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“I’m aware that there’s been a lot of chatter,” she said. “It’s inevitable, sadly. But I’ll do my best to quash it within school grounds. And I’m aware that some parents were hanging around at drop-off this morning, presumably for gossip. I put a stop to that too, let me assure you.” She sounded pleased with herself.
“Thank you,” I said, because it seemed like what she expected. She gave me a little nod of her head.
“Of course! If there’s anything else we can do for you at all, please don’t even hesitate to ask.”
“Well, now that you say it, there is something I need your help with.”
The smile dropped away.
“There were journalists and photographers outside our house this morning, waiting for us. I think some of them may have followed us here. It won’t take long for the others to figure out that this is where Grace goes to school. I’m worried they’ll come on school grounds. They’re going to be real interested in getting pictures of her, for a while.”
“I see,” said Cally Gabriel. She was frowning, a very little bit. Her forehead didn’t move a whole lot, but I think that was because she’d frozen it up with injections. I could tell she wanted to frown by the tightness of her eyes and lips.
“So I was thinking you could arrange for some... I guess security, or something, to make sure that no one comes onto school grounds.”
“Well, we have Jem, of course.”
“Sure.” Jem was Jeremiah Lambe, the school’s security guard. He was a retired cop with a drinking problem, a gambling problem, and not a whole lot of interest in doing his job. “I was thinking of someone to... uh... help Jem out. Just until all of this blows over.”
“Of course, of course.”
Some of the worry inside me loosened a bit. “That’s great.”
“Oh, sorry, no. Actually, I mean I understand why you might have been thinking that way, but sadly, the school budget just doesn’t stretch to extra security. Every dollar that we spend on security is a dollar taken away from band camp, or the academic decathlon, or our sports teams. I’m sure you understand.”
“Well, Mrs. Gabriel, I’m not sure that I do. I mean, I’m sure they wouldn’t come on school grounds, but what if they did? The photographers, I mean.”
“I’m sure they won’t.” She smiled at me reassuringly. I did not feel reassured. “We have cameras, of course, and we’ll keep a very close eye on those and on Grace. We’ll call you if there’s any problem at all.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “Well, thank you.”
“You bet.” She moved her chair, obviously expecting me to stand up. I stayed where I was.
“Mrs. Gabriel, I wanted to ask you also about Nina and Simon. They were together for their last years here, at the school. I wanted to ask you if you’d ever heard anything, or noticed anything, that caused you concern.”
Immediately, her face took on a serious expression. “Oh, no. Nothing at all. Of course we take our duty to our students very seriously. If any of my staff had seen something concerning, we would have taken action. From everything I saw, they were just a sweet young couple.”
I couldn’t tell from her face whether or not she was lying. She sure wasn’t thinking about Nina when she answered my question. She was thinking about making sure that the school did not get blamed if something had gone very wrong. I had no real reason to think that she knew something. She had no cause to pay particular attention to one teenage couple over another. But if she had seen or heard something that would suggest that the relationship was sour, she would admit it now.
“Thank you for your time, Mrs. Gabriel.” I stood up. “If... If it’s a question of money. For the extra security, I mean. My wife and I could make a donation to the school, to cover the cost.”
I’d surprised her. For a moment she looked uncertain, but then the mask came back.
“Thank you. Your offer is appreciated. But I would have to consult the school board before we accepted any funds. And we’d have to consider the impact on the other children of a security presence. Some parents might object.”
My fingers tightened on the back of the chair that I’d been sitting on. “Grace is a child, and she’s one of your students. Don’t she deserve to feel safe? To be safe? How can she come to school if she’s being harassed?”
The calm assurance was back. “Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.”
“And if it does?”
“If that happens, I’d suggest a short period of homeschooling for Grace, just until all of the publicity passes over.”
“Are you serious?”
“Mr. Fraser, please don’t raise your voice.”
“I’m not raising my voice.” But I was. I tried as best I could to sound calmer. “You’re telling me that the solution to these people harassing my daughter is to take her out of school? Her sister’s missing. You think she should have to hide at home like some kind of fugitive?”
