A Simple Suburban Murder by Mark Richard Zubro Page A

son of a bitch," she said.
    "I know," I said. "I wanted to ask you about the money situation again. Phil confirmed what you said about the swings back and forth. He said his dad was strapped for money lately. Had you heard anything about recent financial problems?"
    "No word on lack of money. Doesn't mean he wasn't though. Phil didn't know why he was broke?"
    "He said he didn't. I believe him. I wonder why it kept going up and down. There aren't a lot of ways for teachers on the job to make or lose lots of money."
    Meg said, "As for extra money, I know he didn't have an outside job. And he didn't pick up any new extracurricular duties this year, I don't think. Let me check. I've got a master schedule here somewhere." She rummaged quickly through her files, pulled out a salmon-colored form. She ran her eyes down the list. "Nope, he isn't down for any of them."
    "How would he lose money?"
    "I don't know," she answered.
    "Or how would he gain it?"
    "That's just as tough. In a school there are very few ways to pocket cash. Oh, you can skim tiny bits of money here and there. Steal a pencil, or a paper clip for instance, but I don't see anyone with an illicit black market in Magic Markers. Makes no sense, there's no real profit in it."
    "You're right," I said.
    "You know," she said thoughtfully, "I've heard where you can skim money from athletic events. There was some scandal about that a few years ago in some northwest suburb."
    "How does that work?"
    "I can't swear to this, but I think I remember it right. You make sure you're the one to count the money after a sporting event. You under report the size of the crowd and skim a bundle off the top."
    "Don't they have people checking?"
    "You would think so. I have no idea how our system works here, who counts it, who checks the counters. As far as I know, Evans had absolutely nothing to do with any part of the athletic program." She perused the master schedule. "He has no coaching responsibilities listed here."
    "It doesn't sound promising, but I'll have to check it out later." I felt discouraged. "Is there any other way he could get cash around here?"
    "Not that I can think of. There simply aren't that many opportunities in a school for significant stealing."
    It had to be something outside school. The chances of my discovering what were dim.
    Meg fiddled with a deck of cards on her desk.
    "Catch those today?" I asked.
    "Yes, yon should see the collection I've built over the years. I could keep Las Vegas supplied into the next century." She gave an uncharacteristic yelp. "That's it!" she exclaimed.
    "What is?"
    "Gambling."
    "Evans gambled?" I gave her a doubting look.
    "It's quite possible."
    "At school?"
    "You're so naive. The math department for years has run a gambling operation. They set up a system on one of their computers. I hear it's quite sophisticated. If it's a sports statistic, it's in their program. They have it figured for every sport in every season."
    "Do they bet significant amounts of money?"
    "I don't know. I always figured it was small time. You'll have to ask them."
    "How did you find out about it?"
    "How do I find anything out? I listen."
    "Could Evans have been involved heavily enough to make and lose large sums?"
    "That could solve the riddle of the wild swings in cash he had."
    "It's definitely something worth exploring. I'll talk to Vance again."
    She glanced into the library. "Sorry to rush you, but Sylvester's out in the hall. I'll keep thinking and let you know if I come up with anything else."
    "Thanks, you've been a big help."
    We left her office. Sylvester stood by the desk talking to the parent volunteer. He eyed us suspiciously. Without skipping a beat Meg picked up a stack of nearby books, handed them to me, and said, "Here are the books of plays you request for your script-writing unit. I'm glad we could help you."
    I thanked her again and left.
    After school I asked one of the other teachers to check in on my tutoring students. I didn't think