by Holly Kelly
Pulling out her phone, she dialed his number.
“Fae?”
“Listen, you said I could call you if I needed help.” The words rushed from her mouth.
“Is something wrong?”
Her breath came out in gasps as the reality of the situation seemed to crash down on her. Tears flooded her eyes. “You could say that.”
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s a…” she swallowed, “dead body in my roommate’s old closet.” The image flashed in front of her eyes, and she began to shake.
Nick paused on the other end of the line. “Is this a joke?”
“No. I swear, there’s a…there’s a…” Fae was trembling so hard her teeth began to chatter. Her stomach twisted in a knot. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Nick swore. “Fae! Fae, listen to me. Are you still in the room with the body?”
“No. I closed the closet door.”
“Good, good. I want you to go out into the hallway. You need to be around other people.”
“I don’t feel so good,” she said when her stomach lurched and darkness seeped into the edge of her vision.
“Close your eyes and breathe.”
“Are you…coming?” she asked as she stumbled into the hall. There wasn’t anyone around. She slumped to the floor and put her head between her knees.
“I’m on my way. I’ll call it into the campus police.”
“There…” Fae closed her eyes. “…wasn't any blood.” She focused on breathing and calming down. What kind of investigator would she be if she fell apart at a murder scene?
“What?”
“She was as white as a sheet and her hands and feet…were gone. But there was no blood on the floor beneath her. Not a drop. There wasn’t a drop of blood anywhere. Isn’t that strange?”
“Yes, it is,” he answered calmly.
She could hear him mumbling in the background—probably calling the police. She sat and tried her best to focus on her breathing.
“Fae?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“The police are almost there.”
Moments later, the door from the outside burst open and two campus cops rushed in. They locked eyes on her. “Are you Fae Miller?”
“Is that them?” Nick asked.
“Yes,” she said, answering them both.
“Who are you on the phone with?” one of the officers asked.
“Special Agent Nick Chase,” she answered.
“Fae,” Nick said. “I’m going to hang up now so you can talk to them, but I’ll be there in just a few minutes.”
“Okay,” she said. “Thanks, Nick.” She hung up and looked at the cops.
“Are you okay?” the younger of the two asked. He was a hefty, short man who looked to be no more than twenty. His name badge said Officer Holden. The other officer—Layman—looked older, but not much. He was in better shape and much taller.
Fae nodded weakly. She remained on the floor. She didn’t trust her legs to hold her up.
“Where is it?” Layman asked.
It? Fae’s stomach sickened at the thought that that girl, the one who had great taste in shoes, the girl who couldn’t have been more than eighteen years old, had been reduced to an “it.” She looked at the door to her old dorm room. “She’s in there. In the closet.”
They both nodded. Officer Layman reached for the doorknob.
“Stop!” Fae shouted.
The officer jerked his hand back and put his hand on his gun.
“No, no…I’m sorry. I just think you should dust for fingerprints first. The murderer was probably the last one to enter that room—well, before me. You don’t want to miss the chance to pull his prints off the doorknob.”
Officer Layman frowned at her. “This isn’t our first investigation.”
“How many murders have you had on campus?” she asked, genuinely interested.
Layman must not have taken her question in the spirit she’d asked it because he simply answered with a scowl.
Officer Holden whispered to Layman, “Maybe we should wait for the investigators.”
“Fine,” Layman snapped. “I really don’t want to see a dead student anyway. Let the meat wagon handle her.”
At the mention of meat wagon, the image of the girl surfaced in her mind—her body hanging from the curtain rod, her hands and feet missing. She had to put her head between her knees again.
Chapter 9
Nick ran across campus. He could hear the fear and panic in Fae’s voice. If anyone so much as put a hand on her, he’d rip them to shreds.
Bursting through the doors, he spotted Fae immediately through a group of campus police officers. She looked ghostly white. With her white-blonde hair and light blue eyes, the paleness of her skin made her look washed out—like a ghost. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, seeing her in this state.
He ignored the campus ‘girl scouts’ and went straight to Fae. Kneeling, he brushed her hair away from her face. “You okay?”
She blinked back tears and nodded.
He looked up at the crowd and then to the campus officers. He lifted his badge. “I’m Special Agent Nick Chase. I need you to seal off the exits and take the students and staff to the common area. When the other investigators get here, the students will all need to be questioned and the building will have to be searched. I appreciate that you didn’t enter the room. You don’t know how many idiots have ruined perfectly good evidence by blundering through a crime scene.”
They nodded and mumbled their agreements.
Minutes later, the place was crawling with investigators. And seconds after that, the news reporters descended like vultures looking for scraps.
Nick decided he would be the best one to question Fae. He knew how investigators could be—hounding her with questions while she was still in such a fragile state. He would not allow her to be put through that.
He reached out his hand. “You think you can stand?”
She started to nod, but then shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
Scooping her up off the ground, he felt her trembling in his arms. She was in shock.
Nick spotted Don coming through the door. “Don,” he shouted. “Can you get her a blanket?”
