Merciless Crimes: A Thrilling Closed Circle Mystery Series (Merciless Murder Mystery Thriller) Page 8

  Chapter Seventeen

  I holstered my weapon and stepped out from behind the trees.

  “Oi,” I called out.

  The girl jumped with a stifled cry.

  I turned on my flashlight and shone it on her face.

  She scrambled back, but I recognized her now that she was closer.

  It was the girl with the black ponytail we’d seen earlier, the one Isabella had bullied on the school grounds that afternoon.

  Except she didn’t look like a scared little girl anymore.

  “Oh!” she said. “It’s just you.”

  “What’s going on here?” I asked, holding my torch steady.

  A flash of fury crossed the girl’s face. Then, with a petulant pout, she whirled around, ignoring us.

  “Hey,” Katy called out. “Where are you going, young lady?”

  “None of your business,” replied the girl gruffly, without looking back.

  We caught up to her, but she picked up speed, like she was trying to lose us.

  “What the heck were you doing in that car?” demanded Katy as we flanked her. “Who’s that man?”

  “None of your beeswax. You’re not my teacher.”

  “Hold on,” said Katy, grabbing the girl by her arm.

  The girl twisted around and glared at her.

  “Let me go,” she said, squirming. “Or I’ll tell on you to the principal.”

  “Oh, please do,” said Katy, stepping closer and facing her. “Boy, do we have a lot to tell her.”

  “Don’t you dare.”

  “Look, we’re not your teachers,” I said, lowering my voice. “We’re not here to judge. We just want to make sure you’re okay.”

  Like Katy, I was reeling from seeing this teenager with that middle-aged man in the back of his car, but I racked my brain, trying to think of the best way to get her to open up to us.

  I softened my gaze and my voice.

  “Can you tell us how you climbed the electric fence? We thought you were going to get zapped.”

  The girl pulled away, a pleased smile on her face. I almost expected her to stick her tongue out at me, like Isabella had when she was bullying her.

  “You don’t know anything, do you?” she said with a smirk.

  “You’re right,” I said. “We’re new. Can you tell us how you did it?”

  She leaned in, that smile widening, like she had the upper hand.

  “The fence won’t zap you. Not till midnight, anyway.”

  “That’s strange,” said Katy, frowning. “I thought the electric wire is turned on between seven at night and seven in the morning.”

  “She’s lying.”

  “Oh?” I raised my eyebrows.

  “Ms. May told Mr. Davies to cut down on the electricity, so it gets turned on only after midnight.” She paused, a sly look coming over her face. “There’s only one camera, and it takes ten minutes to turn all the way. You just have to time everything right.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “One day when Ms. May went to town and Mr. Davies was out, me and a bunch of girls snuck in to his office and read his email. He forgot to lock it.”

  “What did you find?” I asked.

  “A bunch of juicy stuff, but the best one was about the fence when Ms. May told him not to turn it on till midnight.”

  “Didn’t they announce this change?”

  “As if.”

  “Didn’t anyone see you rooting in his office?” asked Katy, giving the girl a suspicious look.

  “Do you think we’re dumb? Isabella told him she saw a homeless man near the lake. When he ran out to check, we snuck in. I was the lookout that day.”

  “That day?” I asked, realizing there was more to the story than she was telling us. “Do you do this often?”

  The girl shrugged.

  “It’s a good way to learn what’s going on….”

  “So you now climb up the fence to meet your… your…?” said Katy, shaking her head. “Who was that man?”

  “I used to take gymnastics, so I can do that fence easy,” she replied, avoiding the question.

  “Honey, how could you?” spluttered Katy, unable to hold her feelings back any longer.

  The girl’s scowl returned, but she didn’t reply.

  “You’re a pretty girl,” said Katy. “I’m sure you can find a nice boyfriend anytime. That old geezer is using you. Did you ever think of that?”

  The girl held up her wrist. Even through the dim security lights, I saw the twinkling of a diamond bracelet around her left hand.

  “Guess who gave me this?” She smirked. “My old geezer boyfriend, that’s who.”

  “That’s sick,” said Katy, looking like she was about to vomit. “Sweetie, he’s paying you. That’s called prosti—” She stopped herself just in time.

  The girl looked away, her face flushed.

  Katy, a mother of a young girl herself, looked heart-broken to hear all this. Though we both had seen much worse in our youth, it was always distressing to see any child get exploited like this.

  The only thought whirling in my brain was what I’d do to that sick pedophile if I ever got my hands on him.

  “All those other girls get to have fancy stuff, except me,” the girl was saying. “They get bracelets and earrings and really nice shoes. It’s not fair.”

  “So you found yourself a sugar daddy, then?” said Katy.

  “He treats me right,” snapped the girl.

  “Is that why Isabella bullied you the other day?” I asked.

  The girl looked down. When she spoke again, her voice was low and cracked, like she was embarrassed to admit it.

  “She wants it all. She’s always asking for more.”

  “More?” I frowned. “More of what?”

  The girl shrugged unhappily and looked away.

  “What’s your name, hun?” I asked.

  The petulant scowl returned.

