Page 113 of The Other Side
She smiled up at me, the sequin flowers on her sweater twinkling with her movement, reflecting the overhead lighting.
Unable to help myself I said, “I’m still confused about how he was connected to the bodies they found in the carriage house.”
“I figured they were also his victims.” Jolene shrugged. “They probably threatened to expose him and he thought it would be worth the risk to shut them up. Just like Daniel.”
I swallowed the knot in my throat. I wanted to mention that he had been out of the country when the girls had gone missing, but I wasn’t supposed to know that, as it had come from the police file we’d stolen from the headmaster’s office.
“How has Headmistress Jones been treating you?” I switched topics. The former deputy headmistress, Marilyn Jones, had easily slid into position as the interim lead for the school. In an effort to assure parents and donors, she had begun to crack down hard on any infractions and was tightening up the ranks across the board, looking for any areas where Winston had been lax.
Jones had always struck me as a practical leader. If she could stop the enrollment from hemorrhaging, I was sure she’d be offered the position permanently. I thought maybe withsomeone like her in leadership, we’d start to see positive changes around Montgomery. At the very least, a little bit more gender diversity, or diversity in general, and less tolerance for the boy’s club mentality that had tainted Montgomery for its entire existence.
There was a lot of work to do, but she didn’t strike me as someone who would be afraid of work. On the contrary, she seemed like someone who would embrace it, and usher Montgomery into the next phase of prosperity.
“She’s great.” Jolene beamed. “She doesn’t make me stay late. I guess it could be a Department of Labor violation, and she doesn’t want to take any chances.”
“That’s good.” I smiled.
“I like that she follows the rules,” Jolene offered. “She’s predictable. I don’t have to guess around her. And she’s nicer to me than Winston was. She doesn’t curse at me, or admonish me in front of people.”
“I’m sorry you had to put up with that.” I frowned. While I’d often witnessed Winston’s poor treatment of Jolene in the time I’d been at Montgomery, she'd always seemed to let it roll right off of her. If I’d known it had bothered her, I would have tried to say or do something about it.
“It’s okay. It’s over now.”
