Page 77 of Vanish From Sight

“As did Katherine Evans. Who I’m glad to see you managed to find a replacement for,” he said, eyeing Erin Spencer.

“It’s been six months since Katherine stepped down,” Hawthorne added.

McKenzie snorted. “Stepped down. Interesting choice of words. Incidentally, I wouldn’t mind seeing Katherine’s office.”

“Erin would be glad to show you. Is that all?”

McKenzie smirked at Callie before looking back at Hawthorne. “No. That won’t be all,” he said before blazing into his line of questioning. “Friday, November eighteenth, the night Katherine’s body was found in the lake, journalist Nate Sawyer said he had a meeting with you. How did that go?”

“It didn’t. Once I learned what his end game was, I canceled.”

“What was it in regards to?”

Hawthorne glared. “Outlandish lies.”

“Those lies wouldn’t by any chance be the reason why Katherine was forced to resign?”

“Detective, no one forced Katherine to resign.”

“Oh, that’s right. She… stepped down. My bad. Look, I’m really not one for doing the dance. So, how about we cut the crap and get straight to the point. You see, we know she didn’t willingly step down. There was a reason that gave her no other choice. And if I am correct…” He turned to Callie. She flipped the pages in her notebook and then handed it to him. He took out a pair of glasses and donned them. “… you told Investigator Sutherland we would need to ask her. Is that right?”

Hawthorne shrugged. “If I said that. Yes. It wasn’t my place to speak on her behalf.”

“Of course,” he chuckled. “Conveniently. We can’t do that now. However, we did confer with two individuals close to Katherine. Nicholas Evans, her husband, and Nate Sawyer who told us a very different story. One in which she was told in no uncertain terms that if she didn’t leave of her own volition, she’d never get a job in counseling again. Sound right to you?”

“Like I said. Misconstrued. Lies.”

“Okay, let’s deep dive into those alleged lies.” He flipped the pages a few more times. “Ah, here we are. Accusations. According to Katherine’s husband, there were several accusations that had been brought to your attention. Rumors, some might say of a sexual nature. Students saying that Katherine was interfering with them. How am I doing?”

Hawthorne cleared his throat and glanced at his colleagues. “Correct.”

“You gave Katherine the option to either leave or face the consequences of what could not only land her in jail but would most certainly destroy her career and the reputation of High Peaks Academy.”

“I gave her an option. Correct.”

McKenzie stared back at him, waiting for more. “If there isanything you feel I might be overlooking or have misunderstood. Now would be a good time to clarify.”

“Sure,” he replied, looking directly back at him with a smile but not offering anything further.

McKenzie continued.

“How long did Katherine work here?”

“Six years.”

“And in any of that time, did anyone ever spread rumors about her before the recent accusations?”

“No.”

“Well then that seems a little like jumping the gun, wouldn’t you say so, Alexander? I mean, is the Academy in the habit of letting staff members go over unproved rumors?”

“We had a strong reason to believe they were true.”

“Okay, then if that was the case, why wasn’t a report filed with the police?”

“After Katherine willingly stepped down, we felt as if the issue had been resolved.”

“Resolved?” He cleared his throat and offered back a surprised expression. “You hear rumors that one of your teachers is interfering with your students and you decide to brush it under the rug?”