Creedmore laughed. “Serves her right, the stupid bitch.”
“You know,” Mak said, fixing Creedmore with a deadpan stare, “it kind of looks like someone is deliberately harassing her. And that dumpster fire looks like arson.”
“So that’s what this is about? You think I’m messing with her? Forget it. I’ve got better things to do with my time.”
Makarowicz abruptly changed tack. “What do you think happened to Lanier Ragan?”
“How should I know?” Creedmore shot back. “I was just a kid. Ask her husband.”
“Oh, I will,” Mak said easily. “Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you saw Lanier Ragan?”
“I think we’re done here. I’ve got an appointment to get to.” Creedmore went to the front door and yanked it open.
33
Twenty Questions
The caller ID screen said “Unknown Caller.” He picked up. “Makarowicz.”
It was a woman’s voice. “Detective Makarowicz? This is Deborah Logenbuhl, you left a private message on my Facebook page, asking me to call? I worked with Lanier Ragan at St. Mary’s Academy.”
“Yes. Thanks for getting back to me,” Mak said.
“I was wondering if someone from the police would contact me,” she said. “I saw on the news that Lanier’s billfold was found in that house out on Tybee. I even thought of calling you myself, but I didn’t want to be one of those crackpots calling the cops with some crazy conspiracy theory.”
“Okay if I record our conversation?”
“Yes, I guess that would be all right.”
He tapped the record button on the phone.
“I understand you were close with Lanier Ragan?”
“We were dear friends,” she said. “Her classroom was next to mine. Lanier was a bright light. It was a huge shock when she disappeared. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten over it.”
“At the time, what did you think happened to her? Did she ever discuss the idea of leaving her husband? Or going away?”
“Going away? No,” Deborah said.
“Was she unhappy? At home, or at work?”
The drama teacher considered the question. “I only realized it after she disappeared, but something was definitely going on with her that fall. She’d changed.”
“How so?”
“She was … sort of closed off. Preoccupied, you might say. That fall, Lanier was always scurrying away to a meeting, or a conference, or a tutoring session. In the past, we’d meet up Saturday mornings for coffee, but she no-showed me a couple of times. The last time I saw her was at the faculty Christmas party. She was wearing one of those silly headbands with felt reindeer antlers, and a red foam nose. I went into labor the next morning.”
“You said she did tutoring sessions?”
“Yeah. Lanier was tutoring some of our girls, prepping them for their SATs, and I know Frank had her tutoring some of the boys on the football team. Between that and Emma and the house, it was a lot, you know? And Frank wasn’t around, because it was football season.”
“Did she complain about Frank? Was the marriage okay?”
“She didn’t have to complain. I saw it for myself. He expected her to be the perfect little wifey. Cook, clean, take care of Emma, help out her sick mom, plus be a saint in the kitchen and a slut in the bedroom.”
“I take it you weren’t a fan of Frank Ragan?”
“Hardly.”
“Could he have had something to do with her disappearance?”
“Possibly. But I went into labor six weeks early, the week before Christmas, and I had a sick preemie in the ICU at Memorial. That time is just a blur to me now.”
“But your baby was okay, right?”
“He’s a high school senior, six inches taller than me.”
“I’m glad,” Mak said. “You said Lanier was tutoring some of Frank’s players?”
“Two or three,” Deborah said. “Big dumb lugs who didn’t know a past participle from a forward pass.”
“Do you remember the names of any of the guys she tutored? The football players?”
“Is it important?”
“It might be. We had a tip, that Lanier had been having an affair with a high schooler.”
The drama teacher made a sound like the air escaping from a half-deflated balloon. “Ohhh.”
“It might not be true,” Mak admitted.
“I guess it’s not that far-fetched an idea. Lanier was young—ten years younger than me, and she got so involved with the girls and their lives. Maybe too involved. So yeah, I guess it could have been one of the football players. But I wouldn’t remember any of their names.”