A Profiler's Case for Seduction(77)

Failu.

The letters on the small card he’d found in the bottom of Melinda’s drawer suddenly flashed in his head, like a neon sign blinking over and over again. Failu.

Failure. Maybe he’d been wrong in thinking the card was meant for him. Maybe somebody who knew about Dora’s past had just been waiting to label and get rid of her.

The great Melinda would see the sister who had stayed behind, who had become an alcoholic, as a failure. Although she’d helped Dora escape from Horn’s Gulf, she might only hold disgust and embarrassment for Dora.

And what better night to murder again? With the throngs of people on campus, with the law and security on babysitting duty for the students and out-of-town guests, it would be easy for two people to disappear for a night of murder and madness.

Amanda. She held some of the answers, and without full knowledge of what the assistant knew, there was no way for Mark even to begin to know where to look for Dora.

As he ran down the stairs to his car at the curb, he pulled out his cell phone and called Richard. With clipped, terse words he told his boss what was happening, what he believed and that he was on his way to Amanda’s place for a shakedown.

“I’ll send Albright and Thompson to Dora’s place to check for forensic evidence. Lori and Joseph are already somewhere on the campus. I’ll tell them to keep an eye out for both Craig and the professor. If we have them in our sights, then they can’t be committing murder.”

“Get somebody to find Andrew Peterson, just in case my first instincts are wrong,” Mark said as he got into his car.

“I’ll take care of it,” Richard replied. When the two men had disconnected, Mark started his engine and the resulting roar of the engine mirrored the roar of terror that shot through his heart.

Dora was the next victim. She would be found somewhere with a note card placed on her body that read Failure. He had to stop it. He couldn’t let this happen.

He pulled to the curb in front of Amanda’s apartment building and parked with a screech of tires. He was out of the car like a flash.

Somehow he felt Amanda was his only hope. He believed the young woman knew a lot more than she’d told anyone. Mark needed any and all information she had about Melinda. Dora’s life hung in the balance and he’d do whatever necessary to get some answers out of Amanda. He didn’t care that she was afraid—it was time for her to step up before another murder occurred.

When he reached her door he banged on it with both fists, the terror inside him just barely contained. He didn’t even want to consider what his next move would be if Amanda wasn’t home.

He was about to pound on the door a second time when it opened. “Mark!” Amanda said with a startled look on her face. She was clad in jeans and a sweatshirt that read Gladiators across the front.

“I need to talk to you,” Mark replied, striding past her and into the small apartment. As she closed the door behind him he turned to look at her.

“Dora has gone missing. I need you to tell me everything you can about Melinda and if I think you aren’t telling me everything you know I’ll arrest you for obstruction of justice.”

He should feel bad, threatening a young woman, but he was beyond compassion, caught up in a race for Dora’s very life.

“Dora’s missing?” she echoed. She walked on wooden legs to the sofa and sank down. Tears filled her eyes as she stared up at Mark. “I think Melinda and Ben concocted the whole kidnapping scheme.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Just stuff I’ve heard between the two of them, little snippets of conversations. They never said anything directly to me about it, but sometimes I overheard them talking. I heard Ben tell Melinda that she should be glad he only broke her arm, that if he’d broken her leg it would have been difficult for her to get around campus.”

“You left the note on my car.”

Amanda nodded. “I was starting to believe that Melinda and Ben had killed those men, and then I heard your name mentioned between them. I wanted to let you know that Troy Young was innocent and I needed to warn you that you might be in danger.”

She raised a trembling hand to swipe away several tears that had escaped her eyes. “I wanted to believe I was wrong in my suspicions. I wanted to believe that Melinda was a brilliant, wonderful woman who would never be involved in any criminal activity. But truthfully, she scares me and she has Ben completely wrapped around her finger.”

Mark’s cell phone rang and he held up a finger to Amanda as he answered. “Agent Flynn.”