Murder of a Royal Pain

“Gee. I’m so sorry.” Jackie reached into her pants pocket. “Here’s the key. I meant to give it to you yesterday at the grade school’s PPS meeting. Guess I forgot.”

Skye plucked the key from Jackie’s fingers. “It’s not only this. You had the locks changed without telling me.”

“I’m really putting my foot in it, aren’t I?” Jackie’s voice was husky. “I’ll rearrange the room back like it was and exchange the table.”

“Thank you.” Skye felt herself weakening. Maybe she was being too rigid. “I don’t mind change. I just want to have some input.”

“No, you’re right. I guess it’s because I’ve never shared an office before, and I didn’t think.”

“I understand.” Skye offered a smile. “Sharing isn’t one of my stronger traits either.”

Jackie hugged Skye. “I really want us to be friends.”

There was an awkward silence; then Skye said reluctantly, “Me, too.”

“Great.” Jackie hugged her again. “I knew the minute I met you that we’d be BFFs.”

“Oh.” Skye wasn’t sure she wanted to be Jackie’s best friend forever. In fact, she wasn’t even sure she wanted to be her best friend temporarily. Uncomfortable, she looked away, spotting the files piled on and around her desk. Should she mention the clutter? No. Just this once she’d take care of it. Next time Jackie could clean up her own mess.

Skye was moving the last pile of folders from her desktop onto the floor when Justin Boward stepped through the open door. Justin was one of Skye’s favorite students and the editor of the school newspaper, which Skye cosponsored with her best friend, Trixie Frayne, the high school librarian. He’d been a little down for the last few weeks since his girlfriend, Frannie Ryan, had gone off to college.

“Hi, Justin.” Skye took a tissue from her desk and blotted the perspiration from her face—the repairperson had fixed the furnace so well that the temperature was now hovering in the mid-nineties—and smiled at the young man. “What’s up?”

“Uh, well, nothing. I actually came to talk to Ms. Jennings.”

“Oh.” Skye had seen Justin for counseling from eighth grade until the end of his sophomore year, when she had decided he no longer required the service. If he needed to talk to someone, why was he seeking out the new social worker instead of her?

“What can I do for you?” Jackie gestured for Justin to sit down.

“Well, I’ll step out so you two can have some privacy.” It pained Skye to say those words, but she got them out without showing her distress.

“That’s okay, Ms. D.” Justin looked puzzled. “I just want to talk about the computer class. You can stay.”

“The one the school newspaper staff is funding with their prize money?”

“Yeah. Ms. Jennings is going to teach it.” Justin grinned. “Remember how we couldn’t find anyone for what we could pay?”

Skye nodded.

“Well, Ms. Jennings is doing it for free.”

“Wow. That’s terrific.” Skye smiled at Jackie. “That’s really nice of you.”

“It’s no big deal.” Jackie shrugged. “Everyone talks about how much extra you do for the school. I wanted to do my share.”

“I probably should take the class,” Skye mused. “When will it be?”

“After school on Wednesdays next quarter.”

“Darn. I’m signed up for water aerobics then.” Skye pursed her lips. “Maybe I can get my money back.”

“No. Don’t.” Jackie shook her head. “I mean, the class is full. All the computers are taken.”

Skye was silent while she swallowed her disappointment, then said, “Okay, water aerobics it is.” If the class was full, the class was full. So why did she feel left out?

Jackie finished her conversation with Justin, and as she was leaving for the junior high, she said, “I wanted to mention that you forgot to lock the office door. It was open when I arrived.”

“I don’t usually lock it if I’m not leaving the building.”

“Oh, well.” Jackie wrinkled her brow. “I really would like it locked anytime you’re not in the room. Confidentiality and all.”

“Usually I just make sure all the files are locked in my drawer or the cabinet,” Skye explained. “But I’ll try to remember.” It would be a hard habit to break.

Once Jackie was gone, although she was still agitated, Skye finished testing a student and wrote up the report on another. Her office was no longer a haven. Jackie hadn’t rearranged the room the way it had been, or gotten the old table back, and Skye hadn’t wanted to nag her about it. But now she wished she had insisted. Everything felt wrong.

Maybe she was still upset by the scene with Mrs. Idell. Being attacked by a parent was always unsettling, and the woman’s final words had almost been a threat. Skye tried to shrug off her sense of dejection, but it prevailed, and the minutes ticked by as she stared into space.

An hour had passed the next time she checked her watch. Skye sighed and slid open her bottom drawer. The contents glistened like crystal in the fluorescent lights. She reached for the treasure, but drew her hand back empty. She shouldn’t. She kept it strictly for emergencies. She ran her finger over the smooth wrapper. Well, depression was an emergency.