Page 16 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Road Kill

and Principal Kerr had me on the carpet. I explained to him that it
would have been impossible to keep the incident a secret, and he
explained to me that further breakdown in discipline would result in
my position becoming impossible to keep. Period. So I went out on
fire-fighting missions, talking to anyone who would listen about the
facts in the matter and pleading for calm.
When I finally packed it in for the day it was about four o’clock. I
wearily packed up my briefcase and went out to the parking lot. A
tow truck was blocking access to the exit while its driver attached a
hitch to the front of Ewidge’s lemon yellow Corvette. I could do
nothing but stand and watch the operation; it occurred to me the
police had impounded all the contents of our late instructor’s
pockets, including keys.
Then I became aware of another onlooker. It was Labelle
Gramercy, intently studying the sports car as its front end levitated. I
walked over to her, remembering Fassner’s warning. She noted my
presence with a half-smile followed by a frown.
“Do you know where it’s going, Mr. Holloman?”
“The car?” I kept my tone casual, as if this sort of thing were an
ordinary feature of life at a high school. “Well, that’s not a police
truck, so I guess the school district is having it towed back to Mr.
Ewidge’s residence—or to that of his next of kin.”
“Hmm. Too bad the trunk is locked.”
“What? What you mean? How do you know it’s locked?”
She looked at me sharply. “I tried to open it,” she replied matter-
of-factly.
“I will pretend I didn’t hear that,” I replied hastily, to cover my
shock. “You can get in a lot of trouble fooling around with teachers’
property. Remember Morrie Bombicks? He used a marking pen to
deface Miss Inglinck’s reading glasses when she was out of the
classroom. He would have been in your graduating class,” I added
ominously.
“Then the police should check his car,” she said, ignoring the
import of my words. The accident had evidently unbalanced this
usually very even-keeled girl.
“Why? Whatever for?”
She looked surprised. “You haven’t heard? When the substitute
teacher took over his classes in fifth period, she couldn’t find any of

15