Without Mercy - Lisa Jackson [99]
“And Mrs. Lynch, she’s a part of this?” Jules asked, thinking of the angry conversation she’d overheard between the reverend and his wife.
“Oh, of course.” Charla’s face lost a little of its animation, but her smile returned, as if on cue. “Mrs. Lynch’s father, Radnor Stanton, was a major investor in Blue Rock Academy. He was a philanthropist. An entrepreneur. Made his fortune in shipping, I think.” She waved a gloved hand, as if Stanton’s occupation was of no consequence.
But it explained the mansion in Seattle. “I take it he’s passed on?”
“Ten years ago and it’s too bad,” she said. “He was a good man. Far-sighted, like the reverend.”
“And maybe Reverend McAllister?” Jules prompted.
Charla sighed. “He’s…different. The board of directors wanted to have someone more youthful on the staff, I guess, and he was available, but he believes the students should, you know”—she made air quotes—“do their own thing. Have their own personal relationship with God. He seems to disdain order and doctrine.” She slid Jules a look. “As I said, different.”
“I know what you mean. Nontraditional.”
“That’s one way of looking at it.”
“But the two ministers, they work well together?”
“Reverend Lynch says ‘there are many paths to God.’”
“And Mrs. Lynch agrees?”
“Cora Sue? Who knows?” Charla said hotly.
“And their marriage? How is it? What with him being here most of the time and she in Seattle.”
“It makes it easier for her,” Charla said with a trace of bitterness.
“And him. Without the wife around, well, he can…do whatever he wants.”
Charla turned horrified eyes on Jules. “Are you suggesting that Tobias would cheat on Cora Sue?” Her back was really up. “He would never do anything of the kind. He is not an adulterer.”
“And Cora Sue?”
Charla stopped dead in her tracks. “This is none of your business or mine,” she said. “Reverend Lynch is a good man! Kind, just, and and extremely forgiving…” There was a hint that she wanted to say more but thought better of it.
Jules pushed, “Even when his wife…?”
“Cora Sue isn’t as…dedicated as the reverend is.” Charla glanced sharply at Jules. Disapproval was evident in her eyes. She knew the marriage was strained and that the problem was with the reverend’s wife. She kept walking, her cheeks red with the cold.
Jules kept up and decided to test the woman even further. “I could see from my first interview that Doctor Lynch is a doctor as well as a preacher, right?”
Charla beamed again. “Double PhD. Psychology and religious studies. Extremely well educated—one of the most honored theologians on the West Coast. Absolutely dedicated to the students.”
Jules guessed the besotted secretary was stretching things a bit but said, “I knew he was a true man of God. That’s one of the reasons I took the job. Like Reverend Lynch, I’m committed to helping young people.” At least that much was true, and Charla seemed to believe her. “But there are some gaps in the curriculum I received from my predecessor, Ms. Howell.”
Charla visibly stiffened. “She’s been gone for a while. Dean Hammersley and Mr. Taggert filled in for her until you were hired. If there are gaps, you should speak with them.”
“I just thought that since you seem to be the coordinator of the entire school, you might have some idea where I’d find Ms. Howell’s class notes and detailed lesson plans.”
“I don’t know,” she said, but there was a little gleam in her eye, as if she were dying to pass on a tidbit of Blue Rock gossip. “I’m sure everything the school has is in the file you were given.”
“I got the book and the syllabus, but I thought you might give me some insight into the woman. She worked with the kids I’ll be teaching. She must have known