Griffin hands the bag to Cardoni, who is also wearing gloves, while he takes out a camera and snaps photos of the log. Then Cardoni places the bag on the log, unbuckles it, and looks inside. She removes a handful of folded letters and sets them on top of the bag. The camera clicks repeatedly as Griffin photographs them. Jess counts nine letters, all written on the same plain white paper.
Mr. Wong has gone over to the piece of trash and is picking it up from the ground, except it’s not a bag, it’s a piece of tape. As it unravels, the words printed on it jump out in stark black on yellow: POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS.
Jess gets to her feet, snow falling in clumps from her jeans. The detectives notice that she is looking at her father. About ten feet away, Mr. Wong holds the crime scene tape in his hand. The snow is uneven near him, as if parts of it had been shoveled aside into mounds, then covered over with new snowfall. Mr. Wong looks shocked.
“Is this the place where the girl was found?” he asks.
Cardoni steps toward him, hand outstretched to take the police tape. “I’m sorry, sir. Yes, it is.”
AFTER DINNER, JESS GOES UPSTAIRS TO HER BEDROOM and closes the door. She sits at her desk and takes out her phone, but then hesitates, her finger hovering over the home button.
Finally she sends a text to Emily. Talked to cops today. Took them to the park. They have the letters now.
She waits for a response. When Emily doesn’t answer immediately, Jess drags out her history book and attempts to do the worksheet that was assigned earlier that day, but she has a hard time focusing. She doodles trees in the margins of her worksheet until the entire page is engulfed in a forest of oaks, bare branches cutting across the questions.
When her phone rings, she almost jumps out of her chair.
“Hi,” Jess says, answering the phone.
“Hey,” Emily replies. “I got your text.”
Jess drops her pencil. “Yeah?”
“Did you tell them I know about the letters too?”
“No.”
Emily exhales. “Okay.”
“Do you still have the photos you took?”
Jess hears the sound of a door closing before Emily answers. “Yes. Why?”
“The one that Ryan wrote—it was on fancy paper, remember? It wasn’t there anymore. I think the guy took it.”
There’s a beat of silence. “And I have a picture of it,” Emily says.
Jess picks up her pencil again and begins to doodle a hollow log at the bottom of the page. “You could send it to the police. Anonymously.”
“I don’t want to get involved in this. I really did not like Ryan, but this is insane. People are saying she was shot. Is that true?” Emily sounds frightened.
“The police didn’t tell me. Where did you hear that?”
“There are rumors. And there’s this Facebook page where a lot of people are posting theories.”
“Oh yeah. I’ve seen it. How do you know what’s true?”
“Some of Ryan’s friends said there’s been an autopsy, and the results say she was shot.”
“Like a suicide?”
“No, supposedly the angle means it couldn’t have been suicide.”
Jess’s pencil scratches a hole in the paper. “Really?”
“Yeah. Everybody’s scared to go in the park now. What if it was some crazy serial killer?”
Jess flexes her fingers around the pencil. “What if that teacher she was seeing had something to do with it?”
“No, he couldn’t have. He’s all into poetry.” But Emily sounds doubtful. “I mean, I don’t think he would be—his letters are so . . .”
“Romantic?”
“I know what you’re thinking, that any teacher who would sleep with a student is probably a jerk, but—”
“No, I was thinking he definitely is a creepy asshole,” Jess interrupts. “Statistically speaking the person who killed her was probably her boyfriend or some guy she was having sex with. That letter from Ryan could help the cops find him.”
“How? It doesn’t say who he is. We don’t even know if he’s really a teacher.”
“But it proves that Ryan was seeing him. They could match her handwriting to that letter. And their relationship was clearly shady.” Jess takes a deep breath. “Look, I know you don’t want to get involved. But don’t you think the cops should have all the evidence they can get?”
TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW OF KIMBERLY WATSON
Present:
DC: Detective Lieutenant Donna Cardoni, Massachusetts State Police
KG: Lieutenant Kyle Griffin, Massachusetts State Police
KW: Kimberly Watson, Faculty Advisor
Det. Donna Cardoni (DC): Today is Friday, January 6, and we are at Pearson Brooke Academy, in Rice Hall. The time is 8:49 a.m. I’m Detective Lieutenant Donna Cardoni of the Massachusetts State Police, assigned to the Essex County District Attorney’s Office. Also present is my partner.
Lt. Kyle Griffin (KG): Lieutenant Kyle Griffin, Massachusetts State Police.
DC: We are interviewing Kimberly Watson this morning. Can you state your full name and occupation for the recording, please?
Kimberly Watson (KW): Kimberly Anne Watson. I’m an art teacher here at Pearson Brooke, and I’m also the faculty advisor for Fischer Hall, the dormitory where Ryan lived.
DC: How do you spell your name? Is it the normal way?
KW: K-I-M-B-E-R-L-Y. Anne with an E. Watson like Sherlock.
DC: Thank you. As you know, this interview is entirely voluntary, and you’re free to leave at any time.
KW: Understood.
DC: Great. We’ve asked you to come in today to help us get to know Ryan a little better. Can you tell us how you knew her, and how you’d describe her?
KW: I knew her about as well as the average resident in Fischer Hall. Because I knew I was coming in for this interview I looked at her records, and she did miss curfew once during sophomore year. I issued her a warning, and she didn’t miss any more curfews. The only other times I had administrative interactions with her were when she had to show parental permission to leave campus for events that went past curfew. That happened a couple of times, including the night she disappeared last December.
DC: Did any of these interactions strike you as unusual?
KW: No. She was really pretty average, and certainly not a troublemaker.
DC: How would you describe her as a person?
KW: Well, I didn’t know her that well. She ran pretty much in the middle of the pack of girls at Fischer Hall. She didn’t reach out to me personally—I do develop closer relationships with some of the girls sometimes, but Ryan never needed much attention. I don’t think she was a wallflower, but she wasn’t the most outgoing girl either. I honestly think she was a little shy. She was close friends with Margot and Krista, who also live in Fischer Hall. Margot’s certainly more outspoken than Ryan was, and Krista always struck me as a very happy girl—bubbly, even. Ryan was the quiet one of those three, at least in person. Last year I heard that there was some tension between Margot, Ryan, and a sophomore transfer who lived in a different dorm, but a lot of that happened online. It’s hard for us to keep track of what these girls get into online. I’m sure you understand. The technology moves faster than we do. Often these girls get into difficult relationships with each other online that can be very hurtful emotionally. It didn’t seem unusual to me, though.
DC: You sound hesitant.
KW: No, it’s just—it’s a tragedy that Ryan was—is dead. I don’t want to sound uncaring about her, but I admit she—sometimes she was a little cold. I don’t think that justifies anything remotely like what happened to her, but she wasn’t a friendly girl. She and Margot were close, and maybe that’s what contributed to that feeling in me. They both sort of kept other people out.
DC: Girls can be very intense with
each other. Do you think their friendship was unusually close?
KW: I don’t know. I remember being so close with my girlfriends when I was a teen, you know? There can be a manipulative aspect to it that goes beyond loyalty to—to—I’m not sure what I’m getting at. Sorry. I don’t want to put the wrong impression in your mind. Ryan was a good girl, not a troublemaker, and had close friends.
DC: Did you hear of a rumor that Ryan was cheating on her boyfriend?
KW: No. I didn’t know her well enough to hear anything like that. I couldn’t even tell you who her boyfriend was.
DC: Did you ever teach Ryan? Was she a student of yours too?
KW: No. I teach a few art classes, including a general introductory survey and some studio art classes, but Ryan wasn’t interested in art. I also run the Pearson Brooke Arts Exchange Program, and we ask for Brooke students to volunteer to be buddies with outside students, to sort of help them through the Brooke world. Ryan didn’t volunteer for that either, so I’ve never had much academic interaction with Ryan.
DC: Since you run the arts exchange program, do you know Jessica Wong?
