The Phantom Photographer: Murder in Marin Mystery - Book 3 (Murder in Marin Mysteries) (16 page)

While Walt presented a slide show for students, Michael stood in the back of the auditorium with Juliette Parker, who he had just introduced himself to moments earlier. Juliette explained that she taught a combined fourth and fifth grade class and feared that, “The dwindling student population might lead the diocese to close the school, perhaps as soon as the end of the current school year.”

“Where would the kids go?” Michael asked, pleased that they had any reason to converse.
 

He could not free his mind of the image of Juliette lying on that white massage table in Herb and Suzette’s living room, being smacked across her bottom with a riding crop. When she responded to his question, Michael jumped out of his fog.

“The diocese has a school in Larkspur, St. Patrick’s, and one in Tiburon, St. Hilary’s. Our children’s families will likely be given a choice of which of those two schools they would like to attend.”

“Will you go to one of those two schools or take a teaching position at one of the public schools if an opening is available?”

“I’ve applied to join the staff at either of those schools; hopefully one will take me.”

“Would you consider joining one of the area’s public schools, if possible?”
 

“My sister, her name is Suzette, she and I were raised in a strict Catholic home. I could get credentialed and likely teach at a public school, but I’d miss working for the diocese.”
 

Knowing what he knew, Michael had a difficult time envisioning Juliette as a strict Catholic, but he was happy to know that she so identified with an image of herself that would easily be shattered by the release of his photos.
 

After the assembly, Michael and Walt toured the school. Michael made it a point to stop in on Miss Parker’s class. Walt was only too happy to come along, reasoning that his protégé might have an outside chance of getting a date with the attractive teacher.
 

Michael looked at all the projects Juliette’s class had accomplished since the start of the school year and pretended to be, “hugely impressed with all the good work,” she and her class had accomplished. He then offered a suggestion, “Let me take a couple of hours one afternoon, any day next week if that works for you, and I’ll come photograph you and your class at work.”

“I’d like that,” Juliette said with an inviting smile.

Of course you would, Michael thought. If a job doesn’t land in her lap, it is likely that some quality photojournalism showing her interacting with her students, doing what she did best, might serve as a terrific enhancement in the search for her next job.

Walt hung back as he watched admiringly as Michael did his best to impress Juliette.
 

Later, after their student presentation boards were stowed in the back of Walt’s 1967 Volkswagen bus, and the two were on the short drive around the Depot and down Miller Avenue, heading back to the camera shop, Walt smiled broadly at Michael and said, “I’ve got to tell you, I was impressed. You saw your opportunity to connect with Juliette and you took it. You’re not a shy guy. Guys like us may not have Tom Selleck’s killer looks…”

“Or killer body.”

“But we do the best we can with what we’ve got, and that’s where it counts.”

“I try, Walt. I really try.”

“Well, ya done good my boy. You didn’t squander an opportunity. That bit about photographing her working with her class was sheer genius. I really have to hand it to you.”

“Thanks, Walt. You have to make the most of the cards you’re dealt.”

“I’ve got to get you connected with more of the right people in this town. I think you’re really going to enjoy meeting the people who make this town work.”

Michael, pleased with himself, continued to play the role of the ambitious young man trying to work his way up the long ladder of success. “I’d like that; I’ve always enjoyed meeting important people. Those are the people who can really help make you a success.”

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

Michael called Juliette that night and scheduled his photo shoot for the following Monday. He was anxious to move the process along, but frequently reminded himself that the game he played was one in which patience played a critical role.
 

Monday he had off all day, which was perfect. He wanted to focus solely on impressing Juliette with both his appearance and his professionalism. He searched through his closet for the shirt and pants that would allow him to look his best. Frustratingly, given his growing size, that wasn’t easy.
 

Michael reasoned that his weight over the last two years must have gone up twenty-five pounds or more. It was an issue he only paid attention to on those rare occasions that he chose to dress to impress.
 

He settled for a pair of jeans that thankfully still fit, although not perfectly, and an aging Hawaiian Aloha shirt that allowed for a loose, free flowing look that helped diminish the impact of his expanding girth. The shirt, a pale orange, with coconut trees and surfboards, he hoped would convey a message that he was a free and happy spirit.
 

