Academy certainly doesn’t need the bad publicity.
Shannon Conner, a TV news reporter and the only person ever to be expelled from Athena, had already done enough damage in that department. In the early months after Rainy’s death, the vengeful woman had done all within her power to make the school look bad. She’d showed up at Rainy’s funeral and implied that Athena Academy used its students for scientific experiments. More recently she’d tried to compromise Kayla’s fellow Cassandra Josie Lockworth, a captain in the Air Force. She’d reported on Josie’s fast rise in the force; but had tried to win her career by implying Josie was involved with a fellow officer. It hadn’t worked.
Victoria Patton, better known as Tory, another of the Cassandras and a top TV news reporter, had worked overtime to put the right spin on Conner’s negative reporting. But there were others out there who would like nothing better than to bring down the unusual preparatory school. Just another factor to consider in all this. Perhaps someone wanted Kayla to believe that the school was responsible for what had happened to Rainy. But the evidence continued to mount…there was no denying that.
When she and Hadden had settled at a small table in the farthest corner of the shop, away from the few other customers, he didn’t waste any time.
“There’s a new development in the Carrington case.”
Anticipation raced through Kayla. She’d been right. “What kind of development?”
Before he could respond the waitress arrived and took their order. Two black coffees. Kayla considered having a pastry but this wasn’t a social meeting. Even though there were times when she would kill for a chocolate-filled croissant, this wasn’t the time. She needed to focus.
“What kind of development?” The question was out of her mouth the instant the waitress moved away.
“As you well know, we’ve exhausted all avenues in an attempt to determine exactly what happened to Lorraine Carrington.”
The one thing she did know well was that she and the other Cassandras were the real ones who made up the we he spoke of. As far as Hadden and his department were concerned, there was no overwhelming evidence to prove Rainy’s death was anything more than an accident. Another reason Kayla couldn’t help being suspicious of Hadden’s continued interest in the case. A seat belt malfunction and a driver dozing off and running off the road was hardly the stuff murder investigations hinged on.
But Kayla knew the real facts. Rainy hadn’t simply fallen asleep at the wheel. Her sudden collapse into slumber had been brought on by the Cipher and a gadget he’d used on Alex—Alexandra Forsythe, another of Kayla’s Cassandra sisters—as well as on Kayla herself. On separate occasions in totally different locations, both she and Alex had fainted for no apparent reason during the weeks after Rainy’s death. Like Rainy, Alex’s incident had occurred while she was driving. It was a miracle she hadn’t been badly injured…or worse.
The Cipher had paid for his part in Rainy’s death. CIA agent Sam had tracked him down and had been forced to kill him in a standoff. But they were still no closer to finding whoever had sent the assassin than they had been weeks ago.
“In pursuing this investigation,” Hadden went on, “we’ve uncovered a number of details that don’t add up where Marshall Carrington is concerned.”
Kayla’s hackles rose instantly. “Look, Hadden, I know it’s SOP to suspect the spouse first and foremost when someone dies, but I can vouch for Marshall Carrington. There is no way he would have killed his wife. He loved Rainy.” Kayla blinked back the emotion that stung her eyes. “I know Marshall. He would never have hurt her. Never.” She couldn’t tell Hadden about the Cipher or anything else she and her Cassandra sisters had discovered. Not yet anyway.
The waitress set two cups of steaming dark brew on the table. “Anything else?”
Hadden lifted his hand in a negative signal and the young woman scurried off to help another customer who’d just arrived.
“I don’t doubt Carrington’s character as a husband,” Hadden said, some indefinable emotion filtering into his tone. “This is about his business dealings.”
Confusion lined Kayla’s brow. Hadden’s tone as well as his statement bewildered her. “Marshall is an archaeology professor. Outside his occasional jaunt to search for some ancient relic, what on earth could you find questionable about his profession?”
Hadden’s expression closed then, like a bank vault door slamming shut to fend off trespassers. The abrupt change set Kayla on edge. Whatever he intended to share with her, there was a great deal more he planned to keep to himself. Somehow it related to Marshall. And she knew before he spoke that it was not good.
“We have reason to suspect your friend Marshall is eyeball deep in a smuggling ring.”
Chapter 2
Noon had come and gone by the time Kayla showered twice—once just wasn’t enough, with her feeling as if that perp’s blood had penetrated deep into her pores. She’d scrubbed until her skin felt raw.
She laid the hair dryer aside and stared at her reflection. But was the blood really what bothered her just now? Peter Hadden’s words kept echoing in her brain. We have reason to suspect your friend Marshall is eyeball deep in a smuggling ring.
Not possible.
Rainy’s husband would never be involved with any sort of criminal activity. Not knowingly anyway.
Rainy’s husband.
Kayla looked away from the telling emotion in her eyes. She’d gotten a little too attached to Marshall these past few months. It wasn’t intentional…she hadn’t meant to allow her feelings to stray into dangerous territory. But it had been like trying to stop an avalanche. Impossible.
She’d always genuinely adored Marshall. Who wouldn’t? He was handsome, well-built, immensely charming and he had treated Rainy as if she were the absolute center of his universe. Who wouldn’t want a man like that?
No. Kayla shook off that line of thinking and retreated to her bedroom to pull on some clean clothes. It wasn’t about Marshall either. It was about Rainy.
Kayla sighed as she looked at her unmade bed. There was just never enough time. She dug through a pile of freshly laundered clothes that she hadn’t put away yet and selected her favorite jeans.
Rainy had always teased Kayla about her ability to make a place look lived-in without any real effort. That was the way Kayla preferred things—no fuss.
She tugged on her jeans. She missed Rainy so much. The hurt and tension stemming from her murder had drawn Kayla and Marshall together, that’s all. She knew better than most that stress did that sort of thing. It happened when you felt lost or detached from the rest of the world. You reached out to the closest human who might understand.
Her thoughts drifted to her final year at Athena Academy. Rainy had graduated long before and gone off to Harvard. Alex had graduated as well, one year previously. Though Kayla had loved her other Cassandra sisters, she’d missed Rainy and Alex to the point of distraction. Her Navajo heritage had tugged at her more strongly that year than any other. She’d just felt out of sorts, torn between what she’d been taught as a child and all that she’d learned at Athena.
Not that anything she’d experienced at Athena
