Schooled In Lies (12 page)

She stopped and whirled around to face me. “I don’t know what the hell it is you think you know about me. But you need to mind your own fucking business. This doesn’t have anything to do with you. And the next time I see that fat bastard, Dennis Kirby, I’m going to tell him the same thing.”

I watched her hurry off down the street and went back inside the restaurant. I was headed back to my table when a voice stopped me.

“So, what’s the deal, Clayton? You thinkin’ ‘bout switchin’ to the all girl team?” said Joy Owens, one of the other hostesses that works at Estelle’s.

Though Joy looked like a juvenile delinquent, she was actually twenty-three and had recently graduated with an art degree from Kingford College. She was easily one of the most graceless people I knew. When artistic talent had been handed out, Joy got a double helping, but she’d bypassed the line that handed out charm. She was also a lesbian, hence her comment, though to be honest I could never figure out what her past girlfriends had seen in her. She must have mad game when it came to the ladies.

“Are you talking to me?” I asked with a sigh. I looked over and saw that Rollins was still cooling his heels waiting for me at our table.

“You don’t see nobody else named Clayton standin’ here do you?” Her arms were crossed and she was rolling her neck with attitude.

“You’re right, she ain’t my type. A little too much meat on her bones and I never was into blondes. But just ‘cause she ain’t
my
type don’t mean I ain’t
her
type. She’s definitely into chocolate.” She grinned.

“Yeah. I thought they was gonna have to call the fire department to pry blondie’s tongue outta ole’ girl’s mouth.” Joy started laughing.

“You must have made a mistake. It had to have been some other woman you saw,” I told her, shaking my head in disbelief. Joy was not anyone whose word I’d take on faith alone. I still remembered back to a few months ago when she had me running around the neighboring city of Springfield like a fool looking for my best friend Lynette who’d gone AWOL days before her wedding.

“Naw, it was her all right. She was tossin’ back virgin Margarita’s like they was goin‘ outta style. You say she’s got kids?”

I nodded.

“She’s got five kids, right? I know this ‘cause she showed me pictures of them kids. They all got names that start with C. Colleen, Callie, Cassidy, Christopher, and Cory.” Joy said the last name with a grimace because her ex-girlfriend’s name was Cory and she’d backed over Joy with her car a year ago. Talk about a relationship killer. Exactly how does one keep love alive when you’ve seen the underside of your sweetie’s car?

Having heard the names, I knew she couldn’t have made it up and you could have blown on me and I’d have fallen over. Audrey Grant, former cheerleading queen bee of the Springmont High Class of 1986 and married, stay-at-home mom to five kids, was a lesbian. Now, I’d officially heard everything.

Later, Rollins walked me to my door. I stared at him shyly, half expecting him to kiss me, because he usually wanted to. Instead, he gave me a tame peck on the cheek.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, suddenly worried that I’d offended him somehow.

“Let’s just say I finally get it,” he said, chuckling softly. I opened my mouth to speak but he held up a hand to stop me.

“You love Carl. I get it now. I thought maybe you might develop feelings for me. But I was wrong. I can’t keep being satisfied with the little bits of attention and occasional kisses you toss my way. It’s not fair to either one of us and it’s certainly not fair to Carl. I need to move on. I hope you’ll let me,” he said softly.

I was startled but couldn’t deny the truth of what he was saying. I nodded in agreement and was surprised to feel my eyes filling with tears.

“We’re still friends, right?” I asked in a small voice, unable to look at him.

“Always.” He gave my hand a firm squeeze and was gone.

The emergency meeting of the reunion committee was scheduled for that next evening. But all that next day at work, I couldn’t help but wonder who Ms. Flack knew that was getting out of prison soon and why she was so upset about it. Who was this Vermillion person? Was it a man or a woman? My supreme nosiness was prodding me to find out. So, when I got off from work, I headed over to the records office at Kingford College to talk to someone who might be able to help me.

