Repressed (Deadly Secrets) (5 page)

“I saw the note on the whiteboard,” Ethan said. “It was written in red and said ‘take the hint.’” He looked Sam’s way with concerned green eyes. “What hint?”

Sam’s pulse skipped. What was it about this guy that affected her so? It had started when he’d walked into the office as she’d been arguing with David and only seemed to be growing stronger. “I . . . whoever’s been coming by my house spelled out the word ‘leave’ in white plastic forks last week.”

Ethan’s gaze shifted back to Will. “Leave? And you don’t think that’s related to the break-in at the school?”

Will’s jaw tensed. “I didn’t say it wasn’t related. I said it wasn’t breaking and entering.”

“What about the teacher she replaced? The one who had the nervous breakdown?”

A vein in Will’s temple pulsed, and the animosity on his face said he didn’t like being told how to do his job. “I’ve got an officer on the way out to his place right now. If he’s involved we’ll find out soon enough.” His gaze swung back to Sam, effectively dismissing Ethan. “I want you to make me a list of any kids you’ve had issues with lately. And I know you’re tired, but I need you to go back up to the school and walk through your room with me. We need a detailed list of anything that’s missing.”

Sam’s shoulders slumped. There went her plan to sleep for a week.

The phone on Will’s hip went off. Tension radiated from his shoulders as he lifted it to his ear, then pulled the receiver away from his mouth and said, “I need to take this. I’ve got an officer out front ready to take you back up to the high school.”

He flicked Ethan another hard look, one Ethan returned, then turned away.

Sam stepped past Ethan, more frustrated than she’d been all day, and headed for the parking lot. Ethan followed, and in the silence Sam knew she needed to say something, but she didn’t know what. Wasn’t sure what to think either. Had those words really been there? Was she making it all up? She couldn’t be. This wasn’t just in her head. Ethan had seen them.

“Are you sure you’re okay going back to your house alone?” Ethan asked.

The tingles spreading up her arm made Sam realize Ethan was touching her, and she stopped and looked up at him. “What?”

“Someone’s obviously trying to send you a message.”

Yeah, someone was. But she wasn’t about to let some stupid kid push her around. And, oh man, his hand felt really good. “I’m fine.”

“Samantha—”

God, she liked the way he said her name. Her full name. No one called her by her full name here. No one anywhere ever really had. She’d always been Sam, or Sami, or—in the case of her students—hey, you.

He’s a shrink
, a voice whispered in the back of her head.
Be careful.

“I’m fine,” she said again. “If Will thinks the previous teacher is involved, he’ll take care of it. He’s got someone on the way out to his house. I’m not worried.”

But a tiny space deep inside was worried. And she knew that worry was going to trigger her nightmares and keep her from sleeping again tonight.

Something hardened in Ethan’s expression as he looked back toward the emergency room doors. Sam wondered if the look had to do with Will or being around cops in general.

Not her problem, she told herself as she forced a smile she didn’t feel. The sooner she got away from Ethan McClane and this combustible heat brewing between them, the better off she’d be.

Through the glass doors, she spotted the police car waiting out front. “We should head back so you can get your car.”

He nodded, and they moved toward the main double doors. But just as they reached them, Will’s voice called, “Dr. McClane.”

They both turned, but this time Will was focused only on Ethan.

“Yeah?” Ethan said beside her.

“I need you to come with me.”

“What for?”

“Officers found a key in Thomas Adler’s locker. Your kid. Looks to be a copy of the key to Sam’s classroom.”

Oh shit.
Sam’s stomach lurched into her throat.
Not Thomas . . .

Will’s jaw clenched down. Hard. “They just picked him up for questioning.”

Bitter fingers of denial clawed at Ethan as he stood in the interrogation room, staring down at Thomas. This day was turning into a never-ending nightmare. Two days ago, if someone had told him he’d be working with William Branson, in any way, he’d have said they were flippin’ nuts. The reality that he was now voluntarily helping the man sent an acidic burn straight through his gut.

You’re not helping Branson, you’re helping Adler.

He was. Or was trying to. Though at the moment “helping” was a generous term. Thomas Adler’s grandmother had refused to come to the station, and Ethan hadn’t been allowed in when they were questioning the kid. Now, several hours later, Branson, frustrated by Thomas’s lack of cooperation, had finally let Ethan have a crack at him. Ethan knew they weren’t alone. Branson and a handful of other cops were undoubtedly listening and watching through the one-way glass, but he was too pissed that he was back in this damn police station again to care. Once was way more than enough in one lifetime. And the fact that it was possible his kid was the one harassing Samantha Parker left him seeing red.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Thomas finally said, staring down at the table, his shaggy light-brown hair falling over his eyes.

“Then you have nothing to worry about. Tell me about the key.”

“I don’t know anything about a key. I don’t know anything about the break-in in Ms. Parker’s room either. I like her. I wouldn’t do nothin’ to cause her trouble.”

Ethan wanted to stay mad, but he knew he needed to remain professional. According to Thomas’s case file, the boy wasn’t aggressive. The few instances of assault on his record had been provoked. Judge Wilson believed he’d acted in self-defense. Was Thomas prone to bad choices? Sure. Did he come from a shitty family? You bet. He’d been orphaned as an infant after his mother was killed. His file didn’t give a lot of details, but it was clear there was no father figure in play. Two years ago, the aunt who’d raised him had died in a car accident, and he’d bounced from foster home to foster home before Judge Wilson had tracked down his grandmother in Hidden Falls. Did any of that make him violent, though? Only if Ethan had missed something big.

