Page 45 of Final Escape
“Three are missing in my class.”
He eyed her closely. “So how are you holding up? If you want to leave early, I can take over for the last two hours. And if you need a few days—even weeks—off, I’m sure we can arrange it. No trouble—no trouble at all.”
“I’m...I’m okay.”
“Have the kids given you any problems?”
“I figured the Nelson twins would have a lot of questions, at the very least. But all of the kids are...well, subdued. Maybe even a little frightened, thinking about what happened so close to where they all live. I’m keeping them busy with mixed-media sculptures.”
“Good, good.” Mr. Grover straightened his tie. “Well, then, I’ll leave you to it. But if you change your mind, just give me a call—or call my secretary. Dottie will arrange things.”
His hearty manner and air of concern had fooled her at first, but as he strode away, the subtext of his visit sank in.
He’d been hoping she’d take time off. He didn’t want her here. Small matters, in the face of Billy’s tragic death, but once again, her future in Granite Falls might be on the line.
* * *
ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, after her last white-water rafting certification class, Carrie headed into town for some groceries. Between her mornings at the school followed by the river classes and several more long meetings with various investigators, the time marched by, inexorably slow, while questions and worries swirled through her thoughts.
And it wasn’t only her who had questions.
She’d seen them in the eyes of the other teachers. On the faces of her silent, subdued students...and in the growing number of empty desks in her classroom.
Without a prisoner behind bars, the murder just outside of Granite Falls had to be the biggest topic in anyone’s mind...and she had no doubt about what they were saying behind closed doors.
Now, standing in the checkout line at the town’s only grocery store, she could feel the stares of the other customers passing by and make out some of the whispers.“That’s her. And he was killed just a few hundred yards from her apartment.”
Norma was at the cash register. She met Carrie’s eyes briefly and nodded, then turned her attention back to a two-cart load of groceries belonging to a hefty woman with four young children clambering for treats from the candy display by the register.
When it was finally Carrie’s turn, Norma leaned over the counter and grasped her hand in a quick squeeze. “How are things going, hon?”
Warmed by her concern, Carrie dipped her head and sighed. “Pretty well, I guess.”
“A big mess, I’d say. This whole town is on edge, worrying about who committed that murder. I hear they don’t even have a clue so far.”
“Which is probably why they keep talking to me. But I didn’t know much about Billy’s life anymore, so I’m not much help.”
“Sheriff came in this morning with his picture, asking if any of us had seen him around town. Handsome fella.”
“Too handsome for his own good, probably. He...liked to party way too much.”
She clucked her tongue. “I still can’t say if he was the one asking about you soon after you moved here. Barely caught a glimpse of the guy’s face, and that’s what I told the sheriff, all right. Worries me, though, that someone would come into town all sneaky like, wanting to find out where a woman lives. No good could come of that.”
Amen.“So...you never saw that guy again?”
Norma flicked a glance at a customer who’d just wheeled a cart into line behind Carrie, then leaned closer. “Not that I know of. But I have a real bad feeling about all of this.”
“No kidding.”
“I don’t think it was some random thing at all, like the sheriff said in the paper this morning. If the killer was just someone who drifted through, that would make no sense. At least, that’s what they say on thoseLaw & Orderreruns. The bad guy is often someone the victim knows.” She worried at her lower lip with her front teeth, then lowered her voice. “I heard some details from my cousin Edna, who works down at the mortuary part-time as the evening receptionist. She said someone must’ve had a real passion about getting the job done, with no chance of survival. He also had to be pretty close. So you’ve gotta think it was someone your husband knew—someone he trusted. Otherwise, a big man like Billy could’ve put up a big fight and he would’ve had a lot of bruises. And he didn’t.”
Small-town gossips,Carrie thought grimly. No secrets were ever safe. What else did the cops know that they weren’t sharing? “You’re right.”
“My niece is in your morning class—Rachel—and she likes you a whole lot. I’d listen to what’s in her heart before I’d listen to the cops any day.” A smile flickered briefly on Norma’s face, though it didn’t touch the sadness in her eyes. “We need people in town like you. Like a breath of fresh air. I’ll be prayin’ for you every night, hon. I promise you that.”
* * *
ON MONDAY, NOAH HADbeen marked absent. “Just a flu bug,” the school secretary had reassured her when Carrie used the intercom to check with the office. But he wasn’t in school on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, either. And not one new drawing of violence appeared in his absence.