Myra Gaines had a line of about six students in front of her age scarred wooden counter. Myra was my uncle Alex’s girlfriend Gwen Robins’s best friend and had been the registrar at Kingford College for twenty plus years. And lucky for me, Myra also had a boyfriend named Bone who called the London Correctional Institution home. It was a long shot, since Ohio had a dozen prisons, but I was hoping Myra could ask him if he might know a fellow inmate by the last name of Vermillion who was getting out soon. I waved to her as I got in the end of the line. By the time I reached the counter, we were alone in the office. At the mention of Bone’s name, Myra called a student worker from the filing room to cover for her, and we went outside to sit on a nearby bench on the college green to talk. The August sun was scorching hot that day and I was grateful we were able to find a place in the shade to sit.

“Sorry, Kendra,” she said, pushing her glasses up on her nose and looking around. “I don’t want anybody I work with knowing my man is incarcerated. You know how it is with folks around here. These academic types can be so damned uppity like ain’t none of them ever made a mistake.” She lit up a cigarette, took a long drag, and blew the smoke away from me.

I’d never been real clear on just why Bone was in prison, since he was already an inmate when Myra met him on the prison’s pen pal website. But Gwen had told me was serving a twenty year sentence. So it must have been one hell of a mistake. I filled her in on what I wanted to know but left out Ms. Flack’s name instead telling her it was something to do with a student of mine.

“No problem. I’ll be talking to him tonight.” Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. “I’ll ask him and then give you a call, okay?”

I thanked her then we chatted a bit. “And how’s that fine lawyer of yours?” she asked, after stubbing out her cigarette and tossing it in the trash basket next to the bench. “What’s his name again, Clark?”

“It’s Carl and he’s fine.” I tried hard to keep the sarcasm out of my voice and wished I were telling the truth. Myra was lucky in one respect. At least she knew where Bone was every night.

To my surprise I was the last one to arrive at the high school for the meeting that night. Even Detective Trish Harmon, looking as serene as a coma patient, and her chubby partner, Charles Mercer, looking well fed and cheerful as usual, were there standing off to one side of the room watching everyone. My fellow committee members were already sitting at the round table. No one spoke. Ms. Flack was looking down at her lap. Dennis sat stony faced with his arms crossed. Gerald was leaning back in his seat with one leg crossed over the other drumming his fingers impatiently on the table. Audrey looked tired and sad and sat slouched in her chair staring into space. The only one who looked like she didn’t have a care in the world was Cherisse. She gave me a smile as I sat down next to her.

“Is this everyone?” Harmon asked Ms. Flack. She nodded silently and Harmon and Mercer joined us at the table.

“It is our understanding that the members of this committee have been experiencing some strange incidents. I’ve already talked to Ms. Clayton and Ms. Flack; we need to hear everyone else’s stories,” said Charles Mercer, while his partner observed everyone. I could tell Harmon still thought the whole thing was just a big joke. No one spoke up.

“We don’t have to do this in front of everyone. We can speak to each of you privately,” Mercer said when he saw that he might not get any takers.

“I’ll go first if no one else will,” Cherisse finally said, standing up. Harmon and Mercer led her to a table on the other side of the cafeteria.

“This is the biggest waste of time. Why would anyone be after me? I haven’t lived in Willow since graduation. I’ve only been back here for six months.” Dennis glared at me.

“And I was supposed to be with my kids tonight.” Gerald looked at me like I was dirt.

“And I’ve got a splitting headache and should be in bed, not sitting here because of someone’s overactive imagination,” whined Audrey, rubbing her temples. She looked over at me and shook her head.

Ms. Flack got up from the table and walked away like the meeting hadn’t been her idea. I was on my own and for a split second I felt like I was back in high school. But high school was a long time ago and I wasn’t the same scared little teenager anymore. Funny how time leveled the playing field.

“And you know what?” I said through gritted teeth. “I’d rather be shoveling shit than sitting here listening to you assholes bitch and moan. You can give me all the dirty looks you want, but something weird is going on and the police need to know about it so they can investigate before one of your sorry asses turns up dead.” It was my turn to glare and I stared each one of them down. I could tell they weren’t expecting this kind of outburst from me and I enjoyed their discomfort.