Don looked over and frowned. “Sure.”
“I guess you’re rethinking whether I’d make a good investigator now,” Fae said. “I see one dead body and I fall apart.”
“Fae,” Nick said disapprovingly. “Even a seasoned investigator would have a hard time stumbling onto something this grisly—especially off the job. The agents coming on the scene now have had time to mentally prepare.”
Carrying Fae behind the entrance desk, he lay her down on a couch. He shrugged off his jacket and rolled it to place under her head. The place was empty—the dorm mother had been taken to another location to be questioned.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Better,” she said with her eyes closed.
“Is it okay if I ask you a few questions?”
“Yeah,” she breathed.
Don handed Nick a blanket, and he draped it over her.
“Are you sure you’re ready to talk about it?”
She nodded.
Pulling out his electronic recorder, he switched it on. “Tell me what happened.”
“My roommate called tonight and told me she forgot her jewelry box in her old closet.”
“Her old closet?”
Fae nodded. “That used to be our dorm room. They moved us out when a pipe broke and it flooded. I went in the room, opened the closet door, and there she was.”
Nick’s heart skipped a beat when he thought about how close Fae might have come to being murdered herself. “Was it your roommate hanging there?”
Fae shook her head adamantly. “Oh no. Heavens, no. I don’t know that girl…at least, I don’t think I do.”
“You’ve never seen her before?”
“No. Morgan just called and t
old me Mrs. Albrecht said a new girl was moving in and she was worried about her jewelry box. She said she’d forgotten she’d hidden it in the closet. She wanted me to get it before the new girl moved in.”
“How long was it between the call and when you opened the closet door?”
“Not long. About a minute.”
“I see. Did you see anyone coming or going in the hall?”
“No. It was completely empty.”
“You didn’t hear anything?”
“No.”
“Can you think of anything usual? A new face? Anything out of place?”
Fae’s brows creased as she seemed to be thinking hard. Finally, she shook her head. “No. But then, I’m pretty new here. Everyone’s a stranger.”
“Agent Chase?” Don muttered, and Nick looked up. “When you have a minute, I have some information you might be interested in.”
Nick nodded. He looked back at Fae. Her coloring was better and she’d stopped shaking. “I’m going to talk to my partner for a minute. Are you going to be okay if I leave you?”
Fae gave a weak smile and nodded.
Nick breathed a little easier. She was going to be fine.
“What’d you want to tell me?” he said in a low voice.
“The room mother gave me some disturbing information,” Don said.
“What isn’t disturbing about this case?” Nick asked.
“I think Fae Miller was the intended target.”
Nick felt a quick shot of adrenaline shoot through his veins. He stopped himself before raising his voice. Fae was just beginning to calm down; she did not need to hear his shouting. “What makes you think so?”
“Mrs. Albrecht said she found her file cabinet broken into and a file missing. It was Fae’s. Apparently, her room number was still listed as the room where the victim was found.”
Nick swore. “This was not a random murder. Didn’t the room mother report the theft?”
“She said she told security, and they checked on the whereabouts of some guy named Mike Pendleton. He had assaulted Fae earlier and is now being held at the hospital, in the psychiatric wing. His alibi is air tight.”
“What makes you think its Fae and not her roommate in danger?”
“Morgan’s documentation was still in the cabinet and it had already been updated. The room mother said she hadn’t had a chance to change Fae’s yet. And as of yet, the victim hadn’t been added to the file at all. According to the file, Fae was the only occupant of that room.”
Nick looked over at Fae. She had her eyes closed and her head back. She looked exhausted. “She’ll need protection.”
“The school administrators have already arranged for twenty-four-hour security here at the dorm, and they’re adding security cameras at all exits.”
“She’ll be safe here, but not anywhere else.”
Don shrugged.
“I’m going to ask her to come home with me.”
Nick waited for Don’s reaction. He didn’t have to wait long.
“Are you crazy?” Don hissed. “You shouldn’t be getting personally involved.”
Nick frowned and looked at Fae. Yes, she was beautiful, and in any other situation, he would welcome a relationship with her. But that wasn’t the main reason for his desire to protect her. It was something else. She had a mixture of strength and vulnerability the likes of which he’d never seen before. She drew him to her like no other woman, and not just physically, but emotionally. “I’m already personally involved.”
Don put his hand on his shoulder and leaned in. “You didn’t sleep with her, did you?”
“I haven’t even kissed her yet.”
“Well, you better not. Young is still ticked at what happened at the Fountain of Youth murder investigation.”
“You think? So, that’s why she put me on two weeks’ paid leave,” Nick said in mock surprise.
“You’re pathetic, you know that?”
“Looks like my leave will work to my advantage. Now I’ve got the time to keep a close eye on Fae.”
“Fae’s not just a person of interest in a murder investigation, she’s your student. Getting involved with her would be bad for your teaching career.”
“I don’t have a teaching career; I teach one class. And if keeping Fae alive messes that up, I’d say it’s worth it.” Nick stepped away.
