Without Mercy (Mercy 1)

“I’m from Spokane.”

“Oh. Right.” Lynch rubbed his tiny beard with one finger as he studied the top sheet of a stack of papers.

Burdette was equally distracted, her eyes on the window again.

So much for their concern about the new girl, Trent thought.

“Anyway,” Lynch went on, “I’ve added her to your pod.” He slid the faxed documents across the wide expanse of his desk. “Here’re her records. Check out the questionnaire.”

“Classic,” Burdette muttered.

“When is she due to arrive?”

“Within the hour.”

“Today?” Trent tried to keep the concern from his voice.

“She’s on her way. Last report was that the plane was just north of Eugene.”

Trent kept his face impassive, but inside he was fighting a full-blown panic. If she was one and the same Shay Still-man—and it sounded as if she was—then she was Jules’s half sister and a holy terror. The age was right, the attitude was toxic, and she was coming from the Seattle area. It all added up to trouble for Trent. Big trouble. “You sure my pod’s the best?”

“Why not?” Lynch frowned. For all his outward talk of open discussions and being respectful of others’ opinions, Tobias Lynch was about as bending as an oak tree. The reverend didn’t like being opposed. In Trent’s short time here at the academy, he’d learned that much. Though Lynch saw himself as a kind, judicious, fair-minded leader who guided with a steady but thoughtful hand, in truth, the guy considered himself the only person capable of making the “right” decision. His word was etched in stone.

Still, Trent had to fight this one; he couldn’t be in close proximity to Jules’s sister. It was just too damned dangerous. He picked his words carefully. “Sometimes a troubled girl needs a strong female leader, someone who can relate to what she’s going through.”

Lynch disagreed. “Not this one—female dominated, confused about father figures.” He smiled. “Perfect for you.”

Burdette added, “Both Rhonda’s and my groups are full, and we’ve always had mixed-gender pods. It’s no big deal. Until we can hire another teacher and leader, we all have to pull our weight—more than our weight, actually. If there’s a problem, you know that any of the girls can talk to us individually, and there are female counseling sessions.” As she looked at him over her shoulder, tiny lines emerged between her eyebrows. “Do you have a problem with taking on this one?”

Oh, yeah, a major problem. “Not at all,” he lied, and hoped to hell he sounded convincing. “Just talking aloud, wondering what’s best for her.”

“Good.” The reverend seemed relieved. “We always put the students’ needs first. Since you’re in line for the next new student, she’ll be in your group.” He was nodding to himself, silently congratulating himself on a job well done. “Should be interesting.”

More than interesting. He noted that the tiny lines of suspicion on Burdette’s forehead hadn’t disappeared. There was stress here at the school, more than anyone let on. Being down a teacher was just one of the problems.

Lynch forced a smile and rose to his feet, signifying that the meeting was over.

Trent couldn’t wait to leave. He needed time to think about how he was going to handle Shay. Would she recognize his name? They’d never met face-to-face, but there was a damned good chance that Jules had mentioned him.

And not with fondness.

Nope. Their breakup had been anything but amicable.

Great.

Just. Damned. Great!

Shaylee Stillman was a complication he didn’t need. He left the building and half-jogged to the gym, where his office was nestled on the far side of the locker rooms. He tossed Shaylee’s file onto the desk and flipped it open, and sure enough, Jules’s little sister stared up at him from a photo. He suspected it was a candid shot; the girl’s eyes glimmered with rebellion, anger, and mistrust.

With one eye on the clock, he skimmed through the file, all the while knowing that Shaylee Stillman could blow his cover and damned well ruin everything.

Clicking on the computer’s mouse at her desk, Jules half-listened to the radio while she searched online for information about Blue Rock Academy. Ever since Edie had announced she was shipping Shaylee down to Oregon, Jules had been consumed by the desire to learn everything she could about the school.

Then she heard the commercial. Between songs on the radio came a sincere woman’s voice, a woman at the end of her rope. “I didn’t know what to do,” she lamented. “I was out of options. My daughter was getting into trouble with the law, with drugs, with the wrong crowd, and she wouldn’t listen to me. Her attitude was affecting my marriage and my other children. I thought I had nowhere to turn, but then I learned about Blue Rock Academy, a forward-thinking school that knows how to deal with troubled teens.”

Jules stopped surfing the Net and listened as the testimonial continued. The mother’s voice was stronger now. “So I enrolled my daughter at Blue Rock Academy. Ten months later, she returned with a new attitude, great grades, and a healthy lifestyle. She’s now an honor student on her way to college.” There was just so much pride in the woman’s voice. “Thanks to the caring, intelligent staff members at Blue Rock Academy, I got my daughter back.”

A younger, bright voice chimed in, “And I got my family back. Thanks, Mom. Dad. I love you guys!”