Tami Hoag - Deeper Than the Dead

He had spent a number of years in New York City and the Hamptons, teaching brats of the rich and famous-his words, of course.

“You’re horrible,” Anne said without meaning it. “A woman was murdered. Three of my kids were there. I was there. It was terrible.”

Franny put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “I know, honey. I’m sorry.”

“And what now?” she asked. “Am I supposed to say something about it to my class, then just carry on with the day’s lessons? They never prepared us for this in college.”

“No,” he said. “But they also never told me teaching kindergarten would make me sterile.”

Anne managed to find a chuckle at Franny’s famous line. He professed on-the-job experience had driven him to drink and had brought him a better understanding of why some species eat their young.

In truth, he was an excellent, award-winning teacher, and his kids and their parents loved him.

Anne glanced at her watch. “I’d better go. My kids will be coming in.”

“Come tell me if any of them get arrested.”

“You’ll be the first to know.”

Principal Garnett and the good-looking detective (she assumed) from the news coverage were waiting for her outside her classroom.

“Miss Navarre.” Garnett spoke first. He was a neat-and-tidy kind of guy-starched shirt, stylish tie tied just so. It had always been Anne’s suspicion that he would be more likely to fall for Franny than herself, wife or no wife. “This is Detective Mendez from the sheriff’s office.”

The detective offered his hand politely. Square-jawed, stocky build, dark complexion, macho mustache. His expression was guarded in a way she would come to recognize as being common to his profession. His grip was firm, but not trying to prove anything.

“Miss Navarre, I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to speak to you yesterday. I wasn’t informed until later that you had been there at the scene.”

“Just to ask Frank Farman if I could take the children home to their parents.”

“Detective Mendez has asked to use my office to interview the children who found the body,” Garnett said. “He would like you to be there.”

“I think they’ll be more at ease with you there,” Mendez said.

“I think they’ll be more at ease if we aren’t in the principal’s office,” Anne said. “Going to the principal’s office is never a good thing for a fifth grader.”

“This is serious business,” Mendez said. “They should take it seriously.”

“I’m not going to let you bully ten-year-old kids,” Anne said, unconsciously standing up taller. “They’re upset enough as it is.”

Mendez looked a cross between perplexed and amused. “Don’t worry, Miss Navarre. I left my rubber hose at the office.”

Anne refused to be embarrassed. She turned to Garnett. “Could we use the conference room instead?

“It appears equally serious,” she said to the detective. “But less intimidating.”

“That’s fine,” Mendez said.

“I don’t know that those kids are even coming to school today,” Anne said. “I told their parents last night that if they needed to take some time-”

“The parents have all been contacted,” Garnett said. “They’re to bring their children here for the interviews. If they choose to take them home after that, that’s up to them.”

“What about the rest of my class?”

“I’ve called a substitute for the morning.”

“What about a counselor? Someone who can help them cope with what happened. I’m sure they’ve all heard about it by now.”

“I’m relying on you for that, Anne,” Garnett said. “You have some training in child psychology.”

“I know how to boil water. That doesn’t make me a gourmet chef.”

“You’ll be fine.”

Mendez looked pointedly at his watch. “The Morgan family should be here soon. I need to get set up.”

Setting up consisted of Mendez making sure his cassette recorder was working and that he had his notebook and pen ready.

Nothing would come of this, he was sure. The woman was already dead and buried when the kids found her. Unless one of them saw the killer leaving the scene, there wasn’t much they could tell him. But he would interview them, nevertheless, because that was the routine, and he prided himself on being thorough.

As he shuffled his stuff around, he glanced down the conference table at the teacher. Pretty and petite, she looked late twenties and very serious. She was uncomfortable, arms crossed defensively, pacing a little, frowning. Twice she reached up and tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

“You have training in child psychology?” he asked.

She flinched ever so slightly at the sudden sound of his voice. “I took some courses in college. That’s not even close to having a degree.”

“But you know your kids. You can read them pretty well?”

“The school year just started. I’ve known them six weeks.”

“I don’t know them at all. Have you met the parents?”

“At conference time. An hour. One evening.”

“So tell me about…” He consulted his notes. “Wendy Morgan. What’s she like?”

That coaxed a little smile out of her-for Wendy, not for him. “Wendy is very self-assured. She has opinions and she won’t hesitate to tell you what they are. She’s the class feminist.”

“She’ll be an easy interview, then. Good. And the mom?”

“Sara. She seems like a very nice woman. Very caring of her daughter. She teaches community ed classes in art.”

“And the father?”

“Nice guy. He’s an attorney. Very busy. He does a lot of pro bono work in family court for the women’s center. I think he even does some lobbying for women’s issues in Sacramento.”

She huffed a quick sigh. “What is it you want me to do here, Detective?”

“Reassure them. Make sure I don’t break out the billy club.”

Anne Navarre scowled at him, unimpressed with his sense of humor. Looking back on it, his fifth-grade teacher hadn’t been impressed with him, either.

“When did you arrive on the scene?” he asked, hitting the Record button on the cassette player.

“The scene was already taped off,” she said. “There were deputies everywhere. Are you taping this?”

“Just making sure the machine is working,” he said, turning the thing off, rewinding, playing back the sound of Anne Navarre’s voice. She sounded highly suspicious of him.

“And where were the kids then?”

“Tommy and Wendy were away from the scene. Dennis Farman was right there, trying to see what was going on. His father was there. You know him, I suppose. Frank Farman.”

“Did any of the kids say they had seen anyone else in the woods?”

“No,” she said. “They talked about a dog.”

“I don’t think a dog buried her there.”

“That isn’t funny.”

“I didn’t mean for it to be. I was being sarcastic.”

“Nothing about this is funny,” she snapped. “And you weren’t being sarcastic, you were being facetious.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking away from him, crossing and uncrossing her arms. She reached up and tucked that strand of brown hair behind her ear again. “This situation… I’m a little rattled.”

“I understand. It’s okay.”

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She probably didn’t mean for him to see it, but she was wary of him. He got that a lot. Even the most innocent people could become nervous around cops. It went with the territory.

“You’re not a suspect,” he announced.

The eyebrows snapped downward again. “Of course I’m not.”

She sighed again and looked at the ceiling, turning her head as if she was trying to get a kink out of her neck.