Without Mercy (Mercy 1)

She clicked her pen nervously. Her attempts at getting information from other staff and students had been unsuccessful. It took a while for people to warm up here, staff and students alike.

So what did that leave?

The student and faculty files.

Glancing out the window, she saw the corner of the admin building where all the records were kept. Not all, she reminded herself, and replaced her pen in the drawer. Some of the records were kept in Reverend Lynch’s office, the one in the chapel.

Could she do it?

Break into the file drawers or the computers, then, if she were caught, drum up some excuse?

The bottom line was she had to.

Before someone else was hurt.

She just had to come up with a plan.

Her mind still half on her mission, she spent another half hour trying to focus on the next day’s lesson plans.

Finally, she gave it up for the night. She could do more prep after dinner. Once she was settled into her pajamas at home, she might even come up with a way to get a peek at the student and faculty files. She gathered up her notes, books, and a couple of computer disks, then shoved them into her Blue Rock Academy book bag and zipped it closed.

Hitching the strap of her bag over her shoulder, Jules made her way to the door of this fishbowl of a classroom. Darkness had already settled over the mountains, snow still falling hard. As she snapped off the lights, she wondered when the storm would break, when this school wouldn’t be so isolated. As it was now, not only the police and supplies weren’t able to get through the passes, but also families of the students, rescue workers, and the police were blockaded by the blizzard. It was as if the fates were conspiring against them, the whistling wind nearly laughing as everyone at Blue Rock dug in.

Don’t be ridiculous, she silently chastised herself, but couldn’t stop a little drizzle of dread from dripping down her spine.

She closed the door behind her.

Drained of students, the hallway was eerily quiet. Jules’s boots rang on the tile floors, echoing in her ears. Just stay calm, she told herself as she hurried down the empty staircase, intent on heading back to her room for a little time alone. Although the crimes against Nona and Drew were vile, Jules had no reason to think someone would attack her or any other teacher on this campus.

Despite her case of nerves, Jules thought about the evening ahead. She intended to call Analise again since Eli had been a TA. What was it he’d said to Jules the last time they’d spoken?

Analise was afraid you might go poking around.

Why?

Jules had considered her cousin’s concerns weird at the time. She’d thought Eli and Analise were worried about themselves and how they’d left the school, but maybe that hadn’t been it. Maybe they’d been afraid of what Jules might find….

She turned the corner and nearly ran over Maeve.

In tears, her shoulders braced against the wall, Maeve slowly slid to the floor, where she dissolved into horrid, heart-wrenching sobs, the books she’d been carrying falling onto her lap.

Jules was at the girl’s side in an instant. “What’s wrong?” Jules bent down on a knee to touch Maeve on her shoulder. “Maeve?”

Startled, as if she’d been in her own private world, Maeve looked up sharply and pulled back. “Nothing.” A bald-faced lie. She blinked back a fresh onslaught of tears and hiccupped, her eyes filled with despair as they met Jules’s.

“Oh, honey, you can talk to me.”

Maeve was sniffing and hiccuping, blinking like crazy. “I … said … I’m okay.” She scooted away, her right hand under her left sleeve and fidgeting—a motion Jules had noticed during class. “I’ll be all right. Really. Just leave me alone.”

Click, click, click!

“I don’t think so,” Jules said softly as she realized that Maeve was repeatedly snapping a rubber band against her wrist. Her face was flushed beet red, and tears drizzled from her eyes, tracking down her cheeks.

“Maeve … you know you shouldn’t be moving around campus alone, but …” Jules respected the girl’s space, but she wanted to help. “I’m here to help, okay? Is there anything I can do?”

“No!” Maeve was emphatic. She sniffed and scrambled onto her feet, losing hold of her bag.

The contents of her open purse tumbled out, scattering across the floor. She lunged for her purse and the books on her lap, and fell onto the floor, sliding on the shiny tiles. “Oh, crap!” Quickly she began retrieving items, a pink eyeglass case, a package of tissues, her wallet, keys, a plastic tampon case.