Have You Seen Her?

"This will take weeks," Le

"It can't." Steven's fists clenched on top of his desk. "Meg thinks he'll strike again soon."

Wednesday, October 5, 10:30 A.M.

"Do you have to do that?" Casey asked irritably as Je

Je

Casey scrawled a grade on the top of one theme paper and plucked another from the pile that didn't seem to diminish over time. "Because if I don't get these Crime and Punishment themes graded by tomorrow, I can't get my quarter grades in early and I can't take off Friday. And if I can't take off Friday, Ned will be going to Myrtle Beach all by himself while my new bikini and I stay home." She looked up with a sideways grin. "And that's not go

Friday. Je

"Of course. Ned's salivating over it already."

Je

Casey's smile was wry. "Don't worry, Je

Attached to a car of all things. It should be silly, a grown woman attached to a car. But Je

"Don't be silly," she said and watched Casey's frown relax. 'Take the car and have fun. Besides, if you've got it, Rudy and his friends can't touch it, right? I need your truck this weekend anyway. I promised to take Steven's son Nicky to the park to teach his sheepdog how to sit."

Casey's frown snapped back into place. "You're going to entertain his son after last night?"

Je

She expected Casey to make some witty retort, but there was quiet at the table where Casey sat staring down at the theme paper she was grading, her pixie face troubled.

"What's wrong, Case?"

Casey glanced up, then back down at the paper. "This is the first unique theme I've read."

Je

Casey bit at her lip. "Because this student seems to identify with the story's main character a little too much."

Je

"Wait a minute. Didn't the main character in Crime and Punishment kill an old woman?"

Casey nodded, still staring down at the theme with a troubled frown. "Because she a

Now frowning herself, Je

"Dr. Marshall?" Officer Pullman asked from the doorway and both Je

"What did you find?" Je

Pullman pulled a chair from the table. "Sit down, Dr. Marshall."

Her nerves jangled. "I'd really rather stand if you don't mind."

"Listen to the nice man with the shiny badge, Jen," Casey commanded sharply. "Sit your ass down in the chair." Casey looked over at Pullman with a sour grimace. "She's been driving me nuts with the pacing ever since you arrived."

Pullman's lips twitched as Je

Relief shot through her. At least no one had purposely tortured the poor animal. "Did you find any evidence of who did this?"

Pullman shook his head, much as Je

Je

"The QB will be waiting a good long time," Casey added darkly.

Pullman flipped his notepad closed. "Well, we dusted for prints, but I doubt we'll get anything concrete. You've just got too many people going in and out of your classroom." He stood up and looked down. "I'll tell you the same thing that I told you Friday night. Watch your back."

Wednesday, October 5, 3:45 P.M.

Harry threw his notebook on the conference-room table and dropped into the chair directly across from Steven's, disgust all over his face. Sandra took the chair next to Harry, looking tired.

"We've been checking perps with sex priors all day," Harry complained. "I need to bathe."

Sandra looked over at him with amused sympathy. Sex perps were her niche forte. One hell of a niche forte, Steven thought. Give him murderers any damn day of the week. "Don't worry, Harry," she said, "you'll develop a Teflon coating after a while. All the slime will just roll off."

Nancy rubbed her forehead with one hand while sliding her half-glasses off her nose with the other. "How long will that take? To develop the Teflon coating, I mean.''

Sandra shrugged. "Five or six years."

Steven watched them all from his own chair. "But how about the vics, Sandra? How long before you develop a Teflon coating so that they don't stick in your mind?"

Sandra's face sobered. "Never."

Steven sighed. "Me either." He looked around. "Has anyone seen Kent or Meg?"

"Meg said she had an appointment," Nancy said. "Haven't seen Kent since this morning."

"Here I am," said Kent, huffing a little bit. He plopped into a chair. "Sorry I'm late."

"Well, let's get started, folks. Thanks for coming back this afternoon. We've got news."

"From the McDonald's search this morning?" Sandra asked, leaning forward.

"I wish," Steven replied grimly. He placed a sheet of paper on the center of the table. "Look."

His team gathered around the paper he'd already had analyzed six ways to Tuesday. "No prints, no identifying marks," he told them. "Just rather general directions on where to find Samantha Eggleston. It was dropped off with the mail this afternoon. I got it an hour ago."

"In the mail?" Harry asked sharply.

Steven shook his head. "Nope, just with it. No utilization of the U.S. Postal Service."

"Good," said Harry.

"I agree," said Steven. If their killer had used the U.S. Postal Service or even a fax they would have found themselves tangled ass-deep in Feds. "It's a printed sheet-came off a standard laser jet printer, just like the one in our office."

"And hundreds of other offices," Sandra muttered.

" 'Find her before it's too late. If you can,'" Nancy read and looked up at Steven. "Too late for what, I wonder."