Without Mercy - Lisa Jackson [150]
She caught his gaze, wondered if his thoughts were traveling that old path that went to nowhere.
Long-buried feelings resurfaced, and she imagined for just a second what it would feel like to kiss him again. To touch him. To feel the strength of his corded muscles beneath her fingertips.
God, she was a fool. One minute furious with him, the next minute fantasizing about him.
Get a grip, Jules.
Being close to him was just plain nerve-racking. Old memories had taunted her. Often, tonight, while working with him, for just a heartbeat, she had lost sight of the reason she was with him, why she was here.
And it was happening again.
Suddenly warm, she pushed up the sleeves of her sweater and cleared her throat. “Okay, let’s regroup here,” she said, feeling time racing by, worried sick that the killer would strike again. “We’re still not sure how the kids’ murders are linked to Lauren’s disappearance.”
“Or if they are.”
“What about the business between Ethan Slade and his teacher, Maris Howell, the one I’m replacing?”
“If you believe him, nothing happened. The situation was misinterpreted and overblown. By his parents and the school. Maris was run out of town on a rail.”
“But not prosecuted?”
“Right.” He returned to the table, resting a hip against one scarred corner. “Maybe all the events aren’t tied together.”
“Smoke screens?” she asked, looking up at him, his eyes dark.
“Or coincidence.”
“What? No? If so, Blue Rock Academy has the worst luck of any school in the nation.”
He laughed then. “Well, that’s not melodramatic,” he said sarcastically. Firelight played upon his features, casting his cheekbones and deep-set eyes in shadowy gold. His jaw was still as strong as it ever had been, his blade-thin lips as sexy as she remembered. He was worried. And sexy as all get-out.
“Here’s the upside.” Trent looped his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans. “The news is that the storm should break tomorrow.”
“Really?”
“Meeker talked to the sheriff and told me before I came looking for you. If that’s true, a helicopter might be able to fly in.”
She listened to the howl of the wind. “A pretty big if. I wouldn’t count on it.” But in her heart, she felt a ray of hope. If they could connect to the outside world, get the kids to safety, have the resources of law enforcement, there was a chance they would catch this maniac.
She stretched again, lifting her hands high over her head and twisting her neck to release some of the tension.
Trent said, “When the detectives get here, I think they’ll want to talk to Shaylee again.”
“Along with everyone else.”
Trent nodded slowly, but she read his hesitation and caught on.
“Wait a minute,” she said, instantly hot. “Don’t tell me you really think my sister is guilty?”
“She hasn’t been ruled out yet.”
“Oh, for the love of God. Then what about Lauren Conway? Is Shaylee a suspect in her disappearance, too, even though it happened months before Shay came here?”
“You’re assuming the events are related, remember?”
“Aren’t they?” she tossed back, desperate to make him see that Shay was innocent. “Other than a scandal concerning a teacher and a student, this school hasn’t lost any of their students. Ever. Until November. Then, four months later, two other kids are killed!”
“I’m just saying that Shaylee is going to be looked at. Hard.”
“Because of her damned hat. That’s ridiculous! Nona had worn it before. As for the cell phone, big deal. She took Nona’s phone. When she was alive! Her biggest crime is petty theft!”
“Nona’s body was dragged. The abrasions on her back and rump are consistent with being dragged across the hay bales to the spot where she was hoisted over the beams.”
“She and Drew were making love.”
“On a sleeping bag, not straw,” he said quietly, “and Shay was the last person to see Nona alive.”
“Wrong!” Jules was