by Diana X Dunn
“Pretty sure,” he replied with a wink.
A small sign on the door flashed “Michael’s” on and off. The interior seemed to be one large room. A long bar took up one entire wall. There were tables scattered around the rest of the space, with three or four chairs at each of them. Two men were sitting on bar stools, talking to the bartender. They were the only customers.
“Busy,” Sara murmured.
“Those two are regulars. They’ve been here every time I’ve come in.”
“You come here often, then?”
Luke shrugged. “A bunch of us have been coming down after classes most nights. Jake brought us all down for drinks the night we all arrived.”
“I see.”
He looked at her. “You’re more than welcome to come along, whenever you’d like. I think most of us are a little intimidated by you or someone might have invited you before.”
“Intimidated by me?”
“Jake told us a bit about your past, that you were a trained assassin who worked for different foreign government. We know that you’re hiding here because there are arrest warrants for you in seven different countries.”
Sara was speechless for a moment and then began to laugh. “None of that is true,” she said eventually.
“None of it?” he seemed disappointed.
“I was an agent with a government agency that specializes in covert operations. I never killed anyone and as far as I know, no one wants to arrest me.”
“Good to know.”
“Tell the others. I don’t want them thinking I used to kill people for a living.”
He nodded. “Let’s get a table.” He led her to the darkest corner of the room, found a table and held a chair for her. “I’ll get drinks. What do you want?”
“Anything. Beer, maybe?”
“I thought you might prefer wine.”
She made a face. “Part of my training included learning about wine. It all tastes the same to me, though, no matter how much it costs. Beer is good enough. I’ll be taking a neutralizer, anyway.”
He nodded. “I was planning on taking one, too, once we get back to the compound.”
When he came back to the table, he was carrying two glasses of beer and had menus tucked under his arm.
“Where’s the kitchen?” Sara asked as she took the menu.
“Through the door behind the bar. It was an addition, tacked on so that they could sell food once they turned the old barn into a bar.”
“You seem to know a lot about the place.”
Luke laughed. “Actually, Jake told me everything that I know. He may well have been lying about that, too, though. Maybe someone built this place last month when they heard about the new school opening up the road.”
Sara looked around. “It looks as if it’s been here a good deal longer than a month.” She opened the menu and read through the choices. “What’s good?”
“I had a burger the last time I was here. It was delicious. It’s all real food, which is far more common out here than it is in big cities.”
“I’ll try a burger, then.”
“Cheese?”
“No.”
“Lettuce, tomato, onion, mayonnaise?”
“Yes, yes, yes, no.”
Luke laughed. “I think that’s all, but I may have to come back with more questions.”
Sara sipped her beer and looked around the room again. As she wondered idly whether there had ever been animals living in the space, Luke returned.
“I ordered you French fries to go with your burger. There were other options, but fries are the classic choice.”
“If you say so.”
“Haven’t you seen any of the new video series based on the Twentieth Century Tales books? They’ve been running a whole series of detective stories set in the late nineteen-nineties. Everyone eats burgers and fries all the time.”
“I wasn’t aware that they’d made videos of those books. I’ve read some of the books, of course,” Sara replied. She knew the author, too. Alex wrote the entire series under a number of different pen names. No doubt selling the rights to a television series based on the books had netted him a small fortune. Good for him.
The food was delivered only a short time later. Sara took a bite. “It’s good, but I’m sure it can’t be good for me.”
“Let me guess, you usually only eat FADS bars.”
“Pretty much.”
“I’m the same, especially when I’m working, but real food makes a nice change.”
Sara nibbled on a French fry and then sipped her drink. Being with Luke felt comfortable, but she couldn’t let herself get too comfortable with him. It was important that he not realize that they’d met before.
“Let’s talk about the case, then,” Luke said after he’d eaten most of his burger. “If it was murder, who had a motive?”
“I think everyone at the school wanted Jake gone, at the very least.”
“You could be right about that. Let’s talk about each of the students. I’m curious what you think of them.”
Sara laughed. “I would definitely get fired if I told you that.”
He grinned. “I promise not to repeat anything you say. I’d really like to have a serious conversation about the case, though. I’m a trained police detective and everything about Jake’s death says murder to me. We can pretend that it’s just a class exercise, if you’d like, a chance to talk about how murder cases are investigated.”
“I’ve never been involved in a murder investigation,” she lied easily. “You’ll have to tell me how it all works.”
He nodded. “The investigation should have started at the scene of the crime, of course.”
“Yes, I’m sure a great deal of evidence was lost there,” Sara frowned. Robert had arrived on the scene within minutes of Sara finding the body. He’d insisted that she take the students away while he and Dr. Freeman investigated. When she’d gone back to the maze hours later, the building’s security codes had all been changed and she was denied access.
“So let’s talk about motives.”
“Robert had to want rid of Jake. He was a liability to the school in every possible way.”