KW: Yes, I—actually I saw her here yesterday right before you interviewed her. I didn’t know she was going to be interviewed. She said she was at the party the night that Ryan disappeared.
DC: Yes. Can you tell us about your impressions of Jessica?
KW: Well, she’s very talented. She goes to West Bedford High School, and her teacher there submitted some of her work to the arts exchange program. Jess draws comics. She’s working on a really wonderful project this year. I’m very excited about it.
DC: Can—
KG: What’s she working on? I used to read a lot of comics.
KW: Oh—Well, it’s an origin story, sort of like a superhero comic, but with a twist. It’s about three girls at a boarding school. It’s obviously inspired by manga, but also media like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And Jess has a unique voice. It’s this fantastic exploration of identity and jealousy and first love—all really juicy things. And her artwork is great. She needs some more development, but she’s young. If she continues to work on her art, I think she could be a professional artist.
KG: Sounds interesting. Identity and jealousy. Can you say more?
KW: It’s about three girls. There’s something of a love triangle going on between them, and a power struggle as well. Who gets the girl, who gets to be the superhero, all that. I think she’s heading for sort of a dark conclusion, although I’m not sure what it is yet. It’s a battle between good and evil with magic, though, so I expect somebody’s going to die.
KG: Really? Can you show us the comics?
KW: I—why do you want to see them?
KG: We’re just trying to get a sense of who Jess is.
KW: Well, I’m not sure that Jess’s comics would be relevant in this situation. I’m afraid that what I said may be leading you in the wrong direction. You can’t draw conclusions on somebody’s personality based on the art they make. It’s subjective.
KG: Don’t you think the art can reflect someone’s state of mind?
KW: Maybe initially, but a lot of work goes into it—it’s not just a direct one-to-one expression of feelings, and it’s not pure stream of consciousness either. I’m not sure how much you know about this process. At the arts exchange program I’m really encouraging these young artists to explore their innermost fears and bring that out in their artwork, but in order to encourage them I have to be open to them expressing things that people might normally repress as too negative or too harsh or simply too much. So whatever Jess is working out in her art is not necessarily related to her everyday real life. They’re exaggerations. These themes are bigger than life on purpose.
KG: I’m sorry, I don’t have an art degree. What themes are in her comics?
KW: I really don’t think they’re relevant to your investigation.
DC: I think we’re getting off track here, but Lieutenant Griffin’s suggestion is a useful one. I understand that art isn’t a one-to-one expression of real life, but I do think it could show us something about Jessica. We’d like to see the artwork.
KW: I—I’m not going to show you Jess’s work without her permission.
DC: I understand your hesitation, but it’s in your interest to help us out. Sometimes the most irrelevant-seeming thing can lead to a real development in the case.
KW: I just don’t see how that could be true. They’re comics.
DC: Then it shouldn’t hurt anyone for us to see them.
KW: I’ll have to think about it.
DC: Please do.
KW: Is that all for today? I have to get to class.
DC: Sure. Here’s my card. We’ll follow up about Jessica’s comics.
[End of recording]
IN STUDY HALL, JESS IS SUPPOSED TO DO HER MATH homework, but she pulls her Kestrel notebook out of her backpack instead. She flips through her sketches until she reaches the thumbnails for the climactic scenes. The flyer that Kim Watson gave to her falls out onto the table, and Angie, who is sitting beside her, picks it up.
“What’s this?” Angie asks.
“An event that Kim at Brooke told me about. I think I’m going to go.”
“Sounds cool.”
“Yeah.”
“How come you didn’t invite me?” Angie wears an expression of false hurt, lower lip slightly pouting.
“I—I didn’t think you’d want to go.”
“Of course I’d want to go.” Angie adds in a low voice, “We’re trying to be normal again, right?”
Jess glances around the room. There are six tables, five of them filled with four students each. She and Angie are seated alone at the table farthest from the door. One girl is watching them from across the room. When Jess meets her gaze, the girl drops her eyes guiltily.
