Operation: Endgame (18 page)

Cassie nodded, simply relieved he was okay. “No problem. There’s a lot of that going around this morning, so don’t worry about it. Besides,” She waved to the mess in her office, “there are other issues to worry about this morning.”

“Oh my God. What happened to the office?”

“We don’t know. We’re thinking it’s just a little visit from my admirer.” She gestured towards his briefcase, “I don’t suppose you have the finals in there do you?”

Derek appeared confused at the briefcase in his hand. “The finals? Um, actually yes, I do have them.”

“Oh, thank God. Hey, War mentioned you were here late last night.”

Derek’s cheeks flushed with color and his eyes shifted back to the destroyed office.

“What were you doing? I thought we pretty much had the semester all wrapped up, or did I hit my head harder than I thought and forget something?”

“No,” Derek stammered, “you didn’t forget anything. I was just working on some of my graduate work.”

“Really? I thought you were all finished for the semester. I’m not working you too hard, am I?”

Cassie looked confused and Derek looked guilty. Jake didn’t like any of it. The whole situation between Derek and War both being there late the night before just felt off somehow.

“No, Cassie, everything’s fine,” He looked down at his watch, “but we need to get to class so we can administer this test.”

“Yes, you’re right.” Cassie looked at Jake and the detective. “Jake can you stay here with Brian and then I’ll see both of you in a couple of hours after my class is done?”

Jake looked at Derek, trying to quell the niggling in his gut that something was off, but it wasn’t enough for him to think Cassie was in any danger. He looked directly at Derek and said, “I don’t want you to leave her side for even a minute. Stick close or you’ll answer to me, do you understand?”

Derek ran a hand through his tousled hair, “Yeah, I understand. She’ll be fine, I promise.”

***

As Cassie sat at the desk at the front of the large lecture hall, she looked around at her students watching for any cheating and thought about the destruction that was left in her office. She glanced over at Derek. He looked really wrung out and that wasn’t normally like him. She’d been lucky when she got him as her TA. He was conscientious and efficient. They got along really well. Her specialty was military history while he was focusing on a more political history degree, but their different viewpoints had led to some wonderful debates that energized her passion for the subject and reflected well on her classes. He was someone she appreciated as a professional because he challenged her beliefs and her ideology. She loved that. He was only 23, but if he had been a bit older, Cassie may have been interested in dating him. As it was, he had the whole sexy nerd look going for him which kept the coeds drooling over him, both male and female, wherever he went.

Now, she was worried about what was going on with him, because he seemed really distracted today. He was watching the class for cheating the same as her and she caught his eye and mouthed, “Are you okay?”

He gave a quick nod and then quickly shifted his gaze away from hers. Yes, something was definitely not right there.

By the end of class, there was a pile of finals deep enough to make both Derek and Cassie groan with the thoughts of the hours it would take to grade them all. As Derek piled them all together, he put a band around them, so none of them would get separated. But that led to another issue… they didn’t have an office to work in any longer. She looked at Derek’s haggard, exhausted face and made a decision. “Derek, they aren’t going to let us in the office today and we need to get to work on these. I’ll go deal with the Detective. You can go through your side of the office later to see what’s missing. Right now, go home, take a nap, pull yourself together, and then you can come over to my place and we can work on grading the finals tonight. Sound good?”

“Yes, that sounds great, but I’m walking you back to the office. I don’t want your boyfriend in my face for letting you walk the hall alone.”

“Jake isn’t my boyfriend.”

“Does he realize that?” Derek looked at her seriously.

“He’s just a bit over protective, like a big brother.”

“Cassie, you’re deluding yourself if you think any brother looks at his sister the way that man looks at you. Regardless, I don’t think I want to rile him any more than needed. Come on. I’ll carry the finals over there for you.”

It took about another hour before Cassie was through at the office with Brian. The forensics team had gone over the whole room so there was a layer of fingerprint dust over everything, but there didn’t appear to be any more clues or anything missing. Honestly, it was simply a huge mess she was going to have to clean up. At this point, Cassie didn’t even want to think about it. She could report her grades through her laptop. They had copies of the final exams and classes were done for her for the semester. She and Derek would deal with the mess in their office in a few days. Today she simply didn’t care.

***

Derek arrived at Cassie’s house at 5:30 with Whataburger take-out sacks in hand. Cassie groaned, “Between you and Jake and the fact I can’t run right now, I’m going to be 20 lbs. heavier by the end of December.”

Derek looked at her and laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding me. With your metabolism, you could live on Whataburger burgers and still never gain an ounce. Besides, you know you’re just as addicted to them as the rest of us, right?”

Cassie gave a hefty sigh but agreed, “Unfortunately, it’s sad but true. My poor arteries. Come on, let’s eat first, then we can work.” She waved him into the kitchen table where Jake joined them.

“Hmmm, do I smell Whataburger? I haven’t had one of their burgers in years. Derek, I think I may just love you.”

“Thanks, man, but you’re not my type.” Derek pushed the second bag over to Jake. “Help yourself.”

Cassie grabbed three beers out of the fridge. As she joined them at the table, Derek looked up at her and asked, “Did they find anything at the office today?”

Cassie shook her head, “No, they dusted for prints. It’ll take a few days to run them all since it’s so public, but they didn’t think they were going to get any hits from that. They think the guy picked the lock, but that’s pretty much the only thing they got out of the office. I need to go in there to clean up. You do too, especially to see if there’s anything missing. I just didn’t want to deal with it today. Maybe we could plan for Friday?”

“I could do Friday. Want to plan around 10:00?”

“That’ll work for me.”

Cassie started cleaning up all the trash off the table. “We probably should get started on grading if we want to finish this tonight. Derek, do you want another beer?”

