by Diana X Dunn
“Are you trying to move me up your list?”
Luke chuckled. “Sorry, I’m just trying to be realistic about motives.”
“So what was yours? What’s in your past that Jake might have discovered?”
“Nothing,” Luke said sharply.
Sara tilted her head and studied him for a moment. He’d left her former agency, something about which she hadn’t given much thought. What had happened in the months after she’d known him on SunInc and today? “Maybe Jake hit on you, too,” she suggested after a minute.
Luke laughed. “Jake wasn’t interested in men. I’m not either, for what it’s worth. No, if I have a motive, it must be tied to my past.”
Sara pulled out her M-ped and flipped to the student records. “There are gaps in your recent past. Maybe we should talk about that.”
“I’d rather not. Let’s talk about Mark.”
“He’s nice enough. I can’t imagine him having a motive for killing Jake.”
“Except he’s got his eye on Tamara and Jake was getting in the way.”
“That’s a pretty weak motive for murder.”
“But people have been killed for less. A lot less.”
“Okay, put him on the list somewhere and let’s move on. What about Lloyd?”
“I can’t see him managing it, although maybe he’s simply clever enough to hide how clever he actually is.”
“You’re giving him too much credit. He’s an accountant. Murder isn’t part of his world.”
“I’m still going to put him on the list.”
“He knew Jake before he got here,” Sara said. “Jake was the one who told him about the school, actually.”
“And was the school what he’d been expecting?”
“Not at all, but I still can’t see Lloyd killing anyone.”
“It’s a motive, even if it is a weak one. What about Bill?”
“It’s hard to imagine him killing anyone, either. He’s too eager to try everything, and completely clueless when it comes to actually doing anything.”
“Maybe he’s better than he appears.”
“Why would he act so dumb, then?” Sara asked.
“You were the one who worked in covert operations. Would an agency send someone here to keep an eye on things or to watch one particular person?”
Sara thought for a minute. “I’d give that a qualified yes, depending on who or what the agency wanted to watch. I’d have thought it would make more sense to go through one of the staff members, really, but I suppose sending a student would be a good second choice. Do you really think Bill is a plant?”
“Not really. I think he’s an idiot who wants to be spy just like on screen, rather than in the real world, but we have to consider all of the possibilities.”
“Anyone could have been sent here from some agency. I don’t think Robert’s school is big enough or interesting enough to generate that sort of attention, though, at least not yet.”
“And you don’t know of any other possible motives for Bill?”
“He didn’t say anything about Jake during our session, really.”
“That just leaves Jeff.”
Sara took a sip of her beer. Jeff worried her. He was cold and calculating. She had no doubt that he could easily kill a man if he felt it had to be done. Motive was another matter. “He’s a bit scary,” she said eventually.
“He doesn’t join in anything and he seems bored in all of the classes. I’m not sure why he’s here.”
“I don’t know. I could see him killing someone, but I can’t see why he’d kill Jake.”
“Maybe he’s a hired gun.”
“Could be. I can imagine there are plenty of people outside of this school who will be happy to hear about Jake’s untimely demise. Maybe we’re wasting our time even discussing the matter.”
“It’s an interesting discussion, anyway, and it’s nice to get away from the school and to get to know you better.”
Sara flushed. “It is nice to get away from the school. This is the first time I’ve left since I arrived.”
“We need to do this more often, then.”
She thought about arguing, but she was really enjoying the evening. “Is that everyone?” she changed the subject back to murder.
“I believe so. What about means? We know what Robert has said about setting up the murder scene. Did you know what they were planning?”
“Not at all. Apparently, he and Jake thought it would be fun to surprise both the students and me.”
Luke raised an eyebrow. “How do you feel about that?”
“In light of subsequent events, I haven’t really thought about it. It annoys me, now that I do, but it doesn’t really surprise me.”
“Who did know about the fake murder scene, then? Do you have any idea?”
“Jake and Robert, obviously. Candie, probably, as she probably had to get the items they needed, like the fake blood and the prop knife. Ethel, maybe. She and Robert seem to talk regularly. I have no idea whether anyone would have mentioned anything to Dr. Freeman or not. I’ve been doing my best to avoid the doctor.”
“I think we’ve all been trying to avoid Dr. Freeman. He insisted on doing sessions with each of us when we first arrived. He said something about assessing our weaknesses and developing a treatment program for each of us. Most of us sent messages to Robert complaining. I’m not sure about the others, but I haven’t spoken to Dr. Freeman since that initial session.”
“The only other person who definitely knew, then, is Mark.”
“Mark knew about the fake murder scene?” Luke sounded surprised.
“That’s what he told me. He even admitted to helping Jake with some of the planning, being that he’d been a cop and knew all about murder investigations.”
Luke grimaced. “I don’t believe he was homicide.”
“He was a traffic and transport officer and then he moved into the fraud department. There’s nothing in his record to suggest that he was ever involved in a single homicide investigation.”
