Murders at Westfield High

Chapter 17

I attended a Westfield High basketball game even though I really didn’t give a crap about the sport, but Julia was a cheerleader, and I had promised her that I would attend. She ran out with the other girls and jumped around and yelled cheers for the team during timeouts and between periods. Cheerleaders wore mid-calf length red skirts and long sleeve whit jerseys with a red W. They had on white bucks with matching white socks. The outfits weren’t that flattering, but I felt that Julia looked really good in hers.

The best part of this waste of time is that she saw me watching her in the stands and waved, which meant that I had scored brownie points.

After the game ended and she had changed clothes, we went to Islay’s for shakes.

“You are quite athletic,” I told her. “I was unaware of that.”

“Thank you. I should be. Mrs. Finley, our coach makes us practice a lot.”

“And, it shows. Your group is very good at it.”

She gave me a smile that said more than the words she used. “Thank you.”

“When do you have time to practice?”

“We meet on Wednesday evenings, unless there’s another event scheduled in the gym.”

Her face took on a serious look, and that made a shiver run up my spine. “You remember that time we kissed in the stairwell at school?”

My right eyebrow shot up momentarily. “Yes?”

“Someone saw us, and they reported it to Mrs. Wells.”

I made a disgusted face. “Oh, no!”

“I got called to her office and she paddled me.”

“That’s ridiculous!” I blurted.

“It was either that or be kicked out of the cheerleader squad.”

“Why wasn’t I disciplined?”

She half chuckled, almost as if she were mocking me. “You’re a boy.”

Guilty as charged, but I still didn’t like the fact that she got punished for something that I initiated. “I’m truly sorry for getting you in trouble. I never intended that.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “It was worth it.”

I knew that she was trying to ease the impact of what had happened, but I still felt guilty. “I think that it’s unjust to punish a girl for kissing in school and not the boy.”

“That’s the way that Mrs. Wells operates, Jay. She’s old school.”

Where did I hear that before? I thought about it for a while and then a nagging idea crept into my head. “You said that your sister was paddled by Wells. What did she get it for?”

“The same thing. She was caught making out with a boy in the storage room.”

“That’s crazy.”

She agreed, and I didn’t prolong the discussion.

When we kissed inside the door to the staircase that led to her apartment, I apologized again. “I’m sorry that you had to suffer for something I did.”

“I don’t blame you,” she said. “It takes two to tango. Besides, it only injured my pride.”

I chuckled, and she joined me.

The next day, I made an appointment to see the principal. Fortunately, Wells was in her office at the end of the day. I entered the office and stood in front of her desk. A spiral of smoke rose from a cigarette in a glass ashtray.

“Mr. Kramer, what’s on your mind?”

“Julia told me that you paddled her for kissing me in the stairwell.”

Her face stiffened, but she didn’t blink. “Yes, I did. Intimacies are not allowed on school property.”

“I know that. Julia also told me that you paddled her sister, Carrie, for the same reason.”

Wells took the cigarette from the ashtray and delicately took a drag. “That’s right. Her sister was notorious for that kind of behavior.”  Smoke poured out of her nostrils and mouth while she talked.

“Do you recall paddling the other three girls for a similar offense?”

“That’s too long ago, Mr. Kramer. I have a good memory, but not for things like that.”

“This is important, ma’am. Try to remember if you paddled Gabriel Stevens for doing something like that.”

Her eyes swiveled around for a few moments before she looked at me. “I believe that I did. She was caught fondling that Carter boy, as I recall.”

“That’s what I thought. I see a pattern here. You paddle the girls for being intimate with a boy and they get murdered. I think that we’re dealing with a Jack the Ripper wannabe.”

“I don’t think there’s enough evidence to conclude that. I paddle at least a dozen girls every term.”

“Yes, but not for being intimate.”

She stared at me for several minutes before sighing. “You might have a point there, Mr. Kramer. Mostly it’s for sassing or using foul language. I think that Julia is the first girl that I’ve punished for kissing a boy on school property in a long time.”

“Let me ask you a pointed question, ma’am. Why don’t you paddle boys?”

“I expect better behavior from girls, Mr. Kramer. Boys are a lost cause. I would have to punish half the boys here at Westfield and I just don’t have time for that.”

She’s obviously crazy, but I didn’t want to get into an argument about her idiotic discipline ideas. I had had enough of it for now. My only goal was to solve Carrie’s murder before the same thing happened to her sister.