Page 97 of Don't Say a Word
Angie wanted to scream at her, but she didn’t. She bit her lip, wanting to just disappear.
“If you cut another class,” Mrs. Webb said, “I’ll have no choice but to give you detention.”
“I won’t,” she mumbled.
“There’s a private investigator who has been asking questions on campus. She talked to Mrs. Clark and Mr. Parsons, and I’m sure she’ll reach out to you and Elijah’s other friends. You don’t have to speak with her.”
“What if I want to?”
“Do you know where Elijah got the drugs?
It sounded like an accusation.
“No,” she said. “I don’t do that stuff.”
“Then I don’t see how you can help her. However, she’s not allowed on campus. If she finds you, you can ask someone to sit in with you. I would be happy to help.”
Why?she wanted to ask. Like everyone else, Mrs. Webb believed the worst in Elijah.
“Okay,” she said. Sometimes it was easier to agree than argue.
“I would hate to see you go down the same path as your friend.”
Angie stopped outside her classroom. “What does that mean?”
Mrs. Webb sighed, rubbed her eyes. “Angie, you’re a smart girl who is under a lot of pressure. Mrs. Clark was helping you with your college applications, and it’s going to be hard to replace her, but I would be happy to assist you. I know you have a difficult home situation.”
Angie reddened. She didn’t want to talk about her mother or anything else, especially with Mrs. Webb. How did she even know? Was everything she told Mrs. Clark written in her file? It was humiliating.
“I am here for you if you need me. Okay?”
She nodded and slipped into the classroom. The teacher gave her a look, but noticed Mrs. Webb and didn’t give Angie a tardy slip.
Angie sank into her seat and wished she were anyplace but here.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jack Angelhart
Jack came into the office shortly before nine Thursday morning and was surprised to find Tess and his mother in the conference room going over stacks of records. He stepped in and asked, “Did I miss something?”
“Margo has a hunch,” Tess said.
Jack picked up one of the sheets. “Who are these kids?”
“Softball players,” Ava said. “They played for the coach who was arrested.”
He sat down. “How does this connect to Elijah’s death?”
“I don’t know that it does,” Ava said, irritated. “Margo is in Prescott and not answering her phone, so we can’t even follow up. She wants to know where all these girls are now and said she’d know it when she saw it.”
Jack understood that. Sometimes you didn’t know what was important until you had all the facts laid out and could see the bigger picture.
He said, “She wants to talk to the DEB detective who worked the case. I reached out to him, but haven’t heard back yet.”
“She thinks that Coach Bradford’s daughter turned him in to the police,” Tess said.
“That would be big.”