Michael walked into Juliette’s classroom precisely on time. Juliette was clearly pleased and reminded her students that, “Mr. Marks is here to take pictures of us having a good time working and learning.” The children were dispersed to different parts of their classroom and began working on a history project, a re-creation of the battle of Yorktown, an event that precipitated the end of the Revolutionary War.
 

Camera at the ready, Michael threw himself into the project and began snapping away. He knew by looking at the smiling faces, and the studious candid moments that he captured, that Juliette would be delighted with the results of this shoot.
 

Juliette, somewhat flirtatiously, thanked Michael when he was finished, and then followed him outside of her classroom.
 

“Could we meet down at the Depot and let me buy you a coffee after I dismiss the class? I’ll be out of here in about twenty minutes.”

“Sure,” Michael said with a smile. “I’ll head down there and hold us a table.”

“Great,” Juliette said with a smile. “I’ll see you in a little while.”

Michael walked into the Depot, a combination of coffee, sandwich, pastry shop and bookstore. It was created from the renovated passenger waiting room which once marked the terminus point of the Mill Valley Interurban electric train line. He was happy to find his favorite back corner table unoccupied. He placed his jacket on the chair with his camera bag to convey the unmistakable message that this table was taken, and he went to the counter to order a coffee and pastry. He grabbed a newspaper out of the old wicker basket kept near the counter, part of an eco-friendly tradition of taking a handful of newspapers and making them available for everyone. Anyone throwing a newspaper in a trash bin was sure to draw disapproving stares.
 

Michael was determined to finish his coffee and pastry before Juliette arrived, so he could give the appearance of someone who had waited for her. Juliette breezed in shortly after three and held Michael’s undivided attention. She was wearing the same entrancing white blouse that had previously sparked his desire for her. As she spoke, Michael imagined lowering that blouse so it sat off her shoulders and exposed the perfectly shaped breasts that he knew far better than Juliette could have ever imagined.
 

As she spoke about her day, a topic that held utterly no interest for him, Michael imagined Juliette back on that massage table where he had first seen her with the help of his telephoto lens. But now, instead of Herb and his riding crop, there he stood in a terrycloth robe rubbing warm scented massage oils into the small of her back and up along her neck and shoulders. He gently kissed her and carried her off to a heart-shaped bed, where, after spending all their energy, they fell into a deep sleep wrapped in each other’s arms.
 

“Michael, are you listening to me? How soon can you have these pictures developed so I can take the ones I like with me to my interview next week at St. Patrick’s school up in Larkspur?”

“Oh, yes. Well, I could bring you some contact sheets that will allow you to see all sixty shots that I took today. We can review them together, say Saturday night after I get off work, and then I’ll print you copies of your favorites so you can have them to use whenever you want.”

“That would be wonderful. But I’m busy all weekend.”

“Really?”

“I’ve been seeing this wonderful guy for the past year, but he’s so busy during the week, we only have time to see each other over the weekend.”

Michael, of course, strongly suspected who this “wonderful guy” might be. But so strong were his feelings for Juliette that he pushed his suspicions aside and pushed ahead.

“Well, I was hoping I might have the chance to take you out some night.”

“You’re such a sweetie, but I’m a one-man woman. You know, you should meet, my teaching assistant Andrea. I’m sorry she wasn’t in class today. I think the two of you would really hit it off.”
 

Something clicked in Michael upon hearing those words, and he now saw Juliette, in spite of her radiant beauty, as completely untrustworthy. As if awakening from a stupor, he heard the wounded side of his personality shout, “She is never going to be interested in you. She is way out of your league.”
 

The time had come for him to wake up and recall that Juliette was nothing more than collateral damage on the way to taking down the true target of his hunt. She had one and only one purpose, and that was getting him a meeting with her sister’s husband. Nothing more than that!
 

“Michael, are you paying attention?” Juliette asked, as if she were talking to a daydreaming fourth grader.
 

“Oh, yes, yes, I am.”

“Why, you’re just like those boys in my class.”

Michael gave her a half smile and nodded benignly in agreement. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” he said promptly. “I’m also sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. I certainly won’t do that again.”

Juliette knew by the sudden professional tone in Michael’s voice that he was not pleased by the fact that she had dismissed his desire to take their cordial relationship to the next level. This was simply an awkward moment that she needed to smile her way through. She did want those photos, and she already had time invested in getting them.