Murder by the Slice (11 page)

“You’re going to be in charge of the auction, right?” Carolyn said. “You can announce the contest results, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure,” the principal agreed. She set the paper with the results on the table and placed the jar on top of it, then went back into the kitchen and returned a moment later with a portable public address system. She set it on the end of the table, turned it on, and picked up the handheld microphone.

“If I could have your attention, please,” she said, her voice booming out from the speakers. The portable PA system was tied in with the school-wide system, so Principal Hickson’s voice could be heard all over the campus. She went on, “We’re about to have the cake auction in the cafeteria, and before that gets under way I’ll be announcing the results of the snack competition. So anyone who’s interested in these things, y’all come on in and we’ll have some fun auctioning off these goodies!”

Sam and Eve were among the people coming into the cafeteria following the principal’s announcement. Sam had come through earlier in the afternoon, said hello to Phyllis and Carolyn, and sampled all the snacks and voted for his favorite. Phyllis hadn’t seen Eve since she got there, though. She thought that someone Eve’s age shouldn’t look so good in a pair of tight jeans, but Eve undoubtedly did. Phyllis wondered if Sam had noticed, then decided that of course he had. He was a man, after all.

The cafeteria began to fill up. Some people weren’t interested in what was going on inside and so would stay outside on the playground, but after a long afternoon a lot of the parents were ready to sit down for a while. The noise level grew. Several of the PTO board members drifted in. Phyllis saw Marie and Russ and their two children. Joel Dunston and Becca walked into the cafeteria a few minutes later. Phyllis didn’t see Shannon anywhere in the room, though.

“Welcome, everyone,” Principal Hickson said into the microphone. “I hope y’all have had a good time here at Oliver Loving Elementary School this afternoon!”

A wave of applause came from the crowded tables.

“I know a lot of you have sampled the snacks up here on this table today and voted for your favorite,” the principal went on. “What some of you may not know is that all these snacks are nutritious. That’s right, they’re good for you!”

Mock groans came from some of the kids, followed by laughter.

“We’ve counted the votes, and we’re ready to announce which of these snacks you folks liked the best.”

“What does it win?” someone called from the audience.

“Well, now …” Principal Hickson looked around at Carolyn and Phyllis, who shook their heads and shrugged. “The prize is knowing that they pleased a lot of folks,” the principal said as she turned back to the crowd. “And maybe we’ll see if we can hunt up a blue ribbon or something, how about that?”

More applause.

“Anyway, here we go.” Hickson reached over and took the paper from under the jar. “The winner of the snack competition is … Phyllis Newsom!”

Phyllis caught her breath in surprise. She had hoped to win … she had thought that her peanut-butter-and-banana cookies might deserve to win … but she hadn’t believed it would actually happen. She glanced over at Carolyn, who looked pained for an instant but then put a smile on her face as she said, “Congratulations.” Unlike the smiles worn by Shannon and Joel Dunston earlier in the afternoon, Carolyn’s expression was genuine. She was being more than gracious about being defeated; Phyllis had to give her that. She seemed to be honestly glad that Phyllis had won.

“Thank you,” Phyllis said. She looked out at the

applauding audience and saw the big grin on Sam’s face. That made the effort worthwhile, too.

Principal Hickson turned and smiled at her and said, “We’ll look for that blue ribbon later, okay?”

“Okay,” Phyllis said.

“Now it’s time to get on with the auction.” Since the microphone was a cordless one, Principal Hickson was able to move over behind the other table as she continued, “My goodness, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a prettier assortment of cakes. I know a lot of you will want to bid on these. We’ll start with this giant Hostess cupcake. Do I have a bid for this beautiful chocolate delight?”

Before anyone could call out a bid, a shocked silence fell over the cafeteria. It lasted for several seconds, and during that time, the sound of someone screaming came down the hall and into the big room, loud and clear.

Chapter 10

Pandemonium erupted.

A lot of the parents had their kids with them and knew they were safe, but some didn’t. As they heard that shrill indication of bad trouble, those adults reacted instinctively and lunged to their feet. They had to check on their children and make sure they were all right. Every parent in the room who couldn’t be sure otherwise had the terrifying feeling that something bad might have happened to their child.

