I caught my breath by the time I was on the highway again.
I hadn’t shared the gospel with Angus.
I had assaulted him.
He might have just been trying to be sweet.
I would probably never know.
Unless I texted him.
Which he probably wouldn’t respond to.
I ground my teeth. What would the French police have made of that scene, and when did I turn into such a violent person?
I had been right, though: a single girl had no business traveling on her own. The sooner I got to the weird round hotel in Dover and joined my sister, the better.
Isaac Daniels 9
I find it needless to say that Dani had not left a message and did not answer my calls.
Calls.
More than one.
As the person responsible for letting her escape the school, I was obliged to call her until she answered. It wasn’t anything more than that. Though, as I thought it, the phrase “escape the school” was interesting. Were the kids trapped by the language and culture barrier? Were they sent there by parents to keep them safe, for their own good? No cars, no money, no freedom, just one little travel weekend and then a spring break they were expected to spend doing mission work.
I sat at Stina’s vacated desk and stared into the woods, glowing golden and green in the late afternoon. No, they weren’t trapped here. It was more like a retreat. Like a haven. They came here, some of them, to be gotten rid of by their parents. Others were here “for their own good,” according to their parents, and for the Swedish chicks, according to them. But the rest were here for the experience of living in a different country, no matter how rural a location, and for the Bible education, no matter that it might not be accepted as transfer credits by most any school. But that could be said of almost any private college. Or public one, if you ignored the part about transfer credits. I would bet that Si had been sent here for his own good. That’s how he had made it sound, anyway. Dani was here for the Bible. But what about Drew? She had started this mess. Why had she come in the first place?
And where was she?
Dr. Hoffen was in his office on the other side of the wall, in conference with El Jefe. Sioeli, El Jefe, and Grandma Mary had all arrived about two hours after me, shortly after lunch. Dr. Hoffen had been here the whole time, but hadn’t spoken to me. Megan had passed through the office I was waiting in with a tray of coffee. She was a little shaky, and her face was drained of color. She had smiled weakly and said hello.
I stared at the school year’s lecture calendar. I had one week of lecture scheduled for every month of the year, several weekend enrichment lectures, and a winter and a late spring adventure camp, as well as lead on one of the mission trip teams. I wouldn’t be impossible to replace, but if today was my last day, they would have a lot of blanks in their schedule to deal with.
I clicked over to my job description. It didn’t say I had to stay in town when I wasn’t lecturing, but, of course, I had been left in charge this week, and I had been the one teaching, so my instinct that this event could cost me my job was solidly founded.
The door finally creaked open. I wanted to get this done with quickly, so I went in.
I stood in front of Dr. Hoffen with my hands clasped behind my back. I probably looked smug. People told me that sometimes, but it seemed to me a chest-exposed position like that would be considered vulnerable and so make me more likable in this awkward moment.
Dr. Hoffen furrowed his brow. “Dr. Grey and I have spoken about the situation at length.” He cleared his throat.
My whole body went cold. If they thought the hospital situation was bad, they really wouldn’t like Dani’s run-ins with the law.
“Stina explained to me, while I was away, that you had gone to the train station before afternoon lectures, with plenty of time, and had just missed Dani and Si getting on the train.”
I cleared my throat. It made a change from stony silence.
“She also told me that she told you to follow them.”
My face heated up. I wouldn’t call it a blush, but for the first time I saw a realistic out for me, and while I liked it, I also hated that it would mean that I owed Stina. “Yes, sir.”
“While Megan and I were away, you were in charge, so the decision to leave the school overnight, with the Saab, was yours, and not hers, no matter what she says about it.”
I swallowed.
Dr. Grey crossed to Dr. Hoffen’s desk. He reminded me of a lawyer on a courtroom drama. Same well-cut charcoal suit, same confidence. He cut of Dr. Hoffen, and my hope of getting away with it. “You have only been with the school for two months.” He gave me an unexpected look of sympathy. “And you came with less-than-stellar recommendations.”
The last bastion of hope in my heart washed away. When he said less than stellar, he wasn’t kidding. The recommendation from Harvest Bible School in Portland included the little problem with Jane Adler, and the rest of them…I exhaled slowly. I did not have a glowing track record in education.
“And yet, you are highly qualified, the students like you, and you bring a lot of energy to the program here.” It almost sounded like Dr. Hoffen was coming to my aid. “I begged to have you on my staff, Isaac. None of the other schools were interested, and Dr. Grey was also not impressed.”
I stopped doing the hands-behind-the-back thing, but I didn’t know what else to do, so I shoved them in my pockets. I knew it didn’t send the message I was going for, but my mind drew a blank. What posture did you use when being taken to task?
“I have spent all morning convincing Dr. Grey not to send you home.” Dr. Hoffen lifted one eyebrow and smiled. “And it worked. But there will be some changes.”
“I appreciate you giving me a second chance. I really screwed this up. I don’t know how the situation got so far away from me. It seemed like such an easy task when I headed out on Tuesday. Just, get the kids and come back.” Now that the words had started flowing, I couldn’t stop them. “But when I learned that Si was in medical danger, I had to go after him. I couldn’t leave it to INTERPOL or the police or something like that. I couldn’t risk it. I knew that there had to be a better way, and that the timing of this couldn’t have been worse, but I couldn’t leave those kids out there.”