“But Jake still discussed the fake scene with him.”
“I believe that Jake wanted one of the students in on his plans so that he could use that student to plant false clues and deliberately try to sabotage the investigation. I could be wrong, but that seems like something Jake would do.”
“And Jake spent more time with Mark than anyone else, at least as far as I could see.”
“Apparently they enjoyed swapping stories from their days in the police.”
“Whatever.”
Sara reckoned that Luke didn’t like talking about his own past. “Anyway, Mark knew what was meant to be happening. That’s why he locked me in the maze, apparently.”
“That was stupid of him.”
“It could have gotten him thrown out of the school. Luckily for him, things were in such a mess after I found the body that I didn’t complain.”
“Do you think Jake told anyone else about his plans?”
“He may have. I doubt, when he was drinking, that he could keep secrets very well. He may even have tried to use the information to get closer to one of the women.”
“Surely he wouldn’t have wanted too many people to know. That would have defeated the purpose of the exercise.”
“Not really, not if people only knew that he was setting up the scene. Mark denies knowing any more than that.”
“Who was the killer in his scene, then?” Luke asked.
Sara shook her head. “Robert claims he didn’t know. What’s frustrating is that any clues as to who really killed Jake could be lost or mixed up with fake clues that were left for the fake scene.”
“Except the scene was never properly checked for clues, anyway.”
“That’s true,” Sara said, feeling frustrated.
“I think we’re simply going around in circles. Maybe we need to stop for tonight.”
“I suppose so. Considering the lack of evidence from the scene, it seems the only way we’re going to
solve this case is by talking to everyone repeatedly until the killer makes a mistake and gives himself or herself away.”
“I’m going to try talking to the other students. The problem is finding a place to talk to them that isn’t being monitored by Robert.”
“The weapons range isn’t too bad. This morning, when I went there to check on everything, I found the audio cable for the recording system. It was a quick job to disconnect that while leaving the video line in place. Of course, I made it look like an accident. I thought maybe someone would come to investigate, but they didn’t.”
“That suggests that no one is watching the systems live, anyway.”
“I doubt Robert has enough staff to have the entire compound monitored constantly. I suspect everything is recorded for viewing at a later date, if needed.”
“And the recordings from the maze the night of Jake’s death are probably missing.”
“Oh, Robert has that covered. He told me that he and Jake switched off the cameras in the maze building as part of setting the scene. They didn’t want us to be able to solve the murder simply by watching video of what had happened,” Sara told him.
Luke sighed. “It really does seem as if Robert was behind Jake’s death.”
“I agree, except he truly seemed genuinely upset to have lost his friend. Maybe he’s just a good actor, but maybe not.
“Let’s get back. It’s getting late.”
Sara stood up. “Did you get the bill?”
“Got it and covered it. You can pay next time.”
She thought about arguing, but the idea of having a reason to insist on a next time made her simply nod. Luke took her arm and escorted her out of the bar. The transport drove itself back to the compound.
“Thank you for an interesting evening,” she told Luke when he’d walked her to her door.
“It doesn’t have to end here,” he replied. He stepped closer to her and looked into her eyes. “I don’t want to be presumptuous, but it seems to me that there’s some chemistry between us.”
Sara took a deep breath and then looked away. “You may be right about that, but I’m not looking for a relationship right now.”
“What about a quick twirl, then?” he asked in a teasing tone.
“I don’t think…” she began.
He held up a hand. “I’m not looking for meaningless sex, although I wouldn’t say no to it if you offered. At the moment, though, I probably need a friend more than anything else. I’d like to get to the bottom of what happened to Jake, for one thing, and I have another five and a half months here to get through as well.”
“That makes two of us, for both things.”
Luke’s smile made Sara’s heart flutter. “So we’ll stick to being friends,” he said in a low voice.
She nodded, frowning as he caught her chin with his hand.
“Just friends,” he said in a whisper before his lips crushed hers.
Any thought of stopping him was gone the moment their lips met. Sara found herself lost in the kiss, letting herself get overwhelmed by the chemistry between the two of them. When Luke finally lifted his head, her heart was racing.
“Good night,” he said softly.
She stared, open mouthed, as he turned and walked away, down the corridor toward the section of the building where the students had their rooms. Waving her keycard at the security panel, she shoved her door open and very nearly slammed it behind herself. Counting backwards from ten calmed her just enough to shut the door quietly. Feeling a confused mix of anger, lust, and frustration, she paced around her suite for several minutes, trying to decide what to do next. A buzzing from her wrist-con interrupted.
Hey, Sara, it’s Candie. Come and see me tomorrow morning at nine. I have a great idea! Robert has already given his okay. Thanks.
Sara frowned, fairly certain that Candie’s great idea was destined to be anything but great.
Chapter 10
“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” Candie told Sara the next morning at nine-forty. “I’ve been talking to Robert. He’s been held up in Dallas and won’t be back today, which means I have a hundred more things to do than I thought I did.”
“What’s wrong in Dallas?”
