Chapter Twenty-Nine

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

ELLEN IS WAITING in her fiancé's apartment. She tidies up while he's out, washing the few dishes in the sink, wiping down the counters. She has stopped by without warning because she needs to talk to him. He wasn't home, but she has her own key. She hasn't seen Brad since Friday afternoon in the school parking lot. He'd wanted to be alone Friday night, missing their family dinner at the farm, and he'd put her off again yesterday and last night. Why is he avoiding her? What's going on? She dumps out the worrying jam jar lid full of cigarette butts, puzzling over his odd behaviour. She feels uneasy, as if a storm's about to break. Is he having second thoughts? Does he not want to go through with the wedding?

She couldn't bear it if he got cold feet and called off the wedding. All the preparations are made, the invitations have gone out, the money has been spent, and her parents loaned them the down payment for the perfect little bungalow that is going to be theirs on the first of December. What do they do about that? She takes a deep breath and tries to stop her spiralling thoughts. She knows he loves her. She must soothe his nerves if that's what this is. He comes from an unhappy home. Maybe it's no wonder he might be anxious. He needs to learn to open up, to talk to her about these things. She can allay all his fears.

She hears the key in the lock and tenses. She often lets herself in, but she usually lets him know first, with a text. She didn't text him this time because she fears he's avoiding her. She's not sure what to expect. She stands in the living room, facing the door.

The look on his face when he sees her – dismay, even panic – makes her heart sink. Things must be worse than she thought.

‘What are you doing here?' he says, but he's smiling now, the dismay, the panic, erased. He approaches and sweeps her into his arms so that she can't see his face. She can feel his heart pounding against hers – it's a two-storey flight of stairs up to the apartment, after all. They hold each other tight, and she nestles her face in the crook of his neck and breathes him in. Maybe everything is all right after all, and he's just nervous about the wedding. He whispers her name into her hair, stroking the back of her head.

Finally, they break apart. She studies him. Despite the smile, he looks tense and avoids her eyes. Maybe it's too soon to hope. She says, ‘Something's wrong. What is it?'

He looks at her then as if he's in pain. He runs a hand nervously through his thick, dark hair. He looks like he wants to tell her something, and her blood runs cold. But he doesn't get the chance to speak because there's a knock at his apartment door. They're both startled and turn their faces toward the sound. No one rang the buzzer, but Ellen knows that people can get in the building if they follow someone in.

In a few strides Brad's at the door and opens it. Ellen immediately recognizes the woman standing there: she's a well-known reporter from KCVS News – Jennifer Wiley.

Brad takes in the sight of the reporter and wants to close his eyes. This can't be happening. There can only be one reason why she's here, and Ellen is standing right behind him. He feels his heart thudding in his chest, pounding in his ears. He feels like he can't breathe, but it's the strangest thing – when he speaks, he thinks he sounds almost normal.

‘Yes?'

She smiles, all warm and friendly. ‘Brad Turner?' He nods. She introduces herself and says, ‘I'd like to talk to you about Diana Brewer, if that's all right?'

He wants to slam the door in her face, but Ellen steps forward and says, ‘Come in,' and he wants to kill her. Before he can think his way clear, the reporter is sitting down in his small living room with his fiancée, and Ellen is saying how awful it is about Diana, and how upset he's been about it. She seems to be excited to be talking to a minor celebrity in these parts. This person who's going to destroy him. He feels the most awful rage toward the two women in his living room. He can't ask the reporter to leave now that Ellen's invited her in – that would look suspicious. He tells himself to remain calm. What does she know? Maybe nothing. She can't know anything for certain. And Diana is dead.

‘Come, sit,' Ellen commands him, and he complies with outward good grace, because he doesn't know what else to do.

‘I'm sorry to bother you,' the reporter says. ‘I know Diana's death must be very upsetting for you. But you understand how torn up the community around here is, so we'd like to pay Diana tribute. I'm talking to lots of people who knew her – I'm doing a feature on her.'

He begins to relax a little. ‘She was a great person,' Brad lies. ‘It's terrible what happened to her.'

‘I understand you were her gym teacher?' the reporter asks.

Ellen puts in, ‘And her coach. She was on the cross-country running team, so he knew her very well.'

‘Is that right?' the reporter says.

‘Diana was a natural athlete,' Brad says, wishing Ellen would shut the fuck up. ‘She had a good chance to do well in the regionals that are coming up soon.' He allows himself to get a little choked up while he thinks furiously about what else he might say about her.

‘She sounds like an all-round great girl, from what I'm hearing,' the reporter says. ‘Which is why I have to take it seriously when I hear she made a complaint of inappropriate behaviour at school. A complaint against you.'

The silence. He can hear the beating of his own heart, the hum of the heating system in the apartment. He registers the utter shock on Ellen's face. It's as if time has slowed down. What does he do now? How does he save himself?

‘What the hell are you talking about?' Ellen asks the reporter, not friendly now but suddenly rigid. All the colour seems to have left her face. She turns to him for an explanation.

He doesn't know what to do but deny it. ‘It's not true,' he says.

‘What's not true?' Wiley asks pointedly. ‘The complaint, or that she made the complaint?'

He focuses his swimming eyes on the reporter; he can't bear to look at Ellen. He wonders what this woman knows. She must have spoken to either Kelly or the police. But the police got the whitewashed version – so far, at least. He doesn't know for sure what Kelly might have told the reporter; he must assume he told her the same thing he told the police, or nothing at all. Diana's dead. She can't contradict him now. And Kelly doesn't really know anything for sure. It was her word against his. He takes a breath, lets it out.

‘She spoke to Principal Kelly about me, but it was all a misunderstanding. I don't know why she made such a big deal about it.'

‘What did she say?'

‘Nothing, really. It was nothing. I used to pat her on the back after a run, put my hand on her shoulder when I gave her a pep talk, that sort of thing. It was never sexual – not on my part, anyway. It was a misunderstanding. She blew things out of proportion.'

The reporter looks troubled, but Ellen looks much more than that.

‘Kelly thought there was nothing to it. That's why he didn't do anything. And she didn't want to take it any further, or to tell anyone else – because she'd clearly overreacted. And now, if you don't mind, I'd like you to leave.'