Page 27 of Go Under

“What actions?” Kate asked.

Irving leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “You know, she never said. Like I said, it was odd. She seemed to truly hate Nora Smith. But whenever I or anyone else pressed her for a reason, she only replied, ‘She knows’.”

“So, what was the lie?”

Irving ran his hands through his hair again. “I wasn’t witness to any of this, but word got around through the staff that Donna was spreading rumors about Nora.”

“What sort of rumors?”

“Rumors that her family were drug dealers. That she was… inappropriate with boys. That they were criminals, and anyone who spent time around her was in danger.”

Marcus tried not to despise the victims of the killers he hunted, but his blood rose at that piece of news. “How was the situation resolved?”

“Well, needless to say, the Smith parents were irate. They complained to the school board alleging racism and discrimination. I forgot to mention that the Smiths were African American.”

“I see,” Kate said.

“But we had so many African American students. I never saw Donna behave this way to any of the others.”

“So, Nora was special.”

“She was. And to this day, I never understood why.”

“So how did they resolve it?” Marcus pressed.

“Well, Donna was brought to a meeting with the principal at the time and the superintendent of the school board. She was so angry. I’ve never in my life seen her so angry. She was trembling with rage. For the first thirty minutes, she refused even to look at Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It wasn’t until the superintendent threatened to petition for the revocation of her educator’s license that Donna finally gave in.”

“And you were present for this meeting?” Kate asked.

“I was. She selected me as her peer advocate.”

“And you were willing to do this despite her treatment of Nora Smith?”

He smiled bitterly. “I was young. I thought that I could convince the board to give Donna a second chance and convince Donna to give Nora a second chance. I was right about the board. I was wrong about Donna. She agreed to stop persecuting Nora, then turned to the parents and said, ‘For the sake of my other students, I’ll stop reminding Nora who she is. For the sake of the world, you and your family should exile yourselves from society and live like the outcasts you would be if God truly cared.’”

“Jesus,” Marcus whispered.

“I remember it to this day. Donna was never so—pardon my use of the word in this context—eloquent. I’ll never forget the way she shook as she spoke with that family.”

“And she never told you why she hated them so much?”

“Never,” Irving replied. “To the day of her death, she never said. I think it offended her that she had to say it. I think it offended her that everyone else didn’t feel the same way, didn’t even understand why they should feel that way. She put on a veneer of toughness, but at her core, I believe Donna was very fragile. She viewed life as very unfair, and whatever punishment she felt the Smiths deserved, their avoidance of it struck her as the most egregiously unfair act of a cruel and capricious God.”

He fell silent, looking between the two agents. His brows were furrowed now, his lips drawn down in a deep scowl. No doubt recalling the darkest act of his friend’s life had cast a shadow over his own mind.

“Well, the Smiths received their punishment,” he said eventually. “Donna kept her promise and never again spoke so cruelly to Nora, but the Smiths were shunned by the other parents and by the local church. From what I understand, the pastor even asked that they stop attending. Nora never made friends, and the other children picked up the cruelty where Donna left off. The Smiths left the school and the state after that semester.”

He sighed heavily. “I believe there was good in Donna, real good. Even kindness in her own way. But she so hated the Smiths.”

Marcus looked at Kate. Kate shook her head briefly and got to her feet, signaling the end of the interview. Marcus stood and handed Irving a card. “If you think of anything else, call me.”

Irving took the card and replied, “I sincerely hope, agent, that nothing else comes to mind.”

“I don’t blame you.”

The parking lot was empty save for their rental. Kate called Darnell and asked him to reference the name Smith against Gerald Mace’s court records and identify anyone with a daughter named Nora.

Marcus drove them back to Philadelphia, his heart a little dimmer after their conversation with the principal. He thought of Nora Smith, a shy, young, innocent girl scorned by everyone she met for a crime that her accuser wouldn’t even specify. He wondered where Nora was now and if she’d ever recovered from the cruelty she’d suffered.