Shadow of Vengeance (10 page)

“Cute. Don’t you think it’s odd that the university dean, after one of his students was found beaten and the other is still missing, schedules us in for an appointment…the next day?”

“Absolutely, and I voiced this to his secretary. She gave me his home and cell phone numbers should we need to speak with him before tomorrow.” Rachel opened the car door, then paused.
 

“What is it?” he asked.

“I…it’s nothing. Let’s go.”

Before she asked or said something that might make her appear too incompetent to run this investigation, Rachel quickly slid off the Lexus’s leather seat, then shut the door.
 

With daylight dying, and a brisk breeze whirling between the buildings, the temperature plummeted by the second. Tightening the collar of her heavy overcoat, she shoved her free hand into her pocket and dashed up the steps to the residence hall. Thankfully, Owen grabbed the door before she had to expose her hand to the frigid air. Once inside, she shook off the cold and released the lapel of her coat.

“This is a definite step up from the dorms I stayed in,” Owen commented as he unbuttoned his coat and peered around the corner of the foyer. “Flat screen TV, pool table…I think those couches are nicer than the ones I have in my condo.”

Based on Owen’s designer clothes, tailored suits, and his eighty thousand dollar Lexus, she doubted his couches were anything but top of the line. She, on the other hand, could most certainly admit that her furniture had seen better days. The apartment she leased was the same one she and Sean had both grown up in, and the furnishings had all been her mom’s, purchased from thrift stores or estate sales before Sean had even been born.

“You think this is nice, wait until we visit the fraternity house.” Curious, she looked around the foyer. Specifically at the empty desk where a campus security guard should have been seated. Moving toward the desk, she said, “The last time I was here, Sean used a key card to get into the building. I was so cold, I didn’t even think about it…we should have been buzzed in, met by a security guard, or at least an RA, showed our IDs…”

Owen moved close to her, close enough his arm brushed along hers. Still making contact, he leaned over the desk and pushed around some papers. She should take a step back and give him space. Instead, she stayed put. Even though they both wore thick, heavy coats, standing this close to him reminded her how good…how wanted she’d felt when he’d held her under the mistletoe last year. While she’d had a couple of brief relationships since then, not one of those guys could compare to Owen. They were nerdy and safe, whereas Owen was a tempting heartbreaker. And although she’d probably always consider him a bottom feeder, with the way he kissed, she’d bet he could supply her with multiple orgasms and the best sex of her life.
 

With that last thought in mind, she stepped back. “What are you looking for?”
 

“A student roster, guard or RA schedule…”

She touched his shoulder. His muscles immediately bunched. When he turned to her she quickly dropped her hand. The scowl on his face surprised her. Over the years, she’d seen Owen irritated, but never truly angry. For whatever reason, he looked mad as hell right now. She didn’t know if his sudden mood swing had something to do with her or the lack of security. She didn’t care.

Liar.

She nodded toward the main hallway where a bullnecked, burly young guy approached. Wearing a navy security uniform, he walked with a little kick to his step, drawing attention to his scuffed black shoes and the white tube socks peeking from beneath the hem of his pants. He stopped at a water fountain, took a few slurps, then wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. When a pretty coed passed him, he nodded and smiled, then, as he checked out her rear, he ran a hand over the top of his short brown hair. Shaking his head, he continued toward the desk. Once he realized she and Owen were watching him, he grimaced and quickened his pace.

“Sorry, folks. Unless you have an appointment, this building is for students only.”

She and Owen both handed him their IDs. “Sheriff Jake Tyler said campus security and staff would cooperate with us while we investigate the disappearance of Josh Conway,” Rachel said as she slipped her ID back into her pocket.

“Sure, sure,” the guard said as he moved behind the desk and flipped though paperwork. “Got your names…well, I know they’re somewhere.” He flashed them a smile. “It doesn’t really matter. Come on and I’ll take you up to Josh’s dorm room.”

