Band Room Bash (16 page)

The Four Oaks High School marching band was leaving the field after halftime. The show had fallen flat, as if the band members were moving in a fog. The football team was losing. Jason had fumbled several plays. Without Coach Smith and Marvin Slade, the kids weren’t holding together well.

I left Max with Charlie and Sammie on the bleachers so I could stretch my stiff body, as well as take a bathroom break—something that was occurring with more frequency. I noticed Detective Scott in attendance. He was in close conversation with a woman whose casual appearance didn’t cover the fact that she was a cop. I desperately wished I could be privy to what they were talking about.

I passed Carla Bickford in a huddle with several parents. She was still wearing a suit, although this one was more casual, with pants and a loose jacket. I imagined her closet full of rows of suits, sorted by color.

Ten minutes later, when I was washing my hands in the bathroom, two women I knew by sight, who were also parents of high school students, walked in together. One had flaming red hair that could only come from a bottle. The other was a natural mousy brown. They were so busy talking they didn’t even look at me.

“She is just too big for her britches,” the redhead said.

“Oh yeah. She thinks she’s better than the rest of us, that’s for sure. I heard her family in Virginia was dirt poor.”

The conversation stopped when they noticed me standing there.

“Trish, how are you?” the one with brown hair said.

I rubbed my stomach. “Besides feeling like I’m going to pop, I’m fine.”

She nodded. “How awful about Georgia.”

Both women watched me closely, and I recognized the look. They were eager for information and thought I could provide some, but I didn’t want to. “Yes, it was awful.”

When I said nothing else, the redhead began to speak. “My husband is on the school board, but I’m still thinking of removing our daughter from the school. Even with a police officer there, I just don’t feel like it’s safe.”

The other woman nodded in agreement. “School resource officer, they call her.”

I wondered if that was the young woman Detective Scott had been talking to earlier. “So she’s assigned to the school now?”

“Just came on,” the brown-haired woman said. “Has her own office and everything.”

“Of course, Carla is going to do everything in her power to put a positive spin on this,” the other one said. “Make it look like it was all her idea, even though it wasn’t. It was the school board’s.”

“She’s becoming a dictator.”

That wasn’t a stretch for Carla.

“Well, you know why, don’t you?” the redhead asked.

“Yes. She probably wants to keep moving on. Leave her past behind.”

They began joking about what kinds of pasts someone would want to leave behind. I’d learn nothing else here. Besides, I was hungry. I left the bathroom and detoured to the concession stand. There I considered buying a hot dog, which I love to eat with lots of onions and mustard.

Onions make me burp when I’m pregnant, so I debated whether the momentary pleasure would be worth the price. Then I caught a glimpse of Carla Bickford out of the side of my eye. She was stalking Marvin Slade, who was walking with two uniformed band members. I was surprised to see him, since he’d been put on leave. When Carla finally reached him, she tapped his shoulder. He whirled around and frowned at her. I wasn’t close enough to hear their words, but I surmised from the way the two band members hurried away that the conversation wasn’t pleasant.

Marvin’s voice grew loud, and Carla pointed toward the parking lot. When he finally walked away, she patted her hair and headed for the bleachers. My curiosity got the best of me, and I followed Marvin, moving as fast as I could.

“Marvin, wait,” I yelled.

His startled gaze met mine, and he hurried toward his car. When he reached it, I thought he might ignore me and take off, but his shoulders slumped, and he leaned hard on the roof of the car.

“Hello, Mrs. Cunningham,” he said when I reached him.

I didn’t reply, just crossed my arms and stared at him. The baby was kicking my ribs again, and I felt a slight twinge in my abdomen. I needed to slow down. When I opened my mouth to tell Marvin I didn’t appreciate his deception, he started talking first.

“I know what you want.”

“No, I’m not sure you do,” I said. “I’m angry because you lied to me at Four Oaks Self-Storage. You led me to believe you were still teaching.”

He smiled sadly. “The second part of that statement is the truth. I did lead you to believe that, but I never came out and said it.”

“Sin of omission.”

He shrugged. “What can I say?”

“So why were you there?”

He reached for the car door handle. “Let’s just say, I’m a fool in love trying to save someone from herself.”

“What?”

“In love for the first time in my life.”

“Connie?”

He opened his mouth, then looked over my shoulder. His eyes flickered and he pulled his keys from his pockets. “I gotta go.” He flung the door open and scrambled inside, slamming the door hard.

