Shadow in the Pines

by PJ Nunn

  “Oh, you’ll do fine,” Beth dismissed that idea. “Ralston’s projects are a pain in the ass, but I hear he grades pretty lenient.”

  “I hope so. The instructions are nineteen pages. How am I supposed to remember all that?”

  Dani chomped down on her burger, hoping to still the rumbling in her stomach that had gradually increased all morning long. Why was it she was never hungry until she sat down at her desk in the classroom?

  “So, you never told me how you like the snake farm,” Beth observed.

  “I haven’t seen much of it,” Dani said between bites. “Crane has this system of breaking everybody in on file work for awhile before he lets them near his babies,” she smirked.

  Beth laughed at that. “That’s the big secret,” she nodded. “Those snakes aren’t really reproducing, Crane is!”

  Dani choked on her soda at the wicked gleam in Beth’s eye. She’d thought the disparaging rumors about Dr. Crane were exaggerated until she met him. Tall and heavyset, his white lab coat was so tight that she feared the buttons on his belly might pop off at any moment and wondered curiously why he didn’t just buy a bigger one or leave it unbuttoned. When she turned her attention to his face, she was taken aback by the intense look of displeasure he wore and studied his face carefully, trying to figure out just what was wrong with it. His once dark hair was now smattered with gray and his eyebrows were nearly white. She’d never seen such long eyebrow hairs and was momentarily mesmerized by the way the hairs seemed to stand up and wave in all directions each time he frowned, which was often. But, she finally figured out it was his eyes that captured her attention. Dark enough brown to look black from across the room, they were incredibly close set for such a large face and she choked back a laugh when she realized they reminded her of the gorilla poster hanging in the zoology room.

  “He’s a real prize, isn’t he?” Dani snickered. Fortunately, after that first interview, she’d hardly seen him. What she’d heard from Joe, coupled with her own first impressions, convinced her she wouldn’t learn anything from him about the students’ disappearance.

  “I don’t know how you can stand it,” Beth agreed. “He’s creepier to me than those snakes.”

  “I hear you,” Dani mumbled around a mouthful of fries. She only had ten minutes to get to the lab, but thankfully it was one of her short days and she’d be out by four instead of six. “I’ve gotta run,” she got up, gathering her trash on the tray. “See you later!”

  “Laters!” Beth’s melodic voice followed her as she rushed to the door, stopping to drop off her tray.

  She’d intended to get to the lab early today, but with her stomach growling and her microbiology paper lacking there was just no way.

  “Hi, guys,” she said to no one in particular as she hurried into the lab. Several of the students were already waiting patiently at their stations. Without stopping to put on her lab coat, she dropped her stack of books on the desk and picked up a marker to start writing the day’s instructions on the board.

  “Okay,” she turned to face them when she was finished. “Today’s the big day,” she smiled. This group was composed mainly of freshmen, most of whom had no real interest in Biology other than meeting the degree requirements for their diplomas. It was amusing at the beginning of the semester, but as the weeks turned into months and the work got more challenging, her amusement faded fast. “For the next four weeks, you’ll be dissecting fetal pigs, mounting and labeling the organs, making wet mounts of each one, and writing a paper to describe your findings,” she said. “Those of you who still haven’t finished your frogs need to do so today. I want everyone’s pig signed out before you leave here. Got that?”

  Ignoring the murmurs and groans, she hoisted a plastic pail containing the specimens up on the table closest to the desk and said, “I’m ready when you are.”

  About half the students lined up holding large dissection pans with gloved hands and she watched as they each selected a specimen from the pail. Once everyone settled in, she started her rounds, observing each student in turn and helping out when it was needed. It promised to be a long and tiring day.

  ***

  “I’ll be right back,” a frazzled young man called over his shoulder, exiting the back door of the office as Noah came in the front.