Sitting down next to Fae, he put his hand on her leg. She opened her eyes and said, “What did you find out?”
Nick frowned as he considered how he would break the news to her.
“It was me he was after, wasn’t it?” she asked bluntly, stunning him.
“How did you know?” he asked.
Fae didn’t answer.
“Is there something you haven’t told me?”
She shook her head and sighed. “I have the worst luck in the world. Seriously!”
“You’re not safe here,” Nick said. “I’d like you to come home with me.”
Fae’s eyes widened in shock. She scrunched her eyebrows. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You know. School policy.”
“I could care less about school policy.” He touched Fae’s chin, and she raised her eyes. “Someone wants you dead, Fae. That girl hanging in the closet was supposed to be you.”
She sucked in a breath, and what little color she had gained fled. He could kick himself for striking her when she’s down. But the thought of her staying here without protection… Absolutely not.
“Do you have friends or family you could stay with?” he asked.
Fae shook her head.
“Then you’re coming with me.”
Fae looked at him, her eyes wide and haunted. Finally, she nodded.
* * * * *
Nick kept his arm around Fae as they stepped out the door. He held her small duffel bag in his hand. Investigators had taped off the area, and a crowd formed, lining the perimeter and pressing against the tape.
A female student waved and shouted, “Fae!”
Nick recognized the girl from the first time he met Fae. Fae didn’t seem to hear her. She avoided making eye contact with those around her and flinched every time a flash went off.
Fae’s friend ducked under the tape and ran toward them. Before she could reach them, an officer intercepted her. The girl raised her finger and pointed. “She’s my roommate,” Nick could barely hear her over the sounds of the crowd.
Nick led Fae toward the girl and caught the girl’s attention. “Morgan?” he said. The officer turned, and Nick showed him his badge. He took a quick glance at the officer’s name tag. Lieutenant Hunter. Ah, a detective.
Morgan nodded vigorously.
“She needs to be questioned,” Nick said to Hunter. “Take her to talk to Special Agent Don Fuchini.”
“Wait,” the girl shouted. “I need to talk to Fae.”
Fae slipped out of Nick’s grasp and made her way to Morgan. The girl threw her arms around Fae. Tears flooded her eyes.
“I heard what happened,” Morgan wailed and looked her friend over. “That was you? You found the body?”
Fae nodded.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m alright,” Fae answered. “Really, I am.”
“You don’t look all right,” Morgan said. “Where are they taking you?”
“She’s not allowed to say,” Nick said.
Morgan’s eyes turned to him and widened. “Professor Chase?”
He nodded.
“Is someone after Fae?”
“I can’t say.”
“Listen,” Morgan raised her voice. “I’m her roommate. I have a right to know.”
“It’s okay, Morgan,” Fae said. “He’ll make sure I’m safe.”
Morgan stepped up to him and jabbed her finger into his chest. “You’d better not let anything happen to her. If she gets so much as a paper cut, I’m coming after you.”
Her bravado impressed Nick.
“Are you threatening a federal agent?” the police officer growled a
s he stepped toward her.
Nick put his hand out to hold him back. “It’s okay.” He turned to look at Morgan. “I promise; I’ll personally see to Fae’s safety.”
Morgan nodded and turned to Fae. “Call me as soon as you can.”
“I will,” Fae answered. “And I’ll be in school tomorrow.”
“I’ll meet you outside your first class.”
Fae nodded and turned away.
“Wait!” Morgan shouted. “Are we still on for Saturday night’s date? Did you find someone to take? Are you even going to be up for it?”
“I’ll try,” Fae said.
“I’ll bring her,” Nick said. He had no idea if she already had a date, but if she did, she’d just have to cancel. Her safety was more important than hurting the feelings of a post-high school kid. And the fact Nick didn’t want to see her on the arm of another man had nothing to do with it.
A sparkle lit Morgan’s eyes. “Okay. Good.”
Nick kept his focus on the crowd as he led Fae away. Students lined the walkway. He wondered if the perpetrator was there. Could he know that he’d gotten the wrong girl? Could the murderer be another student? There were too many unanswered questions.
Nick guided Fae to his car. Her eyes widened when she saw his car parked on the sidewalk just outside the entrance gate. He didn’t comment on his parking job. She was smart enough to know he had been in a hurry to get to her, and with the FBI markings on the tags, no one would dare tow or move it.
After getting Fae in the passenger side, he put her bag in the trunk and then got in behind the wheel.
“Um,” Fae said. “Are you sure you’re okay with having me stay with you? I mean, you don’t have to go out of your way. I know how to stay under the radar.”
“And where did you learn that skill?” he asked as he bumped over the curb and pulled out into traffic.
Fae paused before she spoke. “From the woman who raised me.”
“Your mom?”
Fae shook her head.
“A relative?”
She shook her head again.
“Ah, you were in the foster system.”
Fae once again shook her head—surprising him. A couple things clicked into place. Fae was raised by someone who had no legal right to have her in their custody. And she’d been asking how to find the parents of child with no identity. “You were kidnapped.”