Operation XOXO. Elle James
Melissa’s advice last night and called Elise as soon as he’d heard. “I got word about it last night.”
Elise’s face went from white to red. Instead of blasting him, she turned calmly toward the teens. “Kendall, Alex, did you need me for anything?”
“No, ma’am,” Kendall responded.
Kendall and Alex left Paul and Elise alone in the classroom with the door half-closed.
Paul braced himself.
As soon as the kids were out of earshot, Elise launched her attack. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“We don’t know whether or not the woman’s disappearance had anything to do with the note.” Paul knew his answer wouldn’t be good enough for her. She wanted to be in on every little detail, to stay on top of the threat to herself and her children.
“Still, I want to know what’s going on.” She paced across the classroom and back, only to stop directly in front of him. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. How could you? You know what it means to me. You know I’m scared.”
“Exactly. If I’d told you about the woman, you wouldn’t have slept a wink.”
“You think I slept last night?” She dropped her voice to just above a whisper. “I had nightmares about him all night. This morning, I swear I saw Stan in every face on the street. Is he or is he not dead?”
Paul sighed. “We don’t know with absolute certainty.”
“That’s not good enough, damn it.” Her eyes glazed with moisture and she stepped closer. “You don’t know what it’s like to look over your shoulder every second of the day. Or the hell you go through when you let your children out of your sight to go to school. To school, for heaven’s sake.” Her voice cracked and tears spilled over the edges of her eyelids and down her face. “Why didn’t you make sure he was dead then? If he is alive, what have I done to this town? What have I brought with me by moving here?”
“You haven’t brought anything. We don’t know if it’s your husband or someone playing a prank on you. You have to give us time.” He clasped her arms and stared down into her tear-streaked face.
“Time?” She looked up at him through hazy blue eyes. “Does that missing woman have time?”
A noise at the door drew Paul’s attention, saving him from answering truthfully.
Kendall stood there, her eyes wide, her hand hovering, as if to knock. “I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Her glance darted to Elise and then to the desk where her backpack lay. “I forgot something.”
“Get it,” Elise said through her teeth, turning her back to the girl.
Kendall dove for the backpack and almost made it out the door when Elise swung back.
“Kendall, wait.” She scrubbed her hand over her cheeks and frowned at the teen. “How much of our conversation did you overhear?”
The girl eased around. “Not much.” She didn’t look Elise in the eye when she responded. “I have to go.” She spun toward the door.
“Kendall.” Paul stepped in front of her. “How much did you hear?”
“Nothing I’ll repeat. I swear.” Kendall looked around Paul to Elise. “Alex and I like you, Ms. Johnson. You’re our favorite teacher. We’d never do or say anything that would hurt you.”
Elise stared at her for a long moment. “It’s very important that whatever you think you might have heard doesn’t go outside this room.”
The girl nodded, her eyes wide, scared. “I promise, it won’t.”
“Go home, Kendall.” Elise gave her a crooked smile, but the smile faded and she added, “And lock your doors.”
When the young lady had gone, Elise glanced up at Paul, a worried frown drawing her brows together. “If word gets out about my problem, I’ll be kicked out of this school so fast, I won’t know what hit my backside.”
“I don’t think the kid will rat on you.” Paul stared into her tearstained face. “Are you ready to leave?”
“Yes.” She glanced around the room one last time as if checking for stray students. “My boys will be home soon.”
But she didn’t move yet. “Maybe I should turn in my resignation now and save the school the worry.”
“Don’t borrow trouble, Elise. You’re a good teacher. You have a right to a life.”
“Yeah, so do the rest of the people of Breuer.” She looked up into his eyes, her face pale and pinched. “So did the woman who disappeared.”
What could he say to that? Paul fought the urge to pull Elise into his arms and shield her from all the ugliness the world had to offer.
After Elise slung her handbag over her shoulder, Paul hurried her out of the classroom and off campus.
“We’ll take my truck.” He waved toward a big, dark gray pickup parked in the visitors’ parking area.
“No, I’ll need my car.” When she tried to step around him and go to her car, he snagged her arm.
“That’s what I came here to talk to you about.” He held the passenger door open. “Before the boys get home, I have something to tell you and I don’t want you driving while I tell you.”
“You mean there’s more?” She closed her eyes, her face going dangerously pale.
“Yeah. Get in.” He all but lifted her into the seat and closed the door. When he’d climbed in beside her and had the door safely shut, he turned in his seat. “They found Lauren Pendley this afternoon. She was the missing woman.”
“Oh, God.” Elise pressed her fist to her lips, her blue eyes wide and shining with unshed tears. “Where?”
Paul wished he didn’t have to tell her. This woman had gone through so much already. He hesitated.
Elise laid her fist in her lap and her chin rose. “Just tell me.”
“They found her in the Guadalupe River bound with Ethernet cable.”
“Oh, God, oh, God.” Elise wrapped her arms around herself and rocked back and forth in her seat.
The woman had been strangled, tied with Ethernet cable and dumped, just like the women in the Dakota Strangler case.
“One other disturbing item to note…She went by Lauren, but her first name was Alice.”
Chapter Four
Elise’s eyes burned, tears held in check by the cold wash of fear snaking through her body, stiffening her limbs. “It’s him.”
“We don’t know that, but Mel and I will be working with the local sheriff’s department and city police to find the man responsible.”
“It’s him.” Her voice sounded hollow, even to her own ears. “He didn’t die in the fire.”
“That wasn’t his usual M.O.” Paul shifted into Drive and pulled out of school parking lot, careful not to hit loitering teens waiting for parents to get off work. “Stan didn’t care about first names. He chose smart women.”
True. Her grip on the armrest loosened slightly. She no longer believed in coincidence, not since the Dakota Strangler. She wouldn’t let herself. “But it’s too much of a coincidence. It has to be him.” And if it was him, even the kids at school could be in danger, especially the girls. Elise scrambled for the button to lower the window so that she could shout out a warning to the female students still loitering on school grounds. Her hands shook and the tears filling her eyes made it impossible to see. “How do I open the window?”
Paul brought