“Yes, I think so. But I wasn’t impaired in any way, Keith. Please believe me. I was inside.”
“And you think they’re going to go after you?”
“Oh, yeah. My supervisor has a bit of a drinking problem, and I don’t know why he was off the school grounds when school was in session. Even if it was lunch hour, he should have been out drinking.”
“Was it a three martini lunch?”
“For all I know could have been,” Jan said. “It’s common knowledge that he has a drinking problem, and I think some of my coworkers had to cover for him several times. I’m not going to do that anymore. But I think he’s going to come after me.”
“Come after you how,” Keith asked.
“He’s never liked me all that much. Borderline sexual harassment, but I like the kids and most of my coworkers are great. And the kids are fantastic. When they come in during the summer, they’re so full of energy.”
Keith nodded. That had always been her dream, to work with children. “You get quieter during the school year, don’t you?”
“Much. We do have a lot of kids who are in the afterschool program. And then we have tutoring, which takes a lot of time and energy. But I love it. I love the kids. I just…”
“Did you know he was drinking today?” Keith asked. He had to think like an investigator; it might help Jan, if need be. And Keith had a growing sense that it would need to be, whether Jan liked it or not.
Jan closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat.
“No. I didn’t know. I was inside, like I said, and four of the girls were watching them for free play time. I was about to come out and call the five minute warning when it happened.”
“What happened?”
“I didn’t see it, but I heard the thud and the cries. Claire, who isn’t the best teacher ever, was letting the kids just stand there. Oh, god, they must have been so terrified, Keith.”
“Shhh.”
She sighed again, and he squeezed her knee. “It’s going to be okay, Jan. He’ll be just fine and you can ride out this storm.”
Keith pulled in to his driveway, parking. He’d take her to her car later. The last thing she needed was to be alone with her thoughts right now.
“Chinese or pizza?” he asked, waiting for her to get out of the car. When she did, he walked up to the front door and stuck the key in. “You haven’t been here yet, have you?”
She hadn’t; he was fairly certain. Keith had bought a huge when the market had crashed, and had rented his family home, the one full of memories of Cody and Miranda, to a great family, one who could build their own memories, one who could turn the house from a sad memory of what Keith had lost, to a home full of love and laughter.
This place was new; he’d been the first to buy, and at a huge discount from its current appraised value. It was way more house than he needed, but Keith loved it. The three bedrooms all had their purpose and when Mom came back to town, she had a place to stay while she visited, and the basement home theater system was the place for the guys to come visit, whether they were watching a game or playing poker.
“No, I haven’t.” She looked at the outside and smiled, though he was sure her heart wasn’t in it.
“Then you have a treat ahead,” he told her, yet his heart wasn’t really in it either.
He let her inside to the living room and grabbed a few menus from his kitchen counter. “These places deliver, anything strike you?”
She glanced through the menus and pointed at one. “Chinese?”
“It is really good Chinese,” he told her, taking off his coat and reaching for her. She gave it to him, and he slung it over one of his kitchen chairs, along with his. Maybe her sunshine scent would permeate to his coat too.
“What are you having?’ he asked when they fell silent.
“Kung Pao chicken, I think. Want to share some fried rice?”
She sounded much younger than her years now, and tentative. He’d liked her take-charge attitude with the boy, and missed that. In the silence of his apartment, he heard a persistent buzzing sound.
“My cell. Text messages.” She opened her purse, pulled out her phone, and read the screen. “Oh my god, the media knows about it.” She shuddered and barely held back a sob. “This is awful, Keith.”
“Put it aside for now.” He held out his hand and she reluctantly placed her phone into it. “This can all wait. You gave blood. Did they want urine too?”
“Yes,” she whispered, staring at her hands.
“You have nothing to worry about. You weren’t even out there.”
“I wanted to be, but there were things inside I had to deal with.”