“I don’t understand why you won’t do this one thing for me,” Seward whined.

“How many times do I have to explain? I can’t. Changing the fingerprint access requires Carmen!” Patricia sounded on edge, almost hysterical. “Besides, I’m not doing anything until you answer my question. Where were you Monday night when Whitney died? Answer me, damn it!”

“You think I was with someone?”

“I just need to hear that you didn’t kill your stepdaughter!”

“Are you serious? Wow, Patricia, that’s crazy. Completely insane. Although I have to admit, I’m somewhat flattered.”

“You didn’t?” The audible relief in Patricia’s voice confirmed for Melanie that the two were having an affair. The headmistress obviously cared for this man.

“Of course not. Whitney’s death was extremely ill timed for me.”

“Just tell me where you were, so I believe you.”

“Take my word for it, it’s better if you don’t know the details.”

“You were with another woman, weren’t you?”

“No! Jesus, Patricia, you’re like a broken record. Not that it’s any of your goddamn business, but I was doing some fund-raising.”

“So why the big mystery?”

“Because. It was with a gentleman who represents a consortium of interests that prefer to avoid government scrutiny. Do I make myself clear? Now, don’t ask me anything else.”

“If you have other sources of money, James, why the hell are you putting me at risk like this?”

He chuckled. “What’s that line about too rich and too thin?”

“You have enough, James,” she said flatly.

“Oh, come on, you know I need money, Patricia. You promised you’d help. I thought you had the guts to see this through,” he said.

“I can’t believe this! You don’t give a rat’s ass if I get caught, do you? I’m going downstairs right this instant, before the Van Allens end up at the podium without me. You can come or not. I don’t give a shit anymore. And I’m not going through with it. I’m just not.”

The door flew open with a bang. Melanie shrank back into the darkness, heart pounding, as Patricia Andover flounced down the hallway in her ball gown. Seward immediately followed, flipping off the light and pulling the door of the development office closed behind him. He didn’t lock it, so unless the door locked automatically, she should be able to get in.

Melanie waited, holding her breath, until their footsteps had faded away and everything around her was deathly silent. Then she crept swiftly back toward the door, grasped the handle, and turned it. It was locked. What an idiot-why hadn’t she thought of this? The office held not only confidential financial information but evidence of Patricia’s crimes. The headmistress was a careful woman; she would never leave it open. Melanie should’ve thought about getting her hands on a master key somehow.

“Goddamn it,” she muttered, jiggling the handle, then sucked in a startled breath. Around the corner, behind her, she’d heard something. Like a footstep. A footstep that stopped when she made noise. Man, she was screwing this up big time. Get smarter, Melanie Vargas! She hurried on tiptoe to the next office: HEAD, LOWER SCHOOL. She turned the handle as silently as she could. It gave. Yes! Diving in and pulling the door closed behind her, she silently thanked the head of the Lower School for being so careless.

Melanie caught her breath and strained to listen. The footsteps started up again. Reverberating in the deserted hallway, they advanced toward her. She made out the sound of one person walking. Yes, definitely one person. Could Hogan have killed Carmen already? Wait a minute! The footsteps passed the development office’s door. They were moving closer. They were outside the door of this office. Melanie backed farther into the room, looking around frantically. In the dim light filtering through the blinds, she saw only one place to hide. Under the desk. She pulled the swivel chair out and crawled into the desk well, dragging the chair in behind her, heart hammering against her rib cage. Just then she heard the doorknob turn. Somebody was coming in after her.

61

THE FOOTSTEPS HAD STOPPED outside the office door. For a moment nothing happened, and chill silence prevailed. Melanie slipped her hand into her evening bag and grasped the Beretta, getting ready to defend herself. The door squeaked open on noisy hinges. She heard the sound of ragged breathing and thought it was her own, that it would give her away. But it came from her pursuer.

“Carmen? He-hello? Are you here?” a frightened voice called out.

Dizzy with relief, Melanie pushed the swivel chair out and rose to her feet. “It’s me, Melanie.”

Lulu was in the act of reaching for the light switch.

“Don’t!” Melanie covered the distance to Lulu’s side in two rapid steps, knocking the girl’s hand away in the nick of time. “No lights,” she whispered urgently. “Hogan could show up any minute. He could already be in the hall. You have to leave.”

“Carmen’s my sister. I’m staying.”

“What you’re doing won’t help her. If I have to worry about you, too, I’ll get distracted. Go. Now.”

“I want to help.”

“Fine. There’s something important you can do for me. I have a detective who’s supposed to show up to make the arrest, but I haven’t heard from him in the last half hour. I need you to call him. Take my phone, go outside, tell him where I am and to get here fast. Just hit redial. His number is the last one I called.”

Lulu looked at her in confusion. “I…I don’t know. I-”

“Do it!” Melanie commanded. “Trust me, it’s the only way. Come on, I’ll take you to the front staircase. Hogan will use the back, and I don’t want you running into him by accident.”

Grabbing Lulu firmly by the wrist, Melanie leaned out the office door and stole a furtive glance down the hallway. “It’s clear. Let’s go.”

They hurried along the dark hall in the opposite direction from the way Melanie had come. When they reached the main staircase, Melanie gave Lulu her cell phone and physically turned the girl so she was pointing downstairs. “Go. And don’t you dare come back.”

Lulu started down but then turned, throwing a pleading look over her shoulder. “You’ll protect her? Promise?”

“Yes. Now, get out of here. And be quiet about it.”

Melanie watched Lulu creep down the stairs until the girl’s slender form disappeared from sight, and then she turned resolutely back. But what she saw froze her in her tracks. A flashlight beam, bouncing wildly off the walls, kicking up strange shadows. Two figures struggling. Melanie drew her gun and advanced stealthily. Clinging to the darkness along the walls, she moved forward until she could see them clearly. They were standing in front of the door to the development office.

“Want me to fucking kill you?” Hogan said. In the crazed violence of the sound, Melanie just barely recognized the psychologist’s laid-back voice. He had Carmen by both arms.

“No.”

“Then don’t try that again, stupid bitch. Nobody can hear you with what’s going on downstairs anyway.”

Hogan pushed Carmen away roughly and fished in his coat pocket. Melanie tensed, thinking he might pull a gun, but he brought out a set of keys and inserted one into the lock. In a second they were inside. Melanie crept right up to the door, listening. Hogan didn’t turn on the light. Instead the beeps and groans of a computer sounded, and a blue glow emanated from the frosted-glass window. Hogan had booted up the computer. Melanie looked at her watch-7:29. In just one minute, ten million dollars would flow into Holbrooke’s account, Hogan would force Carmen to execute the commands transferring it out, and then he would have no further use for her.