Page 42 of What Have You Done?

‘Why don’t you go back to your game,’ Mom said to him. ‘I’ll deal with this.’

Dad faded back into the den and Mom pulled out a chair and we sat down at the kitchen table. I told her all of it, and she wasn’t happy. ‘He could be a murderer!’ she cried. ‘Evan, you have to stay away from him!’

‘It was perfectly safe, Mom,’ I said. ‘We never got out of the car.’ A small fib. ‘We called the detectives to tell them that he’d crossed the border into Canada, and then we went to the police station, after we got back here.’

That was frustrating. The detectives weren’t even there when we got there. We spoke to an officer in uniform. We repeated that Joe Prior had crossed the border into Canada at Derby Line at 1:20 p.m. He took the information down. He didn’t seem to take us very seriously. It really pissed Riley off, and I don’t blame her.

Roy glances furtively at his daughter as they all watch TV on Sunday evening. He can tell she’s been crying, although she’s obviously washed her face and put on a bit of makeup to try to hide it. She’s been unusually quiet all evening, not her usual chatterbox self. She hardly touched her dinner. He and Susan have been sharing quiet looks since Ellen got home late this afternoon. Something has happened, and they both know it probably has something to do with her fiancé.

‘Everything okay?’ he asks Ellen during a commercial break. ‘You seem quiet.’

‘Yeah, fine. I’m just tired,’ she answers.

‘You can tell us if something’s wrong,’ he says gently. ‘Everybody has bumps in the road.’

‘I’m going to bed,’ she says abruptly and gets up. ‘Goodnight.’

‘She’s not fine,’ Susan says quietly to him once she’s left.

‘No,’ Roy agrees. He tries to turn his attention back to the television programme, but he can’t concentrate. He’s worried about his daughter. When the programme is over, the local news comes on. There is a breaking report about the Diana Brewer murder, and Roy sits up in his chair.

Jennifer Wiley, a well-known face on KCVS News, is reporting from outside the small Fairhill Police Station. ‘New information has come out tonight in the investigation into the murder of local girl Diana Brewer. The seventeen-year-old was strangled, her naked body found Friday morning in the field of a local farmer. Now it has come to light that Diana had complained of inappropriate behaviour by one of her teachers at Fairhill High School.’

The penny drops for Roy.

The reporter continues. ‘I attempted to speak to the principal of Fairhill High School, Graham Kelly, today about the allegations, but he was not available. Stay tuned for more news on this breaking story.’

Roy turns to his wife. She’s looking at him with a stricken expression – he knows they’re both thinking the same thing.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

PAULA SITS UP in bed with her hand on the remote. She’s been waiting for this all weekend. ‘Martin, look.’ She nudges her husband’s attention away from the book he’s reading. ‘They know about Turner. Kelly must have spoken to them after all.’ She listens intently. ‘What a mess this is going to be,’ she says when the report is over. She wonders how well Kelly will cope. ‘It’s better that he came forward than they find out about it some other way.’ At least, she hopes that’s what happened.

‘They don’t name him,’ Martin says.

‘Not yet,’ she replies. ‘I wonder how long they’ll be able to keep that quiet?’

She’s relieved that the police now know about these allegations of Diana’s against the gym teacher. She wants the matter handled properly. If there’s any truth to it, if he’s been inappropriate with a student, he should not be allowed to teach. She hates that her daughter – that any girl – might be exposed to that. The police will get to the bottom of it.

She thinks again of Diana, how she ended up dead in that field. If Turner had anything to do with that, surely the police will figure it out.

Shelby Farrell is watching the television news. ‘Edward!’ she calls, and he quickly joins her in the den. When the brief segment is over, she turns to her husband and says, ‘You know what “inappropriate behaviour” means. So what if it was him? What if he killed Diana?’

She turns suddenly when she hears a sound at the door. It’s Cameron. She’s surprised to see him out of his bedroom.

‘What’s going on?’ Cameron asks.

‘We were just watching the news,’ she says. She tells him of Diana’s complaint about the teacher and his eyes spark with interest. ‘What teacher?’ he asks.

‘They didn’t give his name, but the police must know who it is,’ Shelby says. ‘Do you have any idea who it might be?’

‘She never said anything about it to me,’ Cameron says. He looks surprised, and angry. Then he asks, ‘Can I go out for a bit? Can I have the truck?’

‘Why?’ Shelby asks.

‘I just want to go get a burger.’

‘You didn’t eat your supper,’ Shelby observes.

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