I had to look it up to be sure, but the High Priest in this story was Caiaphas, who seems to have been kind of a puppet of the Romans. They let the Jews keep their religion, but only if it didn't threaten the Roman regime. Caiaphas, being the religious leader, was trying to keep his people in line at a time when rebellious influences were simmering in Jerusalem. I'm sure that Caiaphas didn't believe in the divinity of Jesus, but the fact that people were calling Jesus the King of the Jews must have made him nervous.
Although there were a number of reported sightings of Jesus after his crucifixion, He did not reveal Himself to the general public, just a few close friends, and then He split for Heaven. One possible scenario is that Jesus didn't really die on the cross, but later succumbed to his wounds. Crucifixion victims commonly were left on the cross until there was no doubt about them being dead, but the soldiers were in kind of a hurry with Jesus, which is why one of them stuck Him in the side with a spear. They considered breaking His legs, just to be sure that he wasn't going anywhere, but they ultimately didn't, and allowed His body to be carried away to a tomb that had been donated by one of His friends. Caiaphas ordered the stone to be placed in the tomb entrance, and posted a guard to make sure that Jesus stayed in the tomb.
I'm not sure who Salome and Joanna were, but they are just bit players in this drama and not worth looking up. I would be surprised if it was the same Salome who caused John the Baptist to lose his head, but I suppose that its possible. The way I remembered the story, it was three women, at least two of whom were named Mary but, like I said, a certain amount of memory loss is normal at my age.
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