Without Mercy - Lisa Jackson [90]
On her heels, obviously unhappy, was Crystal Ricci, the thin girl with the dragon tattoo on her neck. She was loaded down with a sleeping bag in her arms and still managed to wheel a roller bag behind her.
Burdette said, “I didn’t want you to be alone, being as you’re new and all, so Crystal is going to be your roommate for the next month or two. You girls know each other, right?”
“Know is subjective,” Crystal said, scowling at Burdette.
“Semantics.” Burdette waved off Crystal’s back talk. “This is just a temporary arrangement.”
“Great.” In flannel pajamas, the sleeping bag trailing on the floor, Crystal looked as ticked off as anyone could get. “I thought I’d earned my privacy.”
“And now you have a chance to help someone else to earn hers,” Burdette said. “We have a serious problem here, Crystal, and we all have to pull together. Desperate times call for desperate measures. This is the academy’s desperate time, and you having to accept a roommate again is your desperate measure.”
“I don’t need to be babysat,” Shay said, cutting through Burdette’s BS.
“That’s not what this is about,” Burdette insisted, dropping the plastic bags onto the bed.
“Sure it is.” Crystal sent Shaylee a new look of respect. “Let’s face it, no one trusts the new kid, especially when her roommate turns up dead.”
Shay tried to stay cool, though every muscle in her body had gone tight. “You think I had something to do with Nona’s death?”
“Did you?”
“Enough!” Burdette stepped in. “All things considered, you should both be happy to have a roommate. More security.”
“Why do we need a bathroom buddy,” Shay asked, “when there are cameras and spy equipment all over the friggin’ school? In fact, you should know exactly who killed Nona. Isn’t it all on tape? Hasn’t the school turned the tapes over to the cops? That would make it pretty easy, wouldn’t it? Check the tapes, see who attacked Nona and Drew in the stable.”
“It’s not that easy.” Burdette’s face was stone cold.
Shay shook her head. “This is basic stuff, Dr. Burdette. You can see it on any episode of CSI or Law and Order or Forensic Files.”
“Things are easy on television, all neatly tied up in forty-eight minutes.” Burdette glanced up at the sprinkler head for a second, as if to make certain the camera was in place, then said, “Good night, ladies.”
The door whispered shut behind her, and Shay was left staring at Crystal. “There are no cameras, are there?”
The girl with the dragon tattoo finally grinned. “So all the hype about you was right. You are smart, aren’t you?”
“Is there a meeting tonight?” His right-hand man’s voice crackled over a walkie-talkie.
Hidden in the shadows of the tree line, the Leader glanced around the campus. Dressed in black ski clothes that cut the windchill, he made note of the changes, security measures that had been enforced faster than he’d anticipated.
Despite the chaos around him, despite his need to be with his followers again, despite the roar of blood pulsing in his ears whenever he saw Shaylee Stillman, he decided a meeting of the disciples would only put those he cared for in danger. He would have to be strong. Patient. Clear-thinking.
“Not tonight.” It was too dangerous. The sheriff’s deputies were combing the campus on horseback, in four-wheel vehicles, even with cruisers and boats on the frigid lake. Armed with shotguns, rifles, scopes, pistols, night-vision equipment, and dogs, law enforcers were out in full force. That would die down, of course. The small, rural department didn’t have the manpower to keep up the full-frontal attack for long.
“What about the inner circle?” asked his most trusted assistant, his voice so eager. So ready. So burning with fire for the cause…
Or was he? Perhaps this subordinate had his own ambitions. Perhaps he, the person he trusted most, was the reason things were spinning out of control.
“Soon. We just have to wait a few days. We can’t arouse suspicion. I’ll let you know when the time is right.” He clicked off, the static receding, the wail of the wind filling his ears.
Fortunately, the weather was on his