NANCY BILLINGS WAS in her late thirties, with light blonde hair, a carefree manner, and a nose ring. When she met them at the Starbucks she was dressed in jeans and a wool sweater. They ordered coffees and sat at a back table.
Decker said, “Just wondering, can you wear nose rings while being a teacher at a Catholic school?”
“No. I just wear it in my off hours. Still pretty strict in parochial school. For teachers and students.”
“So what can you tell us about Anne Berkshire?” asked Jamison.
“What do you exactly want to know? I mean, I was stunned to hear what happened to her.”
“Did you two talk, interact?”
“We did. She substituted for me a number of times. I was sick some, had to attend some teacher training, and a couple of other times I had to go out of state to help my mom. My dad has dementia.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Jamison.
“Anne was very good, stuck to the lesson plans, knew her way around the classroom. I never heard any complaints.”
“But you did interact?” said Decker.
“Yeah. I would meet with her after she taught my classes. She’d fill me in on what had happened, things like that. We also went out for coffee a few times. I think I was the only sort of friend she had. I mean, she never talked about anyone else in her life.”
“What did you two talk about?”
“Well, I did most of the talking, come to think of it. Anne was quiet. I can’t even tell you if she had family living. I mean, she never talked about stuff like that.”
“She must have said something.”
“The kids. The lessons. The state of education in America.”
“What did she think of that?” asked Jamison.
Billings frowned. “She wasn’t a big fan, to tell the truth. She thought the kids had it too easy. Had too much stuff.”
“Did you know she lived in a million-dollar condo and drove a Mercedes-Benz 600?”
Billings’s astonished expression answered for her. “What? I had no idea. I thought she was as poor as me. I mean, she never said.”
“What else?”
“My kids would tell me that she was very strict and wouldn’t tolerate any horseplay. I mean, that’s not a bad thing in a high school. The kids can get out of hand pretty quickly if you let them take advantage. But Anne seemed to have a way about her that commanded respect.”
“What would she teach?”
“Math. She had a really good grasp of it. I teach algebra and calculus too. And I think I’m pretty good. That was my degree in college. But I have to admit that Anne was far superior to me in the field. The kids would tell me that she could easily work out problems on the board that she’d never even seen before. And she was never stumped for an answer for any question they might have. In fact, Anne had helped me on some lesson plans and shown me a few shortcuts with some of the formulas. I just assumed that she was a math major too.”
Jamison said, “We’re not sure. Her résumé said computers, but that may not be true.”
“What do you mean may not be true?” asked Billings.
Decker said, “She may not be who she said she was. In fact, it’s pretty clear she wasn’t.”
“I don’t understand. Then who was she?”
“That’s the $64,000 question,” said Decker. “Did she ever speak a foreign language in front of you?”
Billings looked alarmed. “A foreign language? Like what language?”
“Let’s leave it at anything other than English.”
“No. Although sometimes it seemed that I could detect a little bit of an accent that I couldn’t place. My boyfriend was raised in Germany and he has an accent. That’s probably why I picked up on it. Are you saying Anne wasn’t American?”
“We’re not sure,” said Jamison.
“Anything you can remember that seemed out of the ordinary?” asked Decker.
Billings looked confused. “Compared to what?”
“Just anything she said that seemed out of character.”
Billings drank her coffee and thought about it. “Well, I’m sure it’s not important.”
“It could be.”
“We were sitting in my class one morning. She had come in early to fill me in on a test she had done while I was out. The kids weren’t in yet.”
“Okay.”
“She’d finished, but hadn’t gotten up to leave. As a rule, when Anne was done, she was done. She’d just get up and leave. I mean without saying anything. Not just with me, but with other teachers too. I don’t think she meant to be rude, that was just a quirk she had.”
“Really?” said Jamison, staring dead at Decker. “Wow, who would have thought?”
Decker ignored her look and said, “But this time she didn’t leave?”
“No. She was sitting there just staring off into space. I asked her if anything was the matter. She said no. Then I started telling her about my old boyfriend. I don’t know why, but I’d gotten an email from him after not hearing a word from the idiot for two years. I was complaining about him to Anne, but really just talking to myself. I remember saying that I really thought he was the one, you know. The guy I’d walk down the aisle with. Right?”
Decker didn’t react to this, but Jamison said, “Yeah, I know exactly what you’re talking about.”
“So then I said that after four years together I thought I really knew Phil, but turns out I didn’t know him at all.”
After Billings stopped talking, Decker said, “And then what?”
“Oh, and that’s when she said it.”
“Said what?”
Billings looked at each of them before answering. “She said that the exact same thing had happened to her.”
Decker said, “That she thought she knew someone but turns out she didn’t?”
“Yes. And that’s when she got up and left, without a word, like usual.”
“When was this?” asked Decker sharply.
“Two weeks ago today. I remember because the test was the final one for the quarter.”
Billings looked at Decker. “Is that important?” she asked.
When Decker didn’t answer, Jamison said, “Yes, it’s very important.”
Decker got up and walked out without a word.
Billings looked at Jamison and said, “I guess you have one of those on your hands too.”
Jamison smiled, stood, and said, “Good with the bad. If we need anything else, we’ll be in touch. Thanks.”