The Murder Blog

Chapter 4

'Miss Sage, could you please describe what you saw this morning as you entered the pool?'

Cami sat on a hard-backed chair in the school counselor's office, facing the Oakridge chief of police. Officer Connolly was in his forties and had a rugged, suntanned face. He spoke with a slight drawl, hinting at his Southern roots, and smelled faintly of tobacco.

'Um-' Cami said, hesitating.

'Take your time,' officer Connolly said, giving her a reassuring smile.

Cami nodded. 'Right.' She thought for a long moment, forcing herself to focus. Her mind had been all over the place ever since that morning. She tried to remember what exactly had happened. Everything had been a blur from the moment Leah Swanson's body had been recovered from the water - two police vans and an ambulance had arrived within minutes and all of the students present had been sent to the main building to see the school counselor - everyone excepting Avery, who had been whisked away by Coach Douglas to wait until her parents arrived.

'Miss Sage?' Officer Connolly said gently, shaking Cami out of her reverie.

'Yeah,' Cami responded quickly, 'I'm sorry. I was in the girls' locker room when we heard someone scream.'

Officer Connolly nodded. 'Go on.'

'I was the first to head over to the pool, to find out what happened. When I got there, I saw Jill. She was standing at the edge of the pool. She turned round when I called her name, but she didn't answer me. That's when I saw the -'

Cami stopped. She'd been about to say the body. Heat flooded her cheeks. Not the body, she reprimanded herself. Leah.

'Right,' Officer Connolly said, seeming to understand anyway.

'Then the others started coming in and Coach Douglas came out of her office. She wanted to know what was going on. One of the guys - Carter- he jumped into the pool to get her. Coach Douglas tried to revive her, but it was too late. Someone must have called the police in the meantime, because before I knew it, they were filing into the pool and sending us out. I never saw what happened to - to Leah.'

Officer Connolly nodded. 'I'm very sorry, Miss Sage. That must have been very hard for you to witness. However, I do have some additional questions for you. I noticed you're not on the swim team?' He said, rifling through a set of papers in front of him.

'I'm not,' Cami said. 'I drove Avery to swim practice and decided to watch, since school wouldn't start for another hour.'

'Right.' Officer Connolly made a note on his notepad, then looked up again. 'From what I've heard, Miss Swanson - Leah - was also on the swim team. I'm assuming she was supposed to be at practice too, this morning. Did any of you see her, before finding her in the pool?'

Cami shook her head. 'No. She wasn't there.'

'Right. And your friend, Avery, she didn't mention anything in particular about having seen her sister before she left for practice?'

'Avery stayed at my place, so she wouldn't have. I think she said Leah was supposed to have stayed over at Jill's - didn't you question her, too? She was the first on the scene, right?'

Officer Connolly smiled ruefully. 'Miss Anderson is currently being tended to by the school nurse and school counselor. She appears to have gone into shock.'

Cami grimaced. Poor Jill.

'Did you notice anything else, anything odd, when you arrived in the pool - before any of the others got there?'

Cami thought hard. Had there been anything? Finally, she shook her head.

'Not that I can think of.'

'But the swim coach, Mrs. Douglas, she was already in her office?'

Cami frowned. 'I - I think so. Why, do you think she may have had something to do with it?'

Officer Connolly leaned back in his chair. 'At this point, we're just trying to get all the facts, Miss Sage.'

'But someone did kill her,' Cami said. It wasn't a question.

Officer Connolly frowned. 'Well, it's much too early to jump to conclusions. We don't really know what happened.'

'Well, she didn't drown on accident, did she?' Cami said, pursing her lips. 'Someone murdered her.'

'We'll have to wait on the mortuary report before we can make any conclusions,' Officer Connolly said brusquely. 'That will be all, Miss Sage. You may leave.'

Cami stood, her chair scraping over the linoleum floor of the office. She stared down at the officer in bewilderment. Why wouldn't he just admit Leah had been murdered? Or was that against protocol? She grabbed her bag from the floor and headed for the door, then turned around.

'Officer?'

Officer Connolly looked up from his notes. 'Yes?'

'Has anyone contacted Chris yet?'

Something passed over officer Connolly's expression at the mention of his son's name - worry, maybe.

'He was Leah's boyfriend, wasn't he?' Cami added.

Officer Connolly nodded slowly. 'Yes,' he said. 'Yes, of course. Thank you, Miss Sage.'