Silver Falls - Anne Stuart [64]
“Yes, thank heavens,” David said. “The entire campus has been in a state of panic. Now that the danger has passed maybe we can get back to our normal lives.”
Caleb wasn’t saying anything at all.
“Not necessarily,” Maggie drawled. “The FBI is sure they’ve got a good lead on the man, and they’ve handed local authority back to me.”
“But you’re not convinced,” Rachel said, a statement, not a question.
“No, I’m not. Maybe the FBI’s right, and we have nothing more to worry about. We were just a pit stop for a monster making his way across the Pacific Northwest. But I don’t like unanswered questions. This doesn’t smell right to me.”
“Don’t you think you should let it rest, Maggie?” Stephen Henry said in his most dictatorial voice. “If the FBI is satisfied then you should be, too.”
“Professor Middleton, I’ve never been the kind of gal who takes someone else’s word for things. I make up my own mind, and right now Rachel’s absolutely right. It doesn’t feel right to me. I’m not letting go of it until I’m convinced the murderer is hundreds of miles away from here. In the meantime, I’d like to talk to each of you, alone.”
“At this hour?” Stephen Henry exploded. “Don’t be ridiculous. This is hardly the time for social calls.”
“Didn’t I just tell you that this is far from a social call?” Maggie drawled. “Now you can meet with me, one by one, in the dining room, or you can come with me down to the station. Makes no difference to me—I’ll get the job done either way.”
“It can’t wait until tomorrow?” David said, his forehead furrowed.
“I’m afraid not. I do think the killings have stopped for the time being, whether or not the murderer has moved on. Maybe he’s thinking he’s managed to fool everyone, and he’s too smart to jeopardize his position right now. For the time being people are safe. Unless he’s gotten totally out of control and can’t help himself.” She looked over at Caleb, who met her gaze with a calm, steady expression.
“Sophie, I think you should go to bed,” David said. “Maggie won’t be needing to talk to you and I know how upsetting this must be.”
Rachel didn’t miss Sophie’s instinctive pout.
“I’m afraid I meant it when I said I need to talk to all of you,” Sheriff Bannister said. “I can take Sophie first so she can get to bed sooner.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Stephen Henry said, his voice raised to almost bellowing levels. “You can’t tell me you suspect my granddaughter of being a serial killer!”
“Sheriff Bannister just wants to talk with me, Stephen Henry,” Sophie said calmly. “She probably wants to know if I’ve seen anything, noticed anything out of place or peculiar. It’s no problem—I don’t mind.” She rose. At age thirteen, she was already nearing five feet seven—in another year she might be taller than David. “I was getting pretty tired anyway.”
“You mind if we use the dining room, Rachel?” Maggie said.
She could sense David’s irritation that he wasn’t being consulted. “It’s fine with us,” she said deliberately, giving David his ounce of power. And annoyed with herself for doing so.
“Don’t any of you go anywhere. You stay and keep the boys from killing each other, Rachel.” With anyone else that would be a joke. Coming from Maggie’s flat, affectless voice it sounded far too real.
“This is ridiculous,” Stephen Henry fumed once Maggie and Sophie disappeared. “I don’t know what’s gotten into that woman—she should know better than to harass members of one of Silver Falls’s most important families.”
“Oh, come on, Father,” Caleb drawled, still sitting a little way off. “Don’t be modest. What’s this ‘one of’ bullshit? You know that no one else in the area comes near our exalted level.”
Stephen Henry didn’t deny it. “I was being tactful,” he said, drawing up his dignity around him, ignoring Caleb’s mockery. “Which is something you could work on, my boy.”
Caleb’s dark, wicked eyes met hers for a brief moment before he turned back to his father. “Tact is for pussies.”
“Caleb!” David said, shocked.
“Oh, come on, David!” Caleb said. “You’re just too damned easy to rile. Loosen up. There are all sorts of perfectly