  “As if I’m gonna tell you.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough,” said Katy. “How old are you?”

  “Old enough,” she replied, stepping away from us.

  “How did you ever meet that man in the car?” I asked.

  “When we went to town last summer.”

  “Ms. May let you go to town?”

  “Ms. Robertson took us to the museum. She always leaves us to do our own thing, coz everyone knows she only takes us to town to meet her boyfriend.”

  Sally Robertson?

  I recalled Martha May saying Sally had attended this school years ago. I wondered if she remembered her strict student days and gave the girls more leeway than usual.

  “And how did you meet that man?” I asked.

  “I met him in the mammoth section.”

  “In the mammoth section?” said Katy, putting a hand on her forehead like she couldn’t believe her ears. “Do you even use protection, honey?”

  “I know what I’m doing. Stop talking to me like I’m a kid.”

  “Sweetie,” said Katy. “You need help.”

  The girl sneered.

  “If you ever tell Ms. May what you saw, you’ll get into big trouble, you know that?”

  “How will we get in trouble?” said Katy, aghast. “You’re the one who—”

  “If you say anything, I’m gonna tell Ms. May you’re perverts.”

  “Perverts?” I said.

  “I’m gonna tell her you grabbed me from my room and made me come here.”

  Katy and I stepped back in shock.

  “My parents will sue you and you’ll go straight to jail.”

  “This is crazy,” I said.

  “Girls can be sick pervs too,” she replied before twirling around. Without another word, she stalked back to the main building.

  We watched her go in disbelief.

  This girl wasn’t under our guardianship. We hardly knew her name, but even so, I felt like I should have done more.

  “There are only two good things to come out of tonight,�
� I said, shaking my head, as the girl stomped up the driveway.

  “What’s that?” said Katy, frowning. “I can’t think of any.”

  “We know one way Brianna Madison could have got out of the school that night.”

  “And the second?”

  “We also know the time frame. If she climbed that fence, she did it between seven and midnight.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Katy stomped furiously up the driveway.

  “If Chantelle shows even one iota of interest in dating before she’s thirty, let alone having sex with a sick old pedophile, I swear to god, I’ll kill her with my own bare hands.”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about Chantelle,” I said, watching the girl who was now slipping in through the main entrance.

  “We can’t let her go on like that, thinking it’s all right. We need to tell someone, someone who can help her.”

  “If we tell Martha,” I said, “she’ll expel the kid, to protect the reputation of her damn school.”

  “What a sick mess. If I get my hands on that pedo, I… I’ll… I’ll wring his neck!”

  I took my phone out.

  “If Win can make out that license plate, we might find our man,” I said, writing up a quick note to her and hitting send.

  “Maybe Brianna has a sugar daddy too,” I said, pocketing my phone. “Maybe he lured her away.”

  Katy turned to me. “Maybe it’s the same sicko who was with this girl.”

  The school’s underbelly was dirtier than I’d imagined, and I had a feeling we’d only scratched the surface. The more we stayed here, the less certain I felt about what had happened to her.

  We were at the front steps of the building when something made me turn back.

  “I thought we saw her go inside,” I said, swiveling my head, feeling the presence of someone nearby.

  I scanned the grounds, peering through the dimmed security lights, wondering how many more people were running around, breaking the curfew.

  “Over there,” whispered Katy, pointing at a lone figure near the teacher’s quarters. They were too far to see clearly, but I could make out a male silhouette.

  He was walking toward us.

  Toward the main building.

  Though we had our Kevlar vests on, we were sitting ducks, exposed on the top step, with the front door security lights shining on us.

  I gripped my Glock tighter, ready to use it in an instant.

  “Maybe it’s the old guard,” whispered Katy.

  The guard’s chair was only a few feet away from the entrance, and it was empty.

  I squinted at the figure walking over. It wasn’t the shuffle of an elderly man, but the confident and easy gait of someone much younger.

  “That’s not him,” I said.

  “Wait,” said Katy, relief in her voice. “That’s Jayden.”

  She was right.

  Jayden waved when he got to the halfway point on the driveway. We waved back unsmilingly, not moving, our hands on our weapons.

  “What are you ladies doing out at this time of the night?” asked Jayden in a friendly voice, as he got closer.

  “What are you doing out?” Katy called out.

  “It’s my turn for night patrol,” he said, as he skipped up the stairs.

  “Night patrol?” I asked.

  “Teachers take turns every night. Ms. May has a bunch of extra duties for us, and one is the dreaded night patrol,” he replied with a slight smirk. “I don’t mind it too much. I like the solitude and quietness at this time, but most of my colleagues hate it.”

  “Why doesn’t she hire a good security team?” I asked.

  Jayden shrugged and thrust his hands in his pockets.

  “She didn’t renew the security firm’s contract last year. Price, I guess. That’s why she still has old Hogan guarding the building during the day.”

  “Hogan?” asked Katy.

  “The old guard.”

  “Martha May told us he was a charity case.”

  “That’s not what he told me.”

  We stared at Jayden.

  Who was lying? Jayden? The principal? If she was, why would she lie about something so innocuous that had nothing to do with our investigation?