  Scanning the office with a practiced eye, he noted the sparse furnishings and lack of storage. Only one small file cabinet in the corner gave any indication that it was an office at all. He stepped up beside the desk and placed a large hand on the calendar that covered it, twisting it until he could read the handwritten notes. Nothing of consequence there. With one hand in his pocket, he paced back and forth in the small waiting area, idly glancing at the photos of snakes that lined the walls.

  He’d finally gotten Thaddeus Gregory’s family records from the university’s stored records office and the results were pretty much what he expected. Thad’s father died last year of a stroke, but Noah reached his mother by phone late this morning. The last time she heard from Thad was six years ago. At that time, he was thrilled with his new job here at Ophidian and never mentioned anything about moving away. Noah’s heart sank as he heard the hope in her quivering voice when he introduced himself. It made him all the more determined to find some answers and give the poor woman the closure she needed. The next stop, after getting the records he wanted from the lab, was the dorm where Thad was living prior to his disappearance.

  “Sorry I took so long,” the young man came back in the same door he’d exited a few moments before. “Can I help you?”

  “Yeah, you can,” Noah sized him up swiftly. Tall and gangly, his frame could pass for a teenager, but the lines on his face and the expression in his eyes made him seem plenty old enough to have been here awhile. “Tyler PD,” he said, flashing his badge. “I need to see a list of employees and volunteers who worked here during these dates,” he handed him a slip of paper and watched closely for any sign of recognition.

  Narrowed eyes and a furtive glance told Noah he knew something. “What’s your name?” Noah asked in a no nonsense voice.

  “I’ll have to clear this with Dr. Crane,” he said, avoiding Noah’s eyes.

  “I asked for your name,” he insisted, stepping between the young man and the door.

  “McKay…Michael McKay,” he said hesitantly.

  “All right, Michael McKay,” Noah said, stepping away from the door. “Go ahead and check with Crane if you want, but know this - I can get a search warrant if I have to, but you’ll save us both a lot of time and grief if you just get me the list.”

  “I…I don’t have access to the old employee files,” he stammered, leaning toward the door like a runner waiting for the starter pistol.

  “Then make it quick, would you?”

  He didn’t have to wait long before Dr. Crane burst through the door, forcing it open so hard it left a dent in the sheetrock where the doorknob struck.

  “What the hell is this?” Crane bellowed, striding into the room in an imperial rage.

  “Tyler PD, Crane,” Noah said in a tone of practiced boredom. “You got a problem with what I need?”

  McKay hung back in the open doorway, nervously fingering the slip of paper.

  “This case was closed a long time ago! Why the hell should I waste my time digging up old records now?” Crane’s face flushed bright red and he trembled with anger.

  “Because I want them,” Noah said simply, maintaining an even tone.

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass what you want!” Crane shouted. “No warrant, no records!”

  Noah took a step forward, staring him straight in the eye. “You got something to hide, Doctor? Is there something there you don’t want me to see?”

  Breathing heavily with nostrils flaring, he met Noah’s stare for a moment, then turned away. “I got nothing more to say to you.”

  When he moved toward the door, Noah put a hand in the center of his heaving chest to stop him. “I’ll be back with a warrant and thos
e records better be here,” he warned. “If they disappear, you and I will finish this outside, get it?”

  He didn’t wait for an answer.

  Once he got outside, Noah used his cell phone to call the station and request the warrant. He lit a smoke, then glanced at his watch. It was after 3:00. Chances were good he wouldn’t see the warrant before morning. With an exasperated sigh, he headed off toward the dorms. Half an hour and four offices later, he was standing in the same spot, knowing little more than he did before. The dorm director in charge when Thad lived there was long gone and the office wouldn't release his information until Noah produced a warrant. They needed to cover their butts, he knew, but his frustration was mounting and he was losing his edge.

  Almost to the truck when he realized it was time for Dani to get off work, he turned and headed back to the labs. After spending a couple of incredible nights in her bed, she’d insisted he go home last night or she’d never get any work done. A smile tugged at his lips as he took the stairs two at a time. For someone who’d managed to successfully avoid romantic entanglements for fifteen years, he was in way over his head this time. No turning back.

