A Little Learning by Jane Tesh Page B

complain?”
    “Yes, we had complaints, and several parents didn’t want their children in her class. But that holds true for every single teacher in this school. Many parents liked her more structured ways and didn’t have a problem with her abrupt manner.”
    “What about the students?”
    “A few of them were scared of her, but a few are scared of Ms. Mullins, too. Amelia was a good teacher. Her students always scored very high on the end of grade tests.”
    “How many more years did she have before she retired?”
    “She was sixty-nine. She could have retired three years ago.”
    “Any idea why she kept working?”
    “Teachers don’t have to retire after thirty years if they don’t want to. I assumed she still wanted to teach.”
    But it sounded to me as if Amelia Lever hated her job. Maybe there were financial concerns. “Was she the sole support of her family?”
    “No, her sons work at one of the local clothing mills. Administrative positions, as I understand it. They took over after their father, George Lever, died in a car accident several years ago. I don’t think the Levers could be considered poor by any means.”
    “What about health issues?”
    “Aside from smoking, she seemed very healthy. She rarely took a sick day.”
    “Your teachers have a lot of little grievances against her. Did she have any serious confrontations with other faculty members that might have aggravated a heart condition?”
    “Amelia was extremely opinionated. I was often called in to mediate. Believe me, there can be enough stress in the school day to cause more than one heart attack.” He glanced at his wrist watch. “I need to talk with her class and make sure everyone’s okay. Just stop by the secretary’s desk. She’ll have a check for you. And, speaking of seriously, Ms. Maclin, I seriously hope you don’t find anything.”
    ***
    Before I left the school, I went back to the cafeteria to speak with Jacey. I asked her to tell me what had happened.
    “Mrs. Lever came out as always, lighting up her cigarette and griping about her class.”
    “And she smoked for a few minutes and then fell over?”
    “She went pale and clutched at her heart. Said it was beating too fast. Then she gasped real loud and collapsed. We didn’t know what to do except call for the principal.”
    “By ‘we’ you mean you and Mrs. Sigmon?”
    “Yes, Mrs. Sigmon had just come out.”
    “To smoke?”
    “No, she doesn’t smoke. She probably wanted to ask me about making some kind of dough for an art project. Beads, or something. We’d talked about it earlier.”
    “Did she say anything to Mrs. Lever?”
    “Just ‘Excuse me,’ so she could get by. Mrs. Lever took up more than her share of space. Then Mrs. Lever started carrying on, and when she fell, I didn’t know what to do. Mrs. Sigmon told me to call Mister Murphy while she started CPR.”
    “You called from where?”
    “There’s a phone just inside the door there. It’s usually Mrs. Lever and me this time of day, but it’s not like we were big buddies or anything. She never really talked to me. She just complained about her kids.”
    “Did she ever have trouble breathing, or seem disoriented?”
    “Just this one time. Kinda surprising when you figure she smoked whenever she could get the chance.”
    “So as far as you know, this was the first time she really had some difficulty?”
    Jacey nodded. “Mean as she was, I sure didn’t like to see her like that, though.”
    When the dismissal bell rang, I watched from the cafeteria as the students streamed out of their classrooms and out the doors. Mrs. Lever’s class was led by Mrs. Dorman. The children did not seem upset. They laughed and jostled each other as they bounded up the hall. Mrs. Dorman had the same pale strained expression she’d worn when she came to announce the bad news. I wanted to talk to her, but when I got outside, she was surrounded by students, all eagerly trying to get onto busses. I decided to