Latent Danger (On the Line #2)(27)

He nodded. “I agree. Let’s see what we can get out of Sawyer then look further into the father and grandfather.”

“I was thinking,” Shauna nodded, “I think we might be getting tunnel vision. We also need to look at the headmaster at the school. He’s new there. He didn’t mention that but it’s worth clearing him.”

“Agreed. And let’s look at Adrienne’s uncle, too. Something seemed off about that guy. He’s far too involved with the school and kids. He doesn’t have kids of his own. Maybe there’s something there.”

Ronan walked in then, splitting a questioning gaze between the two of them before shaking his head as if saying he didn’t want to know what they’d been doing.

Zach wished there was something to hide from his partner. He wanted like hell for there to be something happening between him and Shauna, as inappropriate as that would be.

Ronan lifted a tray of coffees. “The rookie went and grabbed coffee at the train station.”

Shauna gave them both a puzzled look, but Zach grinned. “Thank God.” He looked at Shauna and pointed to the coffee currently congealing in the squad room’s coffee maker. “That crap will kill you.”

She grabbed a cup from Ronan’s outstretched hand. Zach put his hand on Shauna’s arm, letting Ronan slip out of the room ahead of them. The shock of the connection that ripped between them was almost startling to him, though he didn’t really know why. He should have expected it.

She turned wary eyes to him.

“I just wanted to say, if you need to talk, I’m here. I meant what I said at the diner about being friends. I want more, but I’ll take you in my life as a friend, if that’s how I can have you, Shauna.”

The wariness didn’t leave her gaze, but she nodded once before stepping out to follow Ronan.

––––––––





Chapter Eighteen





“Are you okay?”

Kate Sorino looked up at the words, surprised when she found Liz Gordon standing above her in the library stacks. Kate sniffed from her spot on the floor where she’d been holed up for the last half hour and nodded. “Yes.” Then, “no.”

Liz looked a little uncomfortable, but she sat, leaning against the wall at the back of the stacks as Kate was. “Is it true? What everyone’s saying about Hillary?”

Kate felt her cheeks grow hot and she sat up. “Is what true? That that prick Jonathan Sawyer raped her or that she tried...” she swallowed, “that she tried to kill herself?”

“Both, I guess.” Liz looked at the feet where they stretched out in front of her and Kate looked away. She hadn’t meant to yell at the girl.

“He sometimes tries to get me to hang out at his clubhouse with him.” Liz didn’t look up as she spoke. “When you guys aren’t around, I mean.” She lifted a shoulder as if to say he wouldn’t ask if there were other kids around.

Kate sat up, panic surging. “You can’t go there. You shouldn’t, I mean,” she said softly when Liz’s look went hard.

Liz gave her a long look, but then furrowed her brow. “Of course, I won’t. I mean, not after what happened.”

“Good. Okay.”

“Do they think she’ll be okay? Hillary, I mean?” Liz asked.

Kate looked down at her phone. She’d been hoping for an update. Some news. She’d texted Hillary’s phone hoping her parents would give her some news. They had texted back half an hour before to say she was resting and was going to be okay, but Kate was watching in case there was more.

“Yes, her parents said she’ll be okay.” Kate whispered the words more than spoke them. Two of her friends were dead and Hillary had come close. Nothing would ever be the same again. It never could be.

They sat side-by-side for a long time before Kate spoke again. “I think Carrie went to see Sawyer before she died.”

Liz’s eyes went wide. “How do you know?”

Kate looked at her bent knees, focusing on a small hole starting in her jeans. She picked at it with her thumb. “She was joking about letting him do it. Drug her, I mean. She said she could lose her virginity easily that way, and she wouldn’t have to worry about being uncomfortable or anything. It would just be over with, she said.”

“You should tell the police.”

Kate nodded, but didn’t say she would. Tears seemed to try to push to the surface again, but she’d spent so much time crying lately, she shut her eyes and tried to keep them at bay. She was tired of crying.

She didn’t want the police or her parents to know she hadn’t said anything when Carrie went missing. She thought Carrie was just hanging out somewhere, maybe trying to get away from her parents for a while. With her father being a senator and all, Carrie had no privacy. She sometimes said she couldn’t breathe.

“I thought she ran away,” Kate said. Tears fell across her cheeks now. “I didn’t tell the police she might be with Sawyer because I thought she was hiding out from the pressure of her family, you know?” She looked at Liz now and Liz nodded.

“I think you should tell them now. They need to know everything if they’re going to convict Sawyer.”

Kate closed her eyes and shook her head. “I didn’t tell them and they might have saved her.”