  Locating the lab quickly, he slipped in the far door and stood, leaning against the back wall, watching. She hadn’t noticed him yet and looked like she’d about had it with this group.

  “Agh! No way!” screeched a child-like waif with a mop of blonde curls while a trio of lanky young men looked on with amusement. They were crowded around something at the front table and Noah saw Dani’s head jerk up with a pained expression.

  “Get over it, Samantha!” Dani called from where she stood, stooped over, apparently engrossed in something another student was doing.

  “But Ms. Jones, surely you don’t expect me to put my hand in there!” she wailed, using all her innate abilities to play to her adoring audience.

  Noah’s eyes bounced back to Dani in time to see a flash of fire shoot from her cobalt blue eyes. “Only if you expect to pass this class,” she warned.

  The ball’s in your court, kiddo, he thought, watching the display of emotions on the girl’s face as she weighed her options.

  “Ms. Jones,” she whined again, “I’ll cut up the stupid pig, but what difference does it make who gets it out of the bucket?”

  Dani was already leaning over the student beside her and Noah chuckled under his breath at the expression she wore when she looked at the girl again.

  “Oh, let’s see,” Dani said loudly. “How about the difference between an F and an A? Is that clear enough for you?” She didn’t wait for an answer, but turned back to the boy she’d been working with. “Philip, you’ve sliced too deep on your initial incision and cut through half the organs showing. You’ll just have to toss that in the incinerator bucket and start again next week,” she snapped the gloves off her hands as she walked back toward the front desk. “Call me before you start next time and I’ll help you not to do it again,” she flashed a quick smile at Philip. “All right everyone, time’s about up. Get your specimens labeled and stored in the fridge, then clean up your stations. You’ll lose a letter grade if I have to clean up your mess!”

  It was interesting to watch her work. The white coat made her look professional, more in charge, and her method of dealing with a roomful of rowdy teenagers told him she was stronger and more capable than he first thought. She still hadn’t looked at him standing in the back of the room, even though several of the students had glanced his way, no doubt wondering who he was.

  Noah started toward her desk when he saw her sit down, then stopped when a man in a white coat came in the door on the other side of the room and made a beeline for her. Her boss, maybe? Tall and thin with stylish black hair, he looked like a doctor out of a soap opera.

  Adjusting his position so he could see the two of them talking through the group of students coming and going through the aisle as they cleaned their tables, his suspicious mind was rewarded when he recognized a look of veiled admiration in the doc’s eyes as Dani smiled up at him. The guy had the hots for her.

  Unwilling to just stand there staring, Noah stepped back out in the hall and waited until most of the students were gone. When he entered the room again, the last of the students were going out the other door and the doctor was nowhere in sight. Dani was putting the last of her papers in her book bag when she locked eyes with him coming through the door.

  “Hey, why’d you sneak out of here like that?” she asked, stopping long enough to give him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

  “You saw me?”

  “Yes, right before you left. Why’d you leave?”

  He shrugged, feeling a little churlish. “I thought you might need a little privacy while your boss put the move on you,” he said, half joking.

  “Get real!” she laughed. “You’re dreaming. Come on, let’s get out of here.” Crossing the room with books in hand, she turned off the lights and stood waiting for him by the door.

  “You’re in denial,” he countered, holding the door open for her.

  They walked together down the deserted hall to the outside door. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” she asked with a note of surprise in her voice.

  “Did he ask you out?” he looked straight ahead as they walked to the parking lot.

  “Well, not exactly,” she hedged, studying his face. “He just said maybe we could talk over lunch tomorrow.”

  He didn’t speak again until they reached her car and he could look her in the eye. “What’d you say?”

  The confusion in her eyes made him wish he hadn’t started this.

