Gracie's Game: Sudden Anger, Accidentally on Purpose (38 page)

"Yes, it could," Ken agreed. "No bruising or other indications she put up a fight, though. We'll have the DNA checked, of course, but it takes time. Oh, and she'd definitely been drinking that night. Blood-alcohol level of .12"

"Wow, that's pretty high isn't it?"

".08 is legal intoxication," he replied. "Of course we don't know how much she drank during the party and she could've continued after it was over."

"Doesn't alcohol evaporate or something?" Gracie asked. "How do they figure out how much she'd drunk?"

"The word is 'metabolize', but it's more complicated than that," Ken said. "The body itself produces alcohol as it decays, so they can't just test the blood."

"Stomach contents?" Gracie suggested, trying not to think about it in too much detail.

"Worse than that!" Ken said. "They use the vitreous humour; that's eyeball fluid."

"Ewww!" Gracie said, making a disgusted face. "I think I'm sorry I asked! But I guess they know what they're doing and at that level it wouldn't make a whole lot of difference if they were off a point or two."

"That's true," Ken agreed. "But it would take time to get to that level so she'd probably been drinking pretty steadily. Steadily enough that it would've been easy for her to lose her balance and fall down those steps. The question is, was she pretending to run from a prospective lover or avoid an attacker – or did she just take a bad step and fall all on her own?"

"Yeah, I see the problem. Though you'd think a lover would've shut the patio door."

"Not if he was scared," Ken said. "The same would apply to an attacker; either might've just wanted to get the heck outta Dodge and not bother shutting the door behind them. Her neighbor said she saw a 'light-colored' car parked on the street in the wee hours of the morning, but that description doesn't give us much to go on. Could've even been someone had left it there and come back for it later."

"My Prius is light blue," she said. "I guess that could count as light-colored. But we were in Kelly's car and it's dark blue. That's so vague there's not much point in trying to figure out who all drives a light car; but I'll let you know if I hear about anyone coming back for a car early in the morning." Gracie looked thoughtful. "You said it was parked in
front
of Mrs. Lane's house?"

"That's what the neighbor lady said. Why?"

"Because Kelly had to park nearly a block away; the whole street was full of cars that night."

"Which doesn't mean someone who got there early didn't leave with friends and come back for his or her car later," Ken said reasonably.

Gracie nodded, one eyebrow raised in concession. "Well, here's my list," she said, handing the sheet of paper to him. "It won't take long for the news to get around that you're here asking questions. It's all anyone's talking about."

"That's perfectly okay," Ken said. "With so many people there I'll hear all kinds of inconsistencies. But maybe something will turn up. I'll let you know what I find. Thanks, Gracie."

Chapter 32

"Hey, Gracie! Toss me that roll of crepe paper," Emily yelled across the gym.

"You want the blue or the gold?" Gracie called back, holding one color in each of her hands. They were decorating for the next game, and Gracie was working on a poster near the pile of supplies.

"Blue," Emily called back.

"Here, let me." Madison grabbed the blue roll from Gracie and deftly tossed it across the room. She grinned and commented, "And you girls laugh when I want to play softball."

"Slide me another piece of poster board, please," Brittney requested of no one in particular. "I'm done with this one, but I don't like getting on ladders so someone else can hang it."

Tanya was poking through the pile of supplies looking for something. "If I can just find some tape I'll put up some more streamers. I think everyone's pretty busy right now." She held up a roll of tape like it was some kind of prize, and started back to where she'd been working.

"Some of us are way busier than
others
," Serene said in a decidedly cynical tone. When she had the other girls' attention she cut her eyes toward a doorway where they could all see Amy talking on her cell phone. "Hey, Amy! You here to work or talk on the phone?" she said loudly.

Amy hadn't heard Serene's comment, but felt the pressure of a dozen pairs of eyes; she glanced around and took in the situation, then held up a finger indicating she'd be there in a minute.

"Yeah, sure," Serene said. "What's so damned important, anyway? I mean, it's not like she has a boyfriend to talk to or anything."

Kelly came in at that point. "I've finished hanging the posters you gave me, you guys got any more ready?"