He turned on the ignition and threw the car into gear. I backed away just in time for him to squeal away.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was avoiding me,” a voice said over my shoulder.

I turned around. Coach Smith was standing right behind me. Based on the muscles in his shoulders and arms, I had no problem believing he took steroids.

“Did you want to talk to him?” I asked.

“As a matter of fact, I did. He’s been snooping around. . .” His voice trailed off, and he looked at me. “But I’ll catch him later.”

“I thought you were on administrative leave.”

The anger that lit his eyes frightened me. “I am. But I came to watch my team play. At least the kids will know I’m here.” The big man turned and walked away.

I looked past him and saw Detective Scott, who watched the coach until he disappeared into the crowd. I headed for the concession stand, and the detective jogged over to join me.

I kept walking. “What do you want? Now everyone here will think I’m guilty of something.”

“No, they won’t.” He entered into step with me. “I’m human, too, you know. I do talk to people about things besides police business. I even have friends, although that might be hard for you to believe.”

He had a point there. “So you’re walking with me just to shoot the breeze?”

“No.” He smiled down at me. “I do have a purpose, but people don’t have to know that. I want to know what you and Marvin were talking about.”

I stopped abruptly and looked up at him. “I told him I didn’t appreciate him lying to me. Then he said something very interesting.”

“And that was?”

I explained what Marvin had said. “You know, that’s really weird. I think he’s talking about Connie.”

“Mmm.” Detective Scott nodded. “Did the coach say anything?”

“He insinuated that Marvin was snooping around.”

“I see.”

We began walking again. The young woman he’d been talking to earlier motioned for his attention. Before he left, he looked at me. “Trish, be careful.”

I met his serious gaze. Then he turned away, and I returned to the concession stand.

“Tell me you’re not thinking about a hot dog with onions,” a voice said in my ear. “You know you’ll suffer all night.” Max looked down at me. “How about I buy you a hot dog with just mustard?”

Shortly, Max was carrying drinks for four, along with a bag that contained two funnel cakes. Charlie and Sammie helped me carry five hot dogs. The kids were chattering, but I wasn’t paying attention to them. I’d stopped in my tracks, as had everyone else around me.

There, in the shadows next to the bleachers, Detective Scott was kneeling on the ground with his knee in Coach Smith’s back, handcuffing him. The young woman the detective had been talking to earlier stood in a typical cop stance, with her gun pointed at the coach’s head.

Chapter Fifteen

On Monday morning, I was so glued to the local news for information about Coach Smith that I didn’t pay attention to Max until he kissed me good-bye.

I looked him up and down. He was wearing his best charcoal suit. “A meeting?”

“The board of directors,” he said. “Lunch and a meeting afterward. But first I have to stop at the office in Rockville.”

“Okay. That’s good to know. This afternoon I have to go by the high school and drop off all the advertisement agreements, so I’ll be leaving work a couple hours early.”

He nodded as he clipped his cell phone to the holder on his belt.

I turned back to the television in time to see the wholesome, blond newscaster purse his lips in an expression of disgust.

“Coach Kent Smith of the Four Oaks High School was arrested on Saturday night for suspicion of providing drugs to minors,” he said. “He’s still in jail pending arraignment today.”

“I guess they didn’t let him out on bail over the weekend,” Max said as he opened the garage door. “They’ll probably set bail today, and he’ll be out.”

“They should lock him up and throw away the key,” I murmured.

As I drove to work, I thought about Coach Smith. I needed to update my clue list with all the information I’d gathered over the weekend. Townspeople’s speculation was rampant, and I’d gotten an earful at church the day before. The coach had murdered Georgia because she found out what he was doing. He was part of a bigger drug ring with ties in Baltimore. And then there was my mother’s favorite broken record. He was the head of an international crime ring that had infiltrated our town to bring in gambling casinos.

Based on what I knew, I believed he’d provided drugs to some of his players to improve their performance. I remembered the newscast I’d seen about a performance-enhancing drug and wondered if that was the one he’d given them. No matter what, arrest was too good for a man who would do that to teenagers. Whether he murdered Georgia remained to be seen.

When I pulled into the parking lot at Four Oaks Self-Storage, I was so focused on my speculation about Coach Smith, it took a moment to register the fact that a shiny red Mercedes was hogging Max’s parking space. I knew who it belonged to, and I wanted to make a fast U-turn. As I opened the front door of the building, I caught a whiff of Chanel. My mother-in-law’s favorite scent.

