Mountain Peril (11 page)

T
hirty minutes later Danielle stood outside her closed office door. She’d thought Jack and Will would be finished by now, but no one had come out since she’d returned from the dining room. What could be taking them so long?

The door opened, and Will walked into the hallway. He grinned when he saw her. “What are you doing out here? Come on in. It’s your office.”

“I didn’t want to disturb.”

His dimples creased his cheeks. “Do you mean Jack?” He leaned closer and whispered. “I think you disturb him every time he gets around you.”

“I would think you’d be a better detective than that.” Danielle’s face burned, and she pushed past Will.

Inside the room, April sat at her desk, her hands clasped in her lap. Jack stood at the window gazing across the campus. Danielle stopped beside her desk, unsure what she should do.

Will ambled up beside her as Jack turned around. “Is everything okay?” Danielle asked.

Jack nodded. “April has told us what’s been going on for the past few weeks. We need to catch this guy, and April has agreed to help us.”

Danielle glanced from Jack to April. “How are you going to do that?”

Fear etched April’s face. “They want to see if he’ll follow a decoy.”

Danielle turned to Will. “I don’t understand.”

“I’ve been on the phone with the sheriff, and we have the details worked out. Our department has a female deputy who is about April’s size. When April goes to the library tonight, we’ll be waiting inside. She’s going to wear a hooded coat, and Deputy Riley will put it on and take her books. Then our deputy will walk across campus toward the dorm. If the guy is watching, maybe he’ll follow the decoy, and we’ll have a chance to get him.”

Danielle glanced toward Jack. “What if he doesn’t appear?”

Jack shrugged. “We’ll try another night. It’s a long shot, but this could be a break in Tricia’s murder.”

Danielle turned toward the door. “I need to tell Jeff and Nathan about this.”

Will grabbed her arm. “No, Dr. Tyler. The fewer people who know about this the better. We don’t know who this guy is, and we don’t want him to find out we’re watching.”

She looked at Jack, and he nodded his agreement. She started to offer a further argument but knew it would do no good. “I understand. Is there any way I can help?”

April stood up. “Could you be at the library waiting for me? I’d feel better if you were there.”

“Of course. Anything else?”

Jack stepped away from the window. “Can you arrange a private room at the library where I can wait with Deputy Riley until April gets there?”

Danielle nodded. “I’ll tell the staff I need the conference room on the second floor for a meeting tonight. You can stay there.”

The muscle in Jack’s jaw twitched. “That sounds good.” He turned back to April. “Now be sure and wear a hooded coat and carry several books. Don’t hurry when you walk across campus. Act like you have all the time in the world. The sheriff is making arrangements with the university security service to have some officers join our deputies on the stakeout. They’ll be watching every move you make. When you get to the library, go to one of the study tables and sit down. You need to pretend to study for about an hour.”

A groan rumbled in April’s throat. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Yes, you can,” Jack insisted. “Whoever is following you may come inside to make sure you’re studying. We want him to see you. After about an hour get up and come to the conference room. Deputy Riley will take your place and walk back to the dorm. If anybody’s out there, we’ll see him.”

April buried her head in her hands. “I just want this to be over.” After a moment she uncovered her face and turned to Danielle. “I’ve thought a lot about what you said today, Dr. Tyler. If we catch this guy, I’m going to be more careful in the future.”

Danielle put her arm around April’s shoulders. “You’re a smart and beautiful young woman. You just need to make sure everybody sees you for what you really are, not the tease that you try to be at times.”

April’s lips trembled, and she grasped Danielle’s hand. “Thank you for being so nice to me.” She glanced at Will and then Jack. “And thank you both for trying to help me.”

Will smiled. “Happy to do it. Maybe we’ll catch this creep tonight, and your troubles will be over.”

“I hope so.” She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. “Now if you don’t need me anymore, I have a class.”

Jack waved his hand in dismissal. “Go on. We’ll see you
in the conference room tonight. Get to the library about eight o’clock, and then come to the conference room about nine.”

April nodded. “I’ll see you then.”

