Page 19 of Don't Say a Word

I bristled. She spoke as ifIwere one of her students or staff.

“I can speak to anyone I want,” I said though I should have kept my mouth shut.

Her eyes flashed. “Not on my campus.”

“I’m outta here.” I brushed past her.

What had been a productive conversation had gone south real fast.

I was now on my own to find Angie.

Chapter Six

Lena Clark

“Melissa,” Dwight said, “there’s no need to blow this out of proportion.”

Dwight, dear man, was trying to mediate the situation. He’d been here far longer than she had, longer than Melissa, but Lena didn’t want to cause waves with the administration. Melissa was already difficult to work with as it was.

“You were talking aboutstudentswith a private investigator,” Melissa said. “You both know better. Dammit, our school has been run through the wringer over the last five years. The student who attacked Ms. Lorenz, who is now suing us for millions. The planning commission delays over our new building. A school board that is demanding weekly reports because our test scores have dropped. Not to mention the scandal with Coach Bradford! And now we have a private investigator asking questions about a simple overdose.”

Lena was well aware that the administration had been under a lot of pressure. “I understand, but—”

“Kids do drugs,” Melissa interrupted. “It’s unfortunate, and I’m sorry it happened to one of our students, but Elijah Martinez isnot the first or last teenager who made a poor decision and paid for it with his life. The officer I brought in to speak to the assembly did a good job. I’ve also been pushing the school board to give us the resource officer they promised. But just this morning I had an irate call from the school board president who claims faculty and students are harassing a police detective. Was that you?”

Lena cringed. “I didn’t—”

“You didn’t call Detective King and criticize how she investigated the Martinez kid’s OD?”

Lena’s face heated. “That was not my intent. She took my questions the wrong way.”

“It ends here. The police did their job, you do yours. Stay out of it.” She turned to leave, then glanced back at them. “The staff meeting is postponed until tomorrow.”

Lena watched her leave, listening to her crisp footsteps fade along with the jingle of her keys.

She closed the door, jaw clenched. “That woman!”

Dwight put his hands on her shoulders, gave her a light kiss. “You’re shaking.”

“She makes me both nervous and mad.”

“Don’t let her make you nervous.”

“Easy for you to say,” she mumbled.

Dwight pulled her into a hug, which relaxed her. She had never expected to fall in love again after her failed marriage, but then came Dwight: comfortable, kind, with many shared interests. It had been eight months and they spent most weekends together, and she’d introduced him to her daughters when they were home from college this summer.

Lena stepped away from Dwight. “I’m worried about Angie.”

They sat down at the table, holding hands. “So am I,” Dwight said. “Do you think she might have been with Elijah when he died? Maybe they got high together and she panicked?”

Lena vehemently shook her head. “Angie is the last person who’d do drugs.”

“She comes from a troubled home, she’s angry and cutting classes.”

“Angie has been angry for years,” Lena said. “And her troubled home stems from her mother’s drug use—I don’t see Angie following that path.”

“Cutting classes is new. She’s a straight-A student, but if she keeps cutting, her grades are going to slip.”