dying To Teach Part 15

NINETEEN.

Jarvis left Angelina's hotel at 5:30 a.m. feeling both rejuvenated and exhausted. He located his car in the parking garage and sat in it a moment, letting the engine warm up. While speeding to Carlson after the conversation with Kiana yesterday afternoon, he'd received a call from Detective Rodriguez-head investigator on the Gwen Forest case.

"I got something from that photograph," Rodriguez had said in his slight Mexican accent. "Don't know how it fits into the case, though."

"Want to meet someplace?" Jarvis had offered.

"Yeah. Trouble is, I'm at a family thing right now. The wife would squash me with her father's tractor if I left a minute early. I'm working midnight to seven. What if we meet about six?"

"Works for me. I'm on my way to the school anyway," he said. "Surprised you're not already there."

"What's up?"

"Somebody set the school's green room on fire."

"What!"

Jarvis had heard exclaiming voices in the background, then a woman telling Rodriguez that if anybody from work was on the phone, he should hang up. Jarvis grinned and said, "The fire's out. All is well, but I figured you would've been called in. No way it was an accident."

Rodriguez muttered something to which Jarvis didn't ask for clarification.

"I'll find out more and probably see you there," Rodriguez said.

"Otherwise, I'll see you at six."

They settled into a corner booth with coffees and hearty breakfasts. Detective Rodriguez worked under cover for the Nashua PD so, like Jarvis, he dressed in street clothes-blue jeans and a black long sleeved shirt. He wore his dark, shoulder length hair tied in a ponytail with a leather strap at the base of his neck, which negated any resemblance he might have to a police officer.

Rodriguez took a long drag on the coffee, grimaced and added two heaping spoonfuls of sugar. Jarvis did likewise. "I guess I missed you at the school," he said with a smirk.

"Wisea.s.s."

"Did they find out anything?"

Rodriguez shook his head. "Fingerprint crew took samples but you know where that'll go. Didn't look like the janitors spent any time at that end of the building, ever."

"They're there now. Sucking water from the seats. Blow drying the place with fans."

Rodriguez selected some pages from the seat beside him. "I got the arrest histories on the main suspects. Some interesting stuff." He ate in silence, his attention more on Jarvis' reaction to the paperwork than the food.

Jarvis thumbed through the pages. "Where's Josh Philmore? The kids-Evan and Kiana."

Rodriguez shook his head. "No records. We're still collecting info on some of the others. This isn't CSI, you know."

Jarvis read, taking an occasional bite of the eggs. "Wow," he finally said.

"Which one?"

"Most. For example, how did Randall Reynolds get the princ.i.p.al's job with an arrest for marijuana possession on his record?"

"Knew somebody in high places?"

"Maybe." Jarvis checked the dates on the paperwork. "He and Gwen were arrested at the same time. Granted, it was way back."

"For Gwen, as a teacher, would one arrest be a deal breaker?"

"Dunno. Maybe not. But for a princ.i.p.al's position..."

"Right." Rodriguez leaned back so the waitress could refill his coffee. "Remember that she got him the job? You think she somehow hid the information from the school board?"

Jarvis leaned back so the waitress could fill his cup. Her eyes were on the stack of papers before him. She straightened up but didn't leave. "Terrible thing that happened to that teacher."

"Did you know her?" Rodriguez asked, reverting to cop mode.

"She came in a few times. Being so close to the school, everybody hangs out here."

"Can you recall anyone she came in with?"

She set the pot on the edge of the table. "Most of the time with this guy who wore sweatsuits all the time. I think he was the football coach."

"Did she come in with anybody else?" Jarvis asked.

"Sometimes with a bunch of teachers. Sometimes with a girl. A pretty girl. Matter of fact, she was just in here. With her boyfriend. At least I think it's her boyfriend, they're together all the time."

"Do you know her name?"

"Not that I recall, but she has long black hair and dark skin."

"You say they were just here?"

"A couple of hours ago. They were making plans to go...I think they said back to school."

"Okay, thanks." Rodriguez fished out a business card and handed it to her. "If you think of anything else..."

Once the waitress left, Rodriguez identified Kiana as the one who'd met with Gwen.

"Odd a student and teacher meeting, don't you think?" Rodriguez asked.

"Not in this case. They were working on that play, trying to save the drama program. Besides, they were close."

"Who told you that?"

"All you gotta do is listen to her talk." Jarvis shoved the plate away. He told Rodriguez about the kids going through Ted Chalmers' things and that they were investigating this case on their own. "I tried to talk them out of it but you know how kids are."

"Did they find anything interesting?"

"To them or to us?" Jarvis grinned. "They found a pair of girly underwear in his desk."

"In his office? Hot d.a.m.n-getting a piece at work."

"Your wife would really squash you with the tractor then!"

Rodriguez gave a deep belly laugh. "What were we talking about?"

