The teacher with the students looked suspiciously at Kerney when he entered the room. A tall woman with long arms and legs, she detached herself from the group and approached Kerney quickly.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
The chatter at the table stopped and the girls, some holding infants, withdrew to a circle of chairs at the back of the room.
"I'd like to speak to Addie Randall," Kerney said quietly, displaying his credentials.
The teacher's expression remained unfriendly.
"That's not possible. We're in the middle of class."
During his years as a detective, Kerney had found that teachers on their own turf were difficult to deal with. Most didn't like cops, and they jealously guarded their home ground and their students.
"I won't take much of her time," he said.
"And I do need to see her now." He emphasized the last word.
" I have the principal's permission."
Appealing to a higher authority, even if it was a lie, won the woman over. She nodded curtly and motioned for a girl to join her. Addie Randall moved slowly toward the teacher. She was a tall, slim girl made wide hipped and heavy by pregnancy. Her long-sleeved pullover top had baby emblazoned on it with an arrow pointing toward her belly. A pair of loose, floppy pants draped over the extra thirty pounds of her last trimester. No more than sixteen, she had wheat-colored hair, fair skin, brown eyes, and a worried look on her face.
"What is it?" Addie asked uneasily.
"This police officer needs to talk to you."
"I don't want to talk to him," Addie said, avoiding Kerney's gaze.
"You can talk to me unofficially now, or officially with your parents present," Kerney replied.
"It's your decision to make."
Addie shifted her weight.
"I haven't done anything wrong."
"No, you haven't," Kerney said.
"I just need to ask you a few questions about somebody else."
"Who?" she asked suspiciously, drawing back.
"Can we talk outside? Or would you rather take a drive with me back to Mountainair?"
Addie acquiesced quickly.
"I'll talk to you."
In the empty corridor, Addie stood with her hands resting on the top of her belly. Her eyes had a frosty, wary look.
"When is the baby due?"
"Soon."
"Are you going to keep it?"
"Maybe," Addie answered halfheartedly. She looked behind her to see if the hallway was still empty. It was.
"What did you want to ask me?"
Kerney brushed off her question and continued, "If you keep the baby, how will you support it?"
Addie's expression tightened.
"It's none of your business what I do with my baby."
"The adoption agency will want to know about the baby's father."
She gave Kerney a fretful look that quickly disappeared.
"They can't make me do that if I don't know" "Were you raped?" Kerney asked.
Addie didn't flinch at the question.
"I'm going back to class now," she said, moving away.
Kerney touched her lightly on the shoulder to hold her back.
"Addie."
"What is it?"
"Talk to me. Tell me what happened. Let me help you."
She grimaced, her eyes empty of emotion.
"It's too late for that."
"Were you in Mountainair the night Paul Gillespie was murdered?"
"No. I've been living in Socorro since March and I haven't been back there since I left. I don't care if I never go back."
"Do you know Robert Cordova?"
"Sure. Everybody in Mountainair knows him. Why?"
"He told me you made him promise to keep a secret."
Addie shook her head.
"Not me. I don't think I've ever said anything to him in my entire life. He's too weird. What secret?"
"I was hoping you could tell me."
She shook her head emphatically.
"Sorry. Can I go back to class now?"
"Sure. Thanks for talking to me."
Kerney watched Addie return to her class. In spite of her unhappy predicament, the girl had spunk. He had reviewed every felony case handled by the Mountainair Police Department during the six months preceding Gillespie's death and no rapes had been reported. Had the girl been sexually assaulted by a stranger? Was it a date rape that didn't get reported? Perhaps she hadn't been raped at all but was simply covering up to protect the unborn child's father.
Kerney didn't have a dear picture, but one thing was certain: Addie was holding something back.
The bell announcing the end of the period rang and he waded through a tide of noisy teenagers who burst out of the classrooms and filled the hallway. He went back to the administration office to find out where Addie lived. She was staying with Verdie Mae McNutt, her great-aunt.
He dedded to pay Verdie Mae a visit. therb was no answer to Kerney's knock at Verdie Mae's door, but a four-door older Plymouth, without a dent or ding, sat under the carport. A thick band of fast moving clouds covered the sun, and the cold afternoon air cut through Kerney's windbreaker. He zipped it up and walked to the backyard. The back porch had been converted into a greenhouse, and inside an elderly woman dressed in faded coveralls dug with a trowel in a raised planting bed.
Kerney knocked on a window and the woman glanced up with a startled look, got to her feet, stepped to the door, and opened it cautiously.
She was thin, with slightly stooped shoulders and a heavily lined face that showed the wear of a good eight decades.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Are you Mrs. McNutt?" Kerney asked, showing his badge.
"I am."
Kerney introduced himself.
"I'd like a few minutes of your time."
Verdie Mae let Kerney in and closed the door quickly behind him. She gestured at two Srickley oak chairs in the center of the greenhouse, positioned to look out at a birdbath, some feeders hanging in the trees, and birdhouses on posts that stood in the middle of me backyard.
"Have a seat," Verdie Mae said.
"I was just about to stop puttering. Is there some problem in the neighborhood?"
"I came to ask you about Addie," Kerney replied as he sat down. The greenhouse was uncomfortably warm. Verdie Mae didn't seem to mind it at all. He unzipped his jacket and looked around. The planting beds and pots on the brick floor were filled with herbs, flowers, and vegetables. Verdie Mae was a serious gardener.
Verdie Mae put the trowel in a basket, removed her gloves, and joined him.
"Is something wrong with Addie?" she asked.
"She's fine. I just spoke with her. I'd like to know a little more about her."
"For what purpose?" Verdie Mae asked, with the look of a woman not easily intimidated.
Kerney decided to see if he could get a reaction out of Verdie Mae.
"Was Addie raped?"
Verdie Mae responded with an exasperated sigh.
"That's why you're here. I don't know. She refuses to discuss it."
"What do you think?"
"I've known Addie all her life. She's a brainy girl with a lot of gumption and ambition. I don't think she would willingly put herself in this predicament."
"Does Addie stay in contact with her family and friends in Mountainair?"
"Not really. Her parents aren't coping very well with the situation, and Addie won't talk to them about it."
"Is she writing to anyone?"
"No."
"Has she had any visitors from back home?"
Verdie Mae hesitated.
"Just one. Nita Lassiter came to visit."
"When was that?"
"Two months ago."
"Tell me about Nita Lassiter."
Verdie Mac's expression turned guarded.
"What are you trying to discover?"
"The name of the man who raped Addie."
Verdie Mae nodded her head in agreement.
"I'd try to shake the name out of that girl if I thought it would do any good. Nita might know, if anyone does."
"Why do you say that?"