Schooled in Murder (19 page)

His face turned ashen. “Maybe I was in there before.”

“For what?”

“I …” He stopped.

“And you lied about being there.”

“Let me past.”

“It’s all going to come out,” I said. “What you were doing in there, who you were with.”

“You should never have said anything. This is your fault. You’re the traitor. You’re the one who shouldn’t have said anything. You found the body. Why couldn’t you leave it at that?”

I said, “I didn’t murder anybody. I wasn’t having sex in a venue that was fraught with peril.”

Stubborn silence. He clenched and unclenched his fist. He was strong and about my size. I did work out, but if he chose to physically attack, it would be a challenge. A fist-fight, however, was nonsensical. We were adults.

I asked, “Why mess around with Benson and at school? You are the cliché other man.”

Frecking frowned. “He’s hot. He’s funny. He’s masculine. He knows sports. He keeps his mouth shut.”

“Is he getting a divorce?” I asked.

“We haven’t talked about it. Why would I want him to? I’m not going to marry him. We can’t anyway.”

“I can understand his dilemma,” I said, “although I’m not particularly sympathetic to it. Why can’t you come out? It would be safer than getting caught with your pants down in the storeroom.”

“We’ve never gotten naked at school.”

I said, “That’s an awfully fine distinction for the activity that was going on in that storeroom.”

He looked confused.

“Do you ever not sneak around?” I asked him.

“He’s married. We’ve got no choice. It’s just such a hassle. You guys are safe.” He pointed at me. “Your lover’s famous and rich.”

“So by that logic, anyone who isn’t a wealthy couple is condemned to a life of shame.”

“I can’t come out.”

I said, “And you’ve got Morgan Adair, who is not married. Why not stick with him?”

“He told you about us?”

“Obviously.”

“He should know to keep his mouth shut.”

I said, “He was happy and in love.”

Frecking had stopped moving forward. Now he stepped back and leaned onto the desk and squirmed his butt on the edge of the top. He placed his hands behind him and shifted his weight from one butt cheek to the other. The effect jutted out his crotch even farther. I wondered if good-looking people were aware of what they looked like when they did
this. My guess is that most of them were. Was he switching into seduction mode? Asshole.

The office had two desks. Sports equipment dotted the floors. Clipboards and whistles and stopwatches hung from nails along the corkboard walls.

Frecking said, “I’m not responsible for Morgan Adair’s jumping to conclusions. If you’d kept your mouth shut, what Benson and I were doing wouldn’t have come out.”

“You chose to lie about being there. And you were two-timing Morgan–probably with more than one person. The key, however, is that you were making out at a murder scene.”

“I didn’t kill her.”

“You think your presence there wouldn’t come out? Are you nuts?”

“Shit. At least Benson knew it was just fun. Morgan Adair was so clingy. It’s probably better he knows, I guess. This way I won’t have to tell him it’s over.”

“Hell of a way to live,” I said.

“That’s my choice. As soon as I hook up with a rich lover, I’ll jump out of the closet, too. For now, being out could affect my job.”

I said, “Illinois has a gay clause in its equal rights law now. Even if they wanted to fire you for being gay, there’s legal protection.”

“You don’t know the head of the PE department. He is a total Nazi. He retired from the Marines and decided to teach. He hates fags. He’s head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The head football coach calls guys who miss tackles homo and queer and sissy and fag. Even in gym class he calls the wimpy kids names.”

“And you put up with it?”

“What choice do I have?”

“Why don’t you call him on it?” I asked.

“I’m not tenured.”

Ah, the coward’s defense. I heard it over and over again from young teachers: I can’t take a stand because I don’t have tenure–when I get tenure, then I’ll take whatever stand I’m too much of a coward to take now. Ha! In all the years I’d been teaching and union building rep, not one teacher who swore they’d make their brave stand once they got tenure actually took a stand, brave or not. With or without tenure, they’re cowards. It’s an excuse not to do their job, or an excuse to suck up, or an excuse to do nothing, or a way to hide.

I said, “I understand leading a closeted life.”

Frecking said, “The other coaches would crucify me. They’d use rumor and innuendo. And you can afford high-priced attorneys. I’m a first-year teacher. Sure, you can be in all the headlines. The kids make fag jokes in the locker room. They wouldn’t trust me.”

I said, “Tell them to stop making fag jokes.”

“Then they’d know I was gay.”

“You don’t have to be gay to be offended by homophobic slurs.”

“They’d know, and I’d be ostracized.” Still a real possibility in most high schools, among a lot of kids and more teachers than I’d care to admit.

He was continuing. “Even the women who are lesbians wouldn’t support me.”

“We have open lesbians in the PE department?”

“No.”

“You’re sure they’re lesbians?”

“Well, duh,” he said.

“It’s the cliché,” I said, “but if there are any, none of them have come out to me. Nor are they required to. Say there are lesbians in the department–how do you know they wouldn’t be supportive?”

“They separate themselves from us guys. They despise us. I can’t say anything. I just can’t.”

I said, “You do realize your job could be in real jeopardy if the cops mention your indiscretion to the administration?”

He sat down on the edge of the coach’s desk behind him. “I got to that room first. I was there a minute or two before Brandon showed up. We were going at it for fifteen minutes, probably a little longer. We have to grab our time together when we can.”

“Being the other man is okay with you?” I asked.

“Sure, yeah. We hadn’t been caught before. We usually go to the PE office but there was a meeting of head coaches in there yesterday. We like the storeroom because the door makes that creaking noise. We figure we’ll be warned, that we’ll have time. We were just kind of more involved yesterday.”

I said, “You should worry about someone walking in. What if one of the kids had caught you?”

“We were careful.”

“Not careful enough,” I said.

