Golden in Death (In Death 50)

“You never told us that.” Greg shot Rufty a look of surprise. “That you worried about being fired.”

Smiling a little, Rufty patted Greg’s arm. “Children don’t have to know everything. There were others, on staff, in the student body, and, yes, on the board, who were relieved, even pleased with the new rules, with the new tone. That balanced the scale. By spring it had largely evened out.”

“You met the challenge,” Peabody said. “You righted the ship.”

He smiled again. “I like to think so, yes.”

“Were there threats against you?” Eve asked.

“Oh, some parents throwing their weight around, a handful of problem students who tried to do the same.”

“Did you expel anyone?”

“It didn’t come to that, though I did suggest to some of the more outraged parents that perhaps their child and the academy didn’t make a good fit.”

“Fire anyone?”

“Again, I suggested to some that if they were unhappy with my vision and methods, they might find a better fit elsewhere. I felt I needed to give everyone time to adjust, so rather than expulsion or termination in those first weeks, I issued warnings in private meetings.

“It was eight years ago,” he murmured, and even the hint of a smile died away. “I can’t think of anyone who could remain so angry or resentful toward me they’d do this. Or Jay. He did nothing. He wasn’t in charge of the school, only his own students.”

“Why don’t we do a cross-check? Take a look at his students, see which ones were problematic, or who might have been pulled out, whose parents were unhappy?”

When he looked at Eve, she saw relief. Something to do, she thought, something concrete and beyond grief.

“I can go into my records. I can do that. I’ll be glad to do that if it helps.”

“It would. You have chemistry labs, instructors.”

“Of course. We have a lab for the upper grades, another for the middle grades. Another for more advanced students. Oh my God, you don’t think…”

“We want to check everything,” Eve said. “If you could give me the names of the advanced students, the teachers. And in your records the same from when you came on.”

“Yes. Yes. We’re going now to finalize the details for Kent’s memorial. As soon as we’re done, I can go to the school, pull the old records.”

“We can do that if you give us your permission. We’ll get a warrant to cover it, and I can have EDD access those records. Then if we could talk to you again once we’ve gone through them.”

“Let her do that, Marty.”

“All right. Whatever’s best. I just don’t remember as clearly as I should.”

“You have a lot on your mind right now,” Peabody soothed. “If you remember anything more, you can contact either one of us. Maybe you made some personal notes that you didn’t add to the official records.”

“I did at the time, of course. But I…” Rufty rubbed a hand on his temple as if to erase a block. “On my old tablet. When I replaced it, I deleted everything. I thought to donate it, but you said, didn’t you, Greg, that nothing’s ever completely gone if you know how to look for it?”

“You gave it to Ava—my daughter,” he told Peabody.

“Does she still have it?”

“Yes, I’m sure she does. Somewhere.”

“If you could find it, EDD could try to recover the deleted data. It might be helpful.”

“I’ll make sure she finds it. Should I bring it in to you?”

“Why don’t you let us know when you have it,” Eve said. “We’ll send someone to pick it up.”

“If you’re able to retrieve the data,” Rufty put in, “and need any help interpreting my notes, I’ll be glad to go over them with you.”