“Hang on,” Owen said. “You just told us only students were allowed, yet the desk was unattended and the door unlocked. Now you’re going to leave your post again?”

The guard’s face grew mottled as a heavy red blush stained his cheeks. “I…I…oh, man,” he said on a sigh. “Please don’t report me. I—”

“What’s your name?” Rachel asked, and grew more irritated by the second. If this guy had been on duty the night Sean and Josh had been abducted, she’d do more than report him.
 

“Bill Baker.”

Frowning she looked to Owen, who raised his dark blonde brows and half-smiled. “Are you related to Joy or Hal?” she asked.

“Hal’s my dad, which makes Joy my aunt.” Bill held the back of his head, then threw his hands in the air. “If they find out…man, oh man, I’m in real trouble.”

Although annoyed with Bill for not taking his job seriously, especially in the wake of Josh’s disappearance and her brother’s beating, she couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for the guy. If Hal was anything like his sister, Bill had a right to be worried.

“Let’s talk this out,” Rachel suggested. “Starting with the unlocked doors to the residence hall.”

Bill nodded. “Yeah, it’s been broken since Friday. I requested the work order and maintenance was supposed to take care of it. But they haven’t gotten to my building because they’ve been too busy taking care of all the others.”

“The others?” Owen prompted.

“Yeah, all four of the residence halls, the entrance to the grad student apartments, along with the main administration building, the athletic department, the library, the computer lab, not to mention three buildings used for classes—”

“Slow down.” Owen half-chuckled and gave Bill a smile that would put anyone at ease, which right now included her. Something wasn’t right at Wexman. “It sounds like the entire campus needs some major repairs.”

“Not repairs, just the locks fixed.”

“Do all the buildings require a keycard to get inside?” Rachel asked.

“Uh-huh, but maintenance and campus security have regular keys for emergency use.” He looped his fingers through his belt and jingled his key chain. “Like I said, once I figured out the lock wasn’t working, I called maintenance. They gave me the runaround, so I called my boss who told me to make sure the RAs and students knew about the problem.”

“Was the sheriff aware of this?” Rachel asked. Going on the assumption the boys had been drugged, if the lock to this hall had been broken purposefully, that would have given whomever had spiked Sean and Josh’s Mountain Dew easy access to the building. But wouldn’t Jake have mentioned the broken locks?

“Don’t know,” Bill said. “When I saw him the night they found the beat up kid, he didn’t ask.”

“The beat up kid happens to be my brother, Sean.”

“Oh man, sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“It’s fine. But you didn’t think you should have mentioned the locks to the sheriff?”

“I…God, I’m such an idiot,” he said, and slammed his fist against his thigh. “Ma’am, I’m so sorry about Sean. I really like him. He always gives me some of the awesome stuff his mom sends him. Cookies, muffins, brownies—”

She stiffened at the mention of
mom.
“I sent those things to him.”

“Then
your
stuff is awesome.”
 

Bill didn’t need to know the awesome stuff was store-bought. While she knew the ins and outs of computers, the oven tended to be a technical challenge. “Thanks. Okay, let’s stay focused. Were you here the night Sean and Josh went missing?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, grabbed a log, flipped a couple of pages, then handed the binder to them. “They had a pizza delivered at five fifteen. I let the RA for their floor know and she brought it up to them.”

“Was it just pizza?” Owen asked.

“And a two liter of Mountain Dew.”

Beneath her heavy coat, goose bumps rose over Rachel’s skin. Sean said they’d drunk the soda, Bill confirmed that it had been delivered with the pizza, yet Jake hadn’t found the bottle. “Who was the RA?”

“Days kinda run together.” Bill took the log back, turned it around, then flipped a page. “Abby Zucker.”

“And she was here all night?” Rachel asked.

“I guess so.”

“You guess?” Owen repeated. “Either she was or she wasn’t. Which is it?”

The mottled, heavy red blush returned to Bill’s cheeks. “Man, I’m in so much trouble.”

