by Lori Ryan
Ronan and some of the others nodded.
“But why the change in the lipstick and posing?” the balding guy put in.
The dark-haired detective nodded. “Hutch is right.” Ah, the balding guy is Hutch, no wait, the captain had said Hutchison, so Hutch must be a nickname. Zach made a mental note. He should have paid attention during the intros. The dark-haired guy kept talking. “Something’s distinctly different and age doesn’t really account for that. The look of the girl is wrong, too. Our guy liked blondes.”
“The lipstick,” Shauna said almost under her breath, as though going through each difference. “Maybe he’s got a tremor in his hands. It’s possible he can’t apply the lipstick the same way.” Shauna kept her eyes on the board. Zach couldn’t help but wonder if Shauna was the least bit thrown by his presence.
He was sure as hell thrown by hers. He wanted to call time out and talk to her. Find out how she’d been and what was new in her world. He knew through the grapevine she’d been married and divorced since they’d been together. He’d heard the ex was a real piece of work, but she hadn’t put up with it. She’d left him quickly and moved on.
She didn’t seem the least bit interested in him. She shook her head. “But that doesn’t account for the lack of posing. Even with a tremor, you could place hands across a chest and arrange a body, I’d think.” She looked like she was seeing the scene play out in her head. Like she was putting herself in the footsteps of the killer.
A dangerous move. A person could lose themselves doing that too much. But Shauna was committed to her work. It wasn’t a job for her. It was a passion. A calling.
“Something’s changed him.” Hutch’s expression was speculative and Zach wondered how many years he had under his belt. The cold case team had to be relentless to do this job. Relentless, patient, and willing to take a lot of disappointment. Cold cases were as tough as they came, where witnesses moved away or forgot things, evidence was often long gone, lost or deteriorated. It was a hard job.
“A stint in prison, a stay in a mental institution—” one of the other investigators offered, listing things that could pull a killer off the streets for a time.
“A long one,” Ronan said receiving head nods and murmurs in response.
Shauna’s face showed the depth of her thoughts as she scanned the photos before them again and again. She was damned good at her job. “Maybe an injury? Something that’s kept him confined, too weak to act?”
“And after thirty years of that, he’s up and around?” Hutch asked.
Shauna pulled a face and nodded. The theory was far-fetched, but it demonstrated that they needed to be thinking outside the box for this one. Whatever was going on, Zach had a feeling they were only at the start of it.
“An apprentice? Something kept our guy out of commission, but now he’s groomed an apprentice?” One of the others offered. “Killing vicariously.”
All eyes looked to Hutch and Shauna who now stood side-by-side for their opinion. Zach felt both a mixture of pride that the team clearly respected her opinion as much as that of Hutch, an investigator of some experience—and jealousy that the two looked like they might work together like a well-oiled machine. They each nodded thoughtfully in the way partners who didn’t need words any longer might communicate.
Zach didn’t even know if Hutch and Shauna were partners. Even if they were, being jealous of that fact was ridiculous.
“Has your medical examiner begun the autopsy yet?” Shauna asked, turning to look at Zach with those blue eyes.
“She was starting it as we were leaving.”
“Can you call and make sure she’s going to look for date rape drugs?” Shauna asked.
Zach nodded and pulled his phone from his pocket to text Dr. Kane’s assistant so he could get the message to her. He knew what Shauna was thinking. If their suspect was weakened in some way physically, it would make sense he’d needed a way to control Adrienne.
Cullis broke up the speculation. “Hutchinson, Cantor, Ross, and Manigault, you guys start pouring through records. Cover prisons, hospitals, look into any accidents on record at the time of the last killing thirty years ago that might have taken our guy out of commission. Check mental institutions.” The list brought a collective groan from the investigators. “Jameson and Wasser, you two comb through the physical evidence and then get it over to the lab for any updated testing they can provide. The last time this case was reviewed was over ten years back. See what’s changed. Maybe they’ve got new technology that can give us a leg up.”
The two nodded then grabbed two boxes off a nearby table and moved down the row of desks to the other side of the room to begin.
“O’Rourke, you’re assigned to the New Haven precinct to work directly with Cafferty and Reynolds for now.” Zach tried to read anything in Shauna’s expression as she nodded in response to the instruction, but she was completely unreadable. Nothing but a professional façade.
Shit, it had been years since they’d been together. Why the hell did he think she’d feel anything for him?
Maybe because he still felt something for her?
“All right, guys. Get to it. This killer has too much practice under his belt for my liking. It’s time to run him to ground and get him off the streets.”
Chapter Four
To say Shauna was frustrated would be putting it mildly. No. She was good and ticked, but it was herself she was aiming her anger at. Being around Zach Reynolds had that effect on her. Because after all this time, despite knowing full well what an ass he was, she was still attracted to him. To the point of distraction.
She wasn’t a fool, though—hence, the frustration. Every minute with him was a repeat of a loop. She’d forget to be on guard and begin to think about him. This was followed by the sudden realization she was doing it again. She’d follow this up with determination to focus on the job, and voila! Frustration and anger with herself mounted.