"I'm almost done here, and if you'll wait just a couple of minutes Tanya will have another one finished," Gracie replied. "She works faster than I do."

"Yeah, but I'm not very good. Too bad Andrea isn't here tonight, she's a way better artist than we are," Tanya said. "Oh, sorry Gracie, that didn't come out very nice, I didn't mean it like that."

Gracie gave a critical look at her creation and shrugged diffidently. "No problem, Tanya. I never claimed to be an artist."

"It's the effort that counts," Allison replied. She made a face and waved her hand wildly over her own poster. "Whew, these markers
stink
. I think I'm feeling a little light-headed. I think if I stood up right now I'd be so dizzy I'd fall down."

"Hey, did you guys hear about Travis?" Tanya asked. "He fell this morning and broke his arm."

"He's so clumsy he probably tripped over his own feet," Serene said.

"He told me he'd slipped on a puddle of water," Gracie said. "It could've happened to anyone."

"I hope his parents don't sue the school; they could certainly use the money," Serene remarked haughtily.

Allison gave her a dirty look. "Then I guess I'd better just sit right where I am, 'cause we've already had two falls connected with the school."

"We don't know if Mrs. Lane
fell
or was pushed," Tanya said. "But regardless it doesn't count because it wasn't on school property."

Gracie put a quick finishing touch on her poster and pushed it towards Kelly. "If you're done Allison, Kelly can go put these up and you won't have to get up."

Kelly collected finished posters from all the girls and walked out of the gym. By mutual consent they all sat back to rest a few minutes before starting on the next set. The subject of the teacher's death having been brought up, they began re-hashing what they'd heard and knew, or thought they knew. Emily and Madison, not wanting to be left out, joined the gab-fest. Gracie listened as they described their interviews with Ken, some with excitement and some with a touch of fear at having to deal with the police. She only admitted to giving him a partial list of party attendees, thinking they didn't need to know the details he'd given her.

"Well, it's about time you got off that phone!" Serene said as Amy plopped down at the edge of the loose circle.

"Sorry," Amy said. "I had some important calls to make. I really didn't think they'd take so long." She pulled a piece of poster board closer and began enthusiastically working. "Guess I'd better get to work," she muttered.

Brittney leaned over to do the same, and squirmed noticeably as she settled in to work.

"What's the matter, you got ants in your pants?" Serene asked.

Brittney's face reddened, and she bent over her work to try to hide it.

"Brittney, are you okay? Don't pay any attention to Serene; is something wrong?" Tanya asked with quiet concern.

Brittney looked up at her rather shyly. "I, uh, I think I've got a female problem."

"What are your symptoms?" Allison asked, now in what the other girls thought of as her 'professional' mode.

"Well, see, I had a sinus infection last week," Brittney began. "You remember, I missed a couple days of school. So anyway, the doctor gave me some antibiotics and they really helped but now I'm starting to itch." She looked even more embarrassed, if that was possible.

"Sounds like you've got a yeast infection," Allison diagnosed. "What'd he give you?"

"Erythromycin, I think it was." She pronounced each syllable carefully.

"Oh yeah, that'll cause a yeast infection every time," Allison stated.

"So what do I
do
about it?" Brittney almost wailed.

"Eat yogurt," Gracie put in.

"Yogurt?" Brittney asked with a puzzled look on her face.

Allison favored Gracie with a frown as she told Brittney, "You need to get one of those creams at the pharmacy."

"The creams will work, but they're expensive and
icky
," Gracie insisted. "There's something about the culture in yogurt that helps, plus it tastes good!"

"Which would you do?" Brittney asked Allison.

"I've never had the problem," Allison admitted. "I'm allergic to erythromycin, I can't take it."

"You're allergic to
everything
!" Serene put in.

Allison turned to her with an angry look in her eyes. "It's no laughing matter," she said coldly. "I took some when I was a kid and had an anaphylactic reaction and almost
died
."

"What's that mean?" Tanya inquired. "The what's-it reaction, not the dying part; that I understand."

"My throat swelled up and I couldn't breathe," Allison explained.

Brittney looked at Gracie and Allison in turn. "I think I'll try the yogurt first, it sounds easier."