“We’d had three classes with him. Two of them were excellent, actually. He was a good instructor when he was sober. He also seemed to want to spend time with us, the students, I mean. He joined in our evening social hours, even bringing us all here one night. Sober, he could have been a real asset to the school.”
“But he didn’t seem interested in staying sober.”
“He told me that he had demons and that drinking kept them away.”
“Whatever his reasons, when he was drunk, he was a problem.”
“I heard a rumor that he attacked you.”
“It wasn’t anywhere near that dramatic. He came to my room and pushed his way in. When I told him to leave, he scrambled my lock so that I couldn’t get out.”
“And then what happened?” he demanded when she stopped to take a bite.
“Oh, I put him on the floor, worked out the code, and sent him on his way.”
“Worked out the code?”
“It was J-A-K-E, which was probably all that his drunk brain could manage.”
Luke laughed and then shook his head. “He should have been fired for that.”
“Yes, I agree. Although, he actually told me that he would get me fired for flattening him.”
“He must have known something incredibly damning about Robert.”
“It certainly seems that way.”
“Which gives Robert a strong motive for murder.”
“Indeed.”
“Dr. Freeman didn’t like Jake, either,” Luke said. “Apparently the doctor had some problems in his last job. I don’t know the whole story, but it seemed as if Jake knew every detail.”
“Really?”
“I overheard them talking. Dr. Freeman was trying to persuade Jake to come and talk to him about his issues. Jake just laughed and told him that
he wasn’t dumb enough to make the same mistake as some of the doctor’s former patients. Dr. Freeman went pale and then turned and walked away.”
“Tamara told me that, in his previous job, Dr. Freeman lost three patients to suicide in a short space of time. He got fired, apparently, and then ended up here.”
“How did she get that information?”
“From her father. I gather he has the sort of money that lets him buy other people’s secrets.”
“I wonder what she found out about you,” he said mildly.
Sara laughed. “I don’t have any interesting secrets,” she lied. “I’m sure they were quite disappointed in whatever they found out about me.”
“You worked for an international espionage agency. You must have secrets.”
“I do,” she grinned. “The biggest one being that I mostly did secretarial work. Oh, I had more than enough training to be an effective instructor here, but my actual time in the field was minimal.”
Luke nodded. “I don’t think that’s a secret worth killing for, although you might have been angry enough at how he treated you to want to kill him, I suppose.”
“I’d have killed him much more cleverly than that.”
“Whoever killed him was actually very clever,” Luke objected. “If it was Robert, he had the whole scene set up, with Jake just lying there actually waiting to be stabbed.”
“That’s true. The idea for the fake murder scene could have come from Robert. Jake isn’t here to dispute Robert’s version of events. I suppose that’s why I consider Robert the most likely suspect.”
“He’s certainly top of the list, but really, anyone could have done it.”
“No one knew that Jake was going to be in the maze that night, though.”
“Robert knew. I’d be willing to bet that he’d discussed it with Ethel. Those two seem very close.”
“They are, actually, and Ethel seems dedicated to seeing the school succeed, too.”
“Can you see her as the murderer?” Luke asked.
Sara sipped her beer while she thought. “She’s been in the business for more years than both of us put together. I suspect she has skills and experience in a great many areas outside of code breaking. If she wanted to kill Jake, I think she’d have gotten him away from the school first, but I could be wrong.”
“Did you notice anything special about the knife?”
“Like Robert’s initials carved into the handle?” Sara laughed. “I only saw it on the screen in the building’s foyer. The maze was completely dark when I was inside it. I did touch it, entirely by accident, of course. It felt like a real knife.”
“As opposed to the fake knife that Robert is insisting he’d used.”
“Exactly.” Sara sighed.
“If it was a real knife, do you think Jake was actually stabbed? I wondered if he’d been poisoned.”
“I’m not sure I should be trusting you with all of this,” Sara said.
“You have to trust someone. If it was murder, the case needs to be investigated. If it wasn’t, it shouldn’t matter who you discuss things with.”
“Maybe you killed him.”
“Maybe I did. Can you suggest a motive for me?”
“He seemed to know a lot of secrets. Maybe you have some.”
“I do, definitely, but I very much doubt that Jake discovered any of them. Of course, I would say that, especially if the man had confronted me about them and I’d killed him to keep him quiet.”
“There was real blood at the scene,” Sara blurted out. “I have a small testing lab with me and I used it to analyze the blood stains on the clothes I was wearing when I found the body.”
“And you found human blood.”
“I did. Type B. Only two of seven samples had real blood, the rest was fake. The blood came from the same person, but I don’t know Jake’s blood type.”
“That suggests that it wasn’t a heart attack, anyway. Where should we start?”
“Let’s talk about everyone in turn,” Sara suggested as she pushed her empty plate away.
“Let’s get another round of drinks before we start,” Luke replied, getting to his feet.
The waiter cleared away the plates and empty glasses before Luke returned. When he returned, Luke handed Sara another beer and then sat back down.
