“I don’t think the parents even knew the interviews were going to take place. If three of Everly’s classmates had died under suspicious circumstances, I wouldn’t have sent her to school the next day.” Ten crossed his arms over his chest, as if his opinion decided the matter.
“We’ve got the luxury to keep her home, if we’d been in that situation. There are a lot of working parents who wouldn’t have been able to do that.” It didn’t surprise Ronan one bit that school had gone on as usual the next day. “So, back to what you were saying about Flo feeling guilty about speaking to the police. Did she accuse Miss Fairbanks of hurting the kids?”
Ten shook his head. “Not inthosewords.”
“What do you mean?” Ronan asked. He knew how easy it would be to turn around the words of a five-year-old and hoped that wasn’t what happened.
“Flo told the police about Free Cookie Friday.”
“What’s that?” Ronan couldn’t help but think back to Miss Gail at John Adams Elementary School and how envious he’d been over the homemade cookies she brought for snack time.
“Apparently, Miss Fairbanks would bake cookies for the kids to try on Fridays if they’d behaved during the week. The day the kids got sick and died was a Friday. Flo told the police officer that she’d seen the three kids eating those cookies on the way to the lunchroom.”
“I would imagine the other kids in her class would have told the police the same thing.” Ronan would have snarfed down the treats in seconds flat and would have been looking to trade whatever was in his lunchbox for more cookies.
“That’s what I told Flo, but she didn’t seem comforted.” Ten wore a worried look.
“According to what Max Preston told us, the deaths were initially ruled inconclusive. The toxicology tests came back the day before Miss Fairbanks was murdered. Everyone associated with the case assumed the teacher killed the kids. No one was ever arrested in connection with the kids’ deaths or for the murder of Miss Fairbanks.” Neither of those outcomes sat well with Ronan. He could imagine the uproar from the parents and the rest of the community if something like that happened today. There would be protests at city hall and in front of the Salem Police Department demanding action, investigations, and arrests.
“It’s no coincidence that the teacher was dead a day after it was concluded the kids had been poisoned.” Ten shook his head. “Miss Fairbanks was found stabbed to death in her classroom. I can’t imagine what those kids must have gone through. The one thing I didn’t ask was if class was held in that room after it was investigated by the police and was cleaned.” Ten shivered. “I never would have survived having to sit in that classroom day in and day out.”
“The only thing worse would have been what the teacher went through in the days before the murder, feeling like the eye of the hurricane had fallen squarely on her shoulders.” Ronan would be the first to admit that he was an aggressive interrogator when he had a suspect in his sights. He would have gone hard at the teacher. Her occupation, sex, and age would have had no bearing on how he would have treated her, and he could well imagine the cops of her time took a hard run at her as well.
Ten nodded. “I was thinking the same thing. Her entire life changed in the blink of an eye, but to be murdered in her own classroom. I just can’t imagine.”
“You know how long murder cases take to be developed. It can take months or even years for an arrest to be made, never mind make it to court. Yes, the kids’ deaths had been ruled inconclusive at first, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t more evidence to be found. The first thing I would have requested would have been a heavy-metal screening on all three kids, their vomit, and the food they were eating for lunch that day. Out of an abundance of caution, I would have had the teacher and her husband tested as well in case there was accidental exposure.” And to make sure the teacher wasn’t poisoning her husband, Ronan thought to himself.
“I know you would have. You’re the most thorough man I know. There have been so many advances in forensic science over the last fifty years. Tests that you could order to be run today might not have been available in the late sixties.” Ten paused, rubbing his temples. “Why didn’t these cops order whatever testswereavailable?” he asked.
“I can’t answer for those police officers. If you want, I can dig into the case. Read newspaper articles and see if I can get a copy of the case file.” Ronan hadn’t wanted to move in this direction unless Ten or Everly insisted. It looked like he’d reached that threshold.
“I don’t know.” Ten shook his head. “Do you think we should get involved here?”
“We’re already involved,” Everly said, walking into the bedroom. She climbed up onto the bed to sit between her fathers. “The spirits visited me after Dad finished reading our stories. They said they liked the books and the funny voices you make.”
Reading to Everly was his favorite time of the day. He’d started doing funny character voices when she was just a baby. “If they’ve been in the cafeteria all these years, how did they end up in your bedroom during story time?” Ronan asked, feeling a bit uneasy.
“They came home with me on the bus. Did you know their names are Paul, Tommy, and Katie?”
Ten nodded. “One of the lunch ladies told me. She was a student in their class.”
Everly nodded. “They feel safe with Flo.”
It shouldn’t have surprised Ronan that Everly knew the lunch lady’s name, but it did anyway. “What else did the kids tell you?”
“That Miss Fairbanks didn’t hurt them. They have been at the school all this time waiting for someone to help them prove she was innocent.”
“And that someone is you?” Ronan asked, already knowing the answer.
Everly nodded. “I’m your daughter, what did you expect? You talk about your cases all the time and help people. I want to do the same thing. I can’t just walk away. Will you help them, Dad?”
Ronan had never been so proud of his daughter as he was in this moment. “I’ll do what I can, honey, but this is a very old case. The kids died about twenty years before I was born.”
“Wow! That’sreallya long time ago. You’re super old.” Everly giggled.
Ronan pressed a kiss to messy hair. “Watch it, little miss, or I’ll make you fold my laundry again.”
“Never!” Everly vowed. “I’m going to bed. We can talk about how we’re going to handle our case in the morning, okay?”