Yesterday when Jess returned to school after taking the police into the park, everybody seemed to be watching her, as if they’d be able to glean gossip about Ryan simply by staring. When she and Angie are together, it’s even worse. Two West Bed girls at a Peeb house party—the rumors coil around them like rope.
Angie nudges Jess’s thigh with her knee and leaves it there. Jess’s leg seems to pulse at the spot where Angie’s knee touches her.
“We should go,” Angie says. “It’ll be fun.” She adds under her breath, “Besides, I need a break from this place.” Her cool expression briefly dissolves; she looks spooked.
“My parents are only letting me go because my brother is going with me.”
“That’s okay,” Angie says. “I don’t mind if Justin goes.”
“You’re not going out with Margot?”
Angie pulls her knee away. She indicates the date and time of the event on the flyer. “Not on Sunday afternoon.” She looks at Jess and adds, “I’m all yours.”
“My parents don’t want me to hang out with you anymore,” Jess blurts out.
“What? Why?”
“They said you’re a bad influence on me.”
“A bad influence?” Angie’s forehead wrinkles.
Jess says quickly, “I don’t agree.”
Angie spins her half-chewed ballpoint pen on the table. “You don’t?”
Jess misses the pressure of Angie’s knee on her thigh. Angie gazes down at the spinning pen.
“No.” Jess reaches out and stops the pen. It’s pointing straight at Angie, who raises troubled eyes to Jess. Her face is snow white, contrasting sharply with the purplish lipstick she’s begun to wear regularly. “I promise,” Jess whispers. “You don’t have any influence on me at all.”
Angie’s mouth twitches. “You promise.”
“Yeah.” Jess picks up Angie’s pen and takes Angie’s left hand in hers.
“What are you doing?” Angie asks.
“Hold still,” Jess says. She lowe
rs the pen to the back of Angie’s hand and draws a heart with a banner across it, like a tattoo. Angie’s skin reddens around the pressure of the ballpoint, but she doesn’t object. In the banner Jess inks in two words.
I promise.
THE TWIST FOR THE END OF KESTREL’S STORY DAWNS ON Jess while she sifts through the pages she has sketched, looking for the ones that she wants to polish before scanning. She stops at the drawing she sketched in the park the afternoon she found the love letters. It’s a page of vignettes: the trees, the boulder, a hand lying outstretched on the ground. The hand is hers—slightly stubby fingers, chewed nails. The smudges around the fingertips that might be dirt could just as easily be pencil.
It has nothing to do with Kestrel, but there’s something about the hand—her hand—that triggers a strange feeling inside her, like an itch on a wrinkle in her brain.
Kickback. An equal and opposite reaction.
She sees Kestrel in a blue-tinted gale emanating from the Doorway, her hands uplifted, fingertips glowing white. She sees Raven catching the kickback to Kestrel’s spell, her body contorting in pain, her mouth in a grimace.
She sees Laney in the murky gray shadows between the trees, her gun like a gold coin in her hand.
North Shore Sentinel—January 12
Prep school teacher–student romance possibly linked to homicide
By Kerry Loughlan
EAST BEDFORD—Pearson Brooke Academy, a prestigious boarding school north of Boston, has fired a popular English teacher, Jonathan Krause, 34, for engaging in a sexual relationship with Ryan Dupree, the 16-year-old girl who was found dead in neighboring Ellicott Park earlier this month. Their relationship was discovered in the course of the investigation into Dupree’s death, but Massachusetts State Police deny that Krause is a suspect at this time.
Pearson Brooke, whose prominent alumni include Massachusetts Senator Daniel Clarkson and actress Mia Bryant, was one of dozens of New England private schools investigated by the Boston Globe last year for multiple allegations of sexual abuse. Although there is no definitive research on sexual abuse at private schools, a federal study found that approximately 10 percent of K–12 students in public schools have been subjected to unwanted sexual attention. During the Globe investigation, Pearson Brooke acknowledged that it had settled a sexual misconduct lawsuit involving a teacher who worked at the school from 1984–89 and had inappropriate relations with at least two teenage boys.