It’s smooth.”
Cal started to laugh, then noted that Flynn was not amused and went silent.
“A facial,” Flynn repeated in a low voice.
“Yeah. It’s the only way I could, you know…”
“Get into her pants?” Cal asked when Murphy faltered.
“No,” Murphy said. “She’s not that kind of girl. She’s very passionate about her English classes and this line of makeup and skin-care products she sells. Most of it’s all natural. The makeup, not the English classes. She gave me a sample of a skin cream for men. It smells pretty good.”
“You are a metrosexual,” Cal said.
Murphy muttered beneath his breath, “I still don’t know what that means.”
Dante arrived, to Flynn’s great relief, slightly red-faced and not his usual cool self.
“Where the hell have you been?” Flynn asked.
Dante walked into the room, but didn’t sit. Instead, he paced. “The math teacher is a freak.”
Cal and Murphy both leaned forward, unduly interested. “In what way?” Cal asked. “She has six toes on one foot? She used to work at a sideshow as the bearded lady? What?”
“Not a freak in a bad way,” Dante said. “She’s aggressive. She knows what she wants and she goes for it. Man, does she go for it. I thought math teachers were supposed to be shy and repressed, but not Serena Loomis. No, there’s nothing repressed about her. Man, I’m sorry I’m late, but I didn’t think she was going to let me go.”
“You’ve been in her room all this time?” Murphy asked.
Dante shook his head. “No. She was afraid one of the students would see me going to her room, or leaving. There’s a gardener’s shed out back, so we went there. If Austin is a man, it’s not Serena Loomis. She’s, uh, also not blond. Natural brunette.”
Flynn leaned back in his chair, on edge and impatient. “Murphy is a woman and Mangino got laid,” he said sharply. “Did we manage to gather any other useful information tonight?”
A breathless Dante nodded his head. “Maybe. Serena mentioned that there’s a parents’ weekend coming up in two weeks,” he said. “Considering how much it costs to attend this school, we have to look at every parent who’s going to be here that weekend as a potential target. Maybe what Austin wants to steal isn’t here, but will be. He took jewels before.”
“Killed for ’em,” Cal added.
Dante dismissed his momentous evening and turned his attention to the matter at hand. “We’re talking about a one-day event, which means anything of value will be in the possession of a parent. That means we’re looking at armed robbery, not simple theft.”
With that bit of information, the mood in the room changed. Back to business; they didn’t have time to spare.
Flynn nodded to Murphy. “I’ll need a list of all those parents. Dr. Barber will cooperate, I’m sure, but she has been less than thorough.” First Tess was left off the list of new employees, and now this. Surely she knew that the parents’ weekend would be of interest.
Then again, they hadn’t told her everything, either.
“I want to go outside the school for information, as well. I want everything.”
Murphy left the couch. “You got it.” Since their computer genius was a night owl, he’d probably have something substantial to report by morning. Cal promised to help, after he called his wife again, and Dante headed for his room, apparently for some well-deserved rest.
When they were all gone, Flynn went to the window to look over the campus. Crap. He wanted to be out of here ASAP, but this was a deadline he could do without. If he didn’t find Austin in the next two weeks, he’d have a campus brimming with potential victims. He could insist that the parents’ weekend be canceled, and Max could make it happen, but if they did that Austin would be spooked and might not resurface for years.
Besides, there was no guarantee that the target was among the parents. All they knew with any certainty was that Austin had been here.
He tried to imagine Tess Stafford planning to rob one or more of the parents, in between baking cookies and brewing coffee and giving the most inept of the girls a little extra smile and conversation. And he couldn’t make it work.
But he knew too well that didn’t mean Tess Stafford wasn’t the one he was looking for.
“Time for bed,” Truman said gently. “You need your sleep.”
Sadie looked away from the computer screen long enough to smile widely at her husband. He had always been overly protective, but now that she was pregnant he was downright possessive.
A part of her actually liked it.
“I think I found her.”
Truman cocked his head and smiled at her. Sometimes just looking at him still made her heart go thump. “She’ll still be there come morning.”
“Maybe,” Sadie muttered. Kelly Calhoun never stayed in one place very long, but she did have a tendency to come back to the South on a regular basis. “I don’t want to lose her again.”
Truman laid his hands on her shoulders and massaged lightly. “Are you going to call Cal and tell him?”
Sadie shook her head as she typed the last of the e-mail message to the private eye who’d found Kelly. Maybe. “No. I don’t want to get his hopes up and then come up empty-handed again. He’s been through that too many times.”
Her husband bent down and kissed her cheek. “You’re a good friend,” he said. “And a good wife,” His hand settled over her stomach. “And a good mother.”
Sadie smiled at the computer screen. Once she found Kelly for Cal, she was going to take some serious time off. Like maybe until the last of the kids started school. She’d never imagined she could feel this way.
“So,” Truman said, leaning against her and hanging on lightly. “Where is she this time?”
“Close,” she answered, then she finished her e-mail and glanced up. “Kelly’s back in Georgia.”
Chapter 3
Saturdays were nice on campus, even when it was cold. Peaceful. Quiet, in a way that touched the soul. On most Saturday mornings and many weekday afternoons, if it wasn’t too cold, Tess took a turn or two around the nature trail that wound through pine trees and old oaks and thick underbrush. The path itself, which circled around the soccer field and cleared the thick growth on the side nearest the parking lot, was kept clear of debris and poison ivy by the landscaping crew that came in once a week. The kids walked and ran on this trail, in their spare time or as part of their physical education class. And still, when she walked the path alone it felt as if no one else ever came here. The wild growth and the whisper of trees was miles away from the sparkling appliances of the massive kitchen.
Tess walked briskly around the path to stay warm, her eyes on the soccer field where one of the teams was practicing. It was the middle school team, she knew. The Ladybugs. Laura and Bev were on the team, though from what she’d seen in weeks past they didn’t get to play much. Neither of them was athletic enough to get a lot of playing time. Of course, the entire team was less than athletically stellar. Maybe they’d improve before the season started, but from what she’d heard that wasn’t likely. The soccer teams usually both finished last or near last in their divisions. Coach West had been very laid-back, and if his complacence had been a part of his coaching style she could see why the teams hadn’t done well.
Coach Calhoun wasn’t at all laid-back. He yelled at the girls when they made a mistake, and there had been one or two times when she’d been sure he was literally pulling out his hair. It was early in the soccer year,