Chapter 29

“HAUL HIM IN and lock him up,” the DA said to Sheriff Moran. “Your instincts were right. Forensics says there is adequate evidence that he went to the barn intending to kill both the preacher and his wife. What’s more, we have a search warrant for paint on his car. It matches the description of the car involved in the hit and run on Saturday. The guy must have been on a tear.”

“I have a deputy watching the place. As soon as I can get another out there, we’ll bring him in. It was a grisly scene but we’ll need to do something about his livestock, too. There won’t be anyone there to tend that stinking mess. I really hate pigs.”

“Let’s get him in front of the judge in the morning and if there’s no bail, we’ll confiscate the livestock and take them to the auction yard.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The new sheriff left the DA’s office and immediately radioed the deputy watching the Conway place that he was on his way with an arrest warrant. Being called to a murder scene on New Year’s Day was not Moran’s idea of a good way to start the new year. Finding a drunk farmer blubbering over his wife’s dead body with a preacher’s body next to her was sickening. She’d been stabbed in the chest with a hayfork. The preacher had been shot in the chest four times and once in the head. The pitchfork was still firmly grasped in the preacher’s hands, but it just didn’t look right to Moran. A shotgun lay nearby. He’d called in forensics immediately and they agreed. If the preacher had been holding the pitchfork, there was no way he’d still have it in his hands after having been backed across the barn by five .45 caliber bullets.

Moran headed toward the Conway farm.

The cheerleaders joined Dennis in leading conditioning exercises before basketball practice Monday. Coach Griffith had the varsity team in as well as the Angelines, so there were over forty people in the gym just for the warmups. Dennis sent everyone for a five-minute water break when he ended the session and was beckoned over to speak to Coach Griffith and Coach Fisher.

“I’m really sorry Ardith is out of practice this week,” Neil Griffith said. “Are you up to this, Dennis? I could work them all with the varsity.”

“We’ve been working together all the past week, Coach. I’ve got Coach Graves’ plan for the week and they’ll take the coaching well,” Dennis said.

“Good. Pat will keep an eye on things to make sure it all looks official,” Neil said. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Yes, sir.”

The coaches turned to their own teams and split for practice. Several of the varsity players who had been unable to keep up with the exercises scowled at Dennis as they went to the other side of the divided gym. The girls had all done fine.

“Let’s start with some dribbling and shooting practice,” Dennis said to his team. “We need to get used to working on a smooth floor again.”

Practice went well and the team worked hard. He called them in for a huddle before sending them to their lockers.

“Coach says she won’t be back this week,” Dennis said. “She’s depending on us and what we’ve all learned from her to pull things together on Friday night against the Chiefs. It’s a big responsibility to be put on us by our coach. So, what are we going to do?”

“Beat ‘em!” chorused the Angelines.

“How do we do it?”

“Run run run!”

“Who are we?”

“Angelines!” There was a lot of hand slapping and cheering as they made their way to the locker room. Dennis didn’t think a thing about it when he went in with them and sat in the second aisle to start removing tape. The cheerleaders were already done for the day, so Lana set up in the first aisle to cut tape from the newer players. Pat followed them all into the locker room.

“Do you think it’s appropriate to be in the girls’ locker room, Dennis?” she demanded. “I don’t think this is what Ardith meant by taking charge.”

“This is how we usually do it, Coach,” he answered. The aisle had only his girlfriends in it, though during the last week he’d seen all the other players in the buff at their workouts.

“Mom! Please back off. We all know Dennis is over there. He’s not perving on us or infringing on our privacy,” Daphne scolded her mother. “Lana’s working in our aisle and no one cares. Some of us might even go over there to have Dennis do our tape because he’s so fast and efficient. Please don’t mess up our team dynamic!”

“Daphne! Do all of you feel this way? Do any of you feel threatened or exposed in any way?” Pat demanded.

“Only by you being in here, Coach,” Bobbie said. She was the smallest and one of the youngest freshmen on the team. “If you were helping with the tape, I wouldn’t mind, but I don’t like having someone in here just watching us.”

Pat was taken off guard by the small girl. She turned and left the locker room.

Bart Conway was denied bail in his Monday morning arraignment. The prosecutor made a solid case considering him a flight risk with two homicide charges and a hit and run charge. A court-appointed attorney represented him, but Bart had suddenly clammed up and refused to speak.

A warrant was issued for the seizure of all Bart’s livestock and the pigs were rounded up and trucked to an auction house. The Conway home was searched for further evidence, as was Brother Jules’ house. Both revealed evidence that Kristen Conway was, indeed, having an affair with Brother Jules. Members of the Disciples of the Pentecost Church quietly closed and locked the doors of the double-wide they’d been meeting in. The membership roster disappeared.