Dr. Hoffen held up his hand. “Speaking of the other students, where are the Honeywell girls?”
“I left Dani with Stina, but we weren’t able to find Drew.”
“Stina didn’t mention this.”
“I kind of expected Dani to be here already. Stina was supposed to drive her back.”
“Stina took a plane from Nice to Venezuela for her photo shoot.”
“You’re kidding. She promised me she’d get Dani back here.”
Dr. Grey spoke, calmly. “That’s not her job.”
“No, but she put Si and me on a plane and promised to take care of Dani.”
“Why didn’t she put Dani on the plane?” Dr. Grey’s question was a good one. One I did not want to answer.
But, the whole story of chasing Si, the pickpockets, the fighting, and the two arrests came spilling out. If my job had been saved five minutes ago, it was over now.
From behind me, Grandma Mary gasped, and Megan Hoffen made a weird mewling kind of noise.
“Steven, what made you think you should leave Isaac in charge?” Dr. Grey’s turning this on Dr. Hoffen bothered me, but before I thought up the right kind of defense for my boss, he spoke up for me.
“You can hardly blame Isaac for what the students were up to, or for Stina abandoning the Honeywell girl in France, though I wish he would have just called me, and not Cadence. She’s a good girl, but she’s hardly the one to negotiate an international-crimes kind of crisis.”
I exhaled slowly. Dr. Hoffen didn’t seem any angrier now that he had heard the whole story.
“Isaac, you aren’t a student here. You aren’t a child. We put a lot of trust in you and gave you a serious responsibility. It
is clear that you failed. As your bosses, we had a decision: keep you here and mentor you because you have great potential, or send you home for the sake of the students.” Dr. Grey sounded businesslike. For the moment, I appreciated it. If he had had some kind of weirdly emotional lecture for me, I don’t know what I would have done. That said, things didn’t look good.
“You are fired.”
I wavered, but I didn’t faint.
“But if you choose to accept it, we will keep you on staff as a volunteer. We pay our volunteer staff with room and board and a monthly stipend, just enough to cover small expenses that might come up. You will no longer have free access to the Saab or the Volvo. You may drive on school activities, but for no other reason. You will not lead a mission team over spring break, and you will not lead any adventure camp weekends. You can stay here and teach, and coach and earn a better recommendation for a future job, or you can leave now. It’s up to you.”
I swallowed. “I don’t want to leave with this as our last experience of working together.” I had my training in family counseling to thank for my ability to respond at all.
Dr. Grey looked from his mother to me. “Both the multiple arrests and the health crisis were very serious, and put the students in danger. You are also on disciplinary action until November 1. I don’t want to see you on this campus again until I have gone back home.” I’m not sure if this addition was part of the original deal or not. Dr. Hoffen’s poker face didn’t give it away.
“I understand.”
“Then go pack your bags and find a place to spend the next two weeks.” El Jefe clasped his hands behind his back, and I finally understood what my friends meant when they said that posture looked smug.
“Yes, sir.” I looked to Dr. Hoffen, but his mouth was a firm, thin line. He was finished with me.
I managed to get the office door open again, even though my hands seemed to have been disconnected from my brain.
I wasn’t allowed back on campus until November 1, which meant I could leave immediately to find Dani.
Dani Honeywell 9
Was it me, or was Dover really far away this time? Usually going home from some new place felt a lot quicker than going to it did. I took the A1 instead of the M6, which my phone said would take an hour longer but looked quieter when I had to choose which way to go, but most likely it was because I pulled over at Grantham (can you blame me?) and took a four-hour nap. I started the six-hour trip at eight in the evening and got to Dover at six in the morning. Still, I thought there was a chance to catch Drew and her sneaky man before they got a ferry.
The round almost-tower of the Premier Inn wasn’t hard to find, even though I had to drive around it twice, since I missed the entrance to the parking lot the first time.
I scrolled through the pictures on my phone until I found a good one of my sister, and marched straight to the desk.
I banged the little bell a few times. Apparently the clerk didn’t sit at the desk first thing in the morning. A woman with a gray streak in her hair came out of a closed door, rubbing her eyes. She wore a bright purple blouse and scarf like a stewardess, except instead of matching an airplane, she matched the wallpaper.
“Yes?” She was curt, but it came across as tired, rather than rude. Nothing like the waiter on the beach in Nice.
“Have you seen this girl? I think she checked in here with a boy last night.” I held out my phone.
The clerk, whose name tag said Bryony, glanced at it. She shrugged. “I don’t know. We really can’t share information about our guests.”
“She’s my sister, and I think she could be in danger.” Or, at least I had thought. The recent pics of McDonald’s made me feel more mad and less worried, but she could be suffering from Stockholm syndrome.
Bryony closed her eyes and squared her shoulders. She shook her head a little bit, then opened her eyes again. I had the distinct impression she had counted slowly to ten so as not to say something that wouldn’t serve the Premier family of hotels wrong. “If you are worried about her, you should go to the police. If the police come and ask, we can talk to them.” She looked at her watch.
