Schooled in Murder (28 page)

He nodded.

“Then lose the attitude and talk.”

Frecking said, “Fine. I did have sex with him. It started the first week. We were all put on these stupid committees. I sat next to Higden. Him and me had been discussing the sports we’d played in college. He saw me staring at his crotch once or twice. I didn’t look away quick enough. Him
and me went out to lunch together. We got it on in his car.” He shrugged. “We both enjoyed sex. There was no commitment. He dated women as far as I knew. We’d get together during lunch and have a little fun.”

“Every day?”

“No, once in a while.”

“And you did Thursday?”

“Yeah.”

“And you met with Benson in the storage room later the same day?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you get tired?”

“Not often.”

I said, “I’m finding this a little hard to believe.”

“I don’t care what you believe. I’m telling you what happened. Higden told me he did it with Benson once. That’s how he kept Benson in line. Threatening to tell. That’s how I knew Benson was available.”

“And you were dating Morgan Adair?”

“He thought we were dating. I was having a good time.”

“Did he know this?”

“I don’t know what he knew. I’m not responsible for him or what he thinks. Peter knew exactly what we were doing and what it was about.”

I said, “The police mentioned to me that they had evidence of sexual activity on Higden’s part.”

Frecking said, “You do have an in with the cops. That’s what everybody said.”

“Everybody who?” I asked.

“Different people around.”

Merton asked, “Are they going to find evidence of you on Peter?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why are you telling us this?” I asked.

“I was afraid I’d get in more trouble. I don’t know what’s going to come out. I can’t give them a DNA sample. I need help. What’s going to happen to me?”

Merton said, “The police are going to have a million questions. You’re going to need an attorney. They’ll provide you with one. I’ll help as much as I can.”

“Maybe we can just not tell them,” Frecking said.

Merton laughed gently. She patted his arm. “My dear, at this point, nothing is going to be easy for you.”

I said, “Maybe if you answer a few questions, we’ll let the police find out about what happened on their own.”

Merton gave me a quizzical look.

I said, “Was there a fight among the poker guys last week?”

Frecking said, “I’m not supposed to tell.”

I said, “Get real.”

For a few seconds, Frecking looked stubborn. Then he snorted and said, “Fine. People fought. Sometimes Peter could get on people’s nerves. He always gloated when he won a hand. That day he was more irritating than most. Edgar Cauchon, the athletic director, threw his cards at Peter. We had to pull them apart. Edgar was pretty pissed. He said Peter was going to be out of the loop on assignments for coaching and to not bother to try to double dip. Peter threatened to go to the administration about the whole thing. It was ugly. The game just sort of broke up. In fact, that’s why Peter and I had time to go out Thursday. There wasn’t going to be another game until everybody cooled off.”

I said, “If you’ve got information on the grade fixing and the fights, we’ll do our best by you.” I also knew another conversation with Edgar Cauchon was in order. Frecking gave us what he remembered about people taking names to Higden and him fixing the grades.

I asked, “How come the teachers who gave the grades didn’t notice they’d been changed?”

“Nobody ever said anything. You know that to view the grades from the previous quarter you’ve got to go through all those steps.”

I knew it was complicated. The grades from the quarter before didn’t appear on the screen as you were working. I rarely saw the report cards of any of the kids. They were mailed home. The goal was to get them sent home electronically.

After giving us the information, Frecking left.

Merton rubbed her hands together. She said, “I’m glad you told me about the grade fixing last night. This is going to be too much fun. I’ll talk to Luci. We may need a committee to go have a chat with these folks, probably tomorrow. We’ll get all the data today. Leave it to me.” She left.

I found Meg and told her the news.

She said, “Having sex doesn’t make him a killer. He qualifies as a philandering boob, sort of. He’s not married, so I guess he isn’t committing adultery, is he? How does that work? Is the married one the only one committing adultery? If the other person involved isn’t married, which sin have they committed?”

“Not sure,” I said.

Meg said, “Nor is it important. The key is, not all philandering boobs are killers. If they were, half the planet would be accused of murder by morning–and the other half would be dead, I guess.”

“Are all these people randy trash?” I asked. “And does being that way have anything to do with murder?”

“Sex and money, dear: those are often the answers.”

I returned to my classroom.

39

I was halfway through wolfing down my sandwich when the classroom door crashed open and banged against the wall. Tammy Choate, the sponsor for the GLSEN chapter, swung into the room. She slammed the door shut and rushed to my desk. I stood up. She was crying.

