Two fat tears, one for each big blue eye, spilled out. “Yes, ma’am. Mom?”
“I’m going to be right here.” Keeping hands joined, Angela took the seat beside her daughter. “This has been terrible for her.”
“Understood. Melodie, I’m going to record this.”
With the nod came two more silent tears. At the moment, Eve wondered why the hell she hadn’t taken the scene and sicced Peabody on the kids. “Why don’t you just tell me what happened?”
“We went into Mr. Foster’s class—um, Rayleen and I. We knocked first, because the door was closed. But Mr. Foster doesn’t mind if you need to talk to him.”
“And you needed to talk to Mr. Foster.”
“About the project. Ray and I are project partners. We’re doing a multimedia report on the Bill of Rights. It’s due in three weeks, and it’s our big second-term project. It counts for twenty-five percent of our grade. We wanted him to see the outline. He doesn’t mind if you ask him questions before class, or after.”
“Okay. Where were you before you went to Mr. Foster’s classroom?”
“I had lunch period, and my study group. Ray and I got permission from Ms. Hallywell to leave study group a few minutes early to speak with Mr. Foster. I have the pass.”
She started to reach into her pocket.
“That’s okay. You went inside the classroom.”
“We started to. We were talking, and we opened the door. It smelled awful. That’s what I said, I said: ‘Holy jeez, it really stinks in here.’” Tears rained again. “I’m sorry I said that, but—”
“It’s okay. What happened then?”
“I saw him. I saw him on the floor, and there was like, oh, gosh, there was all this vomit and everything. And Ray screamed. Or I did. I guess we both did. And we ran out and Mr. Dawson came running down the hall and asked us what was the matter. He told us to stay there and he went back. He went inside. I watched him go inside. And he came out really fast, with his hand like this.”
She clamped her free hand over her mouth. “He used his talkie, I think, to call Principal Mosebly. And then Ms. Mosebly came and called the nurse. And then the nurse, Nurse Brennan, came and took us to the infirmary. She stayed with us, until Mr. Kolfax came and he took Ray with him. I stayed with Nurse Brennan until my mom came.”
“Did you see anyone else go into Mr. Foster’s room, or leave it?”
“No, ma’am.”
“When you were walking from your study group to the classroom, did you see anyone?”
“Um. I’m sorry. Um. Mr. Bixley was coming out of the boys’ restroom, and we passed Mr. Dawson on the way. We showed him our pass. I think that was all, but I wasn’t paying attention.”
“How did you know Mr. Foster would be in his classroom?”
“Oh, he’s always in his classroom before fifth period on Mondays. He always has his lunch in there on Mondays. And the last fifteen minutes is when he allows students to come in and talk, if they really need to. Even before that he doesn’t mind if it’s important. He’s so nice. Mom.”
“I know, baby. Lieutenant, please.”
“Nearly done. Melodie, did either you or Rayleen touch Mr. Foster, or anything in the classroom?”
“Oh, no, no, ma’am. We just ran away. It was awful, and we ran away.”
“All right. Melodie, if you remember anything else, any little thing at all, I need you to tell me.”
The child rose. “Lieutenant Dallas? Ma’am?”
“Yeah?”
“Rayleen said, when we were in the infirmary, Rayleen said that they would have to take Mr. Foster away in a big bag. Do you? Do you have to?”
“Oh, Melodie.” Angela turned the child into her, held tight.
“We’re going to take care of Mr. Foster now,” Eve said. “It’s my job to take care of him, and I will. Talking to me helps me do my job, it helps me take care of him.”