Line Of Sight Part 4

"Very." She wasn't about to talk about her personal life-or lack of one, more accurately-with her old headmistress. "I heard that your great-nephew, William, was injured...?"

Nothing like turning the focus on the other person to cover your own inadequacies, Katie thought wryly. But she also knew that Christine worried about her family, and it was probably a justified sort of worry.

"I just heard from him," Christine said. "He's recovering well, and I expect they'll have him back in uniform soon. Not soon enough, most likely-he's bored, and that's never a good sign for someone like William. Or us, for that matter."

"I'm glad he's all right," Katie said. "If I could see Teal and Lena's parents-"

"Together or separately?"

"Separately, please, if it's no bother."

"None at all." Christine's one bright eye fixed on her. "I've been thinking that this doesn't look like a random s.n.a.t.c.h-and-grab kidnapping. It appears more planned than impulsive. That implies that someone must have provided information about where the girls were going-if not students, then staff or employees. I've taken the liberty of retrieving personnel files for you."

It never failed to surprise Katie just how ahead of the game Christine was, although she supposed she should have gotten used to it by now. "Thank you," she said. "I was wondering how to bring that up. I know that you feel very loyal to everyone here, but-"

"But it's possible for anyone to be deceived," Christine said briskly. "Yes. I have no illusions about such things, Katie. However, if one of my people betrayed these girls, I promise you, h.e.l.l hath no fury to match Christine Evans."

That, Katie could fully believe. She grinned slightly and said, "Could I look over the files after I speak with the parents and the other girls?"

"They'll be ready." Christine met her eyes. "I know that you can't keep me fully informed, but I'd like to have what information you can provide without violating your oaths."

"You'll have it." She hesitated for a second and then said, "These girls. You know I need to ask.... Can you tell me something about them? About what kind of unusual traits they have, specifically? Things that I'm guessing might not be in the files."

For a second, she wasn't sure Christine was going to cooperate, but then the woman nodded slightly. "It might be important," she agreed. "If Teal and Lena were specifically targeted, then it might have been because of what they could do, that's certainly a possibility. Lena's very fast and very strong-in fact, she's one of the only girls in school capable of keeping up with Teal's physical abilities. Lena's certainly outgoing, and she's also civic-minded-she likes entertaining children, the elderly, anyone in need of a little miracle."

That, more than anything else, made Katie feel a stab of true fear for Lena. She's in need of her own miracle, she thought. "And Teal?"

"Teal's a different case," Christine said. "Fast and strong, as I mentioned, but there's more to her. We haven't been able to determine the exact nature of it, because her abilities seem to be developing, but she's certainly capable of some telepathic contact, though thus far only with those who have similar abilities. You understand, none of this is in the standard files."

"Of course," Katie said. "And it won't go in my files, either. But it could help."

Christine smiled. It transformed her from severe to glowing, and Katie found herself smiling back, despite the situation, despite the dire danger that two girls faced somewhere out in the night. "It's really good to have you on our side, Katie," Christine said. "Really good. The resources of the Academy and Athena Force are at your disposal."

No small promise there.

The worst part of any case like this was facing the parents, Katie had always found, and this was no different. Teal's mother was composed, pale and tense, and she answered questions in a flat monotone while her husband sat staring at his hands. He was angry, Katie sensed, but he wasn't going to let it out. Teal's mother, on the other hand, was almost completely consumed with fear.

It wasn't a productive interview.

It wasn't until Katie was getting ready to leave that Mrs. Arnett suddenly stepped forward, grabbed her arm, and whispered, "You have to find her. She's special."

Katie knew that, all too well. She nodded, but Mrs. Arnett kept talking. There was a feverish light in her eyes.

"Teal-you have to understand, we tried and tried to have children, nothing worked, it was really a miracle. If it hadn't been for the fertility clinic she wouldn't be here at all. She's a miracle baby. Please. Help her."

