Jocelyn frowned. “What do you mean, ‘that was Becky’?”
McMaisch took her hand away from the phone and let it rest on the table. “Becky was very . . . defiant. She hated, more than anything, to be told what to do. Well, except maybe being told no. She never, ever took no for an answer. She was like a force of nature that way. It always seemed so insane to me that something as simple as a bee sting killed her.”
“How did the coach take her death?” Jocelyn asked.
McMaisch leaned back in her chair and rolled her eyes, looking instantly like a seventeen-year-old girl. “Oh my God, Coach Rigo. He was never the same after that. I mean she practically died in his arms, and if what Becky said was true—” she stopped abruptly, as if she just remembered who she was talking to.
Jocelyn and Anita exchanged a look.
Pay dirt, Jocelyn thought. “What did Becky say, Ms. McMaisch?”
The woman shifted in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. Her cheeks turned pink. “Look, I don’t think—I mean I don’t know—it was just talk.”
“You can tell us, Jordan,” Anita said softly. “It’s just us girls here.”
McMaisch hesitated, her eyes cast downward. “Becky said that she and Coach Rigo were . . . involved.”
“Like having an affair?” Jocelyn asked.
“Well, she never said that. She just—well, she had a crush on him. We all did. I mean he was young and hot and the nicest teacher we had. Becky was into him, but I’m really not sure if she liked him, or if he was just something for her to . . .” she trailed off, searching for the right word. Then she said, “Conquer.”
“He was a conquest?” Jocelyn prompted.
McMaisch nodded. “Becky was like that. Plus, we had this really popular friend who was seeing an older guy—like, a married guy—and it kind of became a competition to see who could get an older guy. Becky decided to go after Coach Rigo.”
“Did she succeed?” Jocelyn asked.
“I really don’t know. She never said for sure. She just hinted at it.”
“In what way?”
McMaisch blushed again. “Well, there were rumors that Coach couldn’t, you know, get it up. One of our friends overheard one of the English teachers telling the school secretary that he was impotent. So one day we were all talking about boys and men and Becky said the rumors about Coach weren’t true. I asked her if she’d slept with him, and she said something like, ‘a girl doesn’t kiss and tell.’ That’s what made me think she hadn’t been with him because if she had, I think she would’ve bragged about it. She was like that. But then she died right in front of our eyes.”
She wiped away a tear before it slid down her cheek.
“How about the EpiPen that was used?” Jocelyn asked. “Did it fail?”
“No,” McMaisch said emphatically. “The EpiPen was fine. There was nothing wrong with it. Believe me, they checked all that.”
“They?” Anita said.
“School administration. Even the police were brought in. It was a huge deal. But the pen wasn’t expired or faulty or anything. The nurse gave it the right way. The reason Becky died was because it took too long for her to get to it. She went into cardiac arrest from the anaphylaxis, and her airway was closed. Did you know that it only takes six minutes for an adult to suffocate? Coach ran as fast as he could, but she was a goner even before he made it to the nurse’s office. If she hadn’t left her EpiPen in her locker, or if they required Coach to carry one onto the field, she would have lived. They changed school policy after that. They stopped keeping them locked up in the nurse’s office and made the coaches keep them on the field.”
“That must have been tough on the coach,” Jocelyn said.
McMaisch wiped away another tear. Her fingers returned to her phone, pushing it from side to side on the surface of the desk. “Oh my God, he was wrecked after that. Just totally wrecked. He couldn’t even coach the rest of the year. They had one of the other teachers do it. Our whole class was devastated. The whole school.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, Miss McMaisch,” Jocelyn said. She stood, smoothed her slacks, and offered the young woman a sympathetic smile. “Thank you for taking the time to speak with us.”
McMaisch’s tears were coming faster now. She wiped them away as quickly as she could. Jocelyn felt a pang of guilt for having made her relive the whole thing. The woman stood and smiled bravely, ready to walk them out. “It’s no problem, really. Was I any help?”
Jocelyn glanced at Anita, who wore a grim smile. She nodded almost imperceptibly.
“Yes,” both women said in unison.
Chapter 22
November 14, 2014
From where she was parked, three houses down from the Rigos,’ Jocelyn watched Trent approach her car. He strolled right past the Rigos’ house, hands in his jacket pockets, lips pursed like he was whistling. His breath came out in a cloud of white. The temperature had dropped suddenly and significantly in the last day or two. Jocelyn toggled the heat knob in her Explorer, turning it up another notch. The vehicle still smelled faintly of Knox’s vomit, in spite of the mass quantities of air fresheners she’d stashed beneath the seats. She unlocked the doors as Trent drew closer.
He climbed in, blew on his cupped hands, put them up to the air vent and said, “Tell me about Becky Wu.”
No greetings, no pleasantries. It was a cop thing. Get right to the point. Discard everything not important and get to the crux of a matter. It had taken Jocelyn a while after her retirement to break the habit. No wonder she didn’t make fast friends with any of those damn pre-K moms.
“In 2005, she was a senior at Franklin West. She was a star on Cash Rigo’s track team. Anita and I spoke with an old classmate. Evidently, Wu had a crush on Rigo. The classmate says Wu hinted that there might have been a sexual relationship between her and Rigo. Anyway, Wu was out on the field one day, warming up, and she was stung by a couple of bees.”
Trent turned and looked at her, an incredulous look on his face. “Bees, Rush? You’re coming at me with bees?”
Jocelyn rolled her eyes. “I know, I know. Just listen. She was allergic to them. Started swelling up right away. Her airway closed, and she went into cardiac arrest. Rigo carried her to the nurse’s office. Francine gave Wu the EpiPen, but it was too late. Becky Wu died in Cash’s arms.”
Trent bit the inside of his cheek. “Okay,” he said slowly. “Any chance Rigo sicced a bunch of killer bees on this girl?”
“No. It was legit. An accident. Twenty people saw the bees sting her. The EpiPen was not faulty and hadn’t been tampered with. The school changed its policy on EpiPens after that. Made the coaches carry them, keep them on the field.”
“What’s this got to do with Sydney Adams?”
Jocelyn made a sound of frustration, something between a heavy sigh and a growl. Trent raised a brow at her. She motioned to the Rigos’ house as she spoke. “It’s got nothing to do with Sydney Adams’ murder, but it’s something. Something we can use to get under this guy’s skin while he’s still vulnerable.”
Trent shook his head. “I don’t follow.”
“The idea was to put pressure on this asshole. Make him feel like the walls are closing in, like he might as well get it over with and confess because it’s only a matter of time before we—well, you—come for him.”