Murders at Westfield High

Chapter 19

I went to the library and used their microfiche reader to search old newspaper articles and magazines for information about the three murder suspects. A microfiche reader magnifies cards with tiny images of newspapers, magazines and journals. The only problem is that everything is mechanical and there is no effective search method other than looking through index cards.

I checked out Fenton. He didn’t seem capable of committing murder with a knife because he had lost a leg in the war and had to get around using a cane. A 1950 Life Magazine article told about his war record and his founding of Fenton Hardware, and how he had established stores in several states.

Jessica Jones, the current school board president, is Jeremiah Jones’ wife. Jeremiah is the president of Westfield Savings Bank and a prominent member of the elite social strata of the town. By the looks of her, she’s an arrogant bitch who thinks that she’s better than everyone else, but she appeared to be not very athletic.

Lester Jones goes back twenty-four years. He started out as a janitor at Westfield High and worked up to becoming the head of maintenance. He never had children by his only wife, Agnes, who died from cancer twelve years back.

All three of these people have full access to the high school, especially Lester. All of this was interesting but not incriminating. I would need to unearth secret information about these people, and that was not possible.

Julia had to go with the basketball team to Fairfax, a larger town thirty miles from Westfield. Westfield was playing in the big regional championship game and Julia was all excited about performing there in front of a large audience.

I drove there myself because I couldn’t go on the team bus. I had to pay a dollar to get into the gym where they held the game. Fairfax’s gym was much larger than ours and it was packed with spectators. Parents and high school sport enthusiasts were dressed in suits and ties and women wore dresses. It was a prestigious occasion that called for finery, if nothing more than to show off.

I made sure that Julia saw me up in the balcony. She waved and I returned the gesture. She seemed happy and vivacious now that our relationship had stabilized, and I intended to keep it that way.

Westfield fell behind in the last half, so I decided to walk around Fairfax High’s halls, which were wider than ours. The school seemed clean and shiny compared to Westfield High. Fairfax had a separate showers and locker room for their swimming pool, and for some reason the door to the pool was wide open. I heard echoes of guys yelling and talking, so I wandered in. The doorway led to the top of the bleachers. I stood near the back and watched guys in a free swim. The odd part is that they didn’t permit swimsuits either, and yet someone had left the door wide open. The guys were running around the pool, diving and horsing around impervious to the fact that they were visible to anyone who wandered in the open door. I felt like a voyeur, but I couldn’t help it. I was seeing what it was like to be an observer sitting in the bleachers during a boys’ swimming class. I could easily see why those girls who had snuck in that day were giggling with excitement.

Obviously, the girls of Fairfax High aren’t as bold as those in our school. Did that mean that Westfield girls are evil and deserved to be murdered? That idea crossed my mind, but I discarded it. The only thing wrong with Westfield High is that some idiot was killing allegedly promiscuous girls for some twisted reason.

I returned to the game just in time to watch the Westfield team get defeated. The fans from Fairfax cheered and applauded, but there were no signs of excessive exuberance. People filed out without incident.

I caught up with Julia before she got back on the bus. She turned and came over to me.

“Well, at least you girls did your job,” I said, adding a smile.

“They almost won,” she said. “It doesn’t matter. I had fun.”

“That’s all that matters,” I said. “I’ll catch you tomorrow.”

She smiled, a smile that warmed my heart and gave me new incentive to save her from an untimely death.