Katie covered Mrs. Arnett's trembling hand with her own. "I will." Out of some obscure impulse, almost as an afterthought, she asked, "Which clinic?"

"What?" Mrs. Arnett blinked. "Oh. The Women's FertilityCenter in Zuni, New Mexico. Is that important?"

"Probably not. I promise you, ma'am, I'm going to do everything I can. You should rest. We'll keep you informed when we have any information."

Katie walked from that room-a study room, warm and cozy, lined with reference books-to the empty cla.s.sroom next door, where Lena Poole's mother waited. No father in evidence-traveling, Katie learned, in Asia. Mrs. Poole didn't know when he'd get back. Unlike Mrs. Arnett, this mother was angry-white-hot with it. Almost vibrating. It didn't matter to Katie; she'd dealt with every kind of reaction, and she knew when to use strength, when to use persuasion, when to use sympathy. Mrs. Poole responded to sympathy. Ultimately, beyond providing a good photograph of Lena, she had nothing to add-but Katie, on that same obscure impulse from before, asked about medical history. Not just Lena's-Lena had been exceptionally healthy, which wasn't unusual for the enhanced girls who attended the AthenaAcademy-but Mrs. Poole's, as well.

Lena, it appeared, was also a product of fertility treatments.

And Mrs. Poole had received her treatments at the same clinic as Mrs. Arnett.

Katie left Mrs. Poole weeping quietly, comforted by another of the AthenaAcademy staff members, and stepped into the hall to make a phone call, this time to Kayla Ryan. "Quick question," she said when Kayla answered. "What do you know about the Women's Fertility Clinic in Zuni, New Mexico?"

"Nothing. Doesn't ring any bells. Why?"

"Look into it, would you? Let me know." She flipped the phone shut, tried to put that strange puzzle out of her mind, and moved on to the next challenge.

The girls.

Although the students were understandably upset and anxious-as was the staff-the ma.s.s interview was brief, as Katie's well-honed instincts dismissed girl after girl from consideration. She pared down the numbers to just two after half an hour: Melissa Princeman and Gabriella Sanchez. They were as different as could be. Melissa was small, delicate, almost elfin, and every emotion showed on her heart-shaped face. Gabriella was large, solid and muscular.

Melissa was radiating frantic guilt. Gabriella was so controlled that Katie couldn't help but think that there was something waiting behind it to be discovered.

They sat in one of the smaller cla.s.srooms, one Katie remembered well; she'd suffered through geology in this room, absolutely convinced that knowing about rocks would never help her in the least. She'd held that opinion right up until she'd discovered the fascinations of forensic science, and geology had opened up for her like a new horizon.

She shook herself out of the past and focused on the present as she paced. Christine Evans had taken the teacher's desk at the front, and Rebecca stood quietly at the back of the room. The two girls were rigid and unmoving in their student chairs.

"Melissa," Katie said, "what if I told you that somebody saw you with Teal today?"

It was a shot in the dark, but it struck home. Melissa visibly flinched, and her china-blue eyes welled up with tears.

"It wasn't my fault!" she blurted. "It was just a note, I didn't read it or anything. I don't even know if it was important! I just handed it to her!"

"And did she open it while you were standing there?"

Melissa nodded, gulping back sobs. "She showed it to Lena. They both looked worried."

"But you don't know what was in it?"

Melissa shook her head violently. Tears broke free and slid down her pale cheeks.

"Melissa." Katie slowly lowered herself into a crouch, one hand on the student desk for stability, and looked Melissa in the eyes. "Honey, you need to tell me who gave you the note."

Melissa looked stricken and anguished. "It couldn't have been the note. Honest, it couldn't."

"You still need to tell me. You don't want anything to happen to Lena and Teal, do you? We need to eliminate that note as being part of what happened."

"No, it couldn't have been anything bad-" Melissa couldn't finish. She looked away. "I can't tell you. I'm sorry."

