Page 26 of Go Under

He led them into a hallway that could have jumped out of any high school coming of age movie ever made. A line of lockers on both walls extended to the end of the hallway, interrupted every thirty feet or so by a door. A pair of kids were locked in a tight embrace next to one of the lockers. Irving cleared his throat, and the kids separated like the north poles of two magnets repelling each other. They rushed out of the building, cheeks flaming red.

He led them to an office at the end of the hall. The office was about the size of a broom closet, with just enough room to fit the three of them, mostly thanks to Irving’s diminutive stature.

The principal sat behind his desk with a heavy sigh. He looked between the two agents for a moment, his smile gone, his eyes betraying the world-weariness that only the very old understood.

Marcus waited for him to speak. Kate shifted impatiently, but a look from Marcus stopped her. They needed to give Irving time to settle into the discomfort of the conversation they were about to have.

After a minute, Irving broke the silence. “Donna was not a kind woman.”

He left that sentence hanging. Kate prompted him gently, “So we’ve heard.”

“She was, however, an outstanding educator. Since I became principal, we’ve received more complaints about her than about any other teacher. We’ve also received more letters of thanks and appreciation about her than any other teacher.”

“Tough love type, huh?” Marcus guessed.

Irving nodded. “Oh, yes. Very much. She and I developed a friendship.” Seeing their eyebrows lift, he smiled. “No, nothing romantic. I simply understood her, and she, in her own way, appreciated that. I asked her once why she was so hard on the students. She looked me squarely in the eye and said, ‘Life’s gonna fuck them harder than I ever will. If they haven’t learned to take it, then they’ll fall apart the first time it happens.’”

Marcus chuckled. Kate frowned at him. Irving laughed and continued, “She certainly had a way with words.”

“Did she get along with the other teachers?” Kate asked.

Irving tilted his head. Marcus could sense a diplomatic answer coming and said, “The best thing you can do for her right now is to be honest with us, even if it’s painful.”

Irving sighed. “Then I would have to say, no, she didn’t get along with them. She didn’t really get along with anyone except for me.”

“Was there anyone in particular she had trouble with?” Kate asked.

Irving’s lips thinned. “As I said, we received many complaints from students and occasionally their families.”

“Can you share some of them?”

Irving leaned back and crossed his arms, a common defensive posture. He didn’t want to cause any trouble. Marcus understood that, but trouble had already been caused. “Mr. Irving, Donna was murdered in her own home. Murdered violently. I won’t share many details, but we believe she was the victim of a serial killer targeting people who lied about other people.”

They’d heard the opposite about Donna, but Marcus wanted to see if Donna might have shown a different side of herself to her coworker than to her sister.

Irving slumped. “Ah. Yes. Donna rarely lied, but when she did, it was always… destructive.” He ran a shaking hand through his hair and sighed. “I just can’t see how it matters so much later.”

Marcus’s ears perked up. “It matters,” he said, “Tell us.”

Irving flinched a little, but Marcus could see his walls coming down. He was working his way up to admitting the secret he wanted to keep. Kate pressed a little further. “There could be other targets, Mr. Irving. If you help us find the person who killed Donna, then you’ll be helping us save lives.”

Irving nodded. “It’s just that it was so long ago.”

“That fits with our profile,” Marcus said. That was sharing a little more detail about the case then he maybe should share, but he needed Irving to get over his reluctance.

Irving tapped the desk, looking miserable. “This would have been over thirty years ago. 1994, I believe. Yes, it was. The fall semester. We had a new student, a young woman named Nora Smith. Donna took an immediate dislike to her. It was my second year as a teacher. Donna was already a veteran of ten years.

“I remember Nora being a quiet girl, rather shy, fragile. I got the sense that life at home wasn’t the best. I tried to take her under my wing, lift her spirits a little. But Donna was…”

He shook his head. “I don’t know what made Donna behave so viciously. She was always hard, but that was the only time I’ve ever seen her cruel. She would drive poor Nora to tears every day. She would pick at her, and she wasn’t content until Nora collapsed.”

“What would she pick at her about?”

“Everything: her clothing, her homework, her voice, her behavior, her family—”

Marcus’s brow furrowed. “What about her family?”

“That they were trash. That they didn’t belong. That they had been granted an unfair escape from the consequences of their actions.”