"Changing the subject, huh?"

"I thought that was the subject."

"We were talking about Gwen Forest getting the princ.i.p.al's position for Reynolds."

"And possibly covering up his arrest record."

"Even if she did, I can't see how something as trivial as one situation so far back can explode into a motive for murder."

Rodriguez pointed his half-full fork at Jarvis. "They got in a fight. She threatened to blow the whistle on him."

"That would get her in just as much hot water as him." Jarvis crumpled his napkin and tossed it on the empty plate. "So, where does that leave us?"

Rodriguez swallowed and didn't speak.

"What's that smirk for?" Jarvis asked.

"Keep reading."

Jarvis shifted Gwen and Josh's information to the bottom of the pile and read on. "Interesting. Very interesting."

Rodriguez read the page upside down. "You got Priscilla Philmore there?"

"Yeah. How the h.e.l.l did she avoid jail time?" Jarvis read further. "Oh, I see. She agreed to big-time counseling. She still going?"

Rodriguez made a note in his notebook. "We're checking. Still, where's a motive for murder? She and Forest were best friends."

"Same as with the husband." Jarvis shrugged. "If they argued... People do strange things when p.i.s.sed off."

"You got that right."

"You're still wearing that smirk. I a.s.sume it's got something to do with the last sheet here." Jarvis moved the pages around. "Ted Chalmers. He still the main suspect?"

"Like I said the other day I like Kiana Smith a lot-especially after what the waitress just said. With her and Forest knowing each other...but I have to admit with two charges for lewd and lascivious, our Mr. Chalmers is looking better by the minute."

"There's no guarantee Forest knew about the charges."

"No guarantee she knew about Priscilla either," Rodriguez said. "This is stuff people keep scrupulously protected."

Jarvis held up a finger for Rodriguez to wait. He scanned Ted Chalmers' page and couldn't find what he wanted. "Do you know if this guy has ever been married? Does he have a kid?"

"Nothing on there so probably not. Why?"

"Because of the underwear the kids found. The kids seemed to think it would be out of character for Gwen Forest to wear them."

Rodriguez gave a bark of laughter that had the waitress glancing up from scrubbing the counter. "The kids think he was cheating on her?"

Jarvis shrugged.

Rodriguez gave his plate a frustrated shove then caught it before it slid off the table. "I always thought that as you interviewed people, the suspect pool was supposed to shrink."

"Doesn't always." Jarvis tasted the home fries then added a generous shaking of pepper. "So, what happened to grow your list?"

"Did you know the princ.i.p.al is gay?"

The information was indeed a surprise, but it did explain at least one thing. Jarvis tapped the empty fork on his plate. "Maybe that's why he and Forest got an annulment."

Rodriguez's eyes lit up and he said, "He was unable to perform," the exact same time Jarvis said it.

"It also explains why they remained friends. Gwen understood the situation."

"Explains why she was helpful and not bitter."

"But why would she leave town?" Rodriguez asked.

Good question. That part didn't make sense. If she and Randy were friends but just not compatible why not get the annulment and go their separate ways? In the old days there was a stigma to that sort of thing but in the 90s it was, as they say, everything goes.

"I haven't been able to find anyone who knows why she left. Can't help wondering if it was just a coincidence of timing: she'd decided to move along and the annulment provided the perfect excuse. Maybe a school in California offered a better major. Or maybe she wasn't as agreeable to his situation as she pretended."

"Possible." Jarvis drew his notebook from a breast pocket. He'd already copied the information for Rodriguez. He tore out the page and waited for the friendly-faced man to read it. "Try talking to her old roommate. Name's Debbie Fingerman."

Rodriguez pointed at the paper. "Where'd you get this name? I kept hitting dead ends. You been able to interview her?"

"Got her name from the other woman on the list, Vicki Fredette, who works in the college office. Worked with Gwen back then too. And no, there was no time to talk to Fingerman. Apparently she's married to the third name on the list-a Jason Ellis."

"Great. Appreciate it." He folded the paper and stuffed it into his shirt pocket. "I'll let you know what I find out."

"I think the Fredette woman's got a lot more to tell. Some judicious memory-jogging would probably help. Deeper questions than can be done over the phone. Got it in the budget to go down there?"

Rodriguez's laugh was cut short by the arrival of the waitress. Jarvis leaned back while she poured more coffee. As she walked away, he watched her rear end, wishing he'd stayed at the hotel with Angelina. When he looked back Rodriguez's eyebrows were raised. He rolled his eyes and grinned.

"I checked out that photograph your lady friend found." Rodriguez doctored his coffee. "I was able to learn through a check of some very skimpy financial records-and believe me, they were skimpy since it was twenty-some years ago-that the deceased transferred to the University of California where she got a degree in childhood education."

Jarvis nodded.

"You knew?"