Shirl was standing behind the front desk, hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. She motioned with her head toward the closed door of Max’s office. “Her Highness is in there,” she whispered.

“What does she want?” I whispered back. “Is she waiting for Max? He’s not planning to be here today.”

Shirl shook her head. “She was asking when you were going to come into work.” Shirl paused and sniffed. “I had some messages for Mr. C., so when I called to give him those, I told him that she was making herself at home in his chair.”

So Angelica was here to see me. Shirl knew and was trying to protect me. A nervous quiver sped up my back.

From the side of my eye, I saw the office door open, and Angelica’s perfectly made-up eyes met mine. “Patricia? Will you please join me for a moment?” Her cool, cultured voice always annoyed me. Possibly because I couldn’t achieve the same effect, no matter how hard I tried. She didn’t wait for me to answer, just turned on her Gucci heels and disappeared again.

Her tone of voice, combined with the way she presumed to take over Max’s office, obliterated my nervousness.

I handed my purse to Shirl, but before I could enter the lion’s den, she patted my arm. “Don’t you worry none, Mrs. C. You got more class on a bad day than she does on her best.”

I didn’t agree, but I met her gaze with gratitude, and she smiled. That gave me the extra push I needed. I strode into Max’s office, shutting the door behind me. Whatever Angelica had come to tell me, Shirl didn’t need to hear.

Angelica was seated behind Max’s desk. Without an audience, her smile was gone. In its place was an icy frown. However, if she thought that would scare me, she was mistaken.

She sniffed gently. “I came by to pick up some papers for Max and his father about the new housing development, but I’m glad you’re here. I have something I need to discuss with you.”

It took every ounce of my self-control not to gasp. “Housing development?” I said, trying to sound casual.

“The one they have planned for Four Oaks.” She raised one delicate eyebrow. “You mean, Max didn’t tell you?”

I refused to make it appear as though Max had kept this a secret from me. “Oh yes. That.” I waved a hand.

“Please sit down.” She pointed at a chair in front of Max’s desk.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll stand.”

“Do as you like. You usually do. But you might wish to be seated when I tell you this.”

The gloves were off, so to speak. I knew for sure this conversation wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“Your father-in-law and I want to see that Charles goes to a private boarding school in Bethesda.”

“What?” I locked my knees.

“He is, after all, our youngest grandson.”

I couldn’t catch my breath, like the time I fell off a swing when I was little and had the air knocked out of me. Suddenly everything was clear. Max’s hidden papers and behind-closed-doors phone calls. Charlie’s attitude and comments.

Angelica’s mouth was set in a slight smile. “I felt you should know. Particularly since your actions precipitated our decision. Of course, I warned Max when he married you.”

Not only were the gloves off, but she was flexing her claws.

“My actions? What do you mean by that?”

She shook her head as though I was an unfortunate, stupid child. “You can’t stay out of trouble. You allow the children to run wild. Their futures are at stake. It’s too late for Thomas, but it’s not for Charles. I talked to Max a few days ago and have started making arrangements at the school.”

I remembered my mother’s comment that I was influencing the kids and not always positively. That made me feel guilty, but unlike many people, when I feel guilty, I don’t crumble. I get mad. The Bible study about the fruit of the Spirit flickered through my mind, but I dismissed its words of wisdom.

“Does Max know you’re telling me this?” I could barely see her for the red haze in front of my eyes..

She sighed. “No, he doesn’t. Whenever I talk to him about it, he adamantly defends you.”

Well, at least he did that.

“But I’m going to insist,” she added.

Her tiny smile made me truly regret I couldn’t lapse into the Trish of years ago. I allowed myself the luxury of imagining how good it would feel to fling myself across the desk, tackle Angelica, and throw her to the ground. I’d yank her hair, messing up her perfect hairdo, pulling until she screamed. The temptation was so great, I leaned forward, clenching and unclenching my fists.

Fortunately, before I could do anything, the door opened behind me. Angelica’s smile died.

I stepped back, away from temptation. “I’m not going to discuss this further with you. Max can tell me the rest.”

“The rest of what?”

I turned. Max was frozen in the doorway. When no one spoke, he walked over and stood next to me.

“Trish?” He squeezed my shoulder.

I met his gaze, but I couldn’t see for my tears. I couldn’t believe he’d betrayed me.

“Ask your mother.” I jerked away from him and rushed from the office.

He didn’t follow. I heard his voice rumbling and could tell from the tone that he was angry.

So was I. At him and his whole stupid, stuck-up family.

