years of high school. Then there were four the following year, four the year after that, and then a single male student whose first year of high school was Laura Lee’s last.”
“Latin didn’t draw a big crowd, did it?” Thinking back on my own high school days, I couldn’t recall many students studying it then, either.
“No,” Grimaldi said. “Most of the kids took living languages. In addition to the nineteen boys over that seven year period, there were also twelve girls who took Latin. But since our unsub is male, there’s no sense in focusing on them.”
No. I couldn’t think of any reason why we should. “I assume you’ve got everyone’s names?”
“I took pictures of the pages,” Grimaldi said, patting her pocket. “And the assistant principal looked up Ms. Stevens’s address. She didn’t know where to find Mr. Jurgensson.”
“That was his name? The guy who only lasted a year?” Not Hanson or Olson?
“Jurgensson,” Grimaldi confirmed, spelling it for good measure. “That, I did write down, because I wanted to make sure I had it right.”
“I don’t suppose the receptionist told you why Jurgensson lost his job?”
“Sexual misconduct,” Grimaldi said, “like Ms. Durbin said.”
“He slept with a student?”
“I’m not sure what he did. The woman in reception didn’t work there then, and doesn’t know the details. I’ll have to check the files and see whether an official complaint was filed. Statutory rape is a crime. If not, we’ll have to find someone who was around then, who’s willing to give us the details.”
“Millie Ruth might,” I said.
“If she didn’t tell us already, I don’t know how much she knows or is willing to say. It would be better to find someone else. Someone who knows and doesn’t mind talking.”
“Ms. Stevens might know.” She hadn’t been around until the next year, but she might have been told the details.
“I’ll check,” Grimaldi said. “Are you ready to go home?”
Hard to say whether that was an attempt to get rid of me or not. “Not necessarily,” I said. “Is there somewhere else you’d like to go? To Sunnyside to see Laura Lee’s parents, maybe?”
“I’d rather do some checking before I do that,” Grimaldi answered. “When I talk to them, I already want to know Frankie’s arrest record, and whether he could be involved or not. He’s their son-in-law, and depending on how they feel about him, then and now, it would be good to know the score.”
“Maybe they can tell you what was going on with Laura Lee during the period when Frankie was locked up. Something they weren’t comfortable telling the police back then. Maybe she had another boyfriend or had hooked up with an old one, or something.”
“Maybe,” Grimaldi said pessimistically, “but I’m not sure what good it’ll do if she did. This guy doesn’t stalk his victims. Not as far as we know.”
“She was the first, though. The origin kill. You said the methodology might be different.”
Grimaldi didn’t answer, and I added, “That’s why we’re here, looking into this, right? Because she was the first victim and the killer might have known her better than the others?”
“Yes,” Grimaldi admitted. “But I still want to check Frankie’s periods of incarceration before I talk to Laura Lee’s parents.”
No problem. “Back to the police station, then?”
“Might as well,” Grimaldi said. “Do you want me to take you home first? Or do you want to come with me?”
I checked the dashboard clock. “It’s almost quitting time, isn’t it? Rafe doesn’t have SWAT practice or anything like that tonight, does he?”
“That was yesterday,” Grimaldi said.
“Maybe I’ll just come with you, then, and wait around for an hour—maybe you’d let me look at the surveillance footage from this morning while I wait?—and then I can drive home with him.”
“And stake your claim in front of Agent Yung again?” She sounded amused.
“I’m not worried,” I said sturdily. And then, when the look she gave me was amused as well, I added, “She didn’t sound like she was interested in him that way. And I don’t think he’d cheat. But I’ll admit that women like her make me feel dumpy and like I don’t deserve what I have.”
“I’ve seen the two of you together,” Grimaldi said. “And I’ve seen you separately. You have nothing to worry about.”
Good to know. “I just feel like a slug, you know? Big and blobby and slow. And she’s so tiny and trim and perfect, and she can probably kick ass while mine’s twice the size it used to be, because I still can’t