Kent Conwell - Tony Boudreaux 06 - Extracurricular Murder Read Online Free Page B

students standing shoulder-to-shoulder
waiting to see either Birnam or one of the assistant principals.
    The girls must have taken their fashion tips from the goodtime girls who strutted up and down Sixth Street, nose rings
and all. The boys, well, the kindest thing to say about them was
they probably couldn’t even spell fashion.
    We halted at a closed door. His secretary tapped, cracked it
open, stuck her head inside, and then pushed the door wide.
“Please come in, Mr. Boudreaux.”
    Howard Birnam came around the desk with a warm smile on
his face. He extended his hand. “Glad to meet you, Mr.
Boudreaux. Personally, I’m extremely pleased you’re here.
Maybe you can solve this mess.” He indicated a chair across the
desk from him. He continued, explaining how the unsolved
murder had created unnecessary tension among the faculty,
how the students were experiencing difficulty in putting it
behind them, and how in general, the incident had disrupted the
routine at Safford High School.
    “I’m going to give it my best shot, Mr. Birnam.”

    He grinned and leaned back. “The name’s Howard. And I’m
at your disposal at any time, day or night.”
    “Mine’s Tony.”
    He slid a sheet of paper across the desk. “Here’s a roster of
our teachers. If you want, we can set up appointments throughout the day. We’ll handle it however you want.”
    I pulled a slip from my jacket and handed it to Birnam.
“These are the ones I need to see first.”
    He read off their names. “Kim Nally, Perry Jacobs, Dorothy
Saussy, Harper Weems, Jim Hawkins, Henry Bishop, Lionel
Portis and the hall monitors.” When he finished, he looked at
me with a quizzical expression on his face.
    I chuckled. “Those were the names on the police report,
Howard. I’d like to see them today, if I can.”
    “No problem.” He picked up the telephone and punched a
number. “Mrs. Thomas. Please line up meetings with the following teachers during their conference period with Mr.
Boudreaux in the ARD room.”
    He read off the list, nodded as she repeated his instruction,
then replaced the receiver and pushed back from his desk.
“Now, let me show you to the ARD room.”
    I stopped him. “Before we go, tell me about Holderman. Did
you know him very well?”
    Half raised from his chair, he hesitated, then plopped back
down. “Only at school. He was an ambitious man. I was surprised he stayed as long as he did. From time to time, he
polarized the school board, but he always got his contract
extended.”
    I jotted the information on my note cards. “Any enemies?”
    The square-jawed principal shook his head. “He was tough,
but he was fair. Oh, he might have had some personality conflicts with various teachers, but I got along with him fine. I’ve
been at a loss as to why he was murdered.”
    Nodding to the list I had given him, I asked, “You hear any
talk about those names?”

    “Yeah.” He arched an eyebrow. “Just talk though. Nothing
substantive as far as I’m concerned.”
    “Oh?”
    He leaned forward. “Let me put it this way, Tony. Every
teacher on that list does me an excellent job. None have given
me any reason to believe any of the rumors. Now, some of the
gossip might be true, but if it is, I don’t know of it “
    I studied him for a few seconds. His level gaze, his faint
smile reinforced my belief that he was telling me the truth as he
saw it. “One more question.”
    “Shoot.”
    “Why hall monitors? And a sign-in sheet for PTA meetings
at night? I taught English at Madison High over in Austin. We
never had any sign-in sheets. We just showed up when we were
supposed to.”
    He gave me a wry grin. “That’s how it used to be here until
George Holderman arrived. George wanted to know everything
that went on in the district. He and I agreed on the monitors to
control the kids running the halls while their parents were at
various meetings in the building. The other, the sign-in