"Well, now that we've got
that
out of the way…" Tanya leaned and stretched toward the supplies. "Hey! We're out of poster board."

"Oh, darn," Serene said.

"There's more in the office," Brittney offered.

Amy jumped up. "There should be some backstage too, right Emily?"

"Maybe," Emily allowed. "I don't really pay much attention to how the scenery gets made."

"I'll go see," Amy declared. "It's closer than the office, anyway. Maybe I can make up for all the work I missed," she said, all but sticking her tongue out at Serene.

Amy left and Serene took over Amy's unfinished poster. The rest of the girls wandered around aimlessly looking for something to do or took the opportunity to check their phones for messages and post on FaceBook. "Tired of decorating, can't wait to see X" summed up the majority of them. Gracie walked around the room picking up tag-ends of crepe paper and bits of tape. Little groups of two or three formed, girls chatting about whatever happened to be on their minds. Gracie eavesdropped as best she could, but the teacher's death seemed to have been superseded by far more private concerns like boyfriends, clothes, or homework.

Amy returned to the gym and allowed several pieces of poster board to slither out of her arms to the floor. "There wasn't a lot there," she remarked. She walked to the bleachers and began rummaging in her purse.

Tanya eyed the pile to estimate the number of pieces. "That's okay, it'll be enough for whatever hall we haven't done yet."

"The east hall," Kelly supplied. "And I can always move a few around if I need to."

"I'm tired of this," Serene said. "It's not like this is a really important game, anyway."

"I think we're all ready to go home," Brittney commented.

"But, Jake and the team are doing so
well
," Amy insisted loudly from where she stood. "We want to support him, don't we?" She finished rubbing hand lotion on, dropped the tube in her purse, and returned to the center of the gym. "Hey, where's the poster I started before I left?"

"You were gone so long
I
had to finish it for you," Serene answered with a malicious smile.

"Let's just get this done, then we can get outta here," Gracie suggested. Like the other girls she was looking forward to spending some time with her boyfriend, even if they would just be doing their homework together.

"I give up!" Gracie said, defeat evident in her voice. "Math isn't my best subject; I don't know why I'd ever need to solve an algebraic equation in real life anyway."

"Let me take a look," Kelly said soothingly. He let his finger trace along the lines of her work, mumbling the steps she'd taken. "Oh, here it is! If you add A and 3A then you can divide both sides by 4 and simplify it."

Gracie leaned over his arm to look for herself, and Kelly took the opportunity to kiss her cheek. "I see where I went wrong, thanks." She gave him a quick peck in return.

"Your mother thinks we're here to do homework," he teased.

"We
are
doing homework…but maybe we could take a little break?" she suggested.

The phone rang at that moment, startling them both. Gracie sighed and rolled her eyes, but got up to answer it.

"Oh good, it's you," a female voice said without benefit of greeting.

"Hi, Aunt Jeanine, how are you?" Gracie used an overly pleasant tone of voice, but rolled her eyes again, then crossed them and stuck out her tongue.

Kelly laughed and then pointed to the glass of water she'd left on the book-covered table. He knew from experience that this would likely be a long conversation and she'd need the liquid as well as something to do with her hands so she wouldn't make strangling motions with them. Gracie nodded, making herself comfortable.

"You gotta do something for me," Jeanine said, typically ignoring the niceties.

"In other words, it's something you can't ask of my mother," Gracie concluded.

"Well, shit, you know how she treats me," her aunt defended herself. "She never did like me much, made it clear she didn't want me around, and won't have a damn thing to do with me ever since the divorce and especially since your daddy passed."

Gracie happened to know that her father, Jeanine's own brother, was the one who'd wanted little to do with her. Though it wouldn't surprise her in the least that he'd claimed it was his wife's decree; Charles Greene had never taken responsibility for anything, especially if he could push it off on someone else. On the other hand, she also knew that her Aunt Jeanine never took responsibility for herself; doing as she jolly well pleased, blaming everyone else for her troubles, and demanding help when she'd gotten in too deep. Gracie's mother, Clarissa, had tried to remain friendly but had refused to bail her former sister-in-law out of financial trouble; thus Jeanine felt slighted.