A Murder of Crows by Jan Dunlap

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    She pointed her finger towards the door and the hallway beyond. “He’s resting in Lenzen’s office. I’m guessing our fearless leader is reminding our assembly presenter that the school is not legally liable for any injuries he may have sustained when he was attacked by a student who thought he was a rooster defending the coop. Especially since the hypnotist was the one who caused said student to think he was a rooster.”
    “We have insurance like that?” Boo asked.
    “Oh, yeah,” I assured him. “It’s in the fine print of the school policy.”
    Katy laughed. “I bet you it will be now, if it wasn’t before. I think Lenzen has the school district lawyer on speed dial. Speaking of which,” she added, turning to me. “I heard you found another body. Are you trying to give Lenzen a heart attack, or what?”
    “Ah, I see that Officer Rick has made the rounds,” I replied.
    I turned to Boo and gave him a look loaded with warning. “Do not trust our school police officer with anything you don’t want to be made public,” I cautioned him. “The man has a mouth the size of the Mississippi.”
    Boo was silent for a moment, obviously registering my unspoken message that I was aware of his secret identity.
    “Okay,” he slowly agreed. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”
    Satisfied that Katy and Boo had the situation under control, I returned to my office to find the big mouth himself pacing outside my door. Before I could say a word, though, he grabbed my upper arm and pulled me into my office, shutting the door quickly behind us.
    “Gina’s involved,” he blurted out.
    “With you, I know,” I told him. “I thought that was a good thing.”
    “Not with me,” he said, then shook his head. “No, I mean she is involved with me, but she’s involved with the investigation now, too, and that’s going to put me in a really awkward position, if not an impossible one.”
    He raked his fingers over his head. His anxiety rippled through the air.
    “Rick, what are you talking about? What’s going on?”
    “Sonny Delite,” he said. “The murder investigation. Gina’s involved.”
     
     

Chapter Eight
     
    “Gina Knorsen? Our child development teacher?”
    Rick dropped into my visitor’s chair. “Yes, Gina. Our child development teacher. The love of my life.”
    “The love of your life? Aren’t you moving a little fast here, Stud?” I asked him. “Yesterday she was the ‘I’ve got a feeling about her’ woman, and today she’s the love of your life?”
    He gave me a look of pure despair. “Bob, Gina was the last person Sonny Delite called before he died.”
    I let out a low whistle and dropped into my own chair behind my desk. “Well, that’s … not good,” I finished lamely.
    “Not good? We’re talking terrible, Bob,” Rick corrected me. “I walked back to her classroom with her after the assembly broke up, and when we got there, there was a detective waiting to talk with her. I said he could say whatever he wanted in front of me, but when he told Gina they’d found her phone number on Sonny’s cell, and that the call was made at 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning, I excused myself from the conversation.”
    “Conflict of interest?” I suggested.
    “Conflict of everything, I’m afraid,” he moaned. “Sonny called her at 2:00 a.m.? I didn’t know she even knew Sonny, let alone that she was on his 2 a.m. call list. Gina’s not a birder, Bob. Sonny wasn’t phoning to give her a birding tip, I’m pretty sure. So why was he calling her?”
    “Did you ask her?”
    Rick stood back up and paced the few steps to my closed door.
    “I will,” he assured me. “As soon as the detective is gone. I was at Gina’s house on Saturday night and I didn’t get home until 3:00 a.m., which means Sonny’s call came in while I was there. She must have seen it after I left.”
    He slapped both of his palms on the door and leaned his head against the wood. “She knows I was at the