At Risk Read Online Free PDF

Tracy?”
    “Hold it, buddy!” Ernie shouted, waving and breaking into a trot. “I want to talk to you.”
    Jack ignored him. “I went by Wayne’s this morning. The trailer was empty. His truck’s gone.”
    The guard was breathing hard. He slowed to a walk. Sweat glistened on his broad face. “Let’s see some I.D. The police have some questions for you.”
    “See you around.” Jack nodded to Liz.
    “Jack,” she insisted. “The state police—”
    “The cops never had trouble finding me before.” He wheeled his motorcycle in a tight circle and gunned it.
    Ernie punched in numbers on his cell phone, presumably to summon help, but Liz knew the Harley would be gone long before the first security vehicle appeared. “You all right, Dr. Clarke?” Ernie’s gaze dropped to the swell of her breasts above the modest vee neck of her blue angora sweater.
    “Fine.” Ernie had a habit of ogling students and female staff alike. It made Liz uncomfortable. “Don’t let me keep you from your work.”
    “Yeah, uh . . .” He made a show of pulling out a crumpled pad. “I’ve got to make a report of this,” he said with feigned importance. “You can corroborate my story, Dr. Clarke, that the trespasser was uncooperative.”
    “He wasn’t trespassing,” she said, suddenly feeling protective of Jack. “His name is Jack Rafferty, and he was here to see me.”
    Ernie scowled, licked his full lips, and hurried toward the beige van marked
Somerville College Security
that was pulling into the lot. The driver, a young Asian man Liz knew only as Barry, pulled the vehicle to the curb and rolled down the passenger window.
    As the two men talked, Liz went in search of Michael. She had another appointment with a police detective Wednesday morning, but she couldn’t wait to tell Michael about Jack. She might even mention those hang-up calls she’d received earlier in the night.
    “Rafferty may have something,” Michael said, ushering Liz to a seat in the security office on the far side of the campus. Maneuvering his wheelchair to the counter, he poured her a cup of coffee. “Just a little milk, right?”
    She nodded. “It’s annoying that Jack was able to get my unlisted number, but he’s no murderer.”
    Michael opened the refrigerator and frowned. “Looks like Ernie forgot to pick up milk this morning. All we’ve got is that powdery white stuff. That okay?”
    “Fine.” She poured cream substitute into her coffee and stirred it with a clean stirrer. The coffee was strong and hot. It steadied her nerves and pushed back the gathering migraine. “Jack told me that he brought Tracy to school on his motorcycle yesterday. He was the man Amelia and I saw leaving the parking lot.”
    “She saw him too?”
    “Yes—remember I told you that Amelia came to a full stop because his bike threw up gravel when he pulled out?”
    “You did tell me that. And you went directly to your office when you arrived?”
    “Yes.”
    “Wonder why he wasn’t gone by then. You said you were forty minutes late for the appointment. What was Jack doing all that time?”
    “I have no idea.”
    Michael frowned. “You say he thinks that this Wayne Boyd could have killed her?”
    “Jack said that Tracy had a protection order out against Wayne—that he’d vandalized her car.”
    “If she had papers on Boyd, there’ll be a record of it. I imagine those questions are already being asked.” Michael’s gaze met hers. “You realize that you shouldn’t be talking about this to anyone but the police. Jack Rafferty could be a killer, and you’d be putting your life on the line as well as clouding a murder investigation.”
    “You’re saying that I shouldn’t be discussing this with you either?”
    Michael nodded. “We’re friends, Elizabeth. I care about you, and I’d do anything to protect you. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to proceed. What you’re doing is understandable but dangerous.”
    She sighed. “You’re right. I