“I still haven’t taken my neutralizer,” she said, reaching for her bag.
“Leave it for now,” Luke suggested, catching her hand. “We’ve already been here an hour. The first drink will have already worked its way through your system.”
Sara nodded and sat back in her seat. Luke gave her hand a squeeze and then let it go.
“Right, so Robert is at the top of our list,” he said, pulling out his M-ped. “I’m going to put our list in here in case we want to consult it again another time.”
“Was that issued by the school or is it your own?”
“This is mine. I do have one that Robert gave me, but I only use that for classes.”
Sara nodded. “Put Robert on the top of the list, then.”
“I’ll put Ethel next, at least for now.”
“Put Dr. Freeman before Ethel, mostly because I just don’t like him.”
Luke grinned at her and then tapped on his device. “Right, I’m going to put you on the bottom of the list because I do like you.”
Sara flushed. “That doesn’t seem like very sound investigative technique.”
“It isn’t, but this isn’t really my case. It might not even have been murder.”
Sara nodded, even though she was convinced that it was exactly that. “What about your name?”
“I’m still working through the staff. We’ll do students next.”
“There isn’t any other staff.”
“There’s a couple who live on the opposite side of the compound. She does all of the cleaning at the school and he handles building maintenance and security.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Henderson. I was introduced to them when I first arrived, but I haven’t seen either of them since.”
“I met them entirely by accident when I was having a walk around the compound. I got the feeling that they prefer to keep to themselves.”
“Robert told us that they would be doing most of their work after hours so as to stay out of the way during the day. I wonder if either of them saw or heard anything the night of the murder.”
“I usually have a walk or run around the compound most evenings. Maybe I’ll try to catch them for a short chat the next time I’m out.”
“Maybe I’ll join you for that walk.”
“I thought you weren’t allowed to get involved with students.”
“Apparently that only applied to Jake. Robert didn’t care in the slightest that we were going out tonight.”
“Does that make this a proper date?” Luke asked. He slid forward and took her hand. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve been on a date. I hope I remember how it works.”
Sara laughed and pulled her hand away. “I’m involved with someone,” she said, feeling that lie was safer than getting involved with this man would be.
“Are you? Someone at the school?”
“No, he’s, well, he’s nearby.”
Luke raised an eyebrow. “If you simply aren’t interested, you could just tell me that. You don’t need to make up a pretend boyfriend.”
“Should we get back to the case?” Sara asked.
“Sure, why not. I’ll put the Hendersons on the list, although I’ve no idea what sort of motive they might have had. They’ll go near the bottom.”
“If Jake was as good at learning secrets as it seems, they might have had a very strong motive.”
Luke nodded. “I’ll try to talk to them. In the meantime, they can stay at the bottom. Dr. Freeman goes after Robert, but before Ethel, and you go after Ethel, but before the Hendersons.”
“Fine. What about the students?”
“I assume Jake made an awkward pass at every one of the women.”
“Tamara was leading him on to get good marks from him.”
Luke sighed. “She actually seems quite clever. She could probably do really well if she tried.”
“I told her that today at the weapons range. She didn’t want to hear it.”
“What about Lacey and Donna? Was Jake harassing them, do you think?”
“He upset Lacey by telling her that she’d never succeed and then suggesting that he could help her in exchange for sexual favors.”
“That’s a yes for her then,” Luke sighed. “Sometimes I don’t understand other men.”
“Jake wasn’t complicated. He was fueled by drink and ego. Sex was a way to manipulate people, to make him feel more powerful. Lacey was afraid to say no to him, at least outright.”
“I hope she complained to Robert.”
“She didn’t, although she may have done so eventually, if he’d kept it up.”
“And Robert would have done what, I wonder?”
“He didn’t do anything after my complaint,” Sara replied. “He told me that he’d talked to Jake, whatever that means.”
“So Lacey has a motive, although I’m not sure it’s all that strong.”
Sara thought back to her conversation with Ethel before the classes had begun. There was something in Lacey’s past that the girl wanted to keep hidden, Sara was sure of that. Ethel was going to try to find out how Lacey was paying for her place at the school, too. She’d have to find time to have another chat with Ethel, Sara decided.
“You’re lost in thought,” Luke said.
“Sorry, just thinking back through everything that Lacey told me. I wish she would have opened up to me before Jake was killed. I’d have liked to have gotten him fired.”
“Do you really think Robert would have fired him?”
“No, probably not,” Sara sighed. “Donna has some issues, and he’d offered to help her in exchange for something. I’m assuming the something was sex, but it could have been anything.”
“Interesting. That gives her a motive, too. I’m starting to think we all wanted Jake dead.”
“I just wanted him gone. I’d have been more than happy to see him fired and sent away.”
“What if you’d talked to Robert and he’d refused to fire him?”
“Maybe I’d have killed Robert.”
“Unless you really need this job.”