For his part, he seemed determined to get under her skin. He’d been holding car doors for her and offered to take her backpack when they’d walked into the precinct together earlier. She tried to shoot him the kind of look designed to quell that sort of behavior, but he’d just grinned and shrugged like she should be grateful for the attention. Asshole.
She fixed on the campus, now, as they entered the grounds of Elmhurst Academy. Anything was better than focusing on the man in the passenger seat. Zach Reynolds was one of those men whose presence took over whatever space he was in. Her SUV had been the best car for accommodating her, Ronan, and Zach for the trip to the academy, but despite its size, it wasn’t nearly big enough to offset the feelings he induced whenever he was near her.
Still, there was no way she was going there again with this man. Been there, done that. If there was one thing Shauna wasn’t, it was foolish. She didn’t do things like repeat mistakes of the past. So, instead, she shut out the testosterone coming in waves from the man beside her and looked at the school grounds.
A mile-long paved drive brought them onto the grounds, and a large stone sign announced that they had arrived at Elmhurst Academy. The school was known for catering to Connecticut’s elite. Sure, there were a few spots for scholarship students each year, but the vast majority of the pupils came from families of wealth and a certain standing in the community that would take them places no matter how they performed in school.
Large shade trees dotted the landscape, except for the sports fields off to the right of the drive. Those, of course, were clear of trees. The white goal posts and netting on either end of each field told which sport they were designed to accommodate.
“I assume the campus has been searching for any sign of Carrie?” Shauna asked, keenly aware that this case not only dealt with the dead, but one girl who was still out there.
“Yes,” Ronan answered from the back seat. “By us, and by volunteers. Every stick of wood out there on the grounds and every room in the buildings.”
Up ahead, red brick buildings spre
ad across the property. Somehow, despite sharing the same materials as the brick buildings of most public schools, the architecture screamed prosperity and affluence. Students wandered the grounds and green landscaping ATVs carried groundskeepers as they tended to the immaculate shrubbery and flower beds.
Ronan pointed to a large building to the left as he looked up from his phone. A large white building with columns and a series of three heavy wood double doors spanning the front. “That one is where the head’s office is.”
Zach spoke up. “Andrew Carville is the head of the school. We haven’t met with him directly yet.”
Shauna shot him a look that asked why the hell not.
“Cal Rylan and Jarrod Harmon have been handling things on the campus while we handled the Athill family.” It was how their captain had wanted it. He wanted the family getting lots of face time with detectives. But screw it, Zach was done with that. He needed to be out on the streets working the case, not hamstrung in any way just because the family needed hand holding and their status made the captain want to give it to them.
A man wearing a light-yellow collared shirt and khaki pants exited one of the large wooden doors and stood on the top step, watching as they piled out of the SUV.
“That’s Carville,” Zach murmured under his breath. The photo on the campus page had shown him in a suit and tie instead of the more casual clothes he wore now, but it was the same man.
Carville glanced around before approaching and Shauna realized most of the students had slipped inside the buildings, presumably to get to classes. A few stragglers stopped to stare at them as they spoke to the head of the school.
Following quick introductions, Carville showed them to his office pausing only to introduce them to his secretary and ask that she hold his calls.
“It’s true, then? Adrienne has been murdered?”
“I’m afraid so,” Shauna answered. She knew he’d been called and informed earlier, but this reaction was fairly expected. Everyone always seemed to hold out hope there’d been some kind of error. She never could understand that. Why would the police call to tell you someone at your school, place of business, or wherever had been murdered if they weren’t one hundred percent sure of that fact?
“And Carrie? Have you located Carrie yet?” Carville led them all to a small conference table and waved a hand for them to sit as he took the position at the head of the table. The office was large, taking up at least a third of the first-floor space in the building. Its furnishings had New England charm written all over them and looked like they might be heirlooms of the school.
“No.” Zach sat back in his chair. “Were the two of them close?”
“Yes.” Carville frowned and the lines in his face became more pronounced. Shauna would put his age somewhere in his later fifties or early sixties. “They were very close. When Carrie first went missing, we questioned Adrienne very closely. We thought for sure Carrie had run off and her friends would know where she was staying. That one of them would be hiding her.” He looked to the detectives. “You don’t suppose there’s still a chance Carrie ran away?”
Zach didn’t answer. Shauna didn’t either. For his part, Ronan seemed to be happy observing and taking notes. Shauna wondered if that was typical for Zach and Ronan.
“Who else were the girls close with?” Zach asked instead of speculating on Carrie’s status.
Carville’s face seemed to fall a bit, but he answered readily enough. “Hillary Hunt and Kate Sorino.” He frowned. “Liz Gordon and she are close. Were close.”
“Anyone else?” Ronan prompted.
“She was friends with a lot of people. A popular girl.”
Shauna nodded. “That gives us a starting point. If you can get us the contact information for the three she was closest with, we’ll reach out to the parents and begin with them.”
Carville nodded. “Good, good.” He seemed a little lost, before offering. “My secretary can get you Hillary’s parents’ information. I’ve arranged for you to speak with Kate and Liz here with one of our counselors present.”
