Some Gave All by Nancy Holder Page B

the ol’ tranquilizer gun. It had been nearly a year since he’d given it any thought—Vincent had made amazing progress controlling his beast side—but the time was definitely nigh to keep it handy. In fact, he wished he’d thought to give it to Heather before he’d left.
    The door squealed on its hinges as he pushed it open. So much for the element of surprise. He thought twice about shutting it before he flicked on the light. The place was a shambles. File cabinet drawers hanging open, lecture notes strewn everywhere, his office canister of gummy worms lying on its side and a few colorful gelatinous delicacies scattered on the floor as if they’d crawled to freedom. Surveying the mess, eyes darting into the darkened corners of the room as he shut and locked the door—no way did he want Heidi or anyone else to stumble across his threshold, see this, and ask questions—he began to take inventory so he could figure out what was missing. All he kept in his office was university stuff. Papers to grade, hard copies of committee notes, cards and notes from graduates who kept in touch. Nothing seemed to be missing. All the good stuff was at his place.
    At his place.
    “Oh, God,” he blurted, and dialed Heather. She picked up on the first ring.
    “J.T.?” she whispered. “I think someone’s outside sneaking around.”
    He went on red alert. “Are all the doors and windows locked?”
    “Yes. I checked.”
    “Call nine-one-one.”
    “But what if they see all this equipment?” she whispered fiercely. “Won’t you get in trouble? I should call Cat.”
    He blew out of his office, shut and tried to lock his door—the mechanism was broken—and dashed toward the front of the building. David, Sara, and Heidi were gone.
    “If Cat’s still at the crime scene, she’s too far away. Power down and call the police
now
. If you don’t, I will.”
    “Okay, okay. Oh, my God, I’m freaking out.”
    “Stay calm. I have a baseball bat under my desk. And the tranq gun’s behind the bar. Get over there and grab it.”
    Heather squeaked. “I thought I heard a growl.”
    Let it be Vincent. No, wait, not if he’s growling.
    “Call the cops and get the tranquilizer gun, Heather,” he ordered her. “Then get back on the line with me and stay on the line.”
    “All right. I’m putting you on hold but just to call the police.”
    “Good. That’s go—”
    He was talking to dead air. He took the opportunity to run flat out to the parking lot and leap into his car. Good thing he had login passwords on all the computers at the club. There’d be no actual motive for the police to interest themselves in his stuff, but to open anything up they’d have to have a warrant. Which they would not have.
    As he turned on the engine and the headlights came on, he registered the startled presence of Heidi Schwann in the empty parking space beside the one he’d used as he backed out. Had she been waiting for him? How did she know which car was his? And why wasn’t she wearing her glasses?
    He gunned the engine and went into reverse, scrutinizing her in the rearview mirror. The situation was fishy all around: a grad student he didn’t remember hanging around campus at night, asking to be his TA, trying to follow him into his office, which had been ransacked. Maybe she was the beast-maker’s spy. Or maybe she was the beast-maker herself. Any number of gorgeous women had turned out to be evil villainesses since Muirfield had come into their lives.
    “Or they’ve been beasts,” he said aloud, thinking of Tori Windsor as he wheeled the car around and shot toward the street.
    Could Heidi Schwann—
    He heard the car horn and the squeal of brakes before he felt the impact. Heard the crunch of metal on metal. Torso thrown forward, air bag deployed. It
hurt
. His glasses cut into his face. His head swam. He tried to move but nothing seemed to be working.
    Footsteps.
    Running toward him.
    Someone shouting, “Oh, my God, are you