by Diana X Dunn
She shrugged. “It wasn’t a big deal. I’ve had plenty of men try to get me into bed over the years. I’m an expert at dealing with them.”
“When he tried something with me, I put him on the ground.”
Tamara giggled. “I wish I could have seen that. I just kept putting him off and making vague promises. I don’t think he really cared all that much. He seemed to be mostly talk rather than action. If I had taken him up on his offer, it wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d struggled to perform, if you know what I mean.”
“He still shouldn’t have been behaving that way.”
“And now he’s dead, something no one is sad about.”
“I believe Robert is upset.”
“He’s upset because he has to cover up for the murder, not because Jake is dead.”
“You think it was murder?”
“If it wasn’t, it was a huge coincidence that the most hated man here suddenly dropped dead.”
Tamara was smarter than she seemed, Sara thought. “Who do you think killed him?”
“I suspect there was a queue waiting for a turn,” Tamara said dryly. “He seems to have upset everyone since we’ve been here. I suppose Robert is the most likely candidate, though, especially as he’s the one covering everything up.”
“You’re suggesting that Dr. Freeman is prepared to falsify his findings.”
“Dr. Freeman is going to do as he’s told. He needs this job.”
“Really?”
Tamara laughed. “My father did his research. Dr. Freeman was fired from his last job because he lost three patients in less than two weeks. He insists on using talk therapy rather than medication, even though medication could have seriously helped all three of those patients. The third one actually killed himself in Dr. Freeman’s office, which was the last straw for the hospital where he worked.”
“I see,” Sara replied, angry with herself for not doing any research into Dr. Freeman’s background. She’d checked out Robert before her job interview, at least as well as she could through legal channels, but she hadn’t investigated any of the other staff at the school. Such research was long overdue.
“Anyway, I’m pretty sure Jake was murdered, but the whole thing is going to get covered up. I just want the stupid school to stay open long enough to give me my certificate of completion. That’s all I need.”
“To do what?”
Tamara laughed. “To satisfy my father. He gets upset because I never finish anything that I start. I went to six different high schools before I finally got an equivalency certificate. I’ve started I don’t know how many university courses, but they all get boring really quickly, so I quit. After the last one, my father gave me an ultimatum.”
“What sort of ultimatum?”
“Whatever I signed up for next, I had to finish or he’d cut me off. I spent ages searching WorldNet to find something. This course was the shortest one I could find. Six months here and I’m done. I mean, I need to graduate and get a certificate or whatever, but how hard can that be?”
“You’ll need at least a level one weapons proficiency certificate.”
Tamara made a face. “I really have to learn to shoot something? Seriously? Jake promised me that I didn’t have to do anything I didn’t want to do.”
“Jake shouldn’t have been making promises like that. Whatever he was prepared to do with his class, there’s no way you’re going to pass my class without meeting certain requirements.”
“He said he could get Robert to make you cooperate, you and Ethel. Twirling with him a few times would have been a lot easier than actually learning all the stuff I’m supposed to learn.”
“But wouldn’t it be nice to have some skills to offer potential employers?”
“My father is filthy rich. I’ll never have to work a day in my life. Daddy reckons I’ll be able to come back and work for his security division.” She rolled her eyes. “I already told him I won’t work more than five hours a week. That seems like plenty, really.”
Sara swallowed a dozen replies. “If you truly need to pass my class, I suggest you focus on learning to shoot that pistol,” she said eventually.
Tamara shrugged and picked up the weapon. She squared her shoulders and aimed at the nearest target.
“Dead center,” Sara said. “Very good. Try for twenty-yards.”
A short while later, Sara checked the time. “It’s time to head back.”
“Must we? This is a good deal more fun than anything Ethel will be doing.”
“You need to pass her class, too.”
“I’m sure Daddy will understand if I only pass some of my classes. I wonder if Robert could be persuaded to bump up my grades, just a little bit.”
“You did well when you actually started trying,” Sara said as they got back into the transport. “With a little bit of effort, you’ll easily get your level one proficiency certificate.”
“Great,” Tamara said unenthusiastically.
“You could do a lot better than that, if you wanted to, you know. Maybe you should properly apply yourself to the classes and try to get a job with one of the intelligence services when you finish.”
“Working isn’t for me.”
Sara sighed and then parked the transport in front of the building. “I’m sorry to hear that. I think you have real potential.”
Tamara laughed. “You sound like my third grade math teacher. I never did my homework and she used to be so sad. Daddy bought her a new car to make her feel better, but she still wanted me to repeat the year. Daddy moved me to a new school after that.”
“What happens if your father really does cut you off?”
“I have a contingency plan, or rather I have several of them. One is called Dan. He’s fifty-seven, twice divorced, and richer than my father. He’d marry me in heartbeat if I showed any interest. I also have considerable savings in my own name, or rather in another name that my father is unaware of. I could live quite happily on my own for several years with what I have tucked away.”
