Murders at Westfield High

Chapter 6

I spent Saturday at the public library looking thorough past editions of the Westfield Courier, the local newspaper. I went back four years and found the edition for May 5, 1954. The headlines screamed out at me. ‘Local Girl found stabbed in Westfield High’. ‘Carrie Adler, still dressed in her bloodied prom dress, was found lying in a hallway stabbed fifty eight times. Authorities have been unable to find a weapon or a motive for this heinous crime. Many students and school personnel were questioned but no suspect has been charged. The investigation will continue, according to Chief Harold Wiggins, until we find out who committed this terrible crime’.

This convinced me that I was seeing a ghost and not imagining it.  I had no other option now; I had to ask Julia about her sister, but I didn’t want to wait until Monday, so I called her. Fortunately, her and my mother had phones. I dialed her number and waited.

“Hello.”

What luck. Julia answered the phone.

“This is Jay. I wanted to know if we could get together this evening.”

“Sure. What did you have in mind?”

“How about a movie and a stop later at Islay’s.”

“What time?”

“The movie starts at seven. I’ll pick you up at six thirty.”

“I’ll be ready.”

I didn’t unload on her until after the movie, which was ‘Gigi’, staring Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier. It wasn’t my kind of movie, but she loved it. I got a large box of popcorn for us to munch on. I decided to let her enjoy the movie in peace. We walked to Islay’s for milkshakes after the movie and sat in a booth, which afforded us some privacy.

The waitress, a brunette in her thirties with more makeup than normal, came over to our booth. “What’ll it be?”

“We’ll both have milkshakes. I want a plain vanilla.” I looked at Julia.

“I’ll take a strawberry.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes,” I said.

We watched the waitress walk back to the counter, swinging her caboose.

Julia snickered when she saw me smile.

I turned serious. “I went to the public library and found a four year old paper that told about your sister, Carrie, being found murdered at the high school.”

Her eyes flashed with shock at first, but her face took on a depressed pallor. “Why are you interested in her?”

“I’m curious. You don’t hear about murders occurring in schools that often.”

Julia lowered her eyes and sighed before looking at me. “She wasn’t like me. She was outgoing and flirtatious. Boys fawned over her.”

“I’m surprised that they’ve never found a suspect.”

“I am too,” she said with her jaw muscles tightened. “She had many rivals.”

“They must have all had good alibies. What about the boy who took her to the prom?”

“Chris Harrison? He said that Carrie went to the bathroom and didn’t return. He assumed that she had split.”

“That’s strange. Was Carrie that . . . unpredictable?”

“Carrie was a free spirit. She had a habit of living on the wild side. Her death is the reason my mother is so protective. She hasn’t been the same ever since it happened. She’s always on edge and cries a lot. I don’t know why. My sister hated her.”

Wow! I didn’t expect all of that. Apparently, Julia and her sister were at odds. It seems that I’ve stepped into a hornet’s nest. I definitely didn’t want to tell her that I had seen her sister’s ghost.

“Look,” I said. “I didn’t intend to upset you. I’m just curious.”

“As far as I know, the police did an extensive investigation and couldn’t determine who killed her. Most people have simply forgotten the incident.”

I smiled, hoping that would calm her. “I suppose we’ll never know what happened.”

“I’m afraid so,” she said, sounding depressed.

I dropped the subject for now, but I was determined to get to the truth about Carrie’s murder.