A few kids watched him leave.
The rest didn’t appear to notice.
But Trent had. His eyebrows slammed together thoughtfully, he stared at the preacher. “What do you think of Father Jake?”
Jules glanced over her shoulder. “That he’s too good looking to be a minister.”
“Be serious.”
“I am.” She reached across the table and took his hand. “But maybe not quite as handsome as a certain bull rider I know.”
“Has-been bull rider. Remember?”
“That’s what I meant.” She grinned and he squeezed her hand, but his eyes remained on the door as it slammed behind the preacher.
Things were changing, and fast, Jules thought. Her unexpected relationship with Trent was one thing; a positive force, and now her mission, to rescue her sister, to spirit Shaylee away from whatever dark presence was lurking here, was about to be fulfilled.
As for the school, now that Spurrier and his twisted followers had been ferreted out, Blue Rock Academy would likely fail. Another example of the unexpected outcome of the best laid plans gone so far awry.
“Okay, I guess I’d better pack my things, too, and resign,” she said, pulling her fingers from his as she scooted back her chair. “You know, this might be the shortest tenure of a teacher at the school.”
Trent laughed. “I’ll be right on your heels. I’m resigning as soon as I get through to Lauren Conway’s parents. You heard that Meeker found a flash drive in Spurrier’s pocket, right?”
“I didn’t know what it meant.”
“We’re not sure yet, but we think the drive might hold information Lauren gathered—Rhonda Hammersley put it into one of the computers in the clinic—and though it was partially burned, some of the info seemed intact; the Sheriff’s Department will get their lab to try and retrieve it.”
“In lieu of Lynch’s files.”
“In addition to whatever wasn’t destroyed in the fire. Deputies are already searching through the rubble of my house.”
“What about Lauren’s body?”
“Bernsen thinks he knows, but he’s holding out. Wants immunity.”
“Great. Just what we need, Zach Bernsen, a free man.” She rotated her half-drunk cup on the table, then realized she was fiddling and let it be. “So what about you, Cowboy?” she asked. “Once you’re out of here, what then?” she asked.
“You have to ask?”
She arched a brow. “With you? I think so.”
“I thought I explained all this right after we were nearly killed in the snow. Remember? If not, I’ll fill you in: What I intend to do as soon as I get out of here is chase you down. So don’t think you’ll be getting away.”
She winked. “Catch me if you can.”
“I can,” he said confidently. “And trust me, I will.”
So her life was going to make a major left turn, she thought, imagining a future with Cooper Trent. Who would have thought?
Buoyed that at least this nightmare was about to be behind her, Jules left the cafeteria and walked across the campus for one of the last times. Now, the campus seemed serene, even peaceful. The sun was shining brightly, rays glinting off the ice collecting around the edges of Lake Superstition. The campus once again had that idyllic appearance captured in so many of the photographs on the Web site, an Eden-like setting filled with promise for teens with problems.
The mountains spired into the blue, blue sky and she heard the whomp, whomp, whomp of the medivac helicopter before she saw it slowly descending onto the snowy campus.
The seaplane bearing the academy’s logo was still locked in ice and was a sober reminder of Spurrier and all of his diabolical plans. How could one man affect so many? Shuddering, she headed toward Stanton House.
Life here at Blue Rock Academy would never be the same.
Would Spurrier survive?