Page 38 of What Have You Done?

‘Come, sit,’ Ellen commands him, and he complies with outward good grace, because he doesn’t know what else to do.

‘I’m sorry to bother you,’ the reporter says. ‘I know Diana’s death must be very upsetting for you. But you understand how torn up the community around here is, so we’d like to pay Diana tribute. I’m talking to lots of people who knew her – I’m doing a feature on her.’

He begins to relax a little. ‘She was a great person,’ Brad lies. ‘It’s terrible what happened to her.’

‘I understand you were her gym teacher?’ the reporter asks.

Ellen puts in, ‘And her coach. She was on the cross-country running team, so he knew her very well.’

‘Is that right?’ the reporter says.

‘Diana was a natural athlete,’ Brad says, wishing Ellen would shut the fuck up. ‘She had a good chance to do well in the regionals that are coming up soon.’ He allows himself to get a little choked up while he thinks furiously about what else he might say about her.

‘She sounds like an all-round great girl, from what I’m hearing,’ the reporter says. ‘Which is why I have to take it seriously when I hear she made a complaint of inappropriate behaviour at school. A complaint against you.’

The silence. He can hear the beating of his own heart, the hum of the heating system in the apartment. He registers the utter shock on Ellen’s face. It’s as if time has slowed down. What does he do now? How does he save himself?

‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Ellen asks the reporter, not friendly now but suddenly rigid. All the colour seems to have left her face. She turns to him for an explanation.

He doesn’t know what to do but deny it. ‘It’s not true,’ he says.

‘What’s not true?’ Wiley asks pointedly. ‘The complaint, or that she made the complaint?’

He focuses his swimming eyes on the reporter; he can’t bear to look at Ellen. He wonders what this woman knows. She must have spoken to either Kelly or the police. But the police got the whitewashed version – so far, at least. He doesn’t know for sure what Kelly might have told the reporter; he must assume he told her the same thing he told the police, or nothing at all. Diana’s dead. She can’t contradict him now. And Kelly doesn’t really know anything for sure. It was her word against his. He takes a breath, lets it out.

‘She spoke to Principal Kelly about me, but it was all a misunderstanding. I don’t know why she made such a big deal about it.’

‘What did she say?’

‘Nothing, really. It was nothing. I used to pat her on the back after a run, put my hand on her shoulder when I gave her a pep talk, that sort of thing. It was never sexual – not on my part, anyway. It was a misunderstanding. She blew things out of proportion.’

The reporter looks troubled, but Ellen looks much more than that.

‘Kelly thought there was nothing to it. That’s why he didn’t do anything. And she didn’t want to take it any further, or to tell anyone else – because she’d clearly overreacted. And now, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to leave.’

CHAPTER THIRTY

RILEY AND EVAN get back into the car and sit. ‘What now?’ Evan asks.

Riley says, ‘Maybe we just wait and see if he comes out.’ Evan shrugs.

She wonders if there’s any point in them being here. Her mind drifts for a while. Then she sees a large, beefy man come out the back entrance of the building and walk in the direction of the truck. She nudges Evan’s arm, feels him lean forward beside her. As the man gets closer, she recognizes him from his photo – the red hair and unkempt beard. She finds her heart beating faster.

‘That’s him.’ Suddenly she’s frightened. This is the man who might have murdered Diana. Who might have sat outside her house that night in that truck. It occurs to her now that they didn’t tell anyone where they were going, what they were doing.

Prior is carrying a large canvas bag in his right hand. He tosses the bag into the passenger seat and climbs in.

‘What if that bag has evidence he’s getting rid of?’ Riley says, turning to face Evan. ‘We should follow him.’

Evan says uneasily, ‘You sure you want to do this?’

‘We owe it to Diana, don’t we?’ Riley answers.

Evan waits until the truck pulls out of the parking lot and then follows at a safe distance. Prior soon drives onto the on-ramp to I-91 North. ‘I wonder where he’s going,’ Riley says.

‘Please promise me that if he turns off into the countryside somewhere to dump that bag we’re not going to confront him,’ Evan says.

‘We’ll just see where he goes, that’s all.’

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