From the front, Christine Evans said softly, "Melissa. You may have promised not to tell, but promises sometimes have to be broken for the greater good. Keeping your word at a time like this is nothing but a way to avoid responsibility."

Melissa swallowed, nodded and looked down at her intertwined fingers. "I see that. But-"

"It was me," Gabriella interrupted flatly. "I gave Melissa the note to give to Teal. Liss, there's no reason to protect me. I don't have anything to hide."

Melissa looked tremendously relieved. Gabriella sat back in her chair and crossed her arms-defensive body language. Her deep brown eyes were steady. She was Teal's age, Katie remembered. Nearly adult, and probably determined to act more than her age. Not a bad girl, but one who might have a lot to prove.

"Tell me about the note," Katie said and sat down in the student desk across from her, leaning forward. Open posture. "What was in it?"

"It wasn't mine," Gabriella said. "Somebody gave it to me. I only gave it to Liss because I knew she'd see Teal first. They had track together."

Katie controlled her frustration with an effort. "Gabriella, what was in the note?"

Gabriella's eyes widened just slightly, but her tone stayed completely neutral. "How would I know? You think I read it?"

Not a denial, Katie noted. "I know you did. What did it say?"

Gabriella finally showed an expression-a flicker of shame. She looked away. "It wasn't a message really. It just said, Blue Camaro, in front of Macy's, at 11:00 a.m."

"It was instructions to meet someone," Katie said. "Why didn't you come forward with this?"

"Because I-" Gabriella's lips tightened. "Look, we were just trying to do the right thing, okay? Somebody was in trouble, and we were trying to help out. Besides, their disappearance couldn't be about the note. Teal and Lena never even got to Macy's, right?"

"Right," Katie agreed grimly. "But all that means is that they were never meant to arrive. Somebody knew where they'd be going, and when. And I suppose, because you girls were cloak-and-dagger, that's why Teal and Lena didn't take a cab or catch a ride to the mall."

The two girls, so different and yet in this moment so alike, exchanged a quick look. "Yeah," Gabriella agreed. Suddenly, she didn't sound nearly so sure of herself. "But-it wasn't any big thing! Honest...It was just-Look, somebody was in trouble. We were trying to help."

"Help how?" Katie pressed. "Why were they meeting this person?"

Melissa said, "Teal was going to give the guy money."

Oh G.o.d. "How much money?"

"Not that much. A couple of hundred dollars," Gabriella said defensively. "I told you, it wasn't that big a deal!"

Katie cursed all the fates she could think of. She'd thought the kidnapping would turn out to be relatively simple, but the complications kept rolling in. The addition of this kind of money drop opened up all sorts of unwelcome possibilities, from blackmail to kidnapping to-although she couldn't believe it-drugs. All fraught with danger, all involving professional criminals of one type or another, which didn't ensure the girls' safety by any means. Only that the situation would be far less easy to resolve.

She took a deep breath. Time for the million-dollar question. "Where did the note come from? Who's the one in trouble?"

There was a brief, telling silence, and then Gabriella said, "Miss Prichard. Well, it's about her kid. It was to help. We all agreed."

"Miss Prichard?" That was from Rebecca, at the back of the room. Katie glanced at her in inquiry. "She's new this year on staff, in administration in my office. Sheila Prichard. I'll pull her file." Rebecca exited the room, and Katie heard the quick tap of her footsteps echoing through the hall.

"I need to talk to Miss Prichard," Katie said. "Get her here, now, if she isn't on campus."

Christine nodded. "It'll be done." She went after Rebecca.

Katie focused back on the girls. "What kind of trouble was Miss Prichard in?" she asked.

"It wasn't her," Melissa said earnestly. "Honest, it wasn't. She was the victim! These guys, they were going to put some kind of c.r.a.p on the Internet about her son. She just wanted to pay them off to get them to stop. Her son, he's had some bad times. She was afraid it would really hurt him."

