Page 87 of The Teacher
The detective gives me a funny look, but she doesn’t question me further on that. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
“So I need to ask you, Addie,” Detective Sprague says, “where were you last night?”
“Home,” I say quickly.
She looks at my mother. “And were you here as well?”
My mother’s cheeks turned pink. “I’m a nurse, and I had an overnight shift last night.”
That crease between my mother’s eyebrows that she always gets when she’s worried about me has turned into a crevice. She’s looked at me like that a lot in the last year.
“So…” Sprague is addressing my mother now. “Did you drive your car to work?”
She frowns in confusion. “Yes.”
“And do you have another vehicle?”
“We have…” Mom glances at the door leading to the garage. “My late husband’s car is in the garage. But nobody uses that car.”
She claims she’s been saving my father’s car for me, although really, she just doesn’t want to get rid of any of his stuff. I bet she wishes she had gotten rid of it now.
“So you had access to a car last night?” Sprague asks me.
Before I can answer, my mother breaks in with, “But she doesn’t have a driver’s license. She only has a learner’s permit.”
The detective arches an eyebrow. She knows better than anyone that a lack of a driver’s license isn’t going to keep a teenager from getting behind the wheel. “But the car was in the garage?”
“Yes,” Mom says in a small voice.
I don’t know why the detective was asking that though. Why would she care if I have access to a car or not? I didn’t use my father’s car last night. The only reason I would have needed a car last night is if…
If I were working alone.
A horrible, dizzying sensation is coming over me. Detective Sprague acted like she just found that letter, but I’m pretty sure the only way she could have gotten it is if Nathaniel gave it to her. And since the school is closed today, he must have been the one who told her that I was spotted lurking around by their house.
And he abandoned me in the woods.
Is Nathaniel setting me up to take the fall for his wife’s murder? Everything the detective is saying seems to point to that, but I know Nathaniel, and he wouldnever do that. Everything he did last night was to protect me—to keep me from going to prison.
Except I can’t stop thinking about those angry red marks around Mrs. Bennett’s throat.
“Addie,” Detective Sprague says in a surprisingly gentle voice. “Do you have any idea what happened to Mrs. Bennett last night?”
Both Sprague and my mother are staring at me. I shake my head mutely.
Sprague lets out a long sigh. “All right, Addie. That’s all for now. But we might want you to come down to the station later. We’re going to have more questions.”
“Addie would never hurt anyone,” Mom speaks up. “She’s not like that.”
The detective smiles curtly, but she doesn’t say anything. She knows as well as I do that it’s not the truth.
Chapter Sixty-Eight
ADDIE
After Detective Spragueleaves our house, my mother looks like she’s going to have a stroke. Her face drains of all color, and I’m pretty sure her last remaining brown hairs switch over to being white.
“Addie,” Mom gasps. “Whatwasthat? What did youdo?”
