Without Mercy - Lisa Jackson [132]
An outright lie?
Or an omission?
Lie? Omission? What did it matter?
No, not Analise Delaney. He corrected himself as he remembered that the pretty girl had married Eli Blackwood. Another mistake.
He’d trusted Eli, though he had not entrusted him with too many secrets. Good thing, as the boy had failed him.
How did she know Analise and Eli Blackwood?
Scowling, he dialed the number marked as “home,” with its Seattle area code, and heard her voice, though the connection was fading. “Hi! You…reached…Jules…out right now…know…drill…leave…-sage and I’ll call you back as…” The call was disconnected, but there was no mistake. He recognized her voice. Julia Farentino, who had sworn she lived in Portland, Oregon. Why would she have a Seattle exchange? Had she moved? Kept her service in Seattle, Washington, because it was easier? Friends and family knew the number?
There were lots of possibilities.
But it was just too much of a coincidence to think she’d been hired soon after Shaylee Stillman had become a student….
And they resembled each other.
He took another chance and dialed the number marked “Mom.”
The phone rang several times before it was answered by voice mail. “You’ve reached Edie. Sorry to have missed your call. Please leave…” And blah, blah, blah.
He didn’t have Shaylee Stillman’s file in front of him, but he re membered that her mother was Edith Stillman, the same woman whom Julia had tagged as “Mom.”
So they were sisters?
He stared at the certificates on the walls of his study, an impressive and vast array of documents proclaiming him “excellent” or “exceptional,” degrees that proved his natural intellect and ability to work hard against the disadvantages of his early years. And yet, sometimes he erred. His sharp, clinical mind could be clouded by lust, by envy, by greed, sins of the soul that he’d tried so hard to tamp down.
He leaned back in his chair so far that it squeaked in protest.
Why would she lie?
To get the job?
To be near her sister. No wonder he’d blended the two women in his mind, fantasized about both.
Or was she here for a darker purpose?
It didn’t matter. The bottom line was that he couldn’t take a chance with her. And her death was the only sensible answer. Confronting her, exposing her as a liar, might ensure that she was thrown out of the school. But intuition burned deep in his gut, telling him that there was more to her deception.
And he couldn’t take any chances.
The phone jangled in his hand. Analise’s number showed on the screen. He clicked on. Didn’t say a word.
“Jules?” Analise’s voice was clear this time, but he didn’t respond. “Can you hear me? Oh, God, I hope so. Jules? Jules! Listen, Eli would probably kill me if he knew I told you this, but there is something going on at Blue Rock—can you hear me? Oh, God. I didn’t want to tell you, didn’t think you’d be in trouble or danger or, oh, God. Neither Eli nor I are sure of what it is, but there’s some kind of secret club there. I know it sounds weird, but I feel they could be…I don’t know, dangerous sounds so over the top, but that’s what I feel…Jules? Are you there? I thought the place would be good for Shay, but I don’t know. I love the school, believe it really helped me, but…you’re right. Oh, darn, I should have warned you. Look, I’ll try to call back. I hope you’re doing okay, that you’ve got power. We’re out here…Jules? Damn it all anyway!” She clicked off, and the Leader stared at the phone. All of his plans, all of his dreams, all of his ideals flashed like lightning through his mind.
So why was Jules here?
To spy? To get her sister, under court order, out of here?
To expose him?
The Leader’s heart went cold as stone. Lauren Conway’s face shot through his mind, and he touched his pocket, reassuring himself that the small flash drive with its incriminating pictures and information was still safely tucked away. She, too, had thought she would expose him, and she