Sanctum (27 page)

“You know this is a trap, right?” Jordan asked, helping Abby straighten the hood on her coat, which had gotten tangled.

“Of course it is,” she said with a tired laugh. “But what are our options at this point?”

“We won’t let you go in there alone,” Dan assured her, pulling on his cold-weather gear and packing up their notes.

“I’m going to hide these,” he said. “If we’re walking into a trap, the last thing I want is Professor Reyes getting her hands on our notes. Here.” He shifted the files and journals into an orderly pile and handed them to Abby. “Stick these in the girls’ bathroom, a vent maybe.”

She disappeared down the hall momentarily, and returned with her coat zipped and her hat pulled down snugly over her ears. “Trap or not,” Abby said, “I think I have an idea.”

Chapter 29

A
s they stood outside the art building shivering in the milky sunlight, Dan found himself wondering if he would ever be warm again. He hadn’t expected to miss the uncomfortably cramped hallway where they had spent the night, but anything was better than listening to his teeth rattle around in his skull while his feet started to go numb.

The art building was low and wide, with two warped columns protecting the entrance. The stout profile and oddly shaped columns reminded him of a bulldog’s bowlegged stance.

“When you said ‘idea,’ I thought you meant like a
plan
plan, not charging in, conspicuously absent guns blazing,” Jordan said, stamping his feet and blowing on his fingers.

Abby hushed him. He and Dan were standing to either side of the door, not visible to whoever might be lurking inside the art building.

“It is a plan, which you would see if you just shut up for one minute.” She took out Jordan’s phone and inched off her mitten to dial. Before tapping the number she said, “I’m going to call Lara and tell her the door’s locked, that I can’t get in. It will force her to come out here. When she opens the door we can grab her and go. That way if there’s anyone waiting inside to ambush us they won’t get the drop.”

“That’s . . . not a bad plan actually,” Jordan admitted with a shrug.

“Shhh, it’s ringing. Get ready, we won’t have much time to get away.”

Silence. Dan rubbed his arms furiously, trying to coax feeling back into them. He felt like they were waiting for the executioner to show up; even if Lara could help them, first she would have to actually cooperate and evade the Scarlets. For a moment he closed his eyes and imagined himself back home, warm, hands wrapped around a steamy cup of cocoa with a blanket over his lap.

“It went to voice mail,” Abby said. She tried the number again. “She’s not picking up. . . . Crap. One more try.”

“Hang on.” Jordan shifted closer to her, as close as he could get without being visible through the glass windows surrounding the door. “Do you hear that?”

Abby put her ear to the door.

Dan couldn’t hear anything but a few birds calling to one another on top of the building next door.

“Is that the ‘Monster Mash’?”

“It’s her ringtone,” Abby said, holding up the phone. “Maybe we should go in.”

“Dial again, let’s make sure,” Dan suggested.

He strained to listen for the ringtone, and almost as soon as Abby hit redial he heard a faint twinkling that gradually transformed into a melody. The fact that her phone had rung through three times now worried him. It didn’t make sense. If there was an ambush waiting for them inside, then she would have put her phone on silent or interrupted the calls, or, hell,
answered
.

“We should go in,” Abby said, handing Jordan back his phone. “She would’ve picked up by now.”

“I’m with you on this one,” Dan agreed. “Something’s not right.” Then he reached out and put his hand over the doorknob, blocking them from going in. “And if there really is an ambush waiting for us inside, run and split up. They’ll have a harder time catching us that way. If you get away, turn your phones back on and we’ll find somewhere to meet up.”

“Got it,” Jordan said.

“Try to be quiet,” Abby added, pushing Dan’s hand away and turning the doorknob. “We might be able to get a quick peek and then hightail it.”

Dan soon realized a “quick peek” wasn’t going to be in the cards. Something smooth and white was lying on the floor just inside the foyer. He paused, but Abby had already rushed ahead, bending to pick it up.

“Okay, what is
that
?” Jordan whispered, pointing frantically.

“It’s a hand,” Abby replied quietly. “A mannequin hand.” She frowned, looking up slowly from the plastic fingers to Dan’s face. “This is part of her project.”

Dan took a careful step out of the foyer and into the corridor that bisected it. To the left the hall was empty, with several doors leading off into what he presumed were practice studios. To the right . . .

“There’s another one,” Abby said, trotting off to retrieve it. This piece was a foot. “Guys . . . I really don’t like this. Lara would never take her own work apart. This project meant the world to her.”

“Where’s her studio?” Dan asked, although he hardly needed to. He could already see another cast-off piece of mannequin behind her. The discarded body parts made a trail down the hall. Abby turned and led them the right way, pausing to look over each crumb left on the trail. A thigh . . . a forearm . . . a head.

When they reached the torso, Dan realized they were standing outside a half-open door. Abby was quick to reach for it, but Dan delayed her. Her hand was shaking uncontrollably when he took hold of it.

“Whatever we find in there,” he murmured, looking at them both in turn, “don’t scream.”

Abby put her palm flat on the door and pushed. The hinges creaked mournfully, the door swinging open slowly, revealing yet more of the trail of mannequin parts. Broken riggings hung from the ceiling, the ropes and wires still dangling as if recently ripped apart. A few nails and screws hung from the ends of the wires. The mannequins had probably been suspended, he thought, wishing he could’ve seen what the piece was supposed to look like.

At his side, Abby gasped softly, sprinting past the morbid trail of plastic body parts to the flesh-and-blood body lying in the center of the studio.

He almost broke his own rule, feeling the urge to scream rise fast and painful in his throat.

It was Lara, lying sprawled on the ground with her head cocked to one side. She was almost smiling, like someone who had thought of a joke and couldn’t wait to share it. Her hands were curled under her body. The blood was still pooling out from her, and Abby had to take a quick step back to avoid it touching her sneakers.

