Mountain Peril

FOUR

An hour later Jack paused outside Jeff Newman’s office. The door was cracked open just enough for Jack to hear inside. He listened for Danielle, but he could only make out Nathan Webster’s voice. “I can’t believe this has happened. A student murdered? We’ll be lucky if we have any applications for next year’s freshman class.”

“We’ll have time to worry about that after we’ve faced this latest crisis. Now’s not the time to discuss next fall,” Jeff Newman replied.

“Maybe not for you, but it’s my family’s endowment that’s on the line here. Who’d want to come to a school that can’t even protect its students? You’d better be thinking of some way to counter all the bad press we’re going to get over this.”

A chair scraped on the floor. “Don’t worry, Nathan. I will.”

Jack raised his fist and knocked. To his surprise Danielle flung the door open. Tears streaked her face. He cleared his throat and looked past her to Nathan and Jeff. “Excuse me. I hope I’m not interrupting.”

Jeff and Nathan turned to face him as Jack walked into the room. Nathan stepped forward. “Come in, Detective Denton. Do you have any news for us?”

Jack shook his head. “I wanted to tell you we won’t release Tricia’s name until we’ve notified her parents. I thought you would probably want to talk to them, too. I’ll be back in touch in the morning to answer any questions you might have.”

Nathan frowned. “Will you have the killer by then?”

Jack shook his head. “I don’t know, but I’ll do everything I can to assure Tricia’s parents that I won’t rest until he is found.”

Jeff sank down in his desk chair and raised a shaking hand to his forehead. “I can’t believe this is happening again. Do you think it’s the same murderer?”

Jack shrugged. “We don’t know at this point. It could be, or it could be a copycat who saw the Web site.”

A groan came from Danielle’s direction. “Oh, why did Tricia and Flynn get mixed up in this horrible situation?”

Jack glanced around, and his eyes widened at the paleness of her face. She needed to get out of there. “My partner’s gone to bring Flynn Carter to the station. I need to get down there, too, but I’ll come back tomorrow.” Jack turned to Danielle. “Dr. Tyler, you look like this ordeal has gotten to you. Why don’t I take you home?”

Nathan’s lips parted, and his eyebrows arched. “Don’t you have your car, Danielle?”

Before she could answer, Jack took her by the arm. “We were at dinner when she got Flynn’s call.”

What Jack interpreted as disapproving looks flashed across Nathan and Jack’s faces. Before they could say anything, he steered Danielle out of the room and down the hall. At the building’s entrance, he pushed the front door open and stood back for her to exit.

“Thank you,” she murmured as she walked outside.

The forlorn hoot of an owl from the distant hills matched the mood that hung over them as he walked beside Danielle to where she’d parked his car. He could almost feel the grief radiating from her body at this latest tragedy, and he felt helpless. Policemen weren’t supposed to become emotionally involved in their cases. Although he’d never let anyone know it, he hadn’t learned how not to care about those affected by violent crime.

They stopped at the car, and he opened the door. She looked up at him. The tears in her eyes shimmered in the glow from the inside light. Her lips trembled. “Thank you for all your help tonight.”

He jammed his hands into his pocket. “Just doing my job.”

She started to get in the car, but she turned back to him. “It really hit me on the way back from Laurel Falls. Tricia is dead. Just like Jennifer and Stan.”

He frowned. “Stan?”

“My fiancé.”

“Oh, I didn’t know his name. I’m sorry.”

“Stan,” she whispered. “Stan Winters. He was a wonderful man.”

She looked so vulnerable standing there in the parking lot shadows. A cold wind blew from the distant mountains, and she shivered. The urge to put a protective arm around her shoulders washed over him, and he shoved his hands deeper in his pockets. “Let’s get out of here. After all, there is a killer loose.”

Her forehead wrinkled, and her gaze darted across the lit area. “And he could be watching us right now.” She moved closer to him. “I thought you had to go to the station.”

“I’ll go after I see you safely home.”

