No wonder they'd ended up with issues, May thought sadly.
She guessed even Kerry, the golden child and highest achiever, had suffered. Kerry didn’t need to feel jealous, ever. But May had been stunned to realize that, sometimes, she did.
All the teachers were inside the staff room now. May guessed the meeting was in full swing, discussing and strategizing. The thought of what they were going through made her feel really bad that they had not yet concluded the case. It motivated her to work her hardest. This needed resolution. These teachers did not deserve this.
As she walked past the small groups of students, May heard whispers, and conversations in hushed voices.
Everyone knew something was up. Many of them must have seen Coach Adamson being taken away by the police. But, as she passed the students, she also picked up that they sounded confused and defensive of their coach.
She guessed that was to be expected. A predator might only focus his attentions on a chosen few, while the others thought he was a blameless and wonderful teacher. But May knew already that it would make their job harder. Some people might speak in favor of Adamson’s character, and that meant the chain of evidence, and the testimony from the coach himself, would be even more important.
With any luck, May hoped, she would have a full confession by the time the meeting concluded, but any additional testimony would back it up.
Crime caused such ripples throughout a community. In a small town, she always felt that she, as a policewoman, experienced them more intensely.
Coach Adamson had definitely seemed like a broken man. He'd been at rock bottom, ready to end his life - or at any rate, threatening to. The way she handled this questioning would be vital. They needed to know more about his movements during the night of the prom. She needed to get into his mind and find out why and how he’d done these things.
Why the strangulation?
Why the flowers?
She didn't recall him giving any concrete facts. He’d been a fountain of self blame but no actual information had come out of his mouth during his diatribe.
They would need a lot more than what he’d given so far to secure a conviction.
She hoped that without the confession, their case would be close to watertight. But if they could get a confession, they could truly wipe this case clean.
However, May was concerned that his planning was so meticulous that he could have thought ahead to implement a defense or an alibi somehow. A well-planned defense could always sway the jury.
"I'm going to kill myself," he'd said, but that was hardly evidence, she thought, feeling frustrated.
Plus, some people had what May thought of as rubber feet. They might hit rock bottom but they could bounce back from it at surprising speed.
May was sure that many people close to the coach would want to believe that he was innocent. Strong, good looking P.E. coaches were influential figures and people looked up to them.
And if there were still a lot of people who believed that he was a hero, despite all the evidence to the contrary, then she would have to work hard to get the evidence to prove his guilt.
At least when they’d confronted him that morning, he’d committed minor crimes in front of witnesses, which even though it had been scary at the time, May felt very glad about. They had needed that.
Coach Adamson had remained in hiding from his previous identity for eight years. If it hadn't been for May's observant nature and Kerry's FBI access, they would still not know who he had been. He was a master at covering his tracks and putting on a convincing front.
They needed more!
If they could get a full confession, they would be able to hold him accountable.
May bit her lip as she walked to the school entrance, wishing that they had something to push him in that direction, either to use as evidence or else to pressure the coach in another way.
And at that moment, she heard Owen calling to her loudly from the staff parking lot.
He was standing by an ordinary looking car, similar to a lot of others that the teachers seemed to drive.
"May! Come quick! I think I've seen something here!" he shouted.
May rushed out of the school entrance, racing to the parking lot on legs that felt surprisingly tired after the adrenaline-fueled pursuit earlier. But now, determination gave her feet fresh wings.
"What is it?" she called to Owen.
She didn't know what Owen had seen, but if it was anything to do with Coach Adamson's guilt, then she was all ears. Plus, he was sounding more and more like himself again and she felt a flash of relief that they might be able to get back to being friends.