“Bill, just give us an honest answer,” Rachel said, keeping her tone soft and understanding. “What you consider a big deal might not be one at all.”

“Okay,” he said on a deep sigh. “So, Saturday I show up for my shift, like always, at three. I made sure I packed a bunch of food, a big thermos of coffee, and a couple of those five hour energy drinks. Normally I work three to midnight. But Gus, that’s the guy who works night shift, asked if I could cover for him. I was one payment away from paying off my truck, and the extra cash would put me there quicker.” He rested his elbows on the desk, then tugged on one ear. “The shift started out fine, but by six, I started to get real dizzy. My stomach was upset and I didn’t know if I was going to throw up or…well, I’m sure you got the idea.”

“Mixing those energy drinks with caffeine will do that to you,” Owen said. “Unfortunately, I’ve been there.”

Bill lifted a shoulder. “I wouldn’t know. I never took the energy drinks. All I had was one cup of coffee.”

“Maybe it was something you ate or the flu,” Rachel suggested, even though she doubted Bill’s sudden sickness had anything do with natural causes. Dizziness, nausea, vomiting, were all side effects of Rohypnol.
 

“Probably the flu,” Bill said. “I felt like crap the rest of the night and didn’t feel right until this morning.”

“Who ended up covering your shift?” Owen asked.
 

Bill looked away. “No one. I tried calling a few guys, but couldn’t get a hold of anybody. So I stayed and did the best I could…which wasn’t much. If I wasn’t in the bathroom, I was sleeping at the desk.” When he finally looked at them, he said, “I know you probably don’t believe me, but I really love my job and take it seriously. I tried to join the military out of high school, but my asthma stopped that from happening. Jake wouldn’t hire me as a deputy because I’ve lived in Bola my whole life and a quarter of the Townies are somehow related to me. Jake took care of me though and got me this sweet job. I have health benefits, and even a 401k.”

Rachel held up a hand. “Look, Bill, neither one of us wants to see you fired. You did what you had to do. Let me ask you this, did you see Sean and Josh leave Saturday night?”

“Yeah, it was about the time I started feeling sick. I remember making them sign out, then Josh told me a joke. At the time, I was so dizzy, I…I didn’t even understand the punch line.” He shook his head. “After they left, my night went downhill.”

“Can I see the boys’ signatures?”

Bill grabbed a different log, then opened to a page marked Saturday. “This is weird,” he said, and handed the log to Rachel. “No one signed in or out after Sean and Josh.”

She frowned and showed Owen. “And this is unusual for a Saturday night?”

“Absolutely.”

“What about the RA, Abby Zucker?” Owen asked. “Did you ask her for help?”

“After Sean and Josh left, she stopped by on her way to…I don’t remember. But I
do
remember telling her I didn’t feel well and couldn’t find another guard to cover my shift. She said something about having to write a paper and study for an exam, but that she’d check on me.”

“Did she?” Rachel asked.
 

“She might have,” Bill said. “I was pretty out of it.”

“Did you go to the doctor the next day?”
 

“No. I went home, got into bed and didn’t wake up for about ten hours. When I got up, I still felt bad, but nothing like the night before.” He paused, then said, “So, should I quit or wait ‘til they fire me?”

She offered him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about losing your job. In the meantime, let us do ours.”

Nodding his head, Bill reached for the keys attached to his belt. After unhooking one, he handed it to Rachel. “Like I said, the keycards aren’t working right. Some of the rooms aren’t having any problems, but this will get you in just the same.”

After she thanked Bill, she nodded to Owen and together they left the main foyer and headed into the elevator. Once the doors closed, Owen leaned against the wall and gripped the metal rail. “Sounds like Bill might have been drugged, too.”

Good. They were on the same page. “I know. Rather convenient that the entire campus is experiencing problems with the locks, and the security guard for this hall happens to end up with symptoms similar to someone drugged with Rohypnol.”