Flynn had spoken to Olivia first, gathering a first-hand account of what had happened. Lauren had brushed by Olivia as they traded places in Flynn’s office. Lauren hoped that Olivia hadn’t embellished. Otherwise, it would be much harder for Lauren to feign ignorance. She felt her aunt’s cold, dark eyes roving over her, no doubt searching for signs of guilt.
“So let me get this straight,” Flynn began. She folded her hands together and leaned toward Lauren over the desk. “The very first day I assign Olivia and Holden to watch over you, Holden is kidnapped in broad daylight.”
“If you think I had anything to do with this, I can assure you that you’re mistaken,” replied Lauren, keeping her voice firm and steady. “First of all, when would I have had the time to plan it? At least one or more of the Raptors has been with me at all times since last night.”
“You cannot expect me to believe that this could happen without you being in contact with Nicole Costello,” countered Flynn.
“You confiscated my burner phone,” Lauren pointed out. “That was the only way Nicole could have contacted me. Besides, whoever kidnapped Holden was definitely a man. Not Nicole.”
“A man you claim you didn’t recognize.”
“Never seen him before in my life.”
Flynn rummaged through the drawer of her desk. She located a photograph and turned it around to show Lauren. “You remember this picture, right? If I recall correctly, you were the one who downloaded it from Nicole Costello’s personal computer, along with several other similar ones.”
It was a picture of Nicole and Wes together, one that wasn’t entirely appropriate to be seen by the general public. It was true that Lauren had hacked into Nicole’s computer to retrieve it when she was still attempting to fool the Raptors into thinking that she was loyal to their cause. Then, she hadn’t bothered to memorize the outline of Wes’s face, but now, it was clear that the bruised man who had kidnapped Holden was Nicole’s boyfriend.
“Was this the man who took Holden?” prompted Flynn, flicking the photograph across the desk at Lauren.
Lauren looked away from it, unwilling to invade Nicole’s privacy any further. She gave an annoyed sigh. “I don’t know, Aunt Catherine. Maybe? I didn’t see his face.”
“You didn’t see his face.”
“No.”
“At eleven o’clock in the morning, you couldn’t see this man’s face.”
“We were passing through an alleyway,” said Lauren, defiantly meeting her aunt’s gaze. “It was shadowy, and he was wearing a hood. Not to mention, I was terrified, so I apologize if my memory isn’t quite up to par. I thought we were being mugged or something. Ask Olivia. It was awful.”
Lauren held her breath, waiting for her aunt’s response. She tried to look remorseful, scared even, that Holden had been kidnapped by an unknown attacker, but the task proved difficult when her insides were jumping for joy. Holden’s disappearance meant that Nicole was still safe. And that she was still fighting to take down the Raptors.
“Olivia recounted the same story,” said Flynn to Lauren’s great relief. “She claims you were on your way to a boutique to pick up something for your father’s funeral when a man attacked Holden out of nowhere. She also mentioned that you immediately told her to run.”
“For our own safety.”
“And what about Holden’s safety? It was three against one. You could have defended him.”
“What if that man had had a gun?” deflected Lauren. “What if Olivia and I had tried to stop him, and he pulled a gun on us? You could have three dead Raptors on your hands instead of just one missing one. What then?”
For a moment, Flynn actually seemed to be considering the plausibility of this, but before she could answer, a frantic knock echoed from the other side of the office door.
“Come in,” called Flynn.
Olivia entered, out of breath. Her forehead was damp with sweat. “Ma’am, the fire alarm in the library has gone off. Everyone’s evacuating the building. I don’t think it’s a drill.”
“And?”
“And there are still a few Raptors in the clubhouse,” Olivia went on, bending over to catch her breath. “If there is a fire in the library, they’ll be trapped down there unless they get out as soon as possible. Do you have orders?”
Lauren knew that the clubhouse had no fire alarms of its own. The protocol for a situation like this had always been to follow the university’s steps for evacuating the building, even if the alarm was just a drill.
Flynn heaved a dramatic sigh and stood up. “For Pete’s sake. It’s probably nothing. Some idiot was mostly likely smoking in the restrooms again.”
“Orders, ma’am?” asked Olivia again.
“Get everyone out,” commanded Flynn. “I can’t have my Raptors take any chances. We have enough on our plate already. Order them to evacuate. Have them take the passageways if they can’t get up to the library unnoticed. And keep me updated. I’m sure it’s nothing, but if the library goes down, we need a plan to keep our records safe.”
“What are you going to do, ma’am?”
“I’ll assist the faculty,” answered Flynn. She retrieved her winter coat from the hanger near the bookshelf, swung it across her shoulders, and headed out of her office. As she passed Olivia, she said to her, “Keep an eye on my niece.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
As Flynn left, Lauren asked Olivia, “What’s going on?”
Olivia shushed Lauren, leaning out of the office doorway to watch Flynn disappear down the hallway. When the elevator dinged and Flynn stepped inside, Olivia withdrew from the hallway and tossed Lauren her trench coat.
“Get a move on, Lo,” she said, hauling Lauren up from her chair by the arm. “We’ve got to go.”
31
Before we left the farmhouse, Henry spent hours researching the sewer system around Waverly. His office didn’t match the rest of the house. It boasted three high-tech
