Page 45 of Don’t Say a Word (Angelhart Investigations #2)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Angie Williams

Angie sat at the top of the volleyball stands and watched Gina and the team warm up. The next three games were away, and Angie wouldn’t be able to go unless she got a ride with Gina’s mom.

She’d heard nothing from the PI since she gave her the yearbooks the day before. The police had unsealed Mrs. Clark’s office yesterday. Mr. Parsons was still on leave. Detective King hadn’t talked to her again. Angie had no idea what was happening, and it was disconcerting.

A teacher had been murdered on campus only three days ago, and other than some whispered gossip, everyone was going about their business.

Andy and Peter walked up the stairs to sit with her. “Hey,” they said.

“Hi.” She glanced at Peter. “Don’t you have your internship thing?”

“The guy I apprentice for is going to a wedding in San Diego and took a couple days off.” Peter shrugged. “They said come back Monday.”

“How’s it going?”

“Good,” he said, noncommittal. “You still planning on going to U of A?”

She shrugged. “I dunno.”

Angie, Elijah, and Andy had all talked about going to U of A. They’d already applied—early applications opened September 1. But Angie didn’t know what she wanted to do. Nothing seemed important anymore.

“The PI talked to us yesterday morning,” Andy said. “She didn’t say much, but I think she was surprised that the police didn’t have his backpack.”

“Some bum probably stole it,” Angie said.

“What do you think happened?” Peter asked.

“I think someone killed him.”

“Isn’t that weird? That someone killed Elijah, then Mrs. Clark is killed?” Andy said.

It was, and Angie hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. The school office had been quiet Monday afternoon, right before Mrs.Clark died. She’d only seen Mrs. Villines and Mr. Borel.

Angie frowned, thinking back to that afternoon. She’d heard someone talking, and a jingle of bracelets or maybe keys. She’d thought it was Mrs. Clark, because she wore a lot of jewelry, but she’d been talking to someone... and it was a familiar voice. But Angie couldn’t quite place it.

“Did the PI show you pictures?” Angie asked.

They both shook their heads.

“I think something was going on at the Cactus Stop,” Angie said.

“Yeah, me too,” Andy said.

“Really?” she asked.

“Elijah was going to quit.”

Why hadn’t he told her? Angie wondered.

They sat quietly for a moment, until Andy and Peter started talking about the girls on the team—Andy had a crush on the only sophomore on the varsity team. Angie let her mind drift, thinking about her argument with Mrs. Clark, about what Margo had told her, about Benny and his job.

She was worried about him. She knew why he couldn’t quit, but she didn’t want anything to happen to him. Did Benny take her seriously this morning? Should she let Chris know that something weird was going on at the Cactus Stop?

She was surprised to see Mr. Parsons walk into the gym. He looked around the stands, and when he saw her, he put up his hand. He wanted to talk to her ?

“I gotta go,” she said to Andy and Peter. “See you later.”

She clomped down the bleachers toward a very pale and tired-looking Mr. Parsons. “Did you want to talk to me?”

“Can we step outside?”

She followed him out and they walked across the blacktop toward the football field, but she didn’t think he was taking her anywhere specific. She didn’t know what to say, but felt like she had to say something.

“Um, I’m really sorry about what happened to Mrs. Clark. I really hate that she thought I was mad at her.”

He stopped walking when they reached the benches that ran along chain-link fencing. He sat. She hesitated, then sat next to him.

“Lena understood,” he said quietly. “She liked you quite a bit.”

That made her feel worse.

“My brain is in a fog,” he said. “The police are no closer to finding out who did this.”

“How do you know?”

“They talked to me Monday, and then again yesterday. I heard they talked to you as well.”

“Same detective who closed Elijah’s case. They made it sound as if I had killed her—which I didn’t. I wouldn’t, I swear.”

“You didn’t do anything, Angie. They made it sound as if I killed her too.

I think it’s just the detective who’s running the investigation, turning everyone into a suspect.

I talked to the private investigator on Monday, but with everything that has happened, I don’t remember her name. Did you ever talk to her?”

“Margo Angelhart,” Angie said. “I talked to her a couple of times.”

“It doesn’t even ring a bell. It’s like I blocked everything out on Monday.”

“Why didn’t you walk back with her from the volleyball game?” Angie said.

“I’ve thought the exact same thing a hundred times. If I had, she would still be here. I’d left some papers I wanted to grade in my classroom, went to get them and ended up in a conversation with Mrs. Porter. Fifteen minutes. And she was gone.” He shook his head. “I’ll track down Ms. Angelhart.”

“You want to talk to the PI?”

“The police said Lena called her before she was k-killed.” He cleared his throat. “But they didn’t tell me anything else.”

“I have her number.” Angie pulled her phone from her pocket and showed it to him.

He put Margo’s number into his phone. “Thank you.”

He made no move to get up, so she sat there with him. It was weird, and she wanted to go back to the game, but Mr. Parsons looked so sad.

“Um,” she said, bit her lip. “Are you okay?”

“I will be. Thank you.”

“I’m going back to the game. Do you want to watch it?”

“I’ll sit here for a minute.”

She got up. “I’ll see you tomorrow in class?”

“Yes. I’ll be there. I need to get back to work, it might help.”

Angie headed toward the gym, but looked back at Mr. Parsons. He was still sitting on the bench, watching the football practice. But she wondered if he could see anything at all.

Instead of going into the gym, she left campus and walked to the Cactus Stop.

She had a sudden urge to check in on Benny.

She didn’t know if he had taken her seriously this morning, and if she had to, she would call Chris and let him know why she was worried.

If anyone could convince Benny to quit, it was his brother.