Maybe she should have given him more of a chance. She’d been overly flippant with him, purposely distant and somewhat rude.
She’d had her defenses up, for sure.
A whole year later, she realized those defenses had been unnecessary.
Once this investigation was over, she was going to get more of a life. She’d not just teach and spend her days either lost in her art or with family. She’d start socializing. Maybe she’d even listen to what Katie had to say about falling in love, how it changed your life but didn’t have to change your dreams.
Then again, Rafe was so committed to Scorpion Ridge, and nothing was keeping Katie from her dream of actually painting a lion in its natural habitat. She was so close.
First, though, she had to get through the next month—alive.
The cop tailing her offered to carry her bag, but Janie turned him down. It would only draw more attention to her. She didn’t want that. As she made her way to the art department before her class, she saw a few of her students and nodded her head but pressed forward. If they’d been curious before about what she knew concerning Derek’s death, she could just imagine their questions about Patricia. The sub had only been privy to the most superficial of details.
And thanks to being at Rafe’s side for hours on end, then watching and listening as Detective Williamson investigated Patricia’s death, she could answer just about every question—except the identity of the killer.
That information eluded everyone. So far, all Detective Williamson had been willing to share was a rough time line. He had a good-size window for the time of death. One of the social-science teachers remembered seeing Patricia getting off the elevator and heading for her office just after 8:00 p.m. The last thing Patricia had done alive was place a phone call, at exactly nine-thirty, to one of her adjuncts. She’d left a message asking if he’d be willing to sub. Patricia hadn’t mentioned what class or when. And then Georgia had found her the next morning. The hours in between were a mystery.
Janie switched her art bag from one shoulder to the other and waved at one of the other faculty members as she headed for the stairs. The two-o’clock classes were ending and classrooms were starting to empty. Suddenly the stairway became very crowded as students made their way to their next class. Janie moved closer to the handrail as she headed up the stairs against the flow of exiting students. The cop was just a few steps behind her.
She made it to the top, waited for a group of students to move out of the way, and stepped around a Brittney look-alike to reach for the door.
She didn’t make it.
Even as her knees hit the top step, she couldn’t figure out what happened first. Had someone grabbed her bag? Had someone managed to tangle their foot under hers? Or had she really felt someone push against the back of her left knee until she fell?
By the third step down, she knew it didn’t matter.
This was going to hurt.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“IT COULD HAVE been much worse,” Katie said.
Gazing down at Janie’s sleeping form, complete with taped ribs, assorted bruises, an impressive goose egg and one black eye, Rafe didn’t blame Katie for not sounding convinced. Still, she was ever the optimistic sister, always searching for the positive.
“And you say Max Carter is involved in all this?” she asked with wonder. “He’s helped out at the zoo a time or two during events.”