Рейчел Кейн – Line Of Sight (страница 9)

“Because they’re teenage girls, and I have an idea from Jazz Ryan that they weren’t exactly lying, but they weren’t telling the whole truth, either. May I see the records?”

Rebecca reached for a folder on her desk and flipped it open before handing it over. Katie scanned it quickly. It was a simple log of students, time and date out, destination, time and date back in. Completely routine. Teal and Lena had signed out together, and Jazz had signed out just afterward, which supported Jazz’s statement that she’d tagged along without an invitation. Destination for Teal and Lena was listed as “movies,” and the address of the mall theater in Glendale. Jazz had copied the same information.

Katie handed it back and said, “Jazz told me that they were planning on going to the movies, but they had something else to do first. Has anybody made any reference to it? Any student?”

“No, Katie. We would have informed the police immediately if we’d had any additional information. All we know is that the girls left campus and didn’t return.” Rebecca’s hazel eyes assessed her coolly. She was a tough woman, and she’d always been able to at least appear to see a student’s innermost secrets with a single glance. But Katie wasn’t a student anymore, and she held the stare without flinching. “You think there’s some kind of information here at the school. Some lead.”

Katie didn’t deny it. “I’d like to speak with their parents, and then with the girls in Lena and Teal’s group. If anybody here knows, they would.” Both of them knew how close the bonds were within those groups, assigned during the girls’ first year. “Can you make them available for interviews?”

“So long as either Ms. Evans or I can be present during the conversations.”

“Of course.” She’d rather not, actually, but it seemed unlikely she’d get that much cooperation. The women in charge of Athena Academy were protective of their students. “How many are available tonight?”

“All of them. Naturally, we understand the urgency and time pressures you face. We’ve already gathered the girls. Do you want to speak with them individually?”

“Together first,” she said. In her experience, adults weren’t great at hiding things from authority figures, but kids were even worse.

And she needed to save time. Individual interviews would take too long.

Rebecca nodded. “If you’ll wait here a moment, I’ll get the girls together in a common area.” She moved quickly, with confidence, and Katie was left alone in her office. She rose and paced restlessly, thinking through what was coming and trying not to think about what might be happening to the missing girls.

“Katie.”

A voice behind her. She turned, hands clasped behind her back, and saw Christine Evans standing in the doorway. Christine was a striking figure, just as Katie remembered her—maybe a little more silver in the short gray hair, but it didn’t so much soften her as add another touch of metal. Christine was solid. Katie was an active woman, fit as an FBI agent generally had to be, but Christine had always looked exactly like what she was: a war veteran. Tough, competent and perfectly capable of sending a drill sergeant in full retreat when she cared to do so.

“Ms. Evans,” Katie said, and then corrected herself before she could be reminded. “Christine.”

“I’m so glad you were brought into this. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have looking for the girls.” Christine crossed the room toward her, and if Katie hadn’t been well aware that she was blind in her left eye—had been since anyone Katie’s age knew her—she’d never have suspected that the slight gesture of Christine’s left hand at her side was designed to warn her of any obstacles in her path. Christine offered her hand—a large, square, capable hand, with meticulously clean French manicured fingernails—and Katie shook it. She knew she had a strong grip, but Christine’s was always an order of magnitude greater—not out of any desire to intimidate, just because that was Christine’s level.

Katie couldn’t forget how things had been when Marion Gracelyn, the founder of Athena Academy, had met her death. Things could have so easily fallen apart. It had taken a strong personality to step into that hurricane and make order from chaos…and a gentle one. The girls had needed comfort and a sense of security, and Christine had been the perfect one to do it.

Still, that didn’t make the strength of Christine’s handshake any less painful. Katie smiled and reclaimed her tingling fingers as fast as she could. “It’s good to see you, ma’am.”

Christine snorted. “Ma’am. The next thing you know, you’ll be saluting, Katie. How have you been?”

“Fine.” She had no idea how to make small talk with someone who loomed as large in her personal cosmology as Christine Evans.

“As I recall,” Christine said, “you always were a private person. I hope you’ve worked through that somewhat—I hear you are exceptional at your job, of course. But I know all too well that the type of work you’ve chosen isolates you. You’re happy?”

“Very.” She wasn’t about to talk about her personal life—or lack of one, more accurately—with her old headmistress. “I heard that your great-nephew, William, was injured…?”

Nothing like turning the focus on the other person to cover your own inadequacies, Katie thought wryly. But she also knew that Christine worried about her family, and it was probably a justified sort of worry.

“I just heard from him,” Christine said. “He’s recovering well, and I expect they’ll have him back in uniform soon. Not soon enough, most likely—he’s bored, and that’s never a good sign for someone like William. Or us, for that matter.”

“I’m glad he’s all right,” Katie said. “If I could see Teal and Lena’s parents—”

“Together or separately?”

“Separately, please, if it’s no bother.”

“None at all.” Christine’s one bright eye fixed on her. “I’ve been thinking that this doesn’t look like a random snatch-and-grab kidnapping. It appears more planned than impulsive. That implies that someone must have provided information about where the girls were going—if not students, then staff or employees. I’ve taken the liberty of retrieving personnel files for you.”

It never failed to surprise Katie just how ahead of the game Christine was, although she supposed she should have gotten used to it by now. “Thank you,” she said. “I was wondering how to bring that up. I know that you feel very loyal to everyone here, but—”

“But it’s possible for anyone to be deceived,” Christine said briskly. “Yes. I have no illusions about such things, Katie. However, if one of my people betrayed these girls, I promise you, hell hath no fury to match Christine Evans.”

That, Katie could fully believe. She grinned slightly and said, “Could I look over the files after I speak with the parents and the other girls?”

“They’ll be ready.” Christine met her eyes. “I know that you can’t keep me fully informed, but I’d like to have what information you can provide without violating your oaths.”

“You’ll have it.” She hesitated for a second and then said, “These girls. You know I need to ask…. Can you tell me something about them? About what kind of unusual traits they have, specifically? Things that I’m guessing might not be in the files.”

For a second, she wasn’t sure Christine was going to cooperate, but then the woman nodded slightly. “It might be important,” she agreed. “If Teal and Lena were specifically targeted, then it might have been because of what they could do, that’s certainly a possibility. Lena’s very fast and very strong—in fact, she’s one of the only girls in school capable of keeping up with Teal’s physical abilities. Lena’s certainly outgoing, and she’s also civic-minded—she likes entertaining children, the elderly, anyone in need of a little miracle.”

That, more than anything else, made Katie feel a stab of true fear for Lena. She’s in need of her own miracle, she thought. “And Teal?”

“Teal’s a different case,” Christine said. “Fast and strong, as I mentioned, but there’s more to her. We haven’t been able to determine the exact nature of it, because her abilities seem to be developing, but she’s certainly capable of some telepathic contact, though thus far only with those who have similar abilities. You understand, none of this is in the standard files.”

“Of course,” Katie said. “And it won’t go in my files, either. But it could help.”

Christine smiled. It transformed her from severe to glowing, and Katie found herself smiling back, despite the situation, despite the dire danger that two girls faced somewhere out in the night. “It’s really good to have you on our side, Katie,” Christine said. “Really good. The resources of the Academy and Athena Force are at your disposal.”

No small promise there.

The worst part of any case like this was facing the parents, Katie had always found, and this was no different. Teal’s mother was composed, pale and tense, and she answered questions in a flat monotone while her husband sat staring at his hands. He was angry, Katie sensed, but he wasn’t going to let it out. Teal’s mother, on the other hand, was almost completely consumed with fear.