She smiled. “Thanks.”

Jack waited for her to get inside before he closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. As they pulled out of the parking lot, he turned up the radio, adjusted the heater and tried to concentrate on anything but the woman sitting next to him. It was no use.

As bad as tonight was for her, tomorrow might be worse. He wondered how she would react when she found out that a text message on Tricia’s phone asking her to meet him at Laurel Falls had been sent from the phone Flynn said he lost.

The concern Jack felt for Danielle Tyler surprised him. He’d sworn he would never get involved with another woman, and he’d worked hard to perfect the image of a man with no feelings. It scared him to think she might make him want to change his mind.

Danielle studied the streetlights as they drove toward her house. Their beams cut through the interior of Jack’s car and cast a protective glow through the interior. Jack’s presence beside her comforted her. She didn’t want to go home alone. A sadistic killer had surfaced in Webster Falls again, but in the wake of his appearance, she’d met Jack.

Her house came into view, and she sighed with relief. Jack turned into the driveway of the small log cabin where she’d lived for three years and stopped behind her car. The fluid movements of his lean body made her heart skip a beat as he slid from the car and hurried to open her door.

He grasped her arm and helped her climb from the car. Once outside, he continued to hold her, and she leaned against him as he guided her up the steps to the front porch. His muscles rippled, and she recognized a sense of security flow through her. She hadn’t felt that in many years.

At the door he released her, and she fumbled with the key. Her hands shook so she couldn’t insert it into the lock. Jack leaned over and took the key ring from her hand. “Let me.”

In one swift move he unlocked the door and pushed it open. Uncertain what to do, she faced him. “Thanks for seeing me home.”

The security light in the yard cast a shadow across his face as he surveyed the surrounding area. “You don’t have any close neighbors.”

“No. That’s what I liked about this place. It’s private.”

He glanced inside the house and back across the dark yard. “I’m wondering if it’s safe for you to be here.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “Why?”

He frowned. “Two people close to you have been killed.”

Fear raced through her as her gaze flitted toward the shadows around the house. “At the school you said it could be a copycat. What if it’s not? What if the person who murdered Jennifer has been here all these years?”

“That’s what I hope to find out. But for now, do you want to go to a hotel for the night?”

She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “I don’t want to be run out of my home because I’m scared. Besides I have an alarm system.” She opened her eyes and glanced into the dark house. “But I was in such a hurry this morning, I didn’t set it.”

Jack nodded toward the inside. “Want me to go in with you?”

Danielle opened her mouth to refuse. She hadn’t invited one person inside in the three years she’d lived here, but the thought of entering the house alone scared her. She pushed the door open and stepped inside. “Come on in. Do you have time for a cup of coffee?”

Jack glanced at his watch. “I have a few minutes before I told my partner I’d be at the police station.” His gaze drifted over the small living room. “This is nice.”

Danielle turned and smiled. “Come on in the kitchen.”

He followed her and sat without speaking at the table while she bustled about trying not to look at him. Suddenly, she felt like a high-school girl desperately wanting to impress her date, but Jack wasn’t here because of a date. He wanted to protect her.

When she filled his cup, he looked up her and smiled. “Thanks.”

She smiled at the sound of his soft voice. “I really appreciate you coming in with me. I don’t think I could have entered this house by myself.”

He nodded. “You’ve had a rough day.”

“Yeah.”

He leaned forward, his eyes staring into hers. “Are you sure about staying here?”

She realized he would leave soon. She’d be alone. What if the killer knew her? A lump of fear rose in her throat. “I—I think so.”

They drank in silence for a few moments. She tried to figure out what thoughts were running through his head, but his expression remained unchanged. After a moment he pulled a notepad from his pocket and wrote something, then pushed the paper across the table. “Here’s my cell phone number. Call me if you need someone.”

Relief flowed through her. Tears welled in her eyes. “Thank you. I don’t mind telling you Tricia’s murder has me scared.”

