“I know how easy it is to get stuff thrown out of court on a technicality. It only takes that happening once to learn how easy it is for a whole case to go sour. If we can catch whoever’s doing this shit, I do not want them to get away with it because I was letting my ego run the show.”
“Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow at the dance.”
As soon as she disconnected the call, exhaustion swept in. Stumbling into her bedroom, she put her towels in the closet hamper, pulled on a T-shirt and panties, and decided to crawl into bed. All she wanted right now was the sweet oblivion of sleep.
Tomorrow would be the last day in a long line of responsibilities, and Sunday… Well. Sunday remained to be seen. She had time yet to make a decision about that.
She was asleep before she had another thought.
ONE MORE PROBLEM TO SOLVE
LUCAS
The bass lineof some song he’d heard one too many times reverberated off the gymnasium walls, making the darkness feel extra close. Students moved to the beat, sometimes in slightly uncomfortable ways, but nothing was too out of line, so as long as he didn’t watch for his son in the crowd, he wouldn’t freak out. Was this how his parents had felt when he was a teenager? Chaperoning dances was not high on his list of things to do. He just hoped his presence wasn’t cramping his son’s teenage experience.
Across the darkened space, he caught a glimpse of Elyxandre. Once again, she was with Lieutenant Axton. They were standing just inside the shadows at the doorway to the student common area. A young officer was wanding each student as they came through the door, while another did bag searches.
He’d seen Axton’s squad car when he arrived, but hers was nowhere in sight. It wasn’t until students were being admitted into the party space that she showed up, her hair wet and braided, her standard uniform of a polo, vest, tac pants, and boots in place. Just before the lights went out, he noticed she hada tinge of pink to her face and neck, like she’d been outside all day.
Seeing the half dozen officers spread out at the dance made him sad. There always would have been a few wandering around, but in the past, there had been one extra, hanging out in the lobby. Maybe another one or two directing traffic before and after large events. But seeing this many inside the dance itself, and knowing there were just as many outside in the halls and parking lot as a show of vigilance after Thursday’s threat? It was a stark reminder of the world these students now lived in. That anywhere they went—even school, which should be a place of automatic safety—was a potential site for violence. Another way the innocence of childhood was being shattered nationwide.
An hour later, after he’d checked in with the various other teacher and parent chaperones, and confirmed with the Lewis parents about the ‘study zoo,’ he noticed that Elyxandre’d been replaced at the door by another female officer. A quick scan of the room told him she was no longer in the dance area.
He walked up to Lieutenant Axton, who was talking with another officer on the far side of the room as he watched the crowd of students. Their eyes were always moving, even though they spoke to one another.
“Officers. Thank you for being here tonight.” He held out his hand to each in turn. “Hopefully, it doesn’t bring up any memories of your youth better left forgotten.”
The officer he didn’t know replied, “I hadn’t thought about my homecoming days in years. I’ve never gone back home, and it kind of makes me want to go back next year to see how everything’s changed.”
“Glad we can make the kids feel safe,” Axton said. “If you’re looking for Officer Hookstead, I think she snuck out the main entrance to take a phone call.” His look held a message.
Lucas raised an eyebrow. “Thanks.”
Heading out the door into the hallway, then toward the main entrance, his thoughts began to bounce and collide. Was the phone call about something school-related? Or was it personal and had upset her?
Exiting the building, he nodded at the officer standing in the pickup lane, waiting to direct any traffic that might come through. Looking left, then right, he found her at the end of the sidewalk in front of the building, far from where students would be if heading out to their cars. She’d just disconnected from the caller and was rubbing the center of her forehead with the corner of her phone, a pained expression on her face.
He didn’t want to startle her, so he called out her name softly. “Elyxandre?”
When she glanced up, he saw a ghost of the same emotions from yesterday after the altercation with her father. Was this about him?
“Dr. Vaughn,” she replied. “Is something wrong?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing.”
She slid her phone into her back pocket and blew out a breath. “That was the station.”
By then, he was standing a foot away. He told himself it was because he didn’t want her to have to talk at a normal level, which might carry her words out into the open, but he knew it was really because he couldn’t bear to be farther from her. “Bad news?”
“Yes and no.” She shoved her hands into her front pockets. “They released my father about two hours ago. God knows who, but he managed to find someone foolish enough to bail him out.”
“You filed a restraining order, right?”
“Yes, when I did my statement. Part of why I was so late getting home this morning. Not that it did any good,” she muttered.
He felt his blood pressure rise. “What do you mean it didn’t do any good?”
“Because that phone call was my alarm’s security company. Someone broke into my house.”