“You’re smart. You could do a lot with your life.”
“I am doing a lot with my life. I’m having fun and spending Daddy’s money. Why can’t you respect that as my lifestyle choice?”
“Touché,” Sara laughed.
“Good luck with Luke,” Tamara told her as they got out of the transport. “I’ve seen him staring at you. I think he’s yours if you want him.”
“As I said, teachers can’t get involved with students.”
“You’re both consenting adults, it isn’t any of Robert’s business. Besides, Robert can’t afford to fire you. He’s already short one teacher and from what I’ve heard, you’re taking over most of Jake’s classes. He and Ethel can’t do everything themselves and he’d struggle to find someone else with your skill set.”
“I don’t know about that, but I’m not interested in having a relationship right now.”
“Who said anything about a relationship? Just a few good twirls would put a smile on your face. You’re too focused. You need to relax more.”
Tamara turned and walked into the building, leaving Sara staring after her. The girl was far too smart and perceptive to be wasting her life living off her father, she thought as she followed Tamara.
When she reached the classroom, Ethel was speaking.
“…there for today. You can take everything you’ve been working on with you to look over tonight. I don’t want to call it homework, but I’d be delighted if you came in tomorrow with a solution to the two codes I gave out this morning and a firm idea of what’s wrong in each of the three sets of accounts I gave you this afternoon.”
“Party in my room,” Tamara said.
Ethel frowned. “I hardly think…”
“I’ll be there,” Mark said eagerly.
“Me, too,” Bill added.
“Anyone else? Luke?” Tamara asked.
“I still haven’t had my session on the range,” he said as he got to his feet. “By the time th
at’s finished, I’ll probably be too tired to party.”
Tamara laughed and looked at Sara. “Make sure you wear him out,” she said with an exaggerated wink.
Sara didn’t reply. Luke walked past her, out of the room, and she turned and followed. He dropped his bag into the back of the transport and then sat down. Neither spoke on the drive.
“Should we start with the laser pistol, then?” she asked, not looking at the man.
“I’d rather start with a chat,” he replied.
Sara looked over at him, and for a minute she wondered if he’d realized who she was. They’d become friends during the murder investigation on SunInc. As she’d still been involved with Alex at the time, she’d forced herself to ignore her attraction to Luke. Now, though, Alex was out of the picture and she was wiling to admit that she found him very attractive. “A chat?” she said when she realized that she was simply staring at him.
“I’m concerned about Jake Brown’s death.”
Feeling disappointed, Sara nodded. “I think we all are. It was so sudden and tragic.”
“You were there. Do you really think he had a heart attack?”
“That’s Dr. Freeman’s area of expertise, not mine. I’m sure he’s going to be very thorough.”
“Are you? I’m not. I think he’s going to reach whatever conclusion Robert wants him to reach.”
“That’s quite an accusation. On what are you basing it?”
Luke sighed. “I had high hopes that you were going to be reasonable. I tried talking to Ethel, but she wouldn’t hear a word against Robert. I don’t know why I expected anything different from you.”
“I’m quite happy to hear what you have to say, but you seem to be accusing Robert of murder.”
“Not at all. I’m not sure who killed Jake. I’m accusing Robert of covering up a murder.”
“Why would he cover up a murder he didn’t commit?”
“Perhaps he’s protecting someone or maybe he’s simply protecting his school. This school means a lot to him. His security business is in trouble. He’s sunk nearly every penny he had into buying the school and fixing it up. He needs it to succeed in a big way.”
“Your sources are clearly better than mine.”
“Maybe.”
“Why are you here?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I left SunInc to join an agency that offered me a chance to do something completely different. It wasn’t long before I realized that the sort of lifestyle they offered wasn’t for me. Moving around all the time, changing identities for every job, I never felt like myself. I quit within a few weeks and then realized I didn’t know what I wanted to do next.”
“How did you end up here, then?”
“I actually applied for a job with Robert’s security firm. I thought security might be interesting. When he interviewed me, he told me that he didn’t have any openings, but suggested that this school might be a good place for me to get some extra training to make my resume more attractive. The chance to spend six months in one place, honing my skills seemed too good to pass up.”
“It’s expensive.”
“I was very well compensated during my time on SunInc. I don’t have anything else to spend money on, either.”
“No wife or girlfriend? Maybe a boyfriend?” Sara forced herself to act disinterested in the reply.
“No one special. I’m sure you read my profile. I was involved with my partner when I was with the police. She was shot right in front of me. I try to avoid emotional entanglements now.”
“Fair enough.”
“What about you? Why are you here and doesn’t your boyfriend, husband, wife, significant other, whatever miss you?”
Sara laughed. “I’m here because I wanted to get out of the field and try something different. I was in covert operations for many years. That doesn’t lend itself well to relationships.”
“Can I buy you a drink later, then?”
“That’s very kind of you, but I’m not allowed to get involved with students.”
