hool in the morning. Where was he? And more important, why hadn’t he called her to apologize?
Allie slumped into her desk chair, not bothering to flip the lights on. With the morning sun assaulting her eyes, any extra light was unnecessary.
She couldn’t believe Sam had run out on her like that. And now, with the luxury of twenty-four hours to have considered what had happened, she couldn’t believe she had let him run out on her. Not without trying to shake some sense into the stubborn man. Not after what they’d shared that night. And today, despite waking up to a glorious, beautiful spring day, she’d felt an overwhelming sense of loss.
She’d lost Sam’s trust, lost her sister’s confidence, lost her belief that Mr. Williams was someone who deserved to be remembered.
This classroom had been Mr. Williams’s. Something she’d always loved. Today it was a reminder of how foolish she’d been. She’d been struggling all these weeks to put together something for a man who had slept with a married woman, a woman with a family. Sam’s family. And now there was the possibility he also had slept with one of his students. A young, impressionable girl whose naiveté he’d taken advantage of—which would be the most serious breach of trust a teacher could make. Then, he’d left her to bear the burden of a teenage pregnancy on her own.
Despicable was a word that came to mind. Dishonorable.
From the reactions of many of the people she’d been running up against throughout this whole thing, she wondered if she was actually the last person on the planet to know what Mr. Williams had really been like. Even Jeremy had been reluctant when he’d heard Allie bring up the video idea at the planning meeting. In fact, he had seemed almost…alarmed.
Allie wondered if, as a school administrator, he’d been brought up to date on some of the more serious infractions at the time he assumed the position of vice principal. What could have been more serious than a seventeen year old student pregnant by the student body’s favorite teacher?
She glanced at the clock. She still had twenty minutes before class started. Without hesitating, she headed to the principal’s office.
Jeremy looked uneasy when he saw her, and she didn’t bother with preliminary niceties, just laid out her suspicions. From the wary look he gave her when she finished, he didn’t seem entirely surprised.
“Allie, I’m not at liberty to discuss students’ health and personal problems.” His gaze darted to the door, as if afraid someone might overhear their conversation. “Even a student from fifteen years ago.”
“Jeremy, over the past couple weeks, I’ve had my car vandalized, my head bashed in, and was nearly cremated. I think I deserve to know the truth about the man I’m doing all this for. I’m not going to publish it. This is only for me.”
“I guess you have a point.” He scratched his head. “Okay. But this is strictly confidential.” He went to shut the door and returned to his desk. “Tiffany Sawyer and her parents came to the administration to discuss the options of a transfer. She was pregnant. Mr. Williams was involved at the time, but not from the kind of personal involvement you’re suggesting. Merely as an advisor, as a friend. He was the one who initially urged her to talk to her parents. I couldn’t say with absolute certainty, of course, but I don’t think anyone thought Mr. Williams was romantically involved with Ms. Sawyer. My recollection is it was one of the guys on the football team, which was an issue in itself.”
Relief coursed through her. Mr. Williams hadn’t slept with his student. Thank goodness. What Meredith and her friends saw was merely Mr. Williams offering a troubled student a shoulder to cry on.
But it didn’t completely exonerate him of all wrongs, did it?
“I couldn’t help but notice you were less than a fan of Mr. Williams when I spoke to you before. And at the planning session, you were reluctant to approve my proposal for a video. Why was that?”
Jeremy sat back, as if measuring Allie. “There were other rumors circulating at the time. About Mr. Williams. His relationships. There is no policy about dating other faculty members, per se, but the fallout that can occur from such a relationship would be widespread. We’re a small community, so it would be difficult not to expect anger and jealousy to flare up if, say, the other person moved on.”
She blinked. “Mr. Williams was dating one of the other teachers?”
“Yes.” He didn’t volunteer more, and the sense of frustration in his voice was likely meant for her and her questions, as much as for Mr. Williams.
She had to know. “Who was it?”
“I’m sorry, Allie. I’m afraid I can’t answer that. I have to respect the privacy of the teacher. I’ll bring it up to the detective if you think I should, but I believe I’ve told you enough to settle whatever qualms you had.”
Best not to push her luck. “So it was just his relationship with another teacher that earned your dislike for Mr. Williams?”
“It was a start—but before you can begin asking me another twenty questions, I think it’s best we just let this go. Whatever harm I may have thought Mr. Williams caused, the man was murdered, and we should let those issues die with him. Nothing he did was bad enough to warrant his death, and I’m ashamed to have carried my jealousy and anger for as long as I have. So we’ll all move on, shall we? In fact…” He glanced at his watch. “I really need to be going. Sam Fratto called in today. Some personal issues he has to resolve. Since his absence will only be temporary, I thought I’d fill in.”
Personal issues? Had something else happened? Was his mother okay? But she refrained from asking Jeremy and instead nodded and thanked him for his time. Leaving his office, she took the steps up to her classroom…a little more cheerfully than when she’d come down.
Mr. Williams still wasn’t exactly the saint she’d once thought, but he hadn’t been nearly as bad as she feared. He’d been…human. Lord knew, she had made her own share of mistakes in relationships, and she’d hate to be judged solely on those.
So she wouldn’t judge Mr. Williams, either.
He might just be worth doing a memorial video for, after all.
Chapter Sixteen
It was close to evening on Monday when a stream of piano music drew Sam from his work. The song was familiar. His mother had always loved playing. It had been her way of expressing herself—her happiness, her anger, her sorrow, whatever mood struck her—when she took to the beautiful instrument.
But he hadn’t heard her play for years. Since before he’d left for college.