Again, she glances around furtively as Able loads the box into the car. "Are you friends of Sandy's?"
"Yeah. We're friends of Sandy and her sister Suzanne," Able says smoothly. Clever to add the reassuring mention of Sandy's family. The woman's shoulders relax a little, taken in by Able's easy manner, but she glances at me as though she's unsure whether she should be speaking in front of such a tattooed brute. I smile awkwardly, trying to be reassuring even though it's doubtful I'll achieve it. My look was designed to scare people away, not encourage them to open up with their secrets. But then she takes a deep breath and talks, and I realize that I haven't totally fucked things up.
"I'm so upset about what happened to Sandy," she whispers, even though there is nobody around to overhear us. "If I could manage without this job, I would have walked out of here with her, but things are difficult at home. My husband hasn't worked for a while. I'm the only one bringing in any money right now." Able nods as though he knows what she's talking about, even we have no idea. "There have been rumors about Principal Gregory for a while, but I always thought they were stirred up by people who were jealous of his success. Then, when I found Sandy crying in the hallway after he groped her, well, I knew the rumors were true. Sandy isn't the kind to lie about something like that. She was distraught."
What the fuck? My fingers flex into tightly held fists, and my whole body goes rigid with fury. The principal groped Sandy, and she was crying. I want to tear the asshole's head from his neck.
"That must have been hard," Able says, and I can tell from the tight sound to his voice that he's holding back his own anger in order to find out more.
"It was so hard. I told her she needed to report him to the police. I told her I'd go with her for support, you know…but she wouldn't hear it. She just…she told me that she didn't want to make any trouble. That girl… she's just too sweet for her own good."
"So she didn't report him?"
The woman shakes her head, her short red curls bouncing. Her round face is tinged with pink, maybe from the excitement of telling her story or her frustration about what happened to Sandy. "She just went home. The next thing I heard is that her contract wasn't being renewed. I knew it was that asshole getting his own back because she rejected his advances."
"He fired her because she wouldn't let him touch her?" I growl. Able stares at me, his eyes widening in a warning.
"Exactly." The woman shakes her shoulders as though she's getting worked up. "That asshole is on holiday right now enjoying himself, and poor Sandy has to look for another job. She even had to move out of her apartment."
"That was going to be our next question," Able says, picking up on the opportunity. "We went past her place, but there was someone else living there." It's a lie but plausible and adds to our credibility.
"Well, she's over on Hanover Street at her sister's."
"It's been a while since we visited, and we wanted it to be a surprise…you know…to cheer Sandy up. What was the door number again?"
"It’s sixteen," the woman says without hesitation or concern. "I hope you'll manage to cheer her up. It must be so hard for her to try to find another job with all of this hanging over her."
"We'll do our best," Able says, shooting her another megawatt grin. "Now, is there anything else we can help you with?"
"You're such a sweetheart," the woman says with a blush. "But no. I struggled to bring everything out in one go. Thank goodness you were here to help."
"Well, ma'am, thank you for all your help," he says with a bow of his head. When he turns to face me, he mouths, let's get out of here, so that's what we do. When we're back in the truck, Able exhales and shakes his head. "I can't believe Sandy's been going through all of this, and she never said a thing."
"She didn't want to burden us," I say. "She's that kind of person who feels like sharing anything less than sunshine and roses is overstepping."
"She's gotten used to dealing with her trouble on her own," Able says. "Haven't we all."
I nod because he's right. The more we suffer and look around for help and find none available, the less we ever want to rely on others in the future. Maybe Tyler is responsible for this trait in Sandy. Maybe, if we can show her that we'll help her deal with her troubles, she'll come around to needing us.