His gaze locked with hers, and his eyes softened. Pushing his cup away, he stood. “I’d better be going.”

Danielle nodded and followed him to the front door. They reached for the knob at the same time, their fingers touching. He jerked his hand away, and she opened the door. “Thank you again, Jack.”

He exhaled. “I’d better go.” He stared at her for a moment, then nodded. “Good night, Danielle. Sleep well.”

She closed the door and leaned against it. Her life had taken a detour since this morning. One of Webster’s most promising students had been murdered, and her school was once again plunged into a horrible nightmare.

Only time would tell if Tricia’s murder was related to Jennifer’s. At the present time there was no concrete evidence to believe it was, but something told her a killer had returned.

Danielle’s breath puffed a vapor mist as she stepped onto the front porch the next morning. It seemed chillier than usual, but she hadn’t felt warm since she’d stood in the parking lot at Laurel Falls the night before. She pulled the key from the locked door and turned toward the steps just as a car stopped at the curb.

A smile creased her lips at the sight of Jack crawling from behind the wheel. He walked toward her as she descended the steps. Stopping a few feet away, he smiled. “Thought I’d check to see how you made it last night.”

His eyes looked tired, and the stubble of a beard showed on his face. “Have you been up all night?”

He chuckled. “Yeah. Just left the station.”

“What about Flynn? How is he?”

Jack shook his head. “Not good. One of the officers drove him back to the dorm last night. We were afraid for him to drive himself because he was so upset.”

Even as angry as she’d been at Flynn over the Web site, she knew Tricia’s death must have been devastating. “I’ll check on him when I get to school. But first, would you like a cup of coffee? There’s some in the kitchen.”

He shook his head and glanced at his watch. “I’m going home to shower, then I have to get back to work. I’ll come out to the school later. I want to look through Tricia’s room. See if I can find anything that might point to the murderer.”

“Do you need my help?”

“Yeah. I’ll call before I come. Now I’d better get going.”

Danielle followed him to his car and stood behind him as he pulled the door open. Before he got into the car, he turned and faced her. “Watch your step today. Be suspicious of everybody around you. Don’t trust anybody.”

A tremor rippled from her legs and swelled as it traveled upward. She swayed toward Jack, and his steadying hand clamped on her arm. Ten years ago with her parents on tour in Europe, she’d faced her friend’s death alone. Perhaps this time would be different.

She took a deep breath and straightened. “Thank you. I’ll remember your advice.”

He stared at her for a moment before he released his hold. “I’ll see you later.”

Danielle watched his car disappear in the distance before she headed for her Jeep. She’d put off leaving for school long enough. She couldn’t ignore her responsibilities there, but today she wished she could go somewhere other than Webster. Jack’s words had left her wondering what secrets might be hidden inside the walled campus.

FIVE

Danielle tossed her briefcase onto her desk and dropped down in her chair. Most mornings she couldn’t wait to get to her office and begin the day’s work. Not today.

The usual happy mood of the students had disappeared. The atmosphere on the campus hung heavy with a veil of fear. The few students she’d encountered on her way from the parking lot walked in groups of twos or threes and cast glances over their shoulders as they headed from one building to another.

She wondered if Jeff had come in yet, but she had no idea how late he and Nathan had stayed. Jeff, who usually was the first one to arrive in the mornings, had probably been at his desk for hours. She pushed up from her chair and strode from her office toward his.

Betty, Jeff’s assistant, wasn’t at her desk when Danielle stepped into the president’s reception area. Just as she started to knock on his office door a voice startled her.

“He’s not in there.”

Danielle whirled to see Landon Morse, conductor of the school orchestra, standing in the entrance behind her. She sighed in relief. “You scared me.”

Landon leaned against the doorjamb. His rumpled suit looked like it hadn’t been pressed in weeks, and the bow tie he always wore was missing. “Sorry. Just thought I’d save you the trouble of knocking. I saw Betty in the dining room. She said Jeff would be back at nine o’clock and wanted to meet with the faculty advisory board then.”