Shauna schooled her features and noticed Zach and Ronan had done the same. It wasn’t at all standard for law enforcement to interview students at school unless the matter in question related to the school or had taken place on school property. And not having the parents present during interviews set her on edge. It was asking for trouble.
“Oh? Why is that?” she asked.
“Their parents won’t be able to be present. Kate’s mother is the United States Ambassador to Oman. Kate stays in our dormitories on campus during the months her father visits Oman to be with her mother.”
“I didn’t realize you have on-campus housing.” Now it was Shauna’s turn to frown. She’d thought the school was for day students only.
“We don’t have many students that reside on campus,” Carville said. “Of our three hundred and ninety-four students, eighty-two live in the dormitories. I’ve received permission from Kate and Liz’s parents for you to speak with them with our counselor present. They trust the school to be in loco parentis in their absence.”
Zach circled back to the absent parents. “You said Liz’s parents are also unavailable. Where are they?”
“Liz’s parents travel extensively. I believe they’re currently in Nepal. She resides in the family home with a staff to see to her needs and is driven to school and home each day by a driver.” He frowned again. “No, I guess now she has her license, come to think of it. She probably drives herself.” He said all this as if it were normal for a child to live like that and Shauna didn’t bother to hide her expression this time. Who lived like that?
“Does she have siblings?” She couldn’t help but ask. How would the girl feel being left with staff all the time? Especially at a time when one friend had gone missing and another was discovered murdered?
The head of the school looked confused for a moment before answering. “If she does, they don’t attend school here.”
Shauna had to admit to being a little stunned at the lack of concern the man seemed to have for a high school girl living the way he was describing. She opened her mouth to press him on it, but Zach cut her off.
“Did Adrienne have a boyfriend?”
Carville rubbed his forehead. “I’m not sure who she’s dating now. No one serious that I’m aware of, but the teachers are more in touch with that sort of thing than I am. It seems to me that group of girls has each dated several of the hockey players.” His frown was back and Shauna wondered if the man ever smiled. Then again, they were talking about one of his students being murdered. Maybe she’d been at this job too long if she expected any smiles in this conversation.
“Kate or one of the other girls can tell you who she was seeing. But, it’s not like it used to be. These days, relationships are a little more, uh, fluid. You don’t see kids going steady any longer like we did. They, uh, hook up, I think they call it. We have to be constantly vigilant to any, uh…” He flinched and Shauna wanted to flinch herself. The man seemed so utterly uncomfortable, it made her want to squirm just watching him. She fully expected the word shenanigans to come out of his mouth, but he just let the sentence trail off instead.
Zach didn’t seem phased. “Have you had any problems on campus? Anyone around who shouldn’t be here? Anyone you’ve had to escort out lately?”
Carville shook his head. “No. We don’t have issues like that. The campus might not be gated, but it’s quiet around here and our staff is watchful for that sort of thing. Nothing of note has happened.”
“Has Adrienne had a falling out with anyone that you know of? Any trouble with anyone? A student or teacher?” Zach pressed.
Another head shake. “No, nothing that I’m aware of.”
“We’ll need a list of employees, particularly anyone new here in the last six to eight months.”
Carville’s brows went up but he nodded. “Right, right.” He looked to the ceiling. “Carl Raines is new. He joined us about four months ba
ck. He’s on the maintenance staff. And Manuel Ortiz came on board two months ago. He’s an assistant coach with the hockey team and teaches in our mathematics department. Trigonometry and advanced calculus.”
Ronan pulled another of the small notepads he’d been jotting notes in from his coat pocket and slid it, along with a pen, across the table. “Can you write their names for me?”
“Sure, sure.” Carville penned the names in neat, block letters then added a third. “Nancy Smith is new as well. Actually, she’s temporary. She’s filling in for one of the English teachers out on sabbatical. She’s substituted for us over the years, but she’s filling in now for the rest of the year.”
Ronan nodded as Carville passed the notebook back, and Shauna spoke. “We’ll need the full list, as well, but if you think of anyone else who’s new, let us know.”
Chapter Five
Kate Sorino hadn’t stopped crying since they’d started the interview and Zach was thankful for the presence of the school counselor, Marla Davis. Zach probably had more experience comforting a teenage girl than Ronan did, and maybe even Shauna, because he’d helped raise Naomi, but still. Somehow, when it was a stranger, he didn’t quite know what to say. Ronan and Shauna seemed just as happy to let the counselor do the hand holding and tissue offering as he was.
“I just can’t believe it,” Kate said for what Zach was pretty sure was the tenth time. He felt for the girl. It had to be an enormous shock to find out one of your best friends had been murdered. All the same, he was fairly sure they wouldn’t get much from her that was helpful.
He glanced at Shauna before jumping in. “Kate, can you tell me if there was anyone new in Adrienne’s life? A new friend? Boyfriend? Anyone she met online?”
The weeping girl shook her head and a jagged “no-o-o” came out before the counselor handed her another tissue. Initially, Zach had thought her tears were genuine, but he was beginning to wonder if she wasn’t enjoying the attention she was getting a bit too much.
