Innocent in Death (In Death #24)(24)

“Key card,” Eve said, and gestured to the door.

Mosebly drew one from her pocket, swiped it.

Eve entered. It was a small, efficient area not currently in use. Cross-trainers, weights, mats. Her gym at home was larger and had juicier equipment, but she thought it was a well-designed space. And a nice perk for the staff.

“Foster made regular use of the machines?”

“Nearly every day. The staff is encouraged to use the facility. Most do, once or twice a week. Some, like Craig, made better use of it.”

Eve nodded, wound her way through the room, out a second set of doors. The locker room was clean and, again, efficient. Counters, toilet stalls, three showers on each side, separated by opaque glass. Men’s, women’s.

“Which of these lockers was his?”

“We’re not assigned specific lockers,” Mosebly explained, in the hurried tones of someone who, obviously, wanted to be elsewhere. “If the light on the keypad is red, it’s in use. When green, one simply uses it, locks it with any six-number code.”

“I see three here on red.”

“Some use a locker routinely, keep their gear in there for convenience.”

“I’m going to want to see the contents.”

“You can’t just open a locker that someone’s using.”

“Yes, I can. Peabody?”

“Locker and storage facilities in educational complexes, offices, and public buildings aren’t protected under the Privacy Laws,” Peabody stated as Eve drew out her master. “In the course of a police investigation, a duly authorized member of the NYPSD may access such storage.”

“This is invasive and unnecessary. It’s obvious to me that whatever substance caused his death was in something he brought from home.”

Eve leaned on the lockers. “See, it’s not obvious to me. And in matters like this, you can say I’m the principal.”

“You can’t possibly believe any member of this staff would wish or cause Craig harm.”

“Sure I can.”

The first locker held a pair of women’s air sneaks, a cosmetic kit including lip dye, deodorant, hair gel, lash enhancer, several sample-sized tubes of skin-care creams, some fragrance.

“I may be a layperson in this arena,” Mosebly said tightly, “but it’s very clear Craig suffered some tragic allergic reaction to something he ate or drank. And, again, to something he brought from home.”

“Yeah, I’d say that’s clear to you because anything else would be really crappy publicity for the school.”

The next locker had the men’s version of the first. Shoes, a toiletry case that included a comb, some hair product, skin cream. There was a pair of swim goggles and an underwater headset.

“It’s my responsibility to protect the reputation of this academy. I’m going to contact our lawyers immediately.”

“You do that.” Eve moved to the next locker as Mosebly strode out. “Unlikely candidate for this.”

“I don’t know.” Unable to resist, Peabody made a rude and childish face at Mosebly’s back. “She’s got a pissy attitude if you ask me.”

“Sure. But if she was going to do Foster, big odds she’d have done it off school property. We’ll take a closer look, in case the school loyalty’s a facade, but I can’t see her wanting to bring scandal to her hallowed halls or a smear to her standing as the principal. Well, well, lookie here.”

The next locker had the requisite shoes, and a very slick faux-leather toiletry case. The products inside were more high-end than the others had been. Among them was a generous supply of condoms.

“Funny place to keep those raincoats,” Peabody commented. “Unless you’re planning on getting action in the school locker room.”

“Which I’m just betting is against the rules.” Eve took out a little pill case. “Looks like Stay-Up to me. Naughty boy. RW,” she added, reading the initials etched on the case. “Reed Williams is my guess.”

While Peabody went to pull Williams out of class for questioning, Eve continued to follow the course of Craig’s morning and walked to the staff lounge.

She passed a couple of young boys who gave her long stares. Silently, they held up passes.

“Do I look like a hall monitor?” she demanded.

“We’re required to show our passes to adults. Staff and parents,” one told her.

“Do I look like a parent?”

“I dunno.”

“You go wandering around here a lot?”

“We have passes.”

“Yeah, yeah. Answer the question.”

“We’re going to the library for research material for our science project.”

“Uh-huh. Were you out of class any time yesterday before noon?”

They slid sideways glances toward each other before the first boy spoke. “Maybe we were going to the library for research material yesterday, too.”

“We showed Ms. Hallywell our passes.”

“When?”

The second one gave a careless shrug. “Sometime. Are we in trouble?”

“You’re going to be if you don’t answer the question. In case you’re wondering, I don’t give a rat’s ass if you were sneaking off to drink beer and gamble.” She ignored the delighted snort from the first boy. “I want to know what time you saw Ms. Hallywell, and where you saw her.”