“We could just get drunk and fall into bed. Like I said, no emotional entanglements.”
“I’m flattered, I think, but not interested.”
Luke stared at her for a minute and then took a step closer to her. “Are you sure about that?” he asked in a low voice.
“There are cameras everywhere,” she reminded him, wishing she could give in to temptation and pull him close.
He looked around and then shrugged. “I’d hate for you to lose your job.”
“I need this job.”
“But we were talking about Jake,” he said. “Everything I saw suggested murder.”
“It was supposed to look like murder. Jake and Robert set it up that way, remember?”
“I remember the story we were told, but I still don’t believe it.”
“Okay, so what if it was murder? Robert is clearly determined to cover it up.”
“And you’re okay with him doing that?”
“I don’t know what I can do to stop him. Dr. Freeman is in charge of the autopsy. Do you think he’d really risk his reputation and his medical license for Robert’s benefit?”
“From what I’ve heard about him, his reputation is already pretty dire. I was told he only just got to keep his license because he gave up his practice to come here, although I don’t know why. He’s meant to be serving as a consultant here, not actually practicing medicine.”
Sara shrugged. “Just for the sake of argument, then, let’s assume that Jake was murdered. Who did it?”
“That’s an excellent question. From what I could see, everyone had a motive.”
“You must have a favorite suspect.”
“Robert is high on the list. He had to know that the longer Jake was here the more damage he was going to do to the school. I overheard a conversation between the two on the second or third day of classes. From what I could hear, Robert was trying to persuade Jake to leave, but Jake was happy here, doing as little as possible and drinking at every opportunity.”
“That sounds about right. Should we just assume Robert did it, then and get on with weapons training?”
Luke chuckled. “We can get on with training, if you insist, but I would like to talk about the case more, too, if you can spare the time.”
“Let’s do some shooting for now,” Sara said, buying herself some time to think about what she wanted to do next. It was tempting to sit down with Luke and talk through Jake’s murder. She was fairly certain she could trust him, and she did want to get to the bottom of what had happened to Jake.
“Laser pistol,” Luke said. He picked it up, checked that it was in stun mode and then shot his way down the targets to the end of the range.
Sara looked at the screen. “Dead center every time.”
“I may have done this before,” he laughed.
“Try the rifle,” she suggested.
He took a few practice shots and then shot his way through the targets again.
“You were an inch off at eighty yards,” Sara told him.
He shrugged. “The shot still would have stunned the perpetrator.”
She nodded. “What do you want to try next?”
He grinned. “I’ve never shot one of these,” he said, holding up the laser repeater.
An hour later, Luke had tried every gun on the range, shooting each one with near perfect accuracy.
“I’m impressed. There’s nothing I can teach you out here.”
“So let’s grab dinner together and talk,” he suggested. “There’s a little bar about three miles from the entrance to the compound. The food is good and we won’t be overheard.”
“I could get fired.”
“It’s dinner, nothing more.”
“I’m going to clear it with Robert first.”
“If you must.”
They climbed into the transport and Sara drove them back to the residential building.
“I’ll meet you back here in twenty minutes,” Luke told her
in the lobby.
Sara nodded and headed for her room, punching in Robert’s number as she went.
“Sara, what can I do for you?”
“I have a bunch of issues to discuss with you about the students,” she told him. “We need to have a meeting.”
“Sure, sure, how about one day next week? I’m not actually at the school at the moment. Candie is handling everything in my absence. Have you discussed it all with her?”
“These are issues that need your input. We can talk next week.”
“Great, great.”
“I’m going to go to dinner with one of the students tonight,” she said quickly before he could disconnect. “Apparently there’s a bar nearby that does food.”
“Michael’s, yeah, it does decent food and cheap beer.”
“I’m not interested in the beer, but it will be nice to get away from the school for an hour or two.”
“Which student?”
“Luke Nolan.”
“Former cop, worked on SunInc and then somewhere classified. I almost didn’t accept him because he has such strong experience already. Have fun.”
“I know you said instructors weren’t supposed to get involved with students,” she said hesitantly.
“That was just for Jake’s benefit. If you want to spin with Luke, go for it. I’ve no doubt he’ll earn top marks in your class whether your twirling with him or not.”
Sara opened her mouth to reply, but Robert interrupted.
“Must dash. Have fun tonight.”
She put her M-ped down and took a very quick shower. Throwing on jeans and a T-shirt felt good after wearing dressier clothes all week for teaching. She slid her feet into a pair of black leather boots and headed for the door.
Chapter 9
“I don’t have a transport here, so I suppose we’ll have to take yours,” Luke said when Sara joined him in the lobby.
“I don’t have one, either, but we can take the one I used today. Robert won’t mind.”
Luke gave her directions to the small bar. It looked like an old barn that had been dropped in the middle of nowhere and left to slowly fall apart.
“Are you sure it’s structurally sound,” she asked as she climbed out of the transport.
