Sex. Murder. Mystery(133)

The Port of Seattle is public enemy number one in those neighborhoods, filled with people who are tired of the promises for noise abatement and the reminder that they “knew what they were getting into when they moved there.” The truth is, many didn't know. Airport traffic has grown steadily over the past quarter century and many of those complaining have been doing so for years.

Nick Latham saw the impact the airport had on the people of the Highline School District. The Port of Seattle, he said, was to blame.

“My allegiance has changed since I took the job down there. So much power. They [the politicians] don't care about the communities, and they don't care about our kids. Should they have to suffer?”

If White Center and the surrounding areas seem a bit hopeless, despite a proliferation of the glitzy-cheap signs of fast food franchises, Burien has retained its small-town feel. It even has a feed store. Like most of suburbia, it isn't a pretty place, but it is home to thousands who sleep there at night and drive to jobs in Seattle or farther out. In her early years at the district, Mary Kay Letourneau did a reverse commute. In the fall of 1989, she came from outside the community to teach second grade in room 20 at Shorewood Elementary. She was admired and loved by nearly everyone in those early years. Her energy was unequaled; her ability to reach into a child's soul to pull out the dreams that she could foster was a gift. There wasn't a parent who didn't want their child in her class; there wasn't a little girl who didn't want to be just like the pretty teacher with the somewhat spiky, gelled hair. Hip hair.

Patricia Watson was Mary Letourneau's principal for four of the teacher's first five years at Shorewood. She considered Mary Kay to be one of her top teachers, a nurturing presence in the classroom where some students needed that kind of caring in addition to their lessons. Mary was the type of teacher who looked for the best way to reach a student and she would make the effort to find the way.

She was also an excellent mother. Patricia would never forget the day Mary Kay brought her son and daughter to the office to meet her. Mary Kay was so proud of them. And it showed. Steven and Mary Claire were groomed to perfection; shoes shined, hair combed and parted. Over the course of several years, the Letourneau children would frequently come to Shorewood to wait for their mother. Steve would drop them off to be with Mary Kay, and they ended up in the principal's office coloring pictures.

“I still have some of the little treasures they made me,” Patricia said later.





Chapter 20

BY 1992, MARY Kay Letourneau had really wanted to sell the condo. She wanted to live in Normandy Park, one of the south-end-of-Seattle's more exclusive areas. She and the children had found the dream home when out on a drive before mass at St. Philamena, the Des Moines Catholic church the family attended and where the older two children attended school. It was on a quiet street that looped around to commanding views of Puget Sound, Vashon Island, and the Des Moines marina. The 1960s-era olive-green house didn't have a view of the sound, but it was on the edge of a lovely, wooded ravine. At the condo, Mary Kay organized their belongings into boxes, cleaned like a fiend, printed five hundred flyers, and served lasagna dinners to real estate agents. When the unit sold, she was elated. The family was moving up. But even so, Mary Kay emphasized to the Fish twins that although the new residence might have a better address than the condo in Kent, the house itself was nearly a fixer-upper. It also tested their budget, already strained beyond repair. Even with the proceeds from the sale of the condo, some of the down payment was coming from Steve's family, Mary Kay told the girls.

“It's going to be tight for a while,” she said cheerfully. “And it will be a long time before we can fix it up, but it's going to happen.”

As she spoke of the move she was upbeat, animated, and very excited. So much so, that Amber and Angie didn't want to reveal their own sadness. The Letourneaus were their dream family. Little Nicky was “their” baby. Steven. Mary Claire. All of them had meant so much.

The Letourneaus promised the twins they could continue baby-sitting. Steve said he'd take care of driving them back and forth from Kent to Normandy Park. It made the girls feel as though it wasn't over between them, really. Mary Kay continued to do her part in keeping the relationship alive. She phoned Amber and Angie more often than either phoned her. Sometimes she called when she needed a sitter. Other times she dialed their number when she only wanted to chat.

Despite the warnings that the place needed a handyman's touch, the house surprised Angie and Amber.

“I thought it was going to be a lot nicer,” Amber later said.

Angie, as usual, was more direct.