Frecking said, “I am so fucked. I know they’re going to ask for a DNA sample. You’ve got to help me.”

“After the lie you told about me?”

“I’ll try to make it right.”

“Do you think you have any credibility with the police?”

“I’ve got to try something. I can’t lose this job.”

“It’s a little late to worry about that.”

“I might have left signs of sexual activity. My pants were wet. They rubbed up against some boxes when you startled us. Maybe there’s like DNA or something left.”

“Might be,” I said.

“But I can’t come out. Can’t you do something? You’re the union building rep.”

“Which does not mean I’m able to wipe up after members who blow their loads in their underwear and smear it all over a crime scene. And who would tell any lie to save their own skin.”

“You gotta help me. Please.”

I was not about to tell lies for this man. Hot he might be. Cute covers a multitude of sins, but not one like this.

I asked the obvious question. “Did you kill her?”

“No,” he said. “No, I … Is this what I’m going to face? Are people…? No. I didn’t. You were there. It was awful just seeing her. It’s worse thinking about what we were doing while she was lying there. Maybe she wasn’t dead when we started. Maybe we could have done something.” He got tears in his eyes. “I’ve never been close to death like this. I don’t know how I got the courage to follow you up to her. I guess I thought she was breathing. I figured maybe she was just passed out. You don’t expect a dead body. I … just … I. Will the police think I did it?” He put his face in his hands. “I got up yesterday morning and my world was okay.”

“How well did you know Peter Higden?”

“The dead guy under your car?”

“Behind the back wheels. He wasn’t under the car.”

“I never met him.”

“Really? I heard you played poker with him every noontime. You and a bunch of the other coaches.”

He got very pale.

“And there was some problem with the PE coaches double dipping.”

“Everybody did that. It wasn’t just me. That’s what they told me they all did. I assumed it was okay. Nobody ever said it wasn’t.”

“It struck you that being at one job and being paid for another that you weren’t at was okay? This isn’t the city of Chicago. And you knew Peter. You’re still telling lies. You screw with married men, which has got to be a strain. You cheat at your job. You’re gambling on school premises. Is there something here about you that is supposed to be redeeming?”

His response was a defiant, “Fuck you.”

I said, “Well, no, that’s never going to happen. However, your attitude needs to change. You’re the one who’s in deep shit. You’re the one who’s done all these questionable things.”

“Other people did them. People with tenure. I was just doing what they were doing.”

“You think that’s something we can engrave on your tombstone or something that’s going to save your ass?”

He seemed to deflate.

I said, “How well did you know Peter?”

“He was one of the assistant football coaches. Mostly I’d just see him when he played poker.”

“Did he ever make anti-Semitic remarks when you were around?”

“I never paid much attention. We were just guys playing cards. Nobody cared what anybody said.”

“Did he make homophobic comments?”

“Nobody got mad about anything. We got along great.”

“You ever go drinking with him? You ever go out with the crowd to Chicago on Friday nights?”

“Maybe once or twice.”

“Did you know Peter was screwing Mabel Spandrel and Gracie Eberson?”

“I was never part of that.”

“Part of what, exactly?”

“Look,” he said, “can’t we stop this? What’s the point?”

“Somebody died. You guys made it look like I might be a suspect. This is real, serious, adult stuff here. You can’t just have another drink with your buddies and hope it all goes away. You do realize that you should consider quitting before the administration finds out what you did?”

“I can’t quit.”

“You want to take a chance on being fired?”

“You’ve got to help me.”

“Then I want better answers.”

“About what?”

“What can you tell me about Peter? Did he help you change grades?”

“Yeah, we knew he was the one to go to for that to happen.”

“Who said he was?”

“I don’t know. It was at poker. It was just discussed as something that got done.”

“The other coaches trusted you.”

“It wasn’t a matter of trust. We don’t rat each other out.”

“Did you know Gracie Eberson?”

“Never met her.”

“What else can you tell me about Peter and these guys?” “They didn’t like you.”

“Why not?”

“Duh. You’re openly gay.”

“They never said anything to me.”

“You expect them to? You’ve got a hot, famous, rich lover. No one would dare take you on. You’re safe. Maybe the rest of us aren’t.”

I didn’t like Frecking, and he was a lying sack of shit, but I didn’t think he was acting now. I was still furious about his lie to the police. His job was in deep trouble.

“You need to tell the police the truth,” I said.

“I can’t. It’ll mean my job.”

“You complicated your lives when you guys decided to lie.”

“Brandon wasn’t sure you’d leave out what we were doing.”

“Well, they’re hunting for DNA right now, and you guys are going to have to give DNA samples unless you get really good lawyers.”

“I can’t do this shit,” he said. “Just let me go. I can’t talk to you.”

“Why?” I asked. I thought I knew the answer. He was a closet case desperate for the world not to peek in.

“Don’t come near me,” he ordered. “Maybe I could tell people you came on to me. That’s sexual harassment. That might save my neck.”

Speculation about a new set of lies. Right in front of me. He had to be on extra-strength stupid pills.

I said, “Added to all your others lies? Who is going to believe you?”

“The administration will.”

“Allies in high places? Good try. You need a witness, which you don’t have.”

“Maybe they’ll tell lies for me.”

“You think people would go that far out on a limb for an untenured teacher they hardly know? Unfortunately for you, the police are involved. They only care about catching a killer.”

“I didn’t do it. Now get out of my way.”

I stood aside. Was he going to attempt to tell more lies and get people to lie for him? Disturbing but not plausible. Still, it gave me a chill. The man was a menace.

He was the second person to report that others disliked me, either for myself or for the job I was doing as union rep. The prickle down the back of my neck turned into a grotesque shiver. Fear blossomed brighter in my very bones.

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