Feeling a little too powerful for my own good, I continued on. “As for what you’ve done to make anyone target any of you, all you have to do is think back to high school and all the kids whose lives you made miserable with all your teasing, tormenting, and bullying. That’s motive enough right there.” As soon as it was out of my mouth I regretted it because all of their attention turned to the opposite side of the room, where Cherisse was giving her statement to Harmon and Mercer. Suspicion etched itself across each of their faces. I could see the wheels turning and knew they thought Cherisse must be the culprit.

“You may as well look at me, too,” I added quickly. “If you’ll recall, I’m the reason you all passed Mr. Fields’s science final. You guys were pretty persuasive in getting me to change my mind about getting that test for you, remember?”

Audrey at least had the nerve to look ashamed, but remorse wasn’t something Dennis was familiar with.

“High school was a long time ago. Man, you really need to get rid of that chip on your shoulder. Just get over it. Hey, Teddy loved you. Wasn’t that enough?” he said, laughing loudly. I could see Gerald’s lips twitch in an effort to keep from laughing. But surprisingly Audrey wasn’t laughing.

“If anyone needs to let it go, it’s you, Dennis. You’re the same loudmouthed, mullet-wearing clown you were back in high school. Still living in Julian’s shadow. But you’ll never fill his shoes, will you? Even your own parents preferred him over you, their own son,” Audrey said, shocking the hell out of me.

Dennis puffed up angrily and his mouth opened and closed rapidly in an unintentional impersonation of a large mouthed bass. He started to stand up, but Gerald put his hand on his arm and gave him a warning look urging him to sit down and shut up, which he did with great reluctance. Instead, he sat there breathing heavily and giving Audrey murderous looks.

No one else said a word and when Cherisse returned to her seat, Dennis jumped up and went over to give his statement.

“Kendra, do you really think someone is after us because of stuff we did in high school?” Audrey asked in a small voice.

“I don’t know. It was just a suggestion.” The anger I’d felt towards my former high school tormentor had suddenly evaporated. It felt good to have unloaded all the stuff that I’d had been pent up inside me for eleven years.

“Maybe we’re all looking at this the wrong way,” said Ms. Flack, who’d been sitting a couple tables away from us silently watching the drama. She got up and came back over to the round table. “Maybe whoever is doing this isn’t targeting the class as a whole. Think about it. Kendra and Cherisse weren’t a part of any popular clique in high school and I was a staff member.”

It was a plausible theory. But I didn’t know if I bought it. What about the vengence1986 e-mail address? I wanted to say something but knew Gerald would immediately know that I’d snooped through his e-mail.

“So what are you saying?” asked Cherisse.

“I’m saying maybe we’re being targeted for something we each may have done individually. Can anyone think of anything they’ve done that someone might want revenge for?” Ms. Flack said.

The only person I could think of who’d want revenge against me was Stephanie Preston, the woman I was set to testify against at her upcoming murder trial. Though she was a very sick woman, I supposed she could have had someone else do her dirty work. But that still didn’t explain everyone else’s accidents.

“I accidentally killed a dog a few weeks ago. He just ran right out in front of my car before I could stop. His owner was pretty upset. I felt horrible,” said Audrey.

“I might have a few pissed off clients whose investments lost money, not to mention three disgruntled ex-wives.” Gerald laughed. I had a feeling whatever his clients had lost ended up in Gerald’s pocket.

“It’s no secret that quite a few people hold me responsible for Julian’s death.” Cherisse looked around the table defiantly.

“What about you, Ms. Flack?” I asked. She opened her mouth to speak but Dennis returned to the table.

“You’re up next, Prozac Queen,” he said to Audrey, who got up from the table and stalked back to where Harmon and Mercer were waiting.

Gerald filled Dennis in on Ms. Flack’s theory, which made Dennis laugh though there wasn’t a trace of amusement in it.

“Man. What have I done recently that someone would want revenge for? That’s an easy one. I’m still alive while my so-much-better-than-me cousin, Julian, is dead.” He laughed a harsh angry laugh.