“That depends, am I grading the essays or are you?” It was a running joke between the two of them about how bad the essays could be, especially for this first year class.

“Since you’re the TA, I’m thinking you should.” At Derek’s grimace, Cassie added, “You can look at it as a learning experience.”

“What exactly am I supposed to be learning from bad papers?”

“What not to do to impress your professor. It could come in handy as you get ready to start on your PhD.” Cassie smirked at him.

Derek just rolled his eyes. “In that case, I definitely need a second beer. It may help me keep my sense of humor.”

They worked for a while with only the classic Christmas music playing softly in the background. Cassie was working on grading the question and answer parts of the exams while Derek took on the essays. Jake was lounged out on the couch reading his new Patterson novel he’d picked up at Raider Readers.

Cassie stood to stretch and went over to the sink to take some ibuprofen. Jake looked up at her concerned, “Are you feeling okay?”

Cassie nodded. “Yes, my shoulder is just getting achy from sitting looking at papers, but I’m fine. It’s nothing some ibuprofen won’t fix.”

“Um…Cassie?” Derek looked up at her with a funny look on his face. He was holding an essay he’d just pulled off the pile and under where it had been sitting was a folded piece of yellow legal pad paper. It was exactly like the paper the stalker used on all of his notes to her. Derek had seen enough of the notes over the last couple of months to know what it might mean. He looked at her now with worry in his eyes. “Did you put that there?” He looked back down at the folded paper like it was a snake.

Jake got up and started moving towards the kitchen where Cassie was taking her medicine, but now he looked sharply at Derek. “What is it?”

Cassie looked at the note and then looked at Jake. “Well, if it’s like every other piece of yellow paper I’ve received over the last couple of months, that’s a note from my stalker.”

“What the hell? In the middle of your exams? How the hell would he have gotten it in there?” Jake looked accusingly at Derek.

Derek and Cassie exchanged looks. The exams had been in Cassie’s possession, or in her briefcase, ever since they had been collected in the classroom that morning.

“Could he have paid one of the students to put it in the pile?” Derek mused.

“Or could it be this guy IS one of your students?” Jake growled, but he was still looking suspiciously at Derek who’d been acting odd that morning.

Derek studiously ignored the pointed look Jake was giving him, but was looking thoughtful. “What about Trevor Bennett? Have you had any more issues with him?”

Cassie started to shake her head no, but Jake interrupted, “Who’s Trevor Bennett?”

“He’s one of my students in my first year class. He had a crush on me at the beginning of the semester, but honestly, he’s harmless. He’s just a bit socially awkward. I can’t imagine he could be the one behind this.”

“There is no way you can know that for sure, Cassie. Just because he’s in this class and has a history with you, makes him a suspect. Brian would tell you the same thing. Speaking of which, we need to call him, so we can find out exactly what’s in your little message there.” Jake pulled out his cell phone and called Brian as Derek and Cassie went over students from their class, trying to think of anyone who may have been acting suspiciously lately.

“What about Joel Reyes?”

“What about him? I didn’t notice anything with him and he’s always been a great student, and for that matter, a great neighbor too. No wild parties and he’s always respectful and friendly.”

Jake looked at Cassie. “One of your students is a neighbor too?”

“Jake, seriously, I live a couple of blocks from campus. Half my neighbors have taken one of my classes at some point in time. They’re all college students.”

“True, but someone that’s a neighbor would know your comings and goings and it would be easier to pinpoint your activities like your stalker is doing.”

“Okay, I can see your point, but Joel is seriously one of the nicest kids in my class. I wish they were all like him.” Cassie looked back at Derek. “What made you bring up his name?”

“He was just acting a little odd today. Jumpy, maybe. In the middle of the exam, he knocked over some books and he just seemed distracted. He kept watching everyone.”

“He’s probably just nervous about the test. Honestly, if we’re basing a witch hunt on odd behavior today, you’d be on that list today too, Derek.” Derek flushed red, and started to argue, but Cassie waved him off. “I’m not saying you have anything to do with this. I know you don’t. I just can’t see him as a creepy stalker and would hate to see a good kid accused of something just because he gets uptight on a day that just happened to coincide with the mess in my life.”

“You may not be accusing anyone, but I’m not afraid to push this.” Jake looked hard at Derek. “Derek had access to the tests and was acting out of the norm this morning and last night, so do you have anything to say in your defense?”

“Dammit, Jake, stop it.” She waved her hand in front of Derek as he started to speak. “Ignore him. I know you didn’t have anything to do with this.” Cassie gave Jake a dirty look, but he was saved from her wrath by the ringing of the front doorbell.

Cassie opened the front door to find Brian on her front doorstep. “Detective, no offense, because you seem like a nice guy, but I’m getting really tired of seeing you.”

Brian chuckled, “I have to admit I’d enjoy our little visits if they were more for pleasure rather than work. Maybe we could manage that when this investigation closes.” He gave her a flirtatious smile, which Cassie reciprocated.

Jake practically growled, “Maybe we need to add
Detective
Barnes to the suspect list too.” He scowled at Brian, then turned and scowled at Cassie. “Is there any male you come into contact with who doesn’t become enamored with you?”

“Aw, come on Jake, he’s just joking around. You need to take off your big brother hat.”

Derek muttered under his breath, “Big brother, my ass,” which got a good-natured chuckle from the detective, as he looked speculatively between Jake and Cassie.

Cassie hadn’t heard the comment though, so she waved Brian over to the table where the yellow paper was still sitting untouched on top of the pile of exams. “There it is. We haven’t touched it since Derek found it in the pile, so we have no idea what it says.”

Brian nodded as he pulled out some rubber gloves to unfold the note. Everyone in the room stepped closer so they could see what the note said. Using the same typewriter font which had appeared on all his notes, the paper said,