Before I could say a word, she burst out, “I shouldn’t have told you. I shouldn’t have told you. This is awful. So awful. They’ve been after me all weekend.” She gasped and began sobbing. “I’m so frightened. They’re going to fire me. I know they’re going to fire me.” She collapsed into a student’s desk.

I grabbed a box of tissues and hurried to her. When the sobs had finally subsided, I asked, “Tammy, what’s happened?”

“I was meeting with the gay student group a few minutes ago. We were planning a bake sale to help raise money for Third World AIDS Awareness Week. Mabel Spandrel and Riva Towne came into my room. They told the kids to leave.” She dabbed at her eyes and blew her nose. “Riva Towne told me the gay student group is disbanded until you’re cleared of murder charges.”

I said, “I’m not a suspect, and she can’t just disband a club.”

“That’s what she said. Then she left, but Spandrel stayed. She was mean. She told me I should never have told anybody about her and Gracie being at my apartment. She said she knew I was the one spreading the rumors. She said I would never get tenure. She said terrible things about me. I don’t want this kind of pressure. I can’t handle this kind of pressure. What am I going to do? I thought I was just telling you gossip. I was telling another gay person. I didn’t think you’d use it against me.”

“Wait a sec,” I said. “I never used your name. You weren’t the only one with the rumor. It could have been any one of a number of people.”

“But they know it was me.”

I said, “You and I will discuss this with Teresa Merton. I need her advice on this one, and she’ll be able to give you better assurances than I.”

“I don’t want to fight,” Tammy said. “I can’t stand the pressure. I want nothing more to do with any of this. Can they just disband the gay student group? I’m frightened.”

“We’ll talk to Spandrel and Towne.”

“No,” Choate wailed. “If you tell them I told you, I’ll get in more trouble. I don’t want you to do anything. I’m so frightened.”

There isn’t a lot I can do if a union member decides they don’t want to do something about what’s been done to them. They’ve got to at least go with you. Or at least, they’ve got to let you tell others that they talked to you. Tammy was frightened. I was in enough of a mess. I didn’t need to pressure her. I said, “Tammy, you let me think about it, and I’ll have a talk with Teresa. The police would have said something. We won’t talk to anyone or do anything without your permission.”

“You won’t?”

“You’re going to be okay,” I said. “They won’t be able to get away with this much longer.” “Are you going to stop them?” “If I can.”

“But don’t mention my name.”

“I won’t. Do you want to go home?”

“No. It would look odd.”

“Okay,” I said. “I suggest you stop in the washroom. Pull yourself together for your afternoon classes. Can you do that?”

“I’ll have to try.”

She left.

Morgan Adair appeared in the doorway as Tammy left. “What happened to Tammy?” he asked. “Administrators,” I said. He nodded that he understood.

He took the desk that Tammy had vacated. He said, “I thought I’d stop by and see if you needed me to escort you anywhere. Or maybe you wanted me to get you something.”

“I made it to the library earlier without a problem. A trip to the washroom at the end of lunch should be okay. It’s only halfway down this corridor. I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll stand in the hall anyway.” He hesitated.

I said, “Any gossip going on?”

“Word is, the administrators have been meeting all morning. Bochka’s here as well. They’ve got to be cooking up some bullshit.” Then he “ummed.”

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Ah, I think I maybe should, uh …”

Now what?

“Did you talk to Frecking again?” I asked. “No, I don’t ever want to see him again. I, uh. I guess I should just say this.”

I waited.

“Brandon Benson?”

“Yeah.”

“The week before he got married? He got married the week after school let out his first year?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you know that swimming party the suckups organized?” I nodded. “A few of us in the old guard went. The end of that first year, we were sort of getting along. And I knew he was going. And he’s hot. And I kind of made it my business to be changing into my swimsuit when he was. One thing led to another.”

Was I the only one not getting into everybody else’s pants?

I said, “I find this hard to believe.”

He said, “It’s not just the gay guys. The straight people are humping each other and dating each other and running around.”

I asked, “Did you guys date? Did you think he’d stop his marriage for you?”

“No. That time it was just fun. He’s hot. It was only once.” He sighed. “I figured I’d better tell you. There’s enough secrets around this place. I had sex with both guys who were in that room. Quite a while apart, but still. I should have told you sooner. I’m sorry.”

I said, “I don’t think it’s connected to the murder.”

“Something must be.”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure what.”

After several more apologies for not telling me sooner, he left.

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