Will walked April to the door, then turned to Jack. “I’m going on out to the car, Jack. I need to make some phone calls. Come on whenever you’re ready.” He smiled at Danielle. “It was good to see you again, Dr. Tyler.”

“You, too, Detective Bryson. I suppose I’ll see you at the library tonight.” When he’d disappeared out the door, she faced Jack. “Do you think he’ll show?”

Jack shrugged. “I don’t know. Sometimes we have luck on the first try, and sometimes we never get the guy.”

She crossed her arms and hugged her body. “I’m beginning to think that this campus spawns evil at every turn. Two students murdered and now another being stalked. When is it ever going to end?”

Jack shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe soon if this stalker is connected to the killings.”

Danielle straightened and gritted her teeth. “Well, it won’t be too soon for me. I’m beginning to hate the place. I should have known better than to come back here. It’s not only brought back my nightmares about Jennifer, but now Tricia’s murder haunts me, too. Maybe it’s best that I’m leaving.”

Jack’s eyebrows arched. “Leaving? What do you mean?”

“I’ve decided to take the job with my parents.” Danielle searched his face for a hint that he wanted her to stay, but she saw nothing.

His mouth thinned into a straight line. “I see. When did you decide?”

“This morning when Jeff offered me the job as vice president. It seems he and Nathan have been grooming me for that position.”

His gaze flitted across her face, and her skin prickled at
his intense stare. “Why don’t you want the job? I think you’d be great at it.”

She reached out and grabbed the back of a chair to steady her trembling legs. The breath had left her body as if someone had punched a hole in her chest, and a weakness flowed from her head to her toes. Why couldn’t he say he didn’t want her to go?

Danielle blinked back tears and took a deep breath. “I’m sure I could do it, but there’s another faculty member who deserves it more than I do. All I want is to feel safe again.” Her gaze raked the walls of her office. “There’s nothing safe about this place anymore. I want to be with my parents and try to find my life again. Maybe I can do that by joining their new ministry.”

He nodded. “I hope you’ll be happy, Danielle.” He reached for his ever-present notebook he’d set on her desk and picked it up. “Well, I’d better get out of here. I’ll see you at the library tonight.”

“I’ll be there.”

She followed him to the door and closed it when he stepped into the hall. She leaned her forehead against the wood and let the tears trickle down her cheeks. She wanted to tell him that she had something new from Webster to add to her list of things that haunted her. He now occupied a spot, and she doubted if she would ever be able to erase his name from her heart.

The sad thing, however, was that he didn’t appear to care she was leaving. He had reacted as if she were some casual acquaintance that he could care less whether or not they ever met again. For Danielle that wasn’t the case.

She still didn’t know when it had happened. At some point when she’d let her guard down, Jack Denton had wedged his way into her heart, and no amount of wishing would make him go away.

Jack paced back and forth across the conference room but stopped every few minutes to check his watch. Deputy Ann Riley sat at the long table that stretched nearly the full length of the room and flipped through a magazine she’d found in one of the chairs.

She glanced up as Jack made another sweep across the small room. “Why don’t you sit down? You’re making me antsy.”

He shook his head. “I can’t. I always get this way during a stakeout.”

She turned another page and bent over to study a picture. “I’m the one who’s going to be in danger if anything goes wrong, and I’m not worried. You just need to relax.”

He dropped down in a chair across from her and rubbed the back of his neck. As he studied the deputy, he was amazed how much she resembled April. About the same height and weight, the only difference was Ann’s blond hair, but that would be covered by the hood. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you. We have men stationed all across campus. As soon as you leave here, they’ll have you on their radar. They’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”

She flipped the magazine closed and chuckled. “I know, Jack. I’m not worried. I’m wired, and I’ll be in voice contact with all of you every step of the way.” She pushed back from the table. “In fact I feel kind of pumped. I sure hope we can bring this guy down.”

“Me, too.”

Ann stretched her arms over her head and twisted at the waist from side to side. “I need to stretch some before I go out there, though. I’d sure hate to be taken by surprise.”

