himself. A full smile blossomed on her face as she read the note. He wasn’t expecting to see such joy—or to undergo the effects it seemed to have on him. His invite wasn’t meant to make her happy, but for some reason he was glad it did.
A slender hand reached out toward him with graceful fluidity. It took him a second to realize she meant to touch him. Her hand landed with a slight squeeze on the arms he crossed at his chest. So much for a barrier. Alarm bells rang through his mind. Her touch felt like a branding iron leaving its mark on him. Owen belonged to no one. He couldn’t. Not anymore.
He stepped back and gestured to the note. “Tonight,” he said clearly, demanding that she read his lips and his body language.
She nodded as her countenance slipped to the same stunned look she’d had when she’d received the crank call. Good. She read him loud and clear. Let’s hope she didn’t forget it so easily.
Unlike Owen who could feel himself forgetting his punishment with each expressive thought she displayed on her upturned face. Her pale beauty and endearing freckles sprinkled across her cheeks made him think of sandy beaches on summer days. Her gray eyes washed over him with each cleansing bat of her lashes fooling him into thinking his sins could be washed away so easily.
Owen headed for the exit with quick steps. Speed became critical. He needed to close this case and get off this island before the charmingly beautiful principal made him forget his reason for being there.
Before Miriam Hunter made him forget his punishment permanently.
* * *
Lord, have you sent Owen Matthews to help me get to the bottom of the drug issue, or is he here to make me leave, too?
Perhaps she would have figured out by now who had placed the bag of marijuana on her desk if it weren’t for people trying to scare her away. She felt the edges of her lips bend down and pressed them hard to rein in her emotions. Regardless of what the islanders thought, she cared about these kids and this school. And even this town.
Miriam straightened, breathing deeply. And whether they liked it or not, she wasn’t leaving.
Not even for her dark-haired rescuer.
Miriam reread Agent Matthews’s note. He wanted to work together. The idea of the two of them working side by side conjured up romantic images of late-night dinner meetings.
Stop it! This is serious, she told herself.
She blinked hard to get her mind back on track. Agent Matthews wanted to meet tonight. Should she cook? Or should they go to a more public place? The topic of discussion needed to be kept private from overhearing ears.
Miriam had an overwhelming urge to make her lemon chicken dish. She’d wanted to serve that since she’d come to the island. The thought of having her first guest elicited a spark of excitement. Of course, she never thought it would take this long, or that the first guest to sit at her table would be a DEA agent.
And a very handsome one at that.
Her hand still tingled where she’d laid it on his forearm. The sensation had surprised her, but it was the yearning to touch him again that really threw her. Maybe working together wasn’t such a good idea after all. I should do this on my own. I can’t be losing my focus whenever Agent Matthews shows up. I might as well pack my bags and buy a ticket for the next ferry.
Not willing to give up just yet, Miriam opened her top desk drawer and tossed the note in with the three other notes she’d recently received. She noticed how they were all written on yellow legal paper.
Agent Matthews’s note didn’t tell her to leave the island like the others, but she wondered if they all came from the same pad...and the same desk.
Stephanie’s desk.
Miriam instantly disregarded that idea. Most likely every teacher in the building had oodles of these pads lying on their desks for someone to tear a sheet from. Following this line of reasoning sure wouldn’t identify her threatening pen pal anytime soon.
Miriam reached for a student’s file from the top of the pile on her desk. She’d been poring over any and all documented details about each student’s past and home life that might point her in some direction.
Name: Colin Steady
Age: 16
Address: 285 Bluff Point
Parent/Guardian: Sam and Vera Steady
Miriam read through the past teachers’ reports on Colin. All favorable descriptions of a boy who’d never had a detention and made himself at home on the honor roll. Always willing to lend a hand to teachers and help peers in their learning.
In other words, the dream student.
Miriam closed the file and moved on to the next.
Name: Deanna Williams
Wait. Miriam slapped the file closed. She’d been reading them in alphabetical order and knew of at least one student whose surname began with a T.
Ben Thibodaux aka Troublemaker.
She rustled through the remaining files. The final four of the full high school enrollment total of fifty-two. She checked her notes, counting the number she’d already explored.
Forty-seven.
I’m missing a file. Miriam hit the buzzer on her intercom for Stephanie. When her secretary failed to appear in the doorway, Miriam went in search of her.
She approached Stephanie’s unmanned desk; the girl’s opened diet cola had been left behind. The clock above the entry door read 3:40 p.m. Stephanie didn’t usually leave until four o’clock, so she still had another twenty minutes to go. Miriam saw her secretary’s coat hanging on the coat rack beside her own and Nick’s. She was still in the building.
The girl had probably taken a bathroom break. Miriam decided to check the file cabinet and skirted around the desk to the cabinets lined up on the wall. She pulled the heavy metal drawer wide and flipped through each file, starting back with the A’s until she reached the end of the line with the S’s. The rest were on her desk, all except for Ben Thibodaux’s.
A quick glance on Stephanie’s desktop showed no sign of it there, either. Her gaze drifted to the cabinet beside Stephanie’s desk. Her secretary considered it her personal drawer, so Miriam didn’t want to open it, out of respect.
After another five minutes, Miriam walked to the hallway and peered down the empty expanse toward the faculty restroom.
She always carried a notepad and pen in her pocket in case Nick wasn’t with her and she needed to write something down to a person. She patted her right suit pocket to be sure the items were there and struck off down the empty hall.
Miriam reached the bathroom marked Faculty Women. Knocking would serve no purpose, so she pushed the door and entered, letting it swing closed behind her. The room contained two stalls, one of which was closed.
Mariam refused to speak. She hated speaking. She hated not knowing what she sounded like. She hated the looks people gave her when she tried. There had been a time