It was a stampede through the doors, the thunder of feet and the startled shouts drowning out the continued screams. Principal Hickson called, “Wait! Everyone stay calm!” but despite the amplification of the PA system, everybody ignored her. She dropped the microphone and joined the rush out of the cafeteria.

Phyllis and Carolyn traded shocked glances, unsure what they should do. Sam and Eve hurried up to the tables. “You have any idea what all the commotion’s about?” Sam asked.

Phyllis shook her head.

“I’ll go find out,” Sam said. “You ladies stay here.”

“I’m going with you,” Phyllis declared, and Carolyn and Eve nodded in agreement. They had all been teachers too long for their instincts to allow them to stand back whenever there was trouble in a school.

The four of them left the cafeteria and followed the sound of the uproar down the left-hand wing, toward the conference room where Phyllis and Carolyn had met with the members of the PTO board. The crowd was converging on the far end of the corridor. Phyllis and the others hurried in that direction, too. Phyllis wasn’t sure what was down there; she hadn’t been that far along this hall during her previous visits to the school.

People began turning back when they reached the end of the hall. Some of them looked sick. Others just seemed horrified and scared. Parents picked up their kids and hurried to get them away from whatever it was. But other people were still trying to get past, and that created a logjam. It took several minutes for Phyllis, Sam, Carolyn, and Eve to work their way along the side of the corridor, next to the wall, before they finally reached the end of the hall. Sam’s broad shoulders led the way.

A short cross hall ran from the front to the back of the wing. A couple of classrooms, empty now, were across it, at the very end of the building. At the back of this short hall was a single door that led outside. At the front, the hall ended in a blank brick wall. There was a closed metal door to the right. None of this was any cause for alarm.

What had caused the screaming—and what had prompted Principal Hickson to say raggedly into her cell phone, “We need an ambulance and the police
right
now!
“—was the body lying on the gray-carpeted floor of the short hallway, around the corner so that it wasn’t visible from the main hall. Phyllis leaned against the wall. She was stunned by the sight of Shannon Dunston sprawled on her side, eyes wide and lifeless. The pale blue blouse she wore had a dark red stain on the front of it, and Phyllis knew it had to be blood.

“Good Lord,” Sam muttered. Phyllis wouldn’t have been able to hear him over the commotion if he hadn’t been right beside her. One of his big hands gripped her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Phyllis managed a shaky nod. “Yes, I’m all right.” Al though she was afraid that she already knew the answer, she asked, “Is … is she dead?”

“Looks like it to me,” Sam replied, his rugged face grim.

“How terrible!” Eve said. “Who is she? She looks familiar to me, but I can’t place her.”

Carolyn said, “That’s Shannon Dunston, the president of the PTO. I don’t know that you ever met her.”

“I’m sure I did, but I don’t recall where.”

Phyllis didn’t see that it mattered now whether Eve had ever met Shannon or not. No one would ever meet Shannon again. For all of her faults, there had been a moment or two when Phyllis had caught a glimpse of a troubled, hurting human being inside that shell of bitterness and impatience. Phyllis couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Shannon now that she was dead.

Now that she had been murdered.

Phyllis’s breath hissed between her teeth as that thought occurred to her. Sam looked over at her and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“What happened to her?” Phyllis asked as she nodded toward the body.

“I don’t know. With that much blood, there must be a wound of some sort… .”

“She was murdered.”

Principal Hickson overheard Phyllis’s comment and turned sharply toward her. “What was that? What did you say, Mrs. Newsom?”

Phyllis stiffened her spine. “I said Shannon was murdered. Somebody killed her.”

“I thought it must have been some sort of terrible accident. It … it never occurred to me that … oh, Lord! Someone was murdered! In my school!”

“Who found her?” Phyllis asked. “Who was doing all that screaming?”

“I … I’m not sure. When I got here, Mrs. Gonzales was leaning against the wall. She was crying and she had her hands over her mouth. I suppose it could have been her.”

“Lindsey Gonzales?”

“Yes. But she could have come up after someone else screamed. There were already quite a few people here.”

