Page 100 of For Your Own Good

“Where did you get the coffee?” Roland asks.

Teddy stares at him. “As I was saying, I made another cup of coffee in the teachers’ lounge before first period. Prime Bold is my flavor. After that, I didn’t eat again until lunch, which I bring from home. Bologna on white bread and an apple. I eat the same lunch every day.” He pauses, waiting for a reaction. There is none. “Yesterday, I did go to the dining hall to get a small carton of milk. I drank it while I ate in my classroom.”

“Is that normal for you? To get a carton of milk?”

“Sometimes, yes. Or I bring a water from home.”

“But yesterday, you definitely drank milk from the dining hall?”

“Yes,” Teddy says, wondering if Roland is a little slow. “I’m positive.”

“What about your sandwich? Did you make it?”

“I did.”

“Anyone else have access to it?”

Teddy thinks for a minute. Or pretends to. “No. I always keep my lunch in an insulated bag in my classroom.”

“What about at home?”

Teddy is a bit surprised by this question. “Home?”

“Do you live with anyone?”

“I can’t see how that’s relevant.”

“It is,” Roland says. “We need to know who had access to everything you ate or drank.”

“I live alone,” Teddy says, hoping that will end this line of questioning.

It doesn’t.

“Who else has access to your home?” Roland asks.

“I just said I live alone.”

“So no one else has a key?”

Teddy keeps his expression the same and his emotions in check.Otherwise, the hate he feels for this FBI agent might come through. “My wife has a key.”

Roland looks surprised. “You said you live alone.”

“I do. We are... separated.”

Roland and the other agent, Pruitt, exchange a look.

“Look,” Teddy says. “This has been one of the most tragic times in the history of the school. As Teacher of the Year, I’m very invested in our students and in their success, and what’s happened is horrifying. What we need to concentrate on is who would do this to the school.To the students.My wife has absolutely nothing to do with this.”

“We just need to be thorough,” Roland says.

Teddy realizes this is going to take longer than he’d anticipated. “May I ask a question?” he says.

The agents nod in unison.

“I understand someone died yesterday, but no one has said who it is. Has this information been released?”

Roland pauses before answering. “It was on the news earlier,” he says. “The headmaster died.”