Jack pushed up from his chair and walked around the table. He swallowed back the fear that rose in his throat. “Don’t worry, Ann. We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Her eyes narrowed, and for an instant Jack spotted what he thought might be uncertainty. He understood her concern. No matter how many precautions they took, something could always go wrong when you were dealing with an unstable person. To his way of thinking anyone who would terrorize another person had to be a nutcase.

Before he could respond to Ann, the door opened and Danielle walked in. His heart kicked him in the chest at the sight of her. She’d never looked more beautiful with her nose and cheeks red from the outside cold.

“I’ve been in my office, but April just called. She’s on her way to the library. So I came on over.”

Jack glanced at Ann. “This is Dr. Danielle Tyler. She’s the Dean of Students here.” He directed his attention back to Danielle. “This is Deputy Ann Riley. She’s going to be our decoy tonight.”

Danielle pulled off her gloves and extended her hand to Ann. “It’s so nice to meet you, Deputy Riley. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you’re doing to help April. I’m really concerned about her.”

Ann shook Danielle’s hand and smiled. “It’s good to meet you, too, Dr. Tyler. I hope we can put an end to this business tonight.”

Danielle sighed. “I do, too, but please call me Danielle.”

Ann pulled out a chair and motioned for Danielle to sit down. “I will, and you call me Ann. I feel I know you already, because Jack has told me about your link to the murders here at Webster.”

“I’ve lived a nightmare for years.”

Jack detected the tremor in her voice, and it was all he could do to keep from sitting in the chair beside her and grasping her hand. Instead he turned his back and headed for the door. If this stakeout proved successful, they might be able
to answer the question of who had committed the murders that haunted Danielle.

“I think I’ll see if April’s here yet,” he said as he opened the door. “I’ll be back when she comes up here.”

He slipped into the hall and looked around for a place where he could stand and be unobserved by people coming and going from the library. A waist-high wall with a railing on top covered the length of the second floor and provided a bird’s-eye view of the main floor of the library below. Long shelves of books known as the stacks ran parallel to the wall from the front of the second floor to the back.

Jack stepped behind the first row of the stacks and pulled several books from the shelf. He peered through the hole he’d made to the lower level of the building. From his vantage point he could see the study tables and chairs that dotted the main floor. This spot seemed the perfect place to watch without being observed.

He’d only been there a few minutes when April walked into the library. She wore a hooded coat just as he’d told her and carried a large three-ring binder with two books perched atop. She glanced at the tables before she settled at an unoccupied one, pulled her coat off, and opened one of the books. Within minutes she appeared to be engrossed in one of the books she’d brought as she read and made notes.

He unclipped the radio from his belt and gave the prearranged signal that April had entered the library. “The package has arrived.”

“Ten-four.” Will’s reply confirmed his stakeout position.

Before he could respond, the front door opened again, and Jeff Newman walked into the library. He stopped just inside and glanced around at the students scattered at the tables before he walked to the circulation desk.

“We have a visitor.”

The student worker smiled as Jeff approached. Jack tensed and tried to hear what they were saying, but he was too far away. He’d forgotten how quiet it was in a library. The silence settled over him and sent an icy foreboding flowing through him.

The student worker pulled a book from underneath the circulation desk. Smiling, Jeff took it, shook the young man’s hand and walked from the room.

“School president on his way out. See where he goes.”

“Ten-four.”

Within minutes the voice of one of the deputies stationed across campus came over the radio. “He’s gone inside the Administration Building. I just saw the light in a downstairs office go on.”

“Keep a watch,” Jack said.

He stared back at April, who hadn’t moved and seemed more involved in her studies than before. The door opened again, and Jack’s eyebrows arched as Landon Morse walked in. “What have we here?”

Will said, “I just saw him arrive. Let us know if he leaves.”

“Ten-four.”

Landon ambled to a reading area at the back of the downstairs. He studied the newspapers on a table before he picked one up, sat down in a chair and crossed his legs. Opening up the paper, he held it in front of his face. From time to time he lowered the paper to turn the page and direct a stare in April’s direction. Jack cautioned himself about making too many assumptions, but Landon appeared to be watching April.