Phyllis looked around but didn’t see any sign of Lindsey. The blonde must have been one of those making their way down the hall, away from the scene of the murder. Someone would have to question her and find out exactly what she had seen.

But that wasn’t her job, Phyllis reminded herself. True, she had figured out who had committed that murder at the Peach Festival, but she was no detective. The only reason she had started poking around in that crime, and the others that had plagued Weatherford during that tense summer, was because a friend of hers had been under suspicion.

Still, some things were just common sense, and someone needed to speak up now. “This is a crime scene,” she said. “Everyone needs to stand back and not disturb things any more than they already have.”

“That’s right,” Sam said. He raised his voice and went on, “Everybody move back now! You don’t want the cops to find you trompin’ all over the scene and disturbin’ evidence!” During his years as a basketball coach he had shouted out hundreds of defensive alignments to his teams, so his deep voice was powerful and carried authority. The crowd in the corridor began to move back.

Someone came pushing forward urgently, though, calling, “Let me through! Let me through, damn it! Somebody said my wife was hurt!”

Joel Dunston broke through the crowd. His eyes were wide and panicky. As he started to lunge around the corner, Phyllis said, “Sam, stop him!”

Sam got in Joel’s way and grabbed him, but not before Joel had caught a glimpse of the bloody figure lying on the floor. He let out an inarticulate shout of pain and grief, like the cry of a wounded animal.

“Hang on to him, Sam,” Phyllis said as she saw Becca Dunston slip through a gap on the crowd. She stepped quickly toward the little girl. It was bad enough that Joel had seen his ex-wife’s murdered body. Phyllis wasn’t going to allow Becca to witness that terrible sight. She caught hold of the girl’s shoulders and said, “Wait right here, honey.”

Becca looked up at her with tear-filled eyes and asked, “Is … is my mom all right? Somebody said she was hurt.”

“Why don’t we go back up to the library and wait?” Phyllis suggested without answering Becca’s question. “I’m sure your father will want to talk to you later.”

As she steered Becca back up the hall toward the front of the school where the library was located, the crowd suddenly parted to let several uniformed men through. They were Parker County sheriff’s deputies, Phyllis realized, and the one in the lead was her own son, Mike. He stopped short when he saw her.

“Mom?”

Phyllis kept her hands on Becca’s shoulders and nodded her head toward the far end of the hall. “Down there,” she said quietly. Mike looked like he wanted to ask questions, but instead he returned her nod and led the other deputies toward the scene of the crime.

Of course, it might
not
be the scene of the crime, Phyllis reminded herself. Just because Shannon’s body had been found down there in that little blind hallway didn’t mean that she had been killed there, although it certainly seemed likely.

And there she went, thinking like a detective again when she had no business doing so. “Come on, dear,” she said as she guided Becca toward the library.

Phyllis wasn’t surprised that the sheriff’s department had responded to Principal Hickson’s 911 call. While the school was fairly close to town, it was outside of the Weatherford city limits, meaning that the sheriff had jurisdiction here. His men would handle the investigation into Shannon’s death.

Phyllis and Becca went to the library, but the doors were locked. That left the cafeteria. Phyllis would have preferred the quiet of the library, but she had no choice in the matter. She wanted to keep Becca occupied for a while. She took the girl into the cafeteria and asked, “Would you like something to eat?”

Becca shook her head. “No. My stomach doesn’t feel too good. I … I’m worried about my mom.”

“So am I, dear. But we’ll just have to wait until someone comes to talk to us.” Phyllis tried to wrestle the subject away from Shannon. “Did you go to all the carnival booths and ride all the rides?” She had already noticed a flower painted on the little girl’s cheek, so she knew Becca had been to the face-painting booth.

Becca managed to nod. “Yeah, I did just about everything there was to do. My dad bought me a bunch of tickets.”

“Did he stay with you all afternoon?” Phyllis told herself that she wasn’t checking on Joel Dunston’s alibi. She was just trying to keep Becca talking. But she already knew that Joel
hadn’t
been with Becca all afternoon. She had seen him come through the cafeteria by himself a little earlier.