  “I said okay,” she said. “Geez, Noah, he’s my boss for God’s sake! He just wants to know how your investigation is going.”

  “Really? Then why didn’t he want to take me to lunch?” he wished he could snatch the words back as soon as he’d spoken. “I’ll see you later,” he offered a tight-lipped smile then turned toward his truck.

  Chapter Eight

  What a lousy day! Dani frowned as she got out of the car. First her micro class, then whining students in the lab, and, whatever was the deal with Noah?

  “Hey, Bandit,” she bent over to scratch the scruff of his neck as he greeted her at the door. If only it was Friday.

  Dropping her books on the table beside the computer, Dani trudged up the stairs to change clothes. Homework could wait. Right now, she needed to get outside and hope the wind would clear her brain.

  Feeling a little more relaxed in an old pair of jeans and comfy V-neck sweater about three sizes too big, Dani called Bandit and headed outside. The day was crisp and clear, warm, considering it was mid-November. While Bandit scampered around the yard, leaving his doggie mark and chasing anything that moved, Dani knelt beside her tiny plot of vegetables, pulling weeds and picking a stray tomato here and there that just might be okay to eat.

  The garden hadn’t offered much in the way of bounty, which was a little disappointing, but she got a really late start and it was turning cold. Still, it gave her a feeling of being productive and semi-self-sufficient. When she moved to the other side of the garden, she was pleasantly surprised to find she had a good supply of okra ready for picking. She grabbed a basket from the porch and plucked everything off the stalk that looked big enough to cook.

  Setting the basket back on the porch, she browsed the flowerbeds, pulling a stray weed here and there, then realized she hadn’t seen Bandit in awhile. “Bandit?” she called, straightening up and scanning the yard. “Bandit!”

  An answering bark drifted back through the trees across the road.

  “Bandit! Come here, boy!” she walked toward the road.

  It wasn’t like him to run off like this. Crossing the road swiftly, she tucked her hands in her pockets as she entered the woods and felt the temperature drop several degrees. A canopy of leaves completely obliterated the sun and created an eerie, isolated feeling, even though the road and her house were still plainly in view. On impulse, she turned to her right and made her way
over to the spot she imagined she’d seen the shadow watching her bedroom window.

  Did she imagine it? A shiver crossed her back as she remembered the shadow of a man she thought she saw. There was nothing out here, not for miles. The whole time she’d lived here, she’d only seen a handful of cars pass by. If someone was over here, the only thing they could be looking at was her house. But why? It still didn’t make sense to her. She didn’t have anything anyone would want.

  There was nothing on the ground to indicate that anyone had been there. Just the same mishmash of leaves and twigs and pine needles that blanketed the entire area. Using the toe of her shoe, Dani shuffled the piles around a little, not really expecting to find anything. With a last glance up at her window, she turned and moved deeper into the woods, headed in the general direction of the rustling noises she assumed came from Bandit’s explorations.

  About twenty feet further in, she spied a lone cigarette butt and stooped to pick it up. Newport menthol. Strangely enough, it was the only piece of trash she’d seen. No paper, no candy wrappers. Nothing. Just nature. She stopped with a gasp as a garter snake slithered across her path. Harmless, she knew, but it made her shudder just the same. Hopefully, she’d find the information she needed at Ophidian before she’d be expected to work inside the lab where she’d have to actually handle the reptiles. Dissecting a dead snake was one thing, but allowing it to slide over her arms and around her neck was out of the question.

  “Bandit!”

  It was really getting dark in the shadow of the trees. If she didn’t locate him soon, she’d have to head back without him. The last thing she wanted was to get lost in here. She’d traveled far enough that she couldn’t see the road or the house anymore. When she stopped and listened, there was no sound except for the slight rustling of the wind through the leaves. Shit! Would anything go right today? Keeping an eye on the ground in case that little snake had friends, she trudged wearily back toward the road. Bandit would have to find his own way home.