That meant she and Landon would join Jeff and Nathan to discuss the events of the night. “All right.” Danielle took a step back toward him. “Did she say where Jeff went?”

Landon shifted the backpack he carried in one hand to the other. “He went to Nathan’s office.”

Danielle’s eyes widened. “Oh, Nathan’s already here? He never gets here this early.” Then she frowned, closed her eyes and put her hand to her forehead. “But this isn’t like most mornings.”

Landon shook his head. “No, it isn’t. Too bad about Tricia. It’s just like when we were students and Jennifer was killed.”

A slight tremor prickled her skin. What was it about Landon that made her uneasy? Maybe she remembered how he’d stayed to himself while they were students and didn’t seem to want any company. Why he’d decided in the last few months to seek out her friendship, she didn’t know.

Danielle shuddered. “It’s too much like Jennifer’s murder.”

“Yeah. Brings back some bad memories, doesn’t it?”

Danielle bit her lip and nodded.

“I’ve left several messages on your answering machine, but you haven’t returned my calls.”

She frowned. “I’ve been busy. Sorry. Is there something you wanted?”

He shook his head. “I just wanted to ask you out.”

She walked toward him, but he didn’t move. Was he deliberately blocking her exit from the room? “Landon, I’m sorry. You know how I feel.”

“Yeah, but don’t you think you’ve used your fiancé’s death as an excuse long enough?”

Danielle drew back from him in shock. “That isn’t for you to decide. Now please let me pass.”

He stared at her without moving. “There is one more thing.”

“What?”

“The Christmas Fundraiser Reception. I’ll get my students’ performance information for the program to you before the day’s over so you can get it to the printer.”

Danielle gasped. “This isn’t the morning to be thinking about that. We’ve had a student murdered.”

Landon chuckled. “Tell that to Jeff and Nathan. I’d already had calls from both of them this morning about our meeting before I saw Betty. They want to make sure the plans for the fundraiser don’t get lost in the middle of a murder investigation.”

Danielle could only stare at Landon. After a moment he moved aside, and she hurried past him into the hall. As she entered her office, she glanced over her shoulder, but he wasn’t following. She breathed a sigh of relief.

She closed the office door and walked to her desk. Stopping, she stared in confusion at what lay before her. A single red rose with a white ribbon tied around its stem lay next to her computer. A sealed envelope lay next to it.

She slid her letter opener underneath the flap, pulled the card out, and blinked in surprise at the ornate calligraphy that adorned the page. She held the note closer and read—You have sent light into the darkness of my heart.

The words sent a chill down her spine. As she stared at the note, her hands began to shake. She’d received a rose the morning after Jennifer’s death. There was no card with that one, and at the time she’d assumed it was left by a fellow student. Suddenly the air in the room chilled, and she shivered. Ten years ago she’d felt an evil presence on Webster’s campus. Try as she might, she couldn’t rid herself of the feeling it had returned.

At nine o’clock Nathan, Jeff and Landon rose from their seats as Danielle walked into Jeff’s office. Nathan, fatigue lining his face, pointed to the chair next to him. “Sit here, Danielle.”

The kind tone of his voice poured over her and eased the ache in her heart. She smiled at him and took the offered seat. “Thank you.”

He settled next to her and sighed. “We’re all having trouble dealing with what happened last night. Perhaps the police will have some news for us today.”

Danielle turned in her chair to face him. “Detective Denton came by my house this morning. He’d been at the station all night, but he said an officer brought Flynn back to campus.”

Nathan’s eyes grew wide, and he stared at her. “The detective visited you at home?”

Danielle’s face warmed, and she laced her fingers in her lap. “He only wanted to see how I felt.”

Nathan cleared his throat. “That seems strange. You hardly know the man.”

Danielle gasped and shrank back in her chair. “He was kind enough to make sure my house was safe last night and to check on me this morning. I appreciate his interest.”

