Karen Rose - Have You Seen Her?

"Are you in any trouble?" Steven asked and watched her eyes flicker.

"No," she answered slowly. "And if I am, I'll take copies of your photos to the Bar and see if anyone can blame me. Especially the ones of Alev Rahrooh." She stood up briskly. "Now let's get back to the school for more rousing interviews with teenaged girls who think you're totally tubular."

Steven followed her out the conference-room door. "Makes me sound fat," he grumbled.

Liz laughed and lightened his load for just a moment. "Steven, you are many, many things, but fat is not one of them."

He threw her a mock glare. "That didn't sound like a compliment."

She was still chortling as they walked to the parking lot. "It wasn't meant to be."

Thursday, October 13, 9:15 A.M.

Jenna was waiting for Steven in the conference room, drumming her fingers against the table. When he came in, she stood up. "I don't have a lot of time," she said without greeting or preamble.

Steven placed his briefcase on one of the chairs and looked at her, his brown eyes narrowed. "Good morning to you, too."

Jenna flushed. "I'm sorry, I really don't have a lot of time. I've got another teacher watching my class and I have to get back. Lucas says you plan to talk to Josh Lutz this morning."

Steven nodded, rather coolly she thought. "I do."

"Why?"

"Because he knew-knows Kelly," he said. "We're talking to everybody who knows her." His eyes softened and he trailed a finger across her jaw. "Why does this upset you?" he murmured and she felt her ire melt away.

"He's a gentle kid," she said quietly. "I think he gets knocked around at home. I don't want to see him get knocked around here at school."

Something flashed in Steven's eyes. "Nancy, scratch the rubber hose," he called behind him. "Jenna objects." Jenna looked over his shoulder to see Nancy busily labeling bags while Lucas set up cups and bottles of soda. The older woman looked away, but not before Jenna saw her smile.

"Okay," Jenna conceded. "You won't use the Dragnet technique. How will you talk to him?"

"Like everybody else," Steven said evenly and Jenna felt badly for even raising the subject.

"I'm sorry, Steven," she murmured. "I just hate to see him hurt. He's been ridiculed over all the things that have happened to me this last week. It's just not fair for him to be sin-gled out because he has the misfortune to be Rudy's brother. He's a nice boy."

Steven sighed. "I promise we'll be gentle, Jenna. Now go to your class."

Thursday, October 13, 3:00 P.M.

"Steven, we have a problem," Lennie said.

Steven turned from the bulletin board, where he'd been staring at the pictures, hoping some wisdom would pop into his head. Rudy was not their killer. Josh Lutz had been absolutely no help at all, his eyes and manner confirming everything Lucas and Jenna had told him. Josh was at best slow, at worst abused by his brother and/or father.

He had no suspect. Kelly was still missing. And to ice the cake, Al Pullman had called an hour before to tell him none of Rudy's friends had any dog bites, so they were no closer to knowing who had attacked Jenna.

Steven raised a brow. "Only one?"

Lennie shook his head. "We have an appointment with the governor in thirty minutes. He wants to understand how we could have four missing girls and no suspects."

Steven gritted his teeth. "Because we took a little side trip to Seattle and back."

"Not a good answer."

Steven checked his watch. "I have to be at the school to pick up Jenna in an hour."

"I say there's a good chance you'll be late." Lennie gave him a sour look. "Have Davies pick her up. He's not doing anything special right now."

Steven's laugh was totally without mirth. "Does the phrase 'over my dead body' mean anything to you?"

:

Thursday, October 13, 4:30 P.M.

The school day had ended and Jenna was waiting for Steven, grading papers to keep her mind and hands occupied. She was trying very hard not to look at Kelly's empty chair or think about what horrors the young girl must be facing when a voice from her doorway startled her.

"Jenna, I need to borrow some silver nitrate. Do you have any?"

Jenna looked up to see Otto Bell, the faculty leader of the photography club, standing in her doorway. Otto tended to run out of developing chemicals often, so she kept several bottles on hand.

"I should have some, Otto," she answered, grabbing her key to the chemical closet. "Let's take a look. My inventory says I should have three bottles," she murmured, searching. "Here we are."

She pulled out the first dark brown bottle and smaller, empty bottle to fill for Otto. But when the crystals poured out, she and Otto both gasped. "That's not silver nitrate," Otto said.

That was overstating the obvious. What they had was a bottle of sand.

"Could someone have stolen it when they were ransacking your classroom?" he asked.

She looked over at him, biting her lip. "With all the vandalism, I've watched the chemical stores, but I haven't opened each bottle."

Otto lifted his bushy black brows that made her think of a great hairy giant. "I think it's time we did," he answered and, pulling out his cell phone, called his photography club and ordered them to join him. "More hands," he said. "We'll get an inventory in short order."

In the past she might have refused, but now Jenna nodded her thanks. "I appreciate it, Otto."

He clasped her shoulder. "I've wanted to do something to help all along. This is my chance. Have a seat, Jen. I'll bring out all the bottles while you take the inventory."

Thursday, October 13, 6:00 P.M.

Neil had been driving around for hours, aimlessly. Trying to accept the truth that Rudy Lutz had not been at the Clary clearing, that he was not their killer. Unable to. In his gut he knew Rudy Lutz was William Parker. He also knew the blood lust that drove a boy to kill three years ago would not simply die. William Parker wouldn't stop killing.

Neil slid his rental car into a parking place and looked up at the school. Roosevelt High. He'd stayed away before, not wanting to alert Rudy to the fact that he was here. That he was on to him. There didn't seem to be a lot to lose at this point. He got out of his car to see what he could see.

He'd lost Parker once. He didn't intend to let it happen again. Clearing or no clearing. Alibi or no. Parker was guilty and by God, this time Neil would see him pay.

Maybe then he himself would find peace.

Thursday, October 13, 6:00 P.M.

Jenna sat on the school's front steps, very annoyed. Steven was late. So late the security guys had locked the school. So late she needed to wait outside because he wouldn't be able to get into the building to find her. So late she'd had to call Mark and tell him she'd be missing their Thursday night karate class. I should have driven myself, she thought. She wouldn't wait around like this every night because Steven couldn't be depended on to be punctual.

But Steven would be there. He'd sent a message that he'd been called away that afternoon, but he'd get her as soon as he could. And at this point, she had more on her mind than Steven's whereabouts and missed sparring matches. She was missing chemicals. Quite a few chemicals.

Shivering from the wind, Jenna stared at the revised inventory list, trying to figure out why someone would steal these items. She was missing the silver nitrate plus bromine, chlorobenzonitrite, and propylamine. They were rather unusual chemicals to steal, she thought, her thoughts drifting back to her pharmaceutical days. The syntheses that used these ingredients were complex, so complex that to complete the synthesis, one needed a sophisticated lab. It certainly wasn't possible to complete such syntheses in her little high school lab.