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  "That's just it," Brenda told him, her voice growing a little more firm with every word she uttered, "Annie doesn't really have any friends."

  There was a glimmer of pain in her eyes as she told him that. Dax couldn't help wondering if it was genuine, or if he'd been confronted with a very good actress. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time a kidnapper had tried to put something over on him.

  And until proven otherwise, he had to think of her that way. As someone who might somehow be involved in the kidnapping, if that was what it actually was. After all, Annie Tyler was last seen in her care.

  Glancing at Nathan before continuing, Dax crossed his arms before him. A full moment went by before he spoke again. Time, his father had told him early in his career, was both their friend and their enemy. The more time that went by, the less likely a missing child was to be found. But if you gave a guilty person who wasn't a hardened criminal enough time, they tended to say or do something to incriminate themselves.

  Dax studied the blond woman before him, trying not to notice that, even though she was wearing a lavender two-piece suit, the killer figure she possessed was more than evident. He motioned her toward a seat, but she shook her head, obviously preferring to stand.

  Or refusing to be placed in the position of having someone stand over her.

  He placed himself so that he could easily look at both her and the headmaster. "All right, Mrs. York, why don't you tell us exactly what happened. And start at the beginning. Before the fire trucks." He watched her chest rise as she take in a deep breath. Steeling himself off, he forced his eyes to her face. "Take your time," he counseled quietly. "And don't leave anything out."

  * * *

  Chapter 2

  « ^ »

  Her mind felt as if it were completely jumbled up, with all the thoughts glued together in one giant ball. Brenda strove to peel apart the layers, arranging the events of the last hour in their proper sequence.

  Because she didn't begin immediately, Dax fired a question at her. Patience, when it came to cases, had never been his strong suit. The few times he had been assigned to a stakeout, he had all but climbed up one side of the wall and down the other.

  "Let's begin with the fire." He pinned her with a look. "Was there an actual fire?" He hadn't smelled any smoke entering the building, but something or someone had to have set off the alarm.

  As if riding to her rescue, Harwood drew himself up behind his desk.

  "Yes, there was," he cut in. "A small one." He glanced at Brenda before adding, "The fire chief told me that some papers in a wastepaper basket had caught fire. They used one of our fire extinguishers to put it out. It turned out simpler that way."

  Dax exchanged looks with Nathan. Wastepaper baskets didn't just spontaneously combust. "That sounds as if it might have been deliberately set." His gaze swept over Brenda before returning to the headmaster. "Are any of your kids budding pyromaniacs or overly fascinated with matches?"

  Brenda's eyes widened at the suggestion. "No!" she snapped. Some of her pupils were starved for attention and might on occasion act out, but they were five- and six-years-old and that kind of behavior was only normal.

  Harwood was sputtering indignantly. "I assure you that my school—"

  Dax waved his hand in a downward motion, as if banking down their protests.

  "Just a question," he told them mildly, although he had posed it to see both of their reactions. The woman was protective while the headmaster came off as concerned about his school's reputation. "Would anyone else have set the fire?"

  Nathan raised an eyebrow, looking up from the notes he was religiously scribbling down. "You're thinking maybe it was a diversion?"

  Dax nodded.

  So had she, the moment she'd overheard the fire chief telling Matthew Harwood that the origin of the fire had been found in her wastepaper basket. A diversion to take attention away from the fact that Annie Tyler was being stolen.

  The very thought ate away at her. She should have realized something was wrong. There was no earthly reason why, but somehow, her instincts should have told her that something was wrong.

  She might as well tell him before he found out on his own. "It was my wastepaper basket."

  Her student, her wastepaper basket. Dax looked at the woman with deepening interest. It seemed too simple, but then, most criminals were not the masterminds that so frequently populated the more intriguing mysteries and action movies. Wanting to race, he still took it one step at a time.

  Facing her, his back blocking out Harwood, he asked, "Were you in the room at the time?"

  She could almost sense what he was thinking. Brenda took a breath and shook her head. "No. The class and I were giving a tour to Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley—"

  She saw the good-looking detective's eyes narrow just a little, as if he was filtering in this new information. "Who?"

  "Parents of a prospective new student," Harwood explained, moving so that Dax could see him. The man looked none-too-happy about being ignored. "It's done all the time."

  That didn't sound quite right to him. In his experience, teachers were all too happy to escape from their classroom for a few minutes, leaving a slightly more mature child in charge of the class for the duration of their absence.

  "Taking your whole class out?" Dax asked in disbelief, waiting to be corrected.

  No such correction came. "It's to show how well-behaved our students are," Harwood told him. "We're quite proud of that."

  The detective still didn't look as if he believed them. Brenda felt a spark of resentment building. She knew he was just doing his job, but she couldn't help feeling that he was wasting precious time with these trivial details.

  "The students each take turns telling the parents about the different activities we have here at Harwood." She enumerated some of the highlights. "There's a little theater group, an art room, things the regular schools cut back on."

  His face never changed expression as he listened to her description. She liked the shorter detective better, she thought. At least Detective Brown looked compassionate.