Miss Prichard, whoever she was, had understood these girls too well. Every one of them wanted to save the world, even this little bit of it...and they'd neglect their own safety to do it. Katie continued her questions, but really, neither of the girls had more information; just what Prichard had told them. They were too young not to fall for it-and far too idealistic. Like most predators, Prichard had tailored her attack to their one vulnerability: their desire to help.

Katie finally closed the interview. "Either of you have anything more you'd like to tell me?" she asked. "Melissa? Gabriella?"

They each shook their heads. Her internal emotional tuning fork told her that they were now pitch-perfect, no secrets held back. She jotted down notes in her investigation book while she waited for the two other women to return.

It took longer than she expected, and in fact Katie had gotten up to check when Rebecca appeared in the doorway, Christine close behind. Her normally composed expression had gone very tense.

"Trouble," she said. "Turns out Sheila Prichard was out sick today, and I'm getting no answer at her home phone. Here's Prichard's personnel file."

"See if anybody else is missing," Katie said immediately. "Students, faculty, staff. Do a roll call. We can't afford to miss anything."

Christine and Rebecca moved to comply, and Katie pushed her own growing sense of frustration and fear aside to smile at the girls. The folder felt cool and heavy in her hand, and she set it down on the desk next to her notebook. "Thank you," she said sincerely to the two students. "You've really helped me tonight, and more importantly, you helped Lena and Teal. I know it wasn't easy. Please, go ahead and get some rest. If you think of anything else, or hear of anything else, let me know. Here's my card. It has my cell phone number on it." She handed them the FBI contact cards, and watched as the two young women left the room.

A staff member. It was what she'd been afraid of all along, that someone in a position of trust would have betrayed the girls.

h.e.l.l hath no fury.

For Sheila Prichard's sake, Katie hoped it was just a bad case of the flu, and that there was a reasonable explanation of how she'd come to set a chain of events in motion that had led to the abduction of two very special girls.

Katie read over Prichard's personnel file, noting down addresses, contacts, previous employers, and then went out toward Rebecca's office to find a landline to use, since her cell phone battery wasn't going to last through the hard use she was bound to put it through before this was done.

As she did, she pa.s.sed one of the common rooms, where a television was playing on low volume in the corner. She glanced toward it, warned by some sense that she couldn't possibly explain, and saw that Shannon Connor was interviewing someone.

Television was kind to Shannon, although she was lovely no matter what setting; some people had a special apt.i.tude for it, Katie had found. She wasn't one of them. She came across grim and embarra.s.sed when interviewed. She always tried to put another, more telegenic FBI spokesperson out when possible.

The shot cut to Shannon's interviewee, and Katie's mouth dropped open. She took three quick steps into the room, grabbed the remote control from the table and turned the sound up. Around her, studying girls looked up in annoyance, noted her age and-presumably-authority, and went back to what they were doing.

The guy from the airport. From the crime scene.

He was talking to Shannon Connor, on the air.

Her first impression was that he was even more telegenic than Shannon; the camera loved him, loved his big dark eyes and curling hair and quirky smile. He leaned forward in his chair, demonstrating a command of body language that Katie thought was impressive, and said, "I didn't want to come here, Shannon, I had to come. It was a matter of duty, not choice."

"Duty," Shannon repeated. "Let's back up a moment, Mr. Blackman. You're not employed as a psychic, are you?"

"No," he said, with that cute, I'm-not-one-of-the-odd-people smile that somehow conveyed fondness for them at the same time. "I work in television. Behind the camera."

"In development."

"Consulting."

"And you're here in Phoenix because..." Shannon looked authentically skeptical.

"Because I had a psychic vision," Blackman said, with just the right matter-of-fact tone. He shrugged. "Didn't ask for it, didn't want it, never had one like this before and believe me, hope I never have one like it again."

"You predicted the girls' abduction?"

"No. I saw it on the news and something just connected. It was like I was seeing through one of the girls' eyes." He said it in the same tone, but Katie saw something shift in him, behind his controlled expression.

Teal. Teal can touch others with similar abilities.