Graydon Conway, Bart’s father, was outraged at his son’s arrest. But he was even more upset about what suspicions it might cast on him. Bart was never one to keep his mouth shut. Graydon emptied his bank accounts, including the hog farm corporation he was a signer on, and left to join his brother in Arizona.

Since Iowa had no death penalty, the prosecutor stated that they would pursue the case as requiring a mandatory life imprisonment without parole. Bart Conway had seen the last of his pig farm. But unknown to any of them at the time, a teen prostitute in Arizona was carrying his child.

Misinformation travels faster in school halls than bacteria grow in a petri dish. On Tuesday morning, no one had more than bits and pieces of the story. Most agreed that Coach Graves had been involved in a hit and run auto accident and was in the hospital. In fact, she’d been released from the hospital on Monday afternoon, about the same time the Angelines were practicing. Some said the Disciples of the Pentecost Church had been closed because the preacher ran off with Mrs. Conway.

Someone had seen former Principal Conway and former cheerleader coach Lori Sanders between Christmas and New Years’. Of course, there were people who assumed Dennis had something to do with the disappearance of Brother Jules and Mrs. Conway. By Tuesday afternoon, someone had seen a tweet that Bart Conway had been arrested. The stories were twisted and several people wondered if there would still be a workout after school.

Dennis had been busy all Tuesday morning, trying to pick up any pieces of Ardith’s notes on the team that he could. He met with the coaches during his normal lunch period.

“Dennis, no one questions your ability to train the Angelines,” Coach Byers said. “Do you really think you can step into the role of coach?”

“I’m certainly not ready for a full-time job,” Dennis said. “I learn something new from each of you every day I work in the department. Coach Graves asked me to fill in for her, not to take over. I’m looking forward to her being back as soon as possible.”

“But this week? You can take care of it for this week?” Griffith said. “I slipped around the divider to watch some of your work yesterday and I found no fault with it.”

“Thank you, Coach. I think I can keep going with where Coach Graves was heading. The girls are doing as much of the work as I am. I think what is important is maintaining a consistent message so they don’t feel like they are suddenly being shifted to a new direction. They have a winning process going. I just don’t want to upset it.”

“Well-spoken. Any other comments?” Byers asked.

“I’m concerned about what goes on in the locker rooms,” Pat said. “But I haven’t found anyone among the team who is unhappy. I didn’t know the cheerleaders were also using the girls’ locker room—including the two boys.”

“We don’t have enough locker rooms to provide appropriate space for everyone,” Byers said. “Whoever expected that there would be boys on the cheerleading squad? Janet, do you see any problems?”

“I’ve been in and out of the locker room with the girls and the cheerleaders. Doc and Fred are circumspect. They’re not flashing the girls or perving on them. I’d say neither would be welcome or even safe in the boys’ locker room and should stay where they are. The team has effectively split into three sections in the locker room. The cheerleaders dress in the farthest aisle of lockers. Last year’s Angelines dress in the middle row. The newer members dress in the first row. The cheerleaders are all comfortable having Doc and Fred with them as part of their team. The senior Angelines are all comfortable with Dennis working with them. The younger or newer girls on the team are well cared-for by Lana. And I must say, Lana has been as much the cheerleaders’ team manager as Dennis is for the Angelines. They love her.”

“Okay, Dennis, we need to make a statement regarding how practice is conducted and what your role is. Pat, it’s kind of you to be on the spot with the basketball team while Ardith is laid up, but we all knew when we interviewed you that basketball isn’t your sport. So, I’m going to officially recognize Dennis as Student Assistant Coach of the Angelines. Ardith can remove that designation when she returns if she sees fit. I’ll announce it to the workout session this afternoon,” Byers said. The coaches nodded and congratulated a very surprised Dennis.

“The rapid expansion of our athletic program here at Bartley High School has left us with a few growing pains,” Byers said to the hundred assembled students before their workout. “Specifically, we’re short on assistants and when something unexpected comes up, like having Coach Graves in the hospital, we find ourselves scrambling to cover all the bases. Coach Torvalds and I are working with the wrestlers and sometimes Coach Torvalds will run down to help Coach Griffith with the varsity basketball team. Coach Andy is tied up with the JV team. Coach Wilson and Coach Lambert are dealing with the new boys’ and girls’ junior high basketball teams. Coach Mills has all she can handle coaching the cheerleaders—who are doing an outstanding job both at the games and assisting here for conditioning exercises.” There were some cheers from those assembled.