  “The school makes a good chunk of change from tuition fees,” I said. “Surely, Martha can cover the basics?”

  “It’s not up to me,” said Jayden, shuffling his feet. “She hires a top-notch security company the day before the annual board meeting and a few days after. They put up a good show for the board.”

  It was a wonder none of the students had talked about these goings on with their families. Then again, the girls seemed more interested in shopping and chatting on their phones to note such details.

  “It’s always a show for Martha May, isn’t it?” said Katy.

  Jayden shrugged unhappily. Either he really didn’t want to have this conversation or it made him uncomfortable.

  “I don’t like the way she treats the staff here,” I said. “Sam, for instance, should have been given retirement pay and asked to take a break a decade ago.”

  Jayden’s shoulders dropped at the mention of Sam’s name.

  “Sorry,” I said. “Didn’t mean to bring him up. My point was….”

  A sad look came over his face.

  “This is why I asked for a transfer,” he said. “I can’t say anything good about the leadership here. I can’t wait to leave.”

  “Why did you come here in the first place?” asked Katy. “Didn’t Martha let you know you had extra duties and such?”

  “I wanted my teaching credentials. Once I got the basic credits and had this school’s name on my CV, my plan was to go back and teach in my hometown. My girlfriend’s waiting for me.”

  “When do you plan to leave?” I asked.

  Jayden shrugged again.

  “The sooner the better. I didn’t want to come back this semester, but she refused to sign my leave request. She’s holding it over my head. Sometimes, I feel like I’m being played like a mouse. You know what I mean?”

  “What an evil boss,” said Katy.

  He sighed.

  Then he looked up with a curious expression.

  “What are you ladies doing out here? I know she hired you to find Brianna, but is she making you work twenty-four-seven too?”

  “We’re doing this on our own. Couldn’t sleep after what happened,” I said.

  He spread his arms wide. “There’s nobody out here. It’s pretty quiet after the curfew bell rings.”

  “Is this your first time patrolling?” asked Katy, her eyes narrowing.

  “Third time this semester,” said Jayden. “I usually patrol on Wednesdays. Tonight was Sam’s night.” He looked away into the distance. “I guess it’s my night now.”

  “Well, let me tell you,” said Katy, jabbing a finger on his shoulder. “A whole load of stuff is going on here after curfew, stuff you can’t even imagine. It may have gone under Sam’s radar, but we sure didn’t miss it.”

  “What on earth are you talking about?”

  “We caught one of your students scaling the fence and… and…” Katy swallowed, like it was hard for her to come up with the right words. “Prostituting herself with a sick old creep.”

  The teacher’s eyes widened.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “Do you think I’d kid about something like that?” snapped Katy.

  “What’s her name?”

  “Refused to say,” I said, “but we can point her out tomorrow when we see her.”

  “How did she get out? Everything’s locked down.”

  “Did you know the fence isn’t electrified until midnight?” said Katy.

  “No, it’s turned on at seven at night.”

  “Martha changed it but didn’t announce it. One of your principal’s lovely cost-cutting measures. If you think you can keep secrets from these girls, you’re wrong. They sniffed it out easily enough.”

  “My god,
” said Jayden, rubbing his face. “I didn’t know.”

  “I think you need to patrol a little earlier,” I said, gently.

  “What I need to do is leave this place,” he said, with an exasperated sigh.

  “Until then,” I said, “you need to monitor your students. Who knows, there may be others playing hooky.”

  With a heavy sigh, he joined Katy and me on our tour.

  We did another walkabout around the building. All the lights had been turned off, and it looked like everyone was finally asleep.

  “The problem with this school,” said Jayden as we walked the trail along the fence, keeping an eye out for more parked cars, “is everyone’s too scared to say anything.”

  “Except Ruby,” said Katy.

  He rolled his eyes.

  “She tells everyone she’s an Arabian princess. Loves to throw her weight around, but all the girls think she’s real royalty, and she milks it for what it’s worth.”

  “Seems like most of the teachers and staff are scared of the girls,” I said. “Nick’s terrified of them.”

  He nodded.

  “They come from influential families and no one wants to get on their bad side. Good way to kill your career, if you did. The girls know it and they use it against us.”

  We had just turned the corner toward the back of the main building, when Katy exclaimed: “Hey, who turned on that light? It wasn’t on an hour ago.”

  “The sports center,” said Jayden, frowning. “Did I forget to turn off the lights?”

  “Or did someone go in there just now?” I asked.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Even from twenty feet away of the Madison Sports Center, we could smell the marijuana smoke.

  But it was when we stepped inside the gym that we heard the laughter.

  “Doesn’t anyone respect the rules, anymore?” said Katy.

  “They’re in the basketball court,” said Jayden, shaking his head. “I’m not sure I really want to see this.”

  “Well, I do,” said Katy crisply. “To think I was planning to convince my hubby to send our girl here.”

  Without waiting for a response, Katy marched toward the large door with the basketball etched on the wood. She yanked the door open and stepped inside, with Jayden and me tripping in right behind her.