“Oh my God,” Abby said, holding one trembling hand over her mouth.

Carefully, Dan and Jordan picked their way across the studio to her. Abby followed a few shaky steps behind. Cal or the professor, Dan wondered, but he didn’t say anything, putting an arm around Abby and squeezing her while she wiped at the tears on her face.

“I know it’s awful, Abby, but we have to leave her,” Dan whispered.

“We can’t . . . Not like this . . .”

He started to pull her back, away from the body. The mannequin parts slipped out of Abby’s grasp, clattering to the floor.

“We can’t be seen here,” Dan added. He watched Jordan kneel down and wipe the end of his jacket over the mannequin pieces Abby had touched. “If we don’t go now, someone will find us. That’s exactly what Professor Reyes would want, to have us detained. To find me.”

Abby wrenched herself out of his grasp, spinning and planting her feet. “Can you just shut up about all this warden crap for once? That’s a person! A real person! We can’t leave her here. We have to call 911, we have to
do
something.”

“Abs, she’s dead,” Jordan said gently. “There’s nothing we can do.” He turned to Dan and made a futile half gesture to the door. “Maybe we could call 911 and hang up. At least then we know someone would come.”

“We have to get out of here,” Dan replied, going to the door. He wasn’t about to stand around and get caught and then blamed for a death he had nothing to do with. Maybe if she was still alive they could dawdle, but she wasn’t. “If this is a setup, the police could already be on their way, don’t you get it?”

Dan glanced up at the ceiling, looking for cameras. They should never have come.

“I’m not leaving her,” Abby said finally, crossing her arms.

“Then stay,” Dan grumbled. “But I’m not sticking around here another minute.”

Jordan hesitated, then followed Dan to the door. Only a few seconds later and he heard Abby running to catch up with them in the hall. “Dan . . .”

“Follow me,” he said brusquely. “I know what we can do.”

“Dan, wait—” Abby pulled on his arm, but he didn’t slow down until they reached the end of the corridor and a side door marked “EXIT.” Right next to it was a little red box with a handle.

“Wait,” she said again, pleading.

“I can’t, Abby, and neither can you.” He pointed to the fire alarm. “When you’re ready, pull it. Look, I know you’re upset. I am too. But I’m also
scared
, okay? Are you forgetting? You were supposed to come alone. Alone. The whole thing was a trap.”

“All the more reason she deserves our pity!” Abby fired back. “Not . . . whatever this is! Someone
murdered
her!”

“We can’t stay and wait for the police. It’s not one of our options right now, so pull the fire alarm or don’t. I’m leaving.”

Chapter 30

T
he outside cold hit him like a slap in the face. He jogged, hands deep in his pockets, his feet pounding the ground harder than necessary. At least this way he got a little warmer. Not much, but anything was better than letting the image of Lara’s lifeless face creep back into focus.

This wasn’t Professor Reyes. This was the warden. But he couldn’t lash out at the warden, so the professor would have to do. She had attacked Micah and now she had attacked Lara. It didn’t take much extrapolating to see that they were next. Swearing, he blinked, hard, forcing back the panic threatening to rob his nerve altogether.

Behind him, the shrill fire alarm sounded and then Abby and Jordan were next to him, and it only made the guilt worse.

He knew it was the right thing to do, leaving like that, otherwise they would be caught either by the police or the Scarlets, and neither option would get them safely out of Camford.

Abby marched right by him. She stopped about ten feet beyond where he’d come to a rest; then she turned right around and came back toward him.

“I don’t like what we just did,” Abby said resolutely. “And I don’t care if it’s dangerous, I’m going to the police.”

“What? Abby, you know that’s not a good idea.”

“We have information,” she half yelled. Jordan appeared at her side, taking her by the arm and leading her away from the building.

“We can’t have this conversation right here,” he warned them.

Jordan brought Abby down the path, away from the art building and toward a paved circular park area. A few academic buildings now lay between them and the scene of the crime.

“You don’t agree with me, I get that, Dan, but we know who killed Lara! And I know you think the whole town is wrapped up in this conspiracy, but it just . . . It’s just ridiculous!” She caught her breath, clasping her hands together and wringing them. “We don’t have any evidence that this goes further than the college.”

“What about Harry Cartwright? And the senator? What about the entire town throwing that insane carnival?” Dan replied hotly. “He was with the post office. The warden didn’t seem to have any trouble getting him to steal mail. That senator didn’t even flinch when they . . . when they hurt Micah.”

“But when we were searching around those houses, even Micah was worried about getting caught by the police, and he’s a Scarlet!”

Dan tapped his foot, anxious, hearing the sound of a distant fire engine grow closer and louder. “He was probably putting on an act for our benefit. . . .”

“But you were so sure we could trust him,” Jordan said slowly, watching Dan from under a severely arched brow. “It feels like we only have half the facts here, and . . . And as much as I think you might be right, Dan, it feels wrong to just disappear when we could at least try the police.”

“Because they did such a bang-up job over the summer!” Dan forced his voice back down from a shout. The Scarlets could be watching them right now. They probably were. Whoever killed Lara might be lurking around, watching them argue and enjoying every minute of it.

“Incompetence is not the same thing as corruption,” Abby pointed out. “I don’t know what else we can do. Lara was our way out.”

She pulled out her phone, and Dan could see the map application brighten her screen. “I’ll go alone, that’s fine. You two can stay here and try to figure out a miracle cure.”

Dan had to physically stop himself from swatting the phone out of her hands. She was already searching for directions to the police station.

“I’m going with you, Abs. I really don’t want you going there alone,” Jordan said, placing a light hand on her shoulder.