  "And where was Annie during this show-and-tell process?" the suspicious detective asked.

  In her mind's eye, she could see the little girl. Annie had begun at the head of the group but with each step taken, she kept drifting toward the rear of the line. Strangers always affected her that way; made her even shyer than she was.

  "She was hanging back."

  The poker face remained. "And you didn't coax her forward?"

  Was that suspicion she heard in his voice? Did he actually think she'd do anything to harm any of the children, especially Annie? Just what kind of a monster did he think she was? Fueled by guilt, it took effort to bank down her anger. "I was just about to do that when the alarm went off."

  "And then what?"

  She'd heard the alarm just as they'd left the art room. She remembered feeling a sense of panic. The idea of a fire spreading through the school had always horrified her. Because of that, she had been the one to suggest to Matthew that they double the amount of fire drills performed. "And then I made sure that I got my class outside the building."

  Dax deliberately moved into her space, crowding her. "You didn't stop to count heads?"

  Her eyes narrowed. "No, not until we were all outside the building."

  "And then you counted heads."

  Brenda could feel her temper unraveling as guilt danced around it. She should have kept Annie with her. But she could remember how painful it was at times not to be able to just shrink away, to hang back. Annie had been making progress, opening up a little, but there'd been a relapse in the last few days and she'd been trying to get at the source of it without much success.

  So she'd tried not to push too hard and then this had happened.

  Brenda raised her chin up as if she were silently showing him she was up to any challenge he was throwing her way.

  His sister did that move, Dax thought. Just before she lit into him.
/>   "Yes," the teacher responded between clenched teeth, "then I counted heads."

  Nathan looked up from the notes he was taking. "When you saw she was missing, what did you do?"

  There had been no hesitation on her part. "I ran back into the building."

  As if he felt he had to vouch for her actions, Harwood interjected, "One of the firefighters attempted to stop her, but she went right around him."

  Nathan smiled at her before resuming his notes. "Brave lady."

  Stubborn would have been the way he'd have put it, Dax thought. He was well-acquainted with stubborn. His family, especially the female portion of it, had a patent on the emotion.

  Brenda shrugged off the praise. Bravery had nothing to do with it.

  "I had no idea where the fire was or how bad it was. I was just worried that Annie might have run back to the classroom." She saw the silent question in the taller detective's eyes and explained. "She has this stuffed animal she keeps in her desk, a rabbit." It had taken more than a week of coaxing before Annie had told her about the rabbit. It had been a gift from her father and she clung to it whenever she missed him and wanted him close. "I thought she might have gone back for it."

  Dax never took his eyes from her face. "But she didn't?"

  Brenda shook her head. "She wasn't there."

  "Was the rabbit?"

  The question caught her short. "I didn't think to check." There had been a fireman in the room. He'd just finished putting out the fire and there was water everywhere. Water, smoke, but no Annie. "Why, was that important?"

  At this point, until things were ruled out, everything was important. "It might be. If it's missing, then she either took it herself, or someone who knew about her attachment to it took the rabbit to try to use it to lure her away." He paused for a moment as the words sank in, trying not to allow the distress he saw in the woman's eyes to get to him. He couldn't afford to have his sympathies, or anything else, get in the way so that it impaired his judgment. "Where are these Kingsleys now?" he asked.

  Harwood stepped in to field the question. "They left soon after the alarm went off, right after we evacuated the building. Said they'd be back when things were calmer." His tone told Dax that the man didn't hold out much hope that they would return.

  He looked from Brenda to Harwood. "And they left together."

  "Yes," Harwood answered.

  Dax shifted his eyes toward the woman. "Were they together all the time?"

  Brenda thought for a moment, but her mind still felt as if it was wrapped up in cotton batting. Some events were sharp, others that took place almost at the same time were hazy.

  "I think so." She bit her lip, hating this, hating the fact that she felt so shaky. She looked at him helplessly. "I'm not sure."

  Dax's expression remained stony. "Think about it," he advised.

  All right, she wasn't imagining it. He did suspect her. But why? Because the fire had started in her room? Because Annie was her student? Or because he was one of those gung ho policemen who wanted to clear his caseload and it didn't matter to him if he had the right person or not?

  Either way, she wasn't about to let this continue. If he suspected her, he wouldn't take anything she said at face value and that could only impede finding Annie.

  Shutting down the host of emotions bouncing wildly around inside of her, Brenda raised her head and looked him squarely in the eye. "Are you inferring that I had something to do with this?"

  Dax took the opportunity to play along with the lead she gave him. "Did you?"

  Thinking he suspected her was one thing, having him almost come out and say it was another. The reality of it cut through her like a saber, drawing blood and indignation.

  "No! I would never—"

  He raised his hand, silencing her with a single motion. He had no time for theatrics. For the time being, he'd buy into her innocence.

  "Then let's continue." Dax turned toward Harwood. The man's complexion was almost ashen. The headline Teacher Involved in Student's Kidnapping had probably flashed through the headmaster's mind, Dax mused. "And you're sure she's not around anywhere. Did someone check the other classrooms?"

  Had his suspicions clogged his ears? "I already checked the other classrooms—" Brenda began. That was why the police had been called in to begin with.