Shirl wasn’t even pretending to work. “Mrs. C., is there anything I can do?”

“No, thank you. Just hand me my purse.” She did.

As I opened the front door, I said over my shoulder, “I’ll be gone for a while.”

I felt sick and vulnerable as I pulled my SUV from the parking lot. Where could I go to hide from everyone? I desperately wanted to go to Abbie’s, but she still hadn’t returned my calls. I could think of only one other place I would feel safe.

When I pulled up to my folks’ farm, I thought Daddy wouldn’t be there, but I was relieved to see his truck parked near the barn.

After nearly falling out of the SUV, I stumbled over the rough ground and pulled a side barn door open, unable to see clearly through the blur of tears in my eyes. Buddy the border collie greeted me first. My gaze followed the sound of Daddy’s distinctive off-key humming to where he was pulling the contents out of some white metal storage cabinets. He’d been using

them as long as I could remember, repainting them every five years.

“Daddy?”

He whirled around at the sound of my voice. “Sugar bug, what are you doing here? I thought you’d be at work.”

“I was, but—” My lower lip started to tremble.

He wiped his hands on a cloth and crossed the expanse between us with large strides.

I couldn’t do anything but stand there and cry.

He put his hands on my shoulders and looked me up and down. “What’s wrong, honey?”

I swallowed and sniffled. “I. . .I can’t really talk yet.”

Worry darkened his eyes. “But the baby’s okay? Nothing’s happened to anybody?”

I hiccupped. “Everyone is safe.” Buddy licked my hand, and I scratched his head.

“Okay.” He dropped his arms. “You just take a minute and get yourself together, then tell me what’s going on.” He waved toward the junk on the floor. “I could use the break.”

I inhaled. “Lady Angelica. . .” I felt a tear on my cheek. “Well, she came by the office and told me she wants to put Charlie in boarding school. Because I’m a bad mother.”

Daddy snorted. “Who does she think she is? The queen?”

“Probably,” I murmured. “Daddy, I was really tempted to grab her and beat her up. It took everything I had not to do it. Maybe I really am a bad mother. What kind of grown woman thinks things like that? And a Christian woman to boot.”

A quick grin passed over his face. “You’d be surprised.” Then a frown etched his forehead. “So, what does Max have to say about all of this?”

Fresh tears burned my eyes. “That’s the thing. I’m not sure.” I inhaled. “He showed up shortly after she told me, and I left him there. I was just so angry that he hasn’t said anything to me about this. Why wouldn’t he tell me?”

“That’s a good question.”

“And that’s not all. You know that housing development Mom has been yakking about?”

Daddy nodded.

“Well, Max and his dad are behind that.” I rubbed my arms. “Why didn’t he tell me about this, either? Why did I have to hear it from Her Royal Highness?”

Daddy shook his head silently.

“And now Tommy is being investigated for murder. And Abbie won’t speak to me anymore because I said she was acting like her grandmother.” I was close to wailing.

The muscles in Daddy’s jaw worked, a sure sign he was holding back what he really wanted to say.

“Is there something wrong with me?” I met his gaze. “Why wouldn’t Max trust me?”

Daddy took a deep breath. “I can’t say what Max was thinking. Sometimes, though, men are fools.”

I couldn’t keep my tears under control. “I. . .I need to be alone for a little while. You mind if I sit up in the loft?”

He brushed a piece of hair from my eyes. “You don’t even have to ask. You go. And I’ll be praying. For all of us.” Daddy rarely got mad, but I saw a spark of anger in his eyes. His unspoken defense made me feel good.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Can you get up there okay?” He looked down at my belly.

“Yeah. I’ll go around to the top.”

He didn’t try to stop me, and he held Buddy so he wouldn’t follow me. One thing about my Daddy, he knew me well enough to know what I needed. He’d always been sensitive that way, helping to counteract my mother’s sharp tongue.

The loft was warm and smelled of hay and livestock. I realized I should have gotten a drink. My mouth felt sticky. I’d get some water in a little while. For now, I pulled myself up onto a hay bale and leaned against another. I closed my eyes and let the smell of the barn roll over me. Hay, cattle—all of it comforted me. This was where my roots were. I was a farm girl, a redneck. And proud of it. But despite growing up and all the changes God had made in me, I was afraid that underneath it all, I’d always be a girl who was ready to fight at the drop of a hat. I wanted so badly to act kind, to be a godly Proverbs 31 woman. But how could I when I was overwhelmed by my feelings?