Page 37 of Mending Fences
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Mandy pulled into her regular parking place behind the school. Three police cars were lined up outside the south entrance. Unusual at any time but especially before school. She glanced at the space near the front of the school where the resource officer usually parked with his K-9 unit. That spot was empty. She shouldered her bag and walked to the side entrance.
The principal, Mr. Lee, stood at the door, talking to one of the officers. He turned his attention to her. “Miss Fowler, I have been trying to reach you. You need to take the day off.”
“Sorry, I had a slight problem yesterday and turned off my phone.”
The officer stepped into her space. “Miss Fowler, I am Officer Keller. What kind of problems?”
“Just crazy text messages.”Seriously, what business is it of the police?
“Have you received any threats?” The officer opened a notebook.
Mandy shifted her weight and immediately regretted it, perhaps she should have waited a few more days before abandoning her crutches. “Can I please go to my room? I need to sit down.”
“I’m afraid your room was vandalized last night, but perhaps we can take a seat in the ceramics room.” Mr. Lee held open the door.
Down the hall, two more officers and some guy who could model for a Marine ad stood outside her classroom.
“Miss Fowler?”
Mandy turned her attention back to the principal, who was holding the back of the rolling teacher’s chair for her. The officer pulled up one of the molded plastic student seats. “Now, back to my question. Were any of them threats?”
“I only read a few of the text messages. They mostly called me names. There were close to 1,600 messages when I turned off my phone.
The principal gave a funny half smile. “If this weren’t such a serious matter, I would laugh. You may have gotten more texts than the entire cheer squad sends in a week.”
Officer Keller held out his hand. “May I see your phone?”
Automatically Mandy reached in her bag to find the pocket empty. “I left it at home. I was going to go get a new one tonight or see if I can get a new number.”
“I’ll give you an abbreviated police report, and your carrier should change the number for you for free.”
That would help a little. “Thanks. There were a couple of scary posts on one of my feeds, but they disappeared while we were reading them.”
“We?” The officer leaned forward.
“My roommate and I.”
“What did the posts say?”
Mandy didn’t want to repeat them. “Most of them called me names. Someone thought I needed an acid bath.”
“Why didn’t you report this to the police last night?”
Mandy blinked. “It never crossed my mind to call the police.”
“But it did cross your mind to get a private security guard?” Officer Keller sat back and crossed his arms.
“Private security? No. We asked one of our artist friends and his husband to stay at the house last night, but Gordon is a sculptor.”
He consulted his notes. “Then you didn’t hire anyone from Hastings Security out of Chicago?”
“Officer, I am a school teacher. I don’t have money for private security.”
Officer Keller called into the hallway. “Mr. Alexander, would you come in here, please?”
The large man stepped into the office. He was built like one of the airbrushed muscle men on the front of romance novels.