“Okay.” I drummed my fingers on the desk. Since I didn’t say anything else, Bryony went back through the door to the behind-the-scenes world of hospitality management.
I took a seat in a low-backed round chair near the door. I didn’t want to cause trouble, but if I could catch Drew on her way out, I would. It was too early to call Isaac, so I logged into the Wi-Fi and started checking messages.
I exhaled slowly. Staking out a joint was boring. I closed my eyes, thinking that sleep might be a good option.
“Excuse me, ma’am?”
I opened my eyes and sat up straighter, trying to live up to the “ma’am” title. “Yes?”
The voice belonged to a guy about my age in a bright purple polo shirt. He looked embarrassed. “Are you a guest in the hotel, ma’am?”
“I’m just waiting for my sister.” I gave him a tired version of a forty-watt smile.
He looked over his shoulder. “It’s just, the lobby is for guests.” He cleared his throat.
“I am waiting for a guest.” I chewed my bottom lip. He really wasn’t buying this.
“I hate to do this…”
“I won’t make you.” I stood up. “But before I go, have you seen this girl?” I switched over to my photos and tried to find the picture of Drew I had used earlier. “Hold on. Sorry. I can find this.” I felt like I was scrolling forever. It was there; I had taken it myself like two weeks ago. I was really going to have to stop taking so many pictures.
He cleared his throat.
“No, hold on, really fast.” I found a picture. It wasn’t as good, but it was still her. “This is my sister; I’m waiting for her. See? She’s staying here.”
He looked at the picture. He narrowed his eyes. “Does she know you are waiting for her? You could call her so she knows you’re here.” He smiled, friendly.
Drew was here!
“It’s so early, I don’t want to wake her up.” Why hadn’t I thought of lying before? This was so much easier than trying to be reasonable.
He looked over his shoulder again. “Why don’t you head into the café and have a cup of coffee while you wait.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, like he was in on my secret.
“No problem.” He walked away as though he wasn’t invested in my problem. I was disappointed, but that was okay. It was getting closer to seven in the morning, which meant closer to my sister waking up and heading to the ferry.
I made my way to the counter and ordered a cup of coffee and a doughnut.
The barista looked really embarrassed. “Uh, sorry, your card was rejected.” He handed back my Visa. Of course it had been rejected. Mom had canceled it. I fumbled in my wallet for euros or pounds or something, but I had enough for the ferry crossing and not much else. Should I spend it and expect my sister to get me across the channel? “Never mind.”
I slowly backed away from the counter, my coffee and doughnut sitting there, staring at me, begging me to eat and drink and wake up.
“Oh, don’t worry.” The barista pushed them across the counter to me. “I’d just have to throw them away now anyway.”
I stared at him. A portly, fatherly kind of man in a purple polo that matched the guy who told me to go to the café. He seemed the sort of man who wouldn’t have pictured himself making coffee at six in the morning at a hotel at this age. “Thank you.”
He smiled a little. Two people who had hoped for better than this, sharing an awkward moment. I made my way to a far table where someone had left a newspaper, and pretended to read while I scarfed my doughnut.
I had money to take the ferry, and the car, but how would I fill it up next time it ran out? Filling it up after my lengthy nap in Grantham had been an unfortunate blow to my wallet. The cost of gas was deceiving, since it was priced by the pint over here. And then there were the tolls. I missed my little corner of the
world with its toll-free highways. And I missed Tillgiven with its absolute lack of need to drive anywhere.
The coffee did a good job of waking me up, and the view of the ocean from the café windows was inspiring. A girl could do anything when caffeinated and inspired. At seven thirty I called Isaac.
He answered.
I didn’t know what to say.
“Dani?” His voice sounded incredulous. “Where are you?”
“Don’t be mad.” The café was filling up with hotel guests, so I tried to keep my voice low.
“I’m not mad. Are you in jail?”
“No, no, not in jail.”
“You should have been back here yesterday.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Did you go after your sister?” He sounded tired.
“Of course, I had to. But I’ve found her.” That was a lie. I couldn’t lie to Isaac. “Almost, I mean. She’s here at this hotel. I’ve confirmed it. I’m lying in wait for her.”
“Then what?” His voice was still tired. I had exhausted him. He would never see me as anything but a bratty kid. My heart sank.
“I don’t know yet. I guess just put her in the car and come home.”
Silence.
“Or, I don’t know. What if she won’t come with me? I stole the school’s car, Isaac.”
“It’s going to be okay.” This time he sounded warmer. Still tired, but a little more caring.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. Just tell me where you are.”
“I’m sitting in the coffee shop of the Premier Inn in Dover, the one with the big round tower, down by the ferry.”
He said something about staying where I was. I argued with him. I needed him to understand that I had to find my sister. The few-sentence exchange took the wind out of my sails more than anything else had yet. If I still hadn’t convinced Isaac about this trip, it was hopeless.
Because he still thought I was wrong to be here. And because he wasn’t going to fall in love with me.
Before I sorted out all of that, I noticed someone familiar out of the window.
Hard to Find: A Tillgiven Romantic Mystery Page 12