Nathan pursed his lips. “Well, when you put it that way, I suppose you’re right.” Waving his hand in dismissal, he glanced toward Jeff. “Why don’t we get on with the reason for this meeting?”

Jeff cleared his throat and shuffled some papers on his desk. “Before we do, I think you should know that Detective Denton called and said he was coming to search Tricia’s room. Security locked it last night, and no one has entered it since her death.”

Danielle nodded. “She didn’t have a roommate, did she?”

“No, so everything should be just as she left it. Detective Denton said that since you’re Dean of Students, he’d like you to accompany him there.”

“I’ll be glad to go with him.”

Jeff smiled. “Good. Betty will give you the key to the room.” He hesitated for a moment and glanced at each of them. “The past twenty-four hours have been difficult for all of us at the school. Nathan and I have talked with Tricia’s parents. They’re flying into Asheville today. We plan to meet them at the airport and drive them here.”

Danielle reached for a tissue in her pocket and wiped at the tears pooling in her eyes. “That’s kind of you. I’m sure the Petersons will appreciate anything we can do to make this ordeal easier for them.”

Nathan leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. “We’ve also talked with Flynn Carter. He’s all too willing to take the Web site down now, and we’ve decided to let him stay in school.”

Danielle breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you came to this decision. I think he’s going to need all of us to get through this.”

Nathan’s expression softened, and he looked at Danielle. “I know everyone here thinks I’m an ogre, but I feel such responsibility to my family to make this school a success. However, I don’t want to lose sight of the people who help to make the school what it is. I’m truly grieved over Tricia Peterson’s death and don’t want to cause Flynn any more remorse than he probably already feels. Also, Jeff and I plan to do everything in our power to help the police find the killer.”

“I’m sure we’ll all be relieved when the police know something.”

He nodded. “We’ve dismissed classes for the week, and many of the students have already left campus. There are counselors available for any who stayed and feel the need to talk.”

“That’s very wise. I’ll work with them to make sure the students’ needs are met.”

Nathan cleared his throat. “I’m sure you’re going to help us get through this difficult time. However, in the meantime we have to think about the school. It’s imperative that when we resume classes next week the students feel they’ve returned to a safe and unchanged environment.”

“So what do we need to do?” For the first time Landon spoke up. He’d been so quiet Danielle had almost forgotten he was in the room.

Nathan turned his attention to Landon. “We as a staff have to renew our efforts to continue the traditions we’ve begun.”

Landon nodded. “I’ll do everything I can to make that happen, Nathan.”

“Good.” Nathan stared at him for a moment before he glanced back to Danielle. “We have to make sure this year’s fundraiser is the biggest and best we’ve ever had. I’m depending on you to see that it is.”

She pushed up out of her seat. “I thought we were coming here to talk about Tricia’s death and how we need to deal with our students’ reactions to it. Not the money we expect to raise this year.”

Nathan rose and reached for her hand. “Please understand, Danielle. If this school falls short in contributions this year, we may see reductions in programs and staff terminations. I, for one, don’t want that to happen. We have to do everything in our power to make it appear that nothing has changed here at Webster. And one way to do that is to assure our donors that their money is going to a stable program. I need you to make sure that’s the message we give at the annual fundraiser.”

Nathan’s words held a plea for help. He’d been there for her many times in the past, and she couldn’t refuse his request. “I’ve loved Webster ever since I entered as a student, and it means even more to me now. I’ll do everything I can to make sure this year’s fundraiser is the best one ever.”

Nathan squeezed her hand, released it and smiled. “Thank you, Danielle. I knew we could count on you.”

Danielle glanced at Landon. A wry smile pulled at his lips. The idea of having to work with him filled her with repulsion, but she would do it for Nathan. She backed away. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my office.”

She hurried from the room and stopped at Betty’s desk in the outer office. “I need the key to Tricia’s room.”

Betty pulled her glasses off and wiped at the tears in her eyes. She held out the key to Danielle. “If there’s anything I can do for you, let me know.”