  "But not everywhere," Nathan gently pointed out.

  Dax thought of his own unruly elementary school experience. There were coat rooms and closets and a basement that probably ran the length of the school. A kid could hide anywhere. He had on more than one occasion. The sixth-grade coat room was where he'd stolen his first kiss from Amanda Jackson.

  Brenda blew out a breath. "No, not everywhere," she agreed.

  "The students are all returning to their rooms," Harwood pointed out. Had the door to his office been opened, the sound of shuffling feet would have been evident. "The teachers would notice someone who didn't belong in their room. We keep the class sizes quite small."

  "Besides," Brenda felt compelled to insist again, defending the little girl who couldn't defend herself, "Annie wouldn't do that. Annie was just beginning to come out of her shell, she wouldn't deliberately run off or hide."

  "Shell?" Dax left the word hanging in the air, waiting for her to elaborate.

  Oh Annie, I hope you're not too scared. Brenda struggled not to let her empathy get the better of her. Annie had to be so frightened right now.

  "Annie was—is," she amended because the condition still held the little girl fast, "painfully shy, insecure. She's an only child. Her father's the film director Simon Tyler and her mother is an actress, or was. Rebecca Allen-Tyler. Supposedly, she's retired now, but she's still always off somewhere, away from Annie. They both usually are." She knew that Simon was in Europe, directing a movie and Annie's mother was somewhere in New York, on a shopping spree and visiting friends. Annie had shared that with her just this morning.

  He wasn't familiar with the woman's name, but he did recognize the girl's father. Dax didn't know much about movies, leaving that to the film enthusiasts in the family. However, even he knew who Simon Tyler was. Anyone who ever walked into a blockbuster movie in the last ten years was familiar with Simon Tyler. His name appeared above only the highest moneymakers.

  "So who takes care of her?" he asked Brenda, since she seemed to be the expert here.

  An image of Annie, her eyes huge and sad, flashed through her mind. "The housekeeper for the most part," Brenda told him.

  Dax studied her again, trying to view her as an integral part of the scenario instead of quite possibly the most stunning woman he'd ever seen. "You seem to know a lot about her. You take that much of an interest in all your students?"

  There it was again, that suspicion. She knew he was doing his job, but she didn't have to like it. "Yes, I do. But Annie is special."

  "Special how?" Dax prodded.

  "She's very intelligent," Harwood said. It was evident that he disliked being ignored.

  Nathan flipped to yet another clean page. "Doogie Howser intelligent?"

  Dax looked at his partner as if the latter had just lapsed into a foreign language. "Who?"

  Nathan gave him a patronizing grin. TV trivia was the one area that he had covered while Dax wandered through it like a newborn babe. "I'll explain it in the car," Nathan promised.

  "Gifted," Brenda explained for his benefit. "And yes, I think she was."

  She didn't add that she related to the little girl on almost all levels. Annie felt isolated from her parents and so had she. But in her own case, it was a physically and verbally abusive father who had caused the chasm that existed between she and her parents.

  Until she left both of them, her mother had been no help, no buffer against her father's volatile temper. Two days before her ninth birthday, she'd come home to find a note from her mother in the kitchen, addressed to her. The note said that she couldn't take it any longer and that she was leaving in search of what she knew had to be a better life.
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br />   The memory shivered up and down her spine now, all these years later. Her father had beaten her when she'd told him the contents of the note.

  At eighteen, she'd taken her mother's cue and left home for good, marrying Wade York not because she was in love with him, but because she loved him for being everything her father was not. Eventually, she'd come to learn that loving someone for lack of certain qualities wasn't enough. After seven years of trying, she and Wade had drifted apart.

  In addition to the feeling of isolation, she'd related to the shy, withdrawn girl with the golden hair on another plane. Annie had been tested at near genius level, the same level that she herself had attained. In her case, there had been no one to push her; no one to help her make use of her potential; no teacher who had seen the spark. She'd been left on her own to discover it, finally enrolling in college while her husband, a marine, was shipped from one end of the globe to the other.

  Brenda was determined that Annie was not going to fall by the wayside as she had.

  But now Annie was missing. And it was her fault. She'd failed the girl.

  Dax stepped back to open the door leading out of Harwood's office. "Why don't we go back to your classroom?"

  "All right." She squared her shoulders and pushing past him, she took the lead.

  Once out in the hallway, Harwood was quick to catch up to her. "No one blames you for this, Brenda," he said in a hushed tone.

  Her anger, directed against both the brash detective and herself, softened slightly as she turned toward the man who had been nothing but kind to her. The man who, she knew if she'd give him a chance, would have been ready and eager to be more to her than just the man who signed her paychecks.

  But despite the fact that he was a highly educated headmaster and Wade had been a marine who'd entered the service before he'd graduated high school, Matthew Harwood was too much like Wade for her. The fact that he was also her employer gave her an excuse to be tender to him, softening the blow. Harwood was sensitive and kind, but she wanted to make it on her own now.

  If she wasn't strong enough for one, how could she ever hope to be strong enough for two?