sense of humor, so she didn’t think it was a joke.
Oh, well. There were more important things to worry about.
Kendra bounded up the stairs, strode across the east lawn, and took a shortcut down a grassy hillside to the athletic field and aquatic center. Twenty vision-impaired children were standing on the field wearing swimsuits.
Three instructors were also there wearing red swimsuits emblazoned with the Woodward Academy logo. One of the instructors, a tall, toned, thirtyish woman, was clearly in charge of the others.
Kendra approached her. “Layla Shaw?”
The woman turned toward her. “Yes.”
“My name is Kendra Michaels. I’m here to—”
“I know who you are and why you’re here,” she snapped.
She wore a distinctly pinched, annoyed expression.
“I’d like to talk to you about Elaine Wessler,” Kendra said warily.
“The police and FBI investigators have already interviewed all the teachers and staff. I don’t think I can add anything.”
“You might be surprised. Sometimes thoughts and memories just seem to come out of the blue.”
“I’m very busy, Dr. Michaels. As you can see, I have a class here.”
“I’ll wait.”
Layla rolled her eyes in exasperation and walked away.
Allison was right, Kendra thought. Definitely not a fan.
“It’s a nice day,” Layla said to one of the other instructors. “Let’s open the shell.”
One of the other women unlocked a gray box at the edge of the center’s concrete periphery. She gripped a red lever and shouted to the students. “All clear.”
The kids casually moved back until they reached a set of pebblestone pavers. They had this routine down.
The instructor pulled the lever and the ground vibrated from a hidden mechanism. The aquatic center’s aluminum shell swung away, revealing a large rectangular-shaped swimming pool. The shell finally docked on a long rail. Layla blew her whistle and the students made their way into the pool.
The sport of the day was water polo.
Two teams each stood in chest-deep water on opposite sides, trying to score points against each other with an inflatable ball. The ball emitted a high-pitched pulse tone that enabled the sightless players to zero in on its location and send it toward their opponents. The teams were divided up along gender lines, and as far as Kendra could see, the girls were far better players.
After about twenty minutes, Layla walked the length of the pool toward Kendra. She was still wearing that annoyed expression, and Kendra was sure that she’d been hoping Kendra would give up and leave. “Okay, can we just get this over with?”
“Sure, when was the last time you saw Elaine?”
“Tuesday. She was killed that night.”
“How was her mood?”
She shrugged. “Same as always. She was usually a happy person. She was talking about that guide dog she was fostering. I’m ashamed to say I kind of tuned her out. She always liked to tell stories about her dogs and I’ve never been much of an animal person.” For an instant a flicker of regret touched her expression. “I had no idea it would be the last time I’d ever see her.”
“Was there anyone new in her life? Or something she may have been doing that was different than usual?”
“Like what?” she snapped. Her moment of humanity was obviously over. “Nothing was ever different with Elaine. I can’t believe she did anything that would make anyone want to kill her. For any reason.”
“She was divorced. Were there bad feelings between her and her ex-husband?”
“Define bad. She was sad about that, but it doesn’t seem like there was any real anger or resentment. They just grew apart. She took her maiden name back after the divorce, but I think they still got along. The academy holds a couple of weekend retreats every year, and her husband would actually feed and walk her dogs when she was away.”
Kendra thought about this. “So he had a key to her place?”
“I suppose,” she said impatiently. “Is that why the FBI brought you in, to make painfully obvious deductions like that one?” The woman’s tone was practically sneering.
And Kendra had enough. She shook her head. “No, they brought me in to do everything I could to find out who killed two very good people. Now what in the hell is your problem with me?”
“Are we finished here?”
She wasn’t about to let her go. “No. What have I ever done to you?”
Layla crossed her arms. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
“Then what’s the problem here?”
Layla didn’t answer, but she was looking back toward her students still playing in the water.
“What is it?”
Layla finally turned back toward her. “You’re a hero to a lot