He pulled out a chair and sat. “Tell me about Ms. Parker.”

Thomas picked at a spot on the table. His nails were chewed down to the quick, and he was too thin. Thinner than he’d been only a few weeks ago when Ethan had met him in Portland. Ethan made a mental note to have children’s services take another look at his grandmother’s home. “She’s okay.”

“You didn’t get upset that she flunked you on a test a few days ago?”

Thomas glanced up. “How’d you know about that?”

“I know everything, Thomas. Don’t try to snow me.”

The kid lifted a shoulder and dropped it. His gaze slid back to the table. “Didn’t care. Didn’t even try.”

Full of attitude, defiant, and a loner. But that didn’t necessarily mean he was guilty. It didn’t mean he was innocent either. “I can only help you if you’re honest with me. That police chief? Principal Burke? They’re ready to pin this on you whether you did it or not. The judge gave you a freebie last time by only assigning you to counseling. The next time you get charged, you and I both know you’ll be looking at probation, if not detention. You’ve got a history with the law. You’re new around here. Nobody’s going to think twice if you take the fall.”

“I didn’t do it!” Thomas folded his arms protectively across his middle. “Go on. Don’t believe me. You’re like all the rest.”

Ethan studied Thomas’s tense face, the eyes shimmering with tears the kid wouldn’t let fall. If he were inclined to go with his gut, he’d say the teen was telling the truth. But he’d learned over the years that his gut was sometimes wrong. And he definitely didn’t trust it in this town.

“Then let’s start at the beginning. Tell me everything you did today, where you went after school, and who the hell you could have possibly pissed off. Because if you’re telling the truth, then that means someone’s trying to frame you. And I’m possibly the last friend you’ve got, kid.”

The doorbell rang later that evening, sending Sam’s nerves right through the roof all over again.

She pulled the door open and looked into Will’s drawn face. “Well?”

“Adler didn’t admit to anything.” Will strolled into her house, shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, and turned to face her in the entryway of her mother’s old house. “No surprise there.”

Sam closed the door behind him. From his spot by the fireplace in the living room, Grimly groaned and rolled to his side. “Do you really think he did it?”

She was still struggling with the idea that Thomas could be involved in any of this. He’d never once acted hostile toward her. But what did she really know about him? Not a lot. Just that he was a bright, quiet teen with a questionable past who, in some ways, reminded her of her brother.

“I don’t know,” Will said with a shrug. “Any dumbass can break into a locker these days. McClane doesn’t think Adler’s involved, but that doesn’t mean much. He’s on the kid’s side.”

Sam’s thoughts spiraled back to Ethan, just like they had several times over the last few hours. After walking through her room and finding nothing of significance missing, she’d given the police a list of kids she’d had confrontations with over the last week. When she’d finally headed out to the parking lot, only a handful of cars had been left, and she’d wondered if one was Ethan’s. Since then she couldn’t stop thinking about where he’d gone.

Had he returned to Portland, an hour away? Or was he staying the night somewhere in town?

“Sam?” Will asked. “You okay?”

“What?” She looked up at him, refocusing on their conversation. “Yeah. Fine.”

His eyes narrowed, and she knew he didn’t believe her, but before she could reassure him, those familiar eyes softened, and he took a step her way. “Look. About earlier. I wasn’t trying to imply that you’re—”

“Losing it?”

A sheepish look crossed his features, and because she knew he hadn’t intentionally tried to make her feel foolish, she let go of the lingering hostility. “I know that wasn’t your intention, Will. But I know what I saw.”

Now, thankfully, someone else had seen it too. Again she thought of Ethan. And her chest warmed the way it had when he’d stood up for her at the hospital.

Will rested both hands on her shoulders and squeezed gently, drawing her attention back to him. “I have to go on the facts, Sam. It doesn’t mean I don’t believe you. But I am worried about you.”

She focused on his familiar hazel eyes and waited for that burst of excitement she used to feel when she was ten and he’d come over to hang out with her older brother, but it didn’t hit. Time and distance had changed more than just her schoolgirl heart. It had changed her entire life. She wasn’t ten anymore. Seth was dead. And right now the attraction coursing through her wasn’t for Will but for a therapist she shouldn’t be thinking about.

She looked down at his blue shirt. “I know you are, but I’m fine. You’ll figure out whoever’s doing this, and everything will get back to normal. I trust you.”

His hands lingered, and she sensed he wanted her to step into him. But she couldn’t. Because he wasn’t the one she wanted.

After several long seconds, he finally let go and moved back. “The Crawford place is empty.”

Sam looked up at the mention of the teacher who’d held the teaching position before her. “It was?”

Will nodded. “He moved up to Hood River about a month ago. Cops there questioned him. He’s got a lock-tight alibi for the day. And for each of the instances when you were harassed.”

It wasn’t the former teacher. Relief slid between Sam’s ribs, allowing her to breathe a little easier. That had been her biggest fear. “So it is just a kid.”

“Looks that way. But to be on the safe side, I’ll have an officer do some drive-bys. In the meantime, if anything comes up, be sure to call it in.”

“I will. Thanks.”

Will glanced down the hall, past the boxes stacked against the wall near the kitchen, then back at her. “I could stay tonight. If you don’t want to be alone.”