Page 44 of The Killer She Knew

She maneuvered through students until she reached Ava, crouching to meet the fifteen-year-old on her level. “You doing okay?”

Ava eyed her from toe to head, barely turning to meet her gaze. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“You say the nicest things.” She’d caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror before her shower, but Leigh would bet the bruising around her neck had darkened to an ugly black and purple. “Are you doing okay?”

“Everyone is scared. They think they might be… next,” Ava said.

Leigh wasn’t sure she could ease that worry with Tamra Hopkins’s body upstairs. There didn’t seem to be any strategyother than survival to Tamra’s death. She’d claimed to have seen private messages between Alice Dietz and an unknown man, most likely Professor Morrow, but was that motive enough to kill her? Or had she simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time and paid the price?

Leigh rubbed at her temples. She’d have to find some ibuprofen to get through the next couple of hours. Otherwise, her head might explode from the pressure.

All right. If the killer had seen a potential mentor in Morrow as she’d once done herself, why add his driver’s license to the killer’s trophies? Pierce Morrow was still alive and every ounce the egotistical, thieving investigative consultant she remembered. Maybe becoming a target meant the professor had already outlived his usefulness…

Tension radiated down her spine. Leigh settled her attention on the group of six students huddled in a circle, Ava included. “Listen, as long as you guys stick together, don’t go anywhere alone, and stay in this lobby, you’re safe. I know you’re confused, and you’re scared, and we have no idea when we’ll be able to get out of here, but Marshal Ford and I are doing everything in our power to get you through this in one piece. I give you my word.”

She had nothing else to offer. No heroic speech that could fix any of this. She just had her instincts, and right now they were telling her Pierce Morrow was still in danger.

Leigh forced her legs to move. Though it took everything she had to put one foot in front of the other. Running on fumes and adrenaline—and, let’s be honest, a whole lot of uncertainty—tended to have that effect. She retraced her path to the second classroom west of the lobby.

“Hey.” Ford somehow ended up in front of her. Like her brain had stalled with her hand on the classroom door. “I just talked to both campus police officers and got the same answer.They aren’t able to access the key code history for the biomedical building without an internet connection.”

Leigh rubbed at her head. The headache had spread from behind her eyes up her forehead and clawed down the sides above her ears. More intense than a minute ago. “Is there some kind of monthly report emailed to authorized parties showing who accessed the building?”

She was grabbing at straws at this point.

“Not that anyone has offered,” he said.

Great. “So we can’t narrow down who had access to that lab and the arsenic and cyanide used to kill Alice Dietz.”

“What I’m wondering is how Tamra Hopkins was killed when we’d already submitted both poisons into evidence.” Ford had a point. “You might be onto something with your law enforcement theory.”

“One of the forensic techs.” It wasn’t a question. Leigh tried to mentally picture the two techs that’d been forced to shelter in place with them. She didn’t know either personally. Homicide investigations fell to local police who supplied their own teams unless specifically asking for the bureau’s assistance. Both techs had a pulse on the investigation, the ability to manipulate evidence, and the knowledge to clean up after themselves. “Let’s get their names and find out what we can about both. I’d like to talk to Morrow again.”

Ford set a hand on her shoulder, holding her in place. His gaze narrowed, and she didn’t even have the energy to give in to her usual self-consciousness. “Hey, are you all right? Your pupils are dilated, and you look like you’re having trouble staying on your feet. Did you hit your head when you were in the basement?”

“I…” Did she? Dilated pupils didn’t come from exhaustion. The world tipped on its axis, and suddenly she was looking up atthe marshal from a much lower angle than she had a second ago. “I don’t remember. I’m fine. I need to talk to…”

“Whoa. It’s okay. I’ve got you.” Ford caught her under the arms, sliding her back against the wall until her butt hit the cold stone floor. “Here, sit down.”

She didn’t have time to sit. There was something she had to do. Wasn’t there? Leigh shook her head. Big mistake. Her vision swam, closing in then bursting back out. “I’m okay. I can do this.”

“You shouldn’t move until we can get an EMT in here to assess you.” Ford set both hands on her shoulders. “At least let one of the campus police officers have a look.”

Yeah. Like that was going to happen in the middle of a hurricane. Leigh almost laughed. She just had to remember what it was she had to do. She reached for the door handle above her head, pulling herself to her feet. She closed her eyes as the world started swimming. Focus. She had to focus. Okay. That was better. She didn’t feel like throwing up anymore. Maybe she had hit her head. Or was this an extended symptom of hypothermia? She didn’t know. “I need to talk to Morrow again.”

“Leigh, you can barely stand. Wait here. I’ll get you some water.” He didn’t give her a chance to argue, darting down the hallway back toward the lobby.

Every second they wasted was another opportunity for the killer to escape. This was what she was trained for. This was what she was good at. She swung the door inward. To find Pierce Morrow dead in his seat.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Durham, New Hampshire

Thursday, October 10

3:07 p.m.

Heavy footsteps aggravated each pulse of the pain in her head.

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