Page 13 of What Have You Done?

When the two arrive at his office, they are not in uniform. They introduce themselves as Detective Stone and Detective Godfrey from Major Crimes, State Police. He doesn’t recognize either of them; of course, they’re not from here. ‘It’s a terrible thing,’ Aaron says, his eyes welling up. ‘Just terrible.’ He knows he himself must look terrible as he says it. ‘Diana was a wonderful girl. I just can’t believe it.’ The detectives seem unaffected, but he supposes it’s because it’s their job. They can’t let it bother them personally.

Detective Stone nods. ‘We understand that there was a customer who was bothering Diana?’

Aaron breathes out loudly. ‘Right. I know who you mean, but I don’t know who he is. Big guy. Reddish hair, scruffy beard. Usually wore a red-and-black-plaid flannel shirt with a work jacket over it. He always paid cash, so I don’t know his name. He made Diana nervous because he’d hang around her checkout and wait.’ He adds, ‘Diana was a lovely girl.’ He feels himself flush and looks away.

‘Do you have CCTV of the cash area?’

‘Yes, we do. In fact, I think he was in last Friday night when Diana was working. I can get that for you.’

Aaron sets things up on the computer to review the black-and-white video. He fast-forwards and backtracks, looking for the man in the plaid shirt. Finally, he finds him. They watch as he ambles up to Diana’s register. Aaron, watching it for the first time on tape, can see how Diana’s face changes as she sees him approach. She’s no longer smiling. She starts scanning his items, not looking at him. He’s talking to her. Aaron tries to read his lips, but he can’t make out what he’s saying to her. He’s smiling, talking, looking at her. Her answers are monosyllabic. She’s trying not to be rude, but she doesn’t want to engage. Her movements are stiff. It’s busy and another customer comes up behind him, moving forward impatiently, while he continues to talk to Diana, even though his transaction is finished.

‘Stop there,’ the detective tells him.

The detectives take a good look at the man’s face.

‘Do you have CCTV of the parking lot?’ Stone asks.

Aaron shakes his head. ‘I’m afraid not. Just the inside of the store, and the area right outside the doors.’

They switch screens and watch the man carry his purchases out the exit. He disappears into the darkness of the parking lot.

‘Would have been good to get his vehicle,’ Stone says. ‘Anyway, we’ve got him on film. We’ll find out who he is. Thank you, you’ve been very helpful,’ the detective says. ‘We’d like to speak with your staff – anyone who worked with Diana, especially on Friday evenings.’

Aaron quivers with distress, hoping the detectives don’t notice. ‘Of course.’

CHAPTER ELEVEN

BEFORE PAULA LEFT the school, she’d gone to speak to Principal Kelly. His door was closed and the blinds were down and she wondered if he’d already gone. She tapped on his door, and he called out for her to enter.

He looked shattered. Graham Kelly was about fifty years of age and in reasonably good shape, but suddenly he looked older. His face was more creased and careworn than usual, and he was a man who looked harried at the best of times. But he seemed relieved to see that it was her. They are friends of sorts; they even confide in each other. She knows details about his problems with his children, things he doesn’t share with the rest of the staff. He trusts her. Paula knows some of the other staff don’t particularly like him and give him a hard time, but she has always found him good to work with.

‘How are you doing?’ she asked sympathetically.

He shook his head. He didn’t seem to have words.

‘You’ll get through this,’ she told him.

He nodded then and said, ‘Thank you, Paula.’ He took a deep breath and said, ‘School will carry on as usual Monday. The flag will be at half-mast until further notice. There will be grief counsellors in the school for anyone who needs them. I’m not sure yet when the funeral will be, but the school will close for that so that everyone can attend. And we will do our best to support the police in their investigation.’

‘About that,’ Paula said tentatively.

He gave her a sharp look. ‘I’m sorry, Paula, but I can’t disclose anything that was said earlier today when the police were here. You know that.’

‘Of course I do,’ she said. She continued to look at him, waiting for him to bring it up. The elephant in the room. He didn’t. So she asked. ‘Did you tell them about Brad?’

He gave her a look that was almost cold. ‘No, I did not. You can’t seriously think that he could have done this?’

She paused for an uncomfortable moment and said, ‘Don’t you think you should tell them anyway?’ He continued to stare back at her. She added, ‘For your own sake?’

Kelly had confided in her a few weeks ago – told her in strictest confidence – that Diana Brewer had come to him about Brad Turner, the gym teacher, suggesting that he had been inappropriate with her. Kelly had told Paula that he’d heard them both out and described the whole thing as a ‘misunderstanding’, and told Paula that Diana hadn’t wanted it to go any further. Kelly had seemed certain there was nothing to it, but the whole thing had made Paula uncomfortable. Kelly wouldn’t provide any details. She wondered if he’d been too quick to dismiss Diana’s concerns. She wished she’d been in the room; she might have handled it quite differently. Ever since, she’d been concerned about the possibility that her daughter – and the other students – might be treated inappropriately by their gym teacher. But Kelly said he’d handled it and told her she had nothing to worry about.

Now Kelly said, ‘If I tell the police about this, it will ruin his career, you know that. And quite unnecessarily. He didn’t do anything wrong. His fiancée doesn’t even know. How do you think he’d feel if she found out?’

Then Paula felt the heat rising in her face. ‘Maybe she should find out. Maybe she should know that the man she’s going to marry has been accused of being inappropriate with one of the teenage girls he teaches.’

Kelly flung himself further back in his leather desk chair, which made a loud creak as if in protest. ‘There was nothing to it! I told you. It was all perfectly innocent on his part. He was upset that his actions would be interpreted that way. He was mortified.’ Kelly flushed deeply, turned away, and said, ‘I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt.’

‘But what will you say,’ Paula asked, ‘if the police find out and you’ve kept it from them?’

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