CHASING DOWN THE KILLER
Joaquin
Brit flicked her gaze to Rebel. “Shawna, my partner, Bob Jones, is with me. I’m putting you on speaker.” She tapped the button. “What can you tell us about the bullying?”
“I’ve been on the faculty at Acorn for fifteen years,” Shawna said. “Most years were good, but we had a string of years where a group of mean girls kind of dominated the school.”
“How?” Brit asked.
“They were verbally abusive. Sometimes, students were shoved into closets and left there. They’d wedge a chair under the doorknob and the girls wouldn’t be found for hours. One wasn’t found until the next day.”
Her thoughts jumped to Kayleen, shoved in the front closet.
There’s the motivation.
“Did you know the victims?” Brit asked.
“I knew all of them,” Shawna replied.
“Shawna, how many bullies were there?” Rebel asked.
“Gosh, I don’t know. No more than ten,” Shawna replied. “I remember one year, a few of the mean girls didn’t return, so there were a lot less problems that year.”
“Did the bullied students report the incidents?” Rebel asked.
“Not to me, but one of the students reported something to a teacher who’s a close friend of mine. She told the headmistress, but that was the last she heard about it. I do know that the five dead women were untouchable the entire time they went here.”
“Untouchable, how?” Brit asked.
“Their parents were big donors,” Shawna replied.
“Why would the faculty hide the bullying from us?” Brit asked.
“Any negative publicity hurts enrollment,” Shawna replied. “You’re the first law enforcement to question us, so I’m guessing they’re concerned.”
“Can we get the names of the bullied girls?” Brit asked.
“I don’t remember all of them, but there were three who were picked on more than the others. Evelyn Shance, Briana Miner, and Clarice Sanders.”
“I saw photos of graduating classes on the walls of the admin building,” Rebel said. “Can you send us a pic of the of the class with the victims?”
“I can try,” Shawna replied. “I hope this information helps. I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.”
“Thank you for calling me,” Brit said.
“I know you have a job to do, but I don’t want to end up in the middle of this,” Shawna said.
“Understood,” Brit said before hanging up.
“The headmistress knows what’s goin’ on,” Rebel said.
“If those girls were abused, no one came to their defense, and the school covered it up, I’d say we’ve got our motive.”
“Was Kayleen a bully?” Rebel asked.
“I thought of her too.” Brit got busy on her laptop. “The background checks aren’t back yet.”
“It’s gonna take a day or two,” he said.