Whispered Lies

“We’ll deal with that if it happens.” Carlos took her hand and led the way. When he pulled open the wooden exit door to the second floor, the hinges whined.

She held her breath, then shoved up close to see past his shoulder. A metal door twenty feet away on his right closed off the hallway, with an alarm-code panel on the side. A sign above stated no access.

Gabrielle whispered, “That’s the staff quarters and security entrance for this building. Go left to the first turn, take a right, and 210 should be halfway down on your left.”

He nodded and eased into the hallway, where hand-blown glass sconces lit the passageway, painted a dusty rose and white. Each door was still marked with metal numbers in gold. She stayed close behind Carlos, careful not to make a sound. When they turned the corner, a door shut with a click in the hallway.

Her whole body shook with the fear of getting caught. On some buried level, she was still the frightened teen who never broke a rule or took a risk while here. She’d never wanted to be taken to the “special building” at the back of the property. The place she’d once thought was for exceptional students until a rumor floated around of someone screaming out a window.

Could have been a fabricated rumor just to scare students, but she hadn’t risked finding out.

Carlos reached back, taking her hand as if he’d sensed the terror she felt and knew the simple touch would ease her fears. He moved forward, forcing her from her spot. At the door to Amelia’s room, he listened, then tapped his knuckles lightly. No answer. He slipped something from his pocket.

Feeling clingy all of a sudden, she released his hands so he was free to jimmy the lock while watching both ways. He opened the door and she followed him into the room.

The room hadn’t changed much other than newer floral brocade linens, the priceless French Provençal antiques still elegant and feminine. Clothes were tossed across one bed just as she and Linette had done on weekends, though they’d kept the room neat all week. Nostalgia flowed over her in slow waves, reminding her of happy nights sharing dreams and sad times once Linette disappeared.

Carlos moved around the room silent as a ghost.

Both of these beds and dressers had photos, books, nail polish, hairbrushes, and other items scattered about. If one bed was Amelia’s, the school still expected her to return.

A humming noise drew her attention to the loo. The fan was on, which meant…

Carlos stepped backward just as the commode flushed.

She cringed at the noise.

He had her out in the hallway in half a second. The sound of the bathroom door opening and shutting came through the wood separating them. They barely got out fast enough.

Carlos took a step the way they had come when a door to another room between them and the turn for the stairwell opened.

A young woman with long, silky brown hair backed out of the room, closing the door behind her. She fiddled with the lock.

Something whispered from Carlos’s lips that Gabrielle bet was a curse. If they went the other way, the student might report strangers in the hall and LaCrosse would immediately know who they were by the description.

If they walked forward, they’d have to interact, and any lie might hang Gabrielle if the student told someone.

She clenched Carlos’s hand, fighting a panic attack. Didn’t take a genius to figure the probability of escaping without notice was too small to calculate.

What would LaCrosse do if he heard about this?

Sweat trickled down her collar.

Carlos started forward, pulling her with him. Her heart bounced in her chest. What was he going to do?

When they were within ten feet of the girl, she must have heard them approaching. She swung around with a wide-eyed look that washed away when surprise burst across her face.

“Gabrielle, what are you doing here?”

SEVENTEEN

ME? WHAT ARE you doing here?” Gabrielle demanded.

Babette flung herself into Gabrielle’s arms. “I sent you an e-mail that I was being exiled. Why didn’t you call me?”

“Who is she?” Carlos asked at the same moment Babette said, “Who is he?”

Gabrielle took a breath, hugged her half sister to her, then looked around. “Oh, dear. Do you have a roommate?” she asked Babette quietly.

“Yes, but she’s eating right now. I don’t like the food in the meal hall so I keep snacks stashed here.” Babette kept her voice down, picking up quickly on the conspiratorial atmosphere.

Gabrielle bet her sister’s resistance to dining in the common area had more to do with being new than the food since the school had fabulous chefs.

“Let’s talk in your room.” Gabrielle glanced at Carlos. His lips were drawn in one unhappy line, but he nodded.

“Sure.” Babette opened the door and closed it as soon as everyone was inside. “So what’s going on? How did you get permission to visit? I was told that would take forever and an act of parliament to get approved.”

“Babette is my sister,” Gabrielle told Carlos, stalling while she came up with an answer for why she was in the dorm. She turned to Babette. “He is-”

“-her bodyguard,” Carlos answered for Gabrielle, which reminded her to be careful about what she shared.

“Really?” Babette’s animated face crumpled with worry. “Has that scumbag tried to hurt you?”

“No, I, uh…” Gabrielle looked to Carlos for help.

“Scumbag?” he asked, not helping one bloody bit.

“Roberto, her ex-husband, I told Gabby he had to be behind those attacks. Don’t you know who you’re protecting her from?” Babette glowered at Carlos, who cut his eyes at Gabrielle as if she should now help him.

She crossed her arms in silence.

“Yes, I do know about him,” Carlos lied since Gabrielle hadn’t shared that much about Roberto with him or his black-op friends. “I’m here to ensure he doesn’t even try. Gabrielle’s here to help the school with their computer system and wanted to see her old dorm room again, but there’s a couple girls in it. This is a stuffed-up bunch so we don’t want them to know we were over here. LaCrosse would probably get his panties in a wad.”

What a brilliant story. Gabrielle’s knees were weak with relief.

“You can trust me. I won’t tell a soul, especially not the head troll.” Babette delivered that with all the sincerity of an accomplice. Then her gaze softened when she took full measure of Carlos to the point of ogling.

“Don’t speak disrespectfully of Monsieur LaCrosse.” A

It was his fault anyhow. A woman couldn’t possibly take in all of him in just one glance. But her younger sister had been taught better ma

“Why didn’t LaCrosse mention your sister?” Carlos asked.

“He probably assumed I knew.” Gabrielle shrugged.

“Do you know the girls in Gabrielle’s old room?” he said in a voice as smooth as fine cognac and loaded with just as much intoxicating charm.

Gabrielle sent a sharp glance of warning at him for turning that power on her little sister.

He winked at her. The bugger.

“I wanted Gabrielle’s room, but all Papa remembered was that she had been on this floor.” Babette’s attention never moved from Carlos as she pushed the long sleeves of her gray T-shirt back to her wrists and smoothed her hands over the jeans she wore. “Papa never said much about her time in this dungeon. Which room?”

“Two ten.” Carlos smiled and Babette’s cheeks flushed pink, then she looked away.

Gabrielle knew he was trying to get information while they were here, but her maternal instincts surfaced when it came to her sisters. She kicked her foot against his ankle.