Truly Devious (Truly Devious #1) - Maureen Johnson Page 0,84

half are probably all right. If I’m being fair, there were one or two others that showed a bit of a spark. A boy and a girl, I forget their names. The two of them seemed to be a pair. The girl had hair like a raven and the boy looked a bit like Byron. They were interested in poetry. They had a little light behind the eyes. The girl asked me about Dorothy Parker, which I took as a hopeful sign. I’m a friend of Dorothy’s.

[A silver lighter is placed on the table.]

SA:Do you recognize this, Mr. Nair?

LHN: Oh! I’ve been looking for that!

[Mr. Nair attempts to take the lighter. He is prevented.]

SA:It’s evidence, Mr. Nair. It has to stay with us.

LHN: It’s Cartier, Agent Arnold. Where did you find it? I’ve been looking for that for ages.

SA:We found it in the observatory, along with Dolores’s library book and a pencil.

LHN: I suppose I left it in there.

SA:We found Dolores’s fingerprints on this lighter. Why would Dolores have your lighter?

LHN: She must have found it.

SA:You didn’t give it to her?

LHN: Why would I give a child my Cartier lighter?

SA:I don’t know, Mr. Nair.

LHN: I lose things. I assume the girl found it and kept it because it’s a lovely thing. She must have good taste. Do I get it back?

SA:When it’s no longer needed, Mr. Nair. Let me ask you something else. Why might Miss Robinson go into Mrs. Ellingham’s private, locked dressing room?

LHN: Any number of reasons, I suppose. Those two are thick as thieves.

SA:Specifically, this was on the evening of the thirteenth, when everyone in the house was looking for Miss Robinson. She did not respond to the many people calling for her and was found alone in the room, where she had been for approximately fifteen minutes. A strange thing to do during what was clearly a panic.

LHN: I can’t say why Flora does what she does.

SA:You are friends with Miss Robinson?

LHN: Flora and I are friends, yes.

SA:Where did you meet?

LHN: Oh, some speakeasy. Years ago.

SA:So you are saying that Flora Robinson did not tell you what she was doing in Iris Ellingham’s room on Monday evening at the time the alarm was raised?

LHN: She did not.

SA:She said nothing of the matter?

LHN: Flora doesn’t tell me every time she goes in or out of a room.

SA:And when did you first learn of the kidnapping?

LHN: When Flora woke me on Tuesday morning, as you know, because I’ve gone through this ten times or more. If you’re suggesting that Flora had anything to do with this, you couldn’t be more wrong. Unlike me, Flora has a heart. She loves Iris like a sister and Alice like a daughter. Be careful with that lighter, would you? I really do want it back.

[Interview terminated 3:56 p.m.]

21

“SO,” CHARLES SAID. “LET’S TALK.”

It was the next morning, and Stevie sat in front of Call Me Charles up in his office. The rain beat against the windows as classical music played very quietly from small white speakers. Stevie had been waiting for this call, and when it finally came, she felt like her body and soul were ready. She’d read about Marie Antoinette, waiting in a prison palace in Paris while they built guillotines outside.

“Let’s talk about what happened,” Charles said. “First of all, tell me how you’re doing.”

“You mean, how I feel?” Stevie said.

“However you want to answer the question.”

Stevie was not someone who liked talking about feelings, but in this one instance, feelings were probably better than facts.

“I mean,” Stevie said, “I’m okay. It’s weird, but Hayes wasn’t someone I knew well. So, it’s horrible, but . . . we weren’t close.”

Charles gave a concerned nod.

“Can you talk to me about what happened? Whose idea was it to use the tunnel?”

“It was Hayes’s,” Stevie said. “I thought the tunnel was filled in.”

“No,” Charles said. “We dug it out in the spring. It’s going to be demolished and filled in when we run the new water and sewer line for the art barn expansion. We thought we were keeping that fact under wraps, but . . .”

“I was the one who picked the lock,” Stevie said.

It just felt important to say it to him. The police already knew. Best not to have the telltale heart beating under her until she lost her marbles.

“I know,” he said.

Several long seconds passed. Charles didn’t look so young and carefree today. No superhero T-shirts under his suit.

“Tunneling has been a feature of this school for a long