“Nothing to do with the school,” Candie said quickly. “One of his security clients is having difficulties, that’s all.”
“And Dr. Freeman is still in Dallas, too?”
Candie frowned. “I’m not sure. Maybe.”
Sara swallowed a sigh. “What did you want to see me about?”
“Oh, yes, my idea. It wasn’t totally my idea, of course. Robert has been talking about all of the things that we need to do to train the students. We had a long conversation about everything they’ll need to know before they can find jobs in covert operations, you see.”
“Great.”
“I know you have lots of terrific classes planned for everyone, and you’ve been doing great so far, too, by the way, but classes can be a bit, well, dry and boring, can’t they? Robert and I were talking about ways to get the students some practical experience early on.”
“Like setting up a fake murder scene?”
Candie flushed. “It seemed like such a good idea when Jake first suggested it. At least some of the students are interested in careers in investigation. We were so excited about giving them a murder to investigate.”
“Perhaps we should investigate then,” Sara suggested. “We could do a complete inquiry into Jake’s death.”
“Everything got so confused when you discovered that Jake was really dead. I doubt we could work out who the killer was meant to be, even if we tried.”
“You don’t know the solution to the fake murder?”
“Jake didn’t tell anyone his plans. He said he was going to leave plenty of clues around the place to make it fairly straightforward, but not easy. I’m sure all of those clues were lost in the panic once you found the body, though.”
“I’m sure,” Sara echoed. Taken was more likely than lost, but she didn’t argue. “I wonder who Jake would have chosen. Who had a motive for wanting him dead?”
Candie shrugged. “He told me that he’d been doing his best to make sure that everyone had a motive for wanting him dead. He’d been going out of his way to be especially obnoxious so that everyone would hate him.”
“Are you suggesting that he wasn’t truly that obnoxious?”
“Actually, he was very sweet. It’s a shame he passed away when he did, before you all got to know the real him.”
“You’re saying that he’d been acting a part ever since he’d arrived, trying to be horrible just to give everyone at the school a motive for murdering him?” Sara knew she sounded incredulous.
“It was a genius idea, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t believe it,” Sara replied flatly. “But what did you want to talk to me about?” she added, wanting to change the subject.
“Oh, right, as I said, I’ve had a wonderful idea. The students could do with a day out and a chance to practice their skills, don’t you agree?”
“As yet, they don’t actually have any skills. They’ve only been taking classes for a week or so, after all.”
“But you’ve done some work with them on altering appearances and on blending into crowds, haven’t you?”
“I’ve told them that we’re going to have classes on both of things, but that’s about as far as the conversation has gone thus far.”
“Maybe you’d better get busy then,” Candie giggled. “On Saturday we’re going to have an outing.”
“Saturday? This Saturday?”
“Yes, this Saturday. Everything is arranged.”
“An outing where?”
“There’s a zoo about an hour away from here. It should be nice and crowded on Saturday. I’ve already bought all of the tickets.”
“We’re going to the zoo?”
“As a training exercise, not to see the animals.”
Sara shook her head. “I’m sorry, but how is
that a training exercise?”
“Right, so the idea is that everyone gets on the bus transport here and we travel to the zoo. Once we get there, everyone has half an hour to transform his or her appearance and then disappear into the zoo. After the thirty minutes are up, you’ll go in after them and try to find them.”
Sara stared at her for a minute. It actually wasn’t a bad idea. It was very similar to the sort of training exercises that she’d taken part in when she’d been training years ago. “It’s a great idea and one that we should definitely use in April or May, maybe. The students aren’t ready for anything like this yet, though.”
“Look, I’m going to be honest with you,” Candie said, making Sara assume that the woman’s next words would be a lie. “Some of the students are bored. They thought that this course would be more interesting, that they’d actually get to do things rather than sit in classrooms all the time. I know you’ve had them on the weapons range, which they all seemed to enjoy, but aside from that it’s been all classroom learning. We’re in danger of losing students if we don’t get them more excited about what they’re learning.”
“I thought Robert didn’t care if he lost a few students. I thought they’d all paid in advance.”
“They did pay in advance. Robert isn’t worried about the money, he’s worried about the school’s reputation. This is the first group of students we’ve had. We need to keep them all happy and get them all successfully through the course. Ideally, they’ll all pass with flying colors and get great jobs in the intelligence community. Imagine what that would do for the school’s reputation.”
“Taking them on a training exercise for which they aren’t prepared is more likely to upset them than anything else. If you want me to, I can focus on disguises for the next two weeks. We can take them to the zoo after that.”
“I suggest you focus on disguises for the next few days. We’re going to the zoo on Saturday.”
“It will be a pointless waste of time at this stage.”
“It’s an outing, nothing more. So what if you find them all really quickly? This is a first attempt, with basic knowledge. Think how much better they’ll all do when we repeat the exercise later in the course. We need to start doing a lot more of these sorts of exercises if we’re going to keep the students engaged.”