All Dead

Amanda caught the bus back out to her apartment. She put everything on the desk. She plugged in the laptop and started it. She opened Quickbooks first and plugged in everything she and Izzy had done since signing the lease on this building. She opened the planner and made notes on the days when rent was due, when she needed to renew the business license and definitely the days she had already set to do her first lecture series. Then she traded the planner for the call log. She recorded Vicky's call—name, number, reason for call, and action taken.

Then she pulled out her Master Herbalist Class phone list. She started at the top and called each one, listing them in the call log. Many of the numbers had been disconnected. A few she was told had died several months to almost a year ago. Why hadn't she heard about this? Did that mean that all the numbers that had been disconnected meant they were all dead, too? If so, why wasn't anything being done about these killings? Did the police seriously think these were all suicides? Amanda shook her head. There had to be another explanation. She called the school next.

"The office is now closed," a recording said.

Amanda hung up the phone. She'd call first thing in the morning. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. She turned off the laptop and stored it in one of the lower desk drawers so it was out of sight. The planner and call log, she stood against the cubbies that would soon hold lecture notes and sign-in sheets. Then she stacked her empty book boxes together. She locked the main door, made sure she had her phone, and carried the empty boxes upstairs. She stored the empty boxes in her closet on top of the one she didn't unpack.

She sat in the opposite corner of her closet and tried hard not to cry. Was her entire class really dead? How? Why? Were other classes dead to? She cried silently for a little while, taking deep breaths the whole time. Eventually, she managed to relax marginally and she fell asleep.

Amanda woke to the apartment door opening. She was stiff from sleeping curled in her closet all night. She crawled out of her closet and entered the bathroom. She showered and dressed then grabbed her notebook. It contained the outlines she and Izzy had started putting together for their lecture series. Amanda entered the office. She pulled out the laptop and turned in on. While she waited for it to boot up, Taylor came down from the apartment with smoothies.

"Do you always get to work without eating first?" he asked, setting one next to her.

"Only when I'm troubled," she replied.

"Troubled?"

Amanda reached for the call log, her long sleeves pulling back from her wrist enough to expose the bandage around them.

"Is that what I think it is?" Taylor asked.

"And what do you think it is?" she replied.

She filled in the school's information before turning to Taylor.

"Did you try to commit suicide?"

"No." She picked up her phone and called the school.

Taylor glanced at his watch.

"We'll talk later. You need to get to work," she said. Then she turned to her phone when they picked up.

"Thank you for calling the School of Natural Healing. This is Barbara. How may I help you?"

"Hello, Barbara. This is Amanda Onyx. I…."

"John!" she shouted. "One moment, Amanda."

"Okay."

"You're sure," Taylor said, grabbing her attention for another moment.

"Yes."

Taylor hesitated before leaving.

"Amanda?" Headmaster John Write asked picking up the phone.

"Yes, John. It's me."

He sighed. "You didn't try to commit suicide two days ago."

"No. But that didn't keep someone else from trying."

John was quiet for a moment. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, I think someone tried to kill me."

He didn't respond.

"John?"

"I'm still here, Amanda. …How soon can you come to the school?"

"An hour?"

"Great. Be safe."

"Always."

Amanda hung up the phone, made her note about talking with John, but not about her trip to Springville. She grabbed her purse, her keys, her phone, and locked the building. She caught the bus down to Springville. It took about 45 minutes with all the stops leaving West Valley and the few stops in Lehi and Provo. Exactly how long has this been going on? Why hadn't the police corroborated on this? How soon before the next Master Herbalist committed "suicide"?

She hoped that by coming to the School of Natural Healing that she could find some answers to her questions. The ride was uneventful and snow was beginning to fall. The windows quickly fogged up. When she got off the bus in Springville, it was quite. Too quite it seemed. The usual traffic was reduced to only a few cars. Amanda made her way to the school. Once inside she was pulled upstairs to John's office.

"Thank you for coming down, Amanda," he said..

"Anything to get the answers I need," she replied.

"You and me both."

"How long has this been going on, John?"

He covered his face with his hands and sighed. He scrubbed his eyes then dropped his hands in his lap. "Longer than I care to say."

"How have the police not caught on to this?"

"Different jurisdictions. Different countries even."

"Why haven't you taken this to the police?"

"I did when it started. They didn't believe me."

"And now?"

He sighed again. He stood and opened a filing cabinet. He pulled out a very thick folder and handed it to her. "Maybe you can convince them when I couldn't."

Amanda gave the folder a quick flip through. Then she closed it and looked back at John. "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Sure, anything."

"Can I have contact lists for the classes after 2005?"

"No."

"But you said..."

"I know what I said, Amanda, and I will not have you planting thoughts and scaring the class of 2006."

"John, maybe by contacting them, we can get the deaths to stop."

He sat down looking like a beaten and worn down old man. "I can't," he whispered.

"Please, John. You may be able to put a stop to all this madness."

Then reluctantly, from his desk, he pulled out a copy of the Master Herbalist class of 2006, 2007, and 2008 contact list.

"Thank you, John. Umm, one more question before I go. Is this happening with other herbal schools?"

He shook his head, but didn't look her in the eye.

She gave him a hug. "Thank you," she said before she left.

She took the bus back to West Valley. On the way she started flipping through the pages. Obituaries for each of the students was stapled by their respective name with the date. It was the same number day every month. Same day Izzy died. Same day someone tried to kill her by slicing her wrists. Amanda didn't get much further in her exploration than that. She tucked the folder away then climbed off at her stop. She entered the office and sat at the desk. At first she didn't know what she wanted to do. Did she barrel into the folder John gave her? Or did she set it aside so she was ready for her first lecture series in three weeks?

Amanda decided to continue her preparations for her first lecture series. She could go through the files tonight. Hopefully find something in the information John gave her to present to the police to get them to pay attention. Until then, she needed to do everything in her power to get her business going. She worked through lunch. She didn't stop to eat. She had found a good flow and needed to stay in it. By the time Taylor returned, Amanda had the presentations for her first three classes done.

"Have you been here the whole time?" he asked.

"No. I've done other things."

"Other things?"

Amanda nodded.

She saved her work then put the laptop away. She needed to find food now. Her stomach had been growling at her for the last few hours and she was starting to feel a little nauseated. Amanda grabbed the folder and the notebook with the class outlines in it and started for the stairs. Taylor locked the door then followed her up to the apartment. She put her things in her room before entering the kitchen.

"Are you going to tell me what those other things are?" he asked.

"Not in this moment," she replied. "How was work?"

"Fine. It'll be nice when I can work with you full time."

"That would be nice. Have you thought about where you want to start in being able to make that happen?"

"Not a lot. I wanted to talk with you. Kind of get to know what you and Izzy have been able to do, what you are doing…. Maybe help out until I know how to help build the business with you."

"We've done a lot in small group settings. Fairs, mini classes in health food stores. We only really have one consistent client. And we… well, I… only see her once a month."

"Does she have a name?"

"Yes. And once I have her permission to share it with you, I will."

"When do you see her?"

"In about two weeks."

"Alright," Taylor said. "Anything I can do to help you with your herbal classes?"

"Have you taught before?" Amanda asked.

"Not…. No."

"Then I want you to attend my classes and take notes. I will ask for your input from time to time so you can get experience on being seen as an expert."

"Sounds fair."