Then she definitely heard a peculiar, unsettling sound. It wassome kind of hissing.
Someone was right around that corner, doing something weird.
Now would be a good time to call out and ask who’s there,she realized.
But she hadn’t known until just this moment just how scared she’dgotten.
Her breath was coming in short, shallow gasps, and she wasshaking all over.
If she tried to say anything now, it would come out in some sortof weak-sounding croak.
That wouldn’t be good, she decided.
Instead she drew her weapon, struggling to control how it shookin her hands. Then she stepped past the hallway corner, pointed her weapon, andcalled out in a voice so strong and firm it surprised her.
“FBI! Let me see your hands!”
She heard a clatter of metal fall to the floor.
It took a moment for her to absorb what she was looking at.
One teenaged boy had been spraying graffiti on a row of lockers,while another had been holding a flashlight so he could see what he was doing.At Ann Marie’s appearance, they’d dropped both the spray can and theflashlight, and now they stood with their hands high and their eyes wide andtheir mouths hanging open.
“Holy shit!” one of the boys said.
“What are you doing here?” the other said.
Ann Marie breathed deeply, at once disappointed and relieved.
“You’re the ones who’d better answer that question,” she said.
Holstering her weapon, she shone her flashlight on the lockers,which were scrawled with seemingly random patterns of spray paint.
“We didn’t mean any harm,” one of the boys said.
Ann Marie said, “You mean, no harm except to vandalize publicproperty.”
One of the boys smirked and replied, “Hey, it’s Halloween.”
He sounded as though that explained and justified everything. Theother one didn’t look nearly so cocky.
Ann Marie quickly assessed the kinds of kids she was dealingwith. One was a real smart-ass who thought he was tough and cool, while theother was his sheep-like follower.
“Tell me how this happened,” Ann Marie said.
The smart-ass kid shrugged, looking rather proud of himself.
“I hid in my gym locker until the party was over,” he said. “ThenI came out and stuck a book in the side door so Saul here could get into theschool too.”
The kid named Saul said nervously, “This whole thing was Barry’sidea.”
Ann Marie stifled a groan of annoyance.
“And what if Barry’s idea was to jump off a cliff?” she said.
Saul looked embarrassed by the question.
“Please don’t arrest us,” he said in a pathetic voice.
Ann Marie replied with a silent scowl.
Saul said, “You’re not going to arrest us, are you?”
Barry kept smirking like he thought it might be cool to spend anight in jail. Ann Marie doubted he’d enjoy it much if it happened for real.
She had a good mind to march both of these guys out of the schoolto her car and drive them straight to the police station. She only had one setof handcuffs, but she could slap those on smart-ass Barry, and she was sureSaul would come along quietly.
But she felt like that would be a waste of time right now. Andbesides, she didn’t need to arrest the kids to make sure they didn’t get awaywith this.
“Let me see some ID, guys,” she said.
The kids showed her their school ID cards. Saul’s last name wasBlessing, and Barry’s last name was Forster. Ann Marie made a mental note ofthose names and handed the cards back to the kids.
“I’m telling Sheriff Wightman about this,” she said. “He canfigure out what he wants to do about it. Now get out of here before I change mymind about arresting you.”
The two kids scurried away toward the door they’d come in by.
Ann Marie leaned against a row of lockers, trying to decide whatto do next. All she knew at the moment was that she was glad she hadn’tarrested the kids. She didn’t want her first-ever solo arrest for the BAU to bea couple of teenaged punks spraying graffiti.
Meanwhile, she figured she might as well have a look around tosee if anyone else was in the building. She drew her gun again and continued ondown the hallway, but soon realized that the school complex spread in alldirections and it wouldn’t be possible to check the whole building. The hallswere silent now, and Ann Marie felt truly alone in the dark maze. Thecreepiness of the place was really getting to her, and she felt more than readyto get out of there. She went back the way she’d come in until she got to theside door.
To her annoyance, she saw that the book was still there holdingthe door cracked open. The kids had obviously left without stopping to pick itup, so the door hadn’t closed and locked.
“Kids,” Ann Marie muttered with disgust.
She reached down to move the book out of the opening, but beforeshe could touch it, the door flew open. Someone rammed into her, throwing hersprawling on the floor and sending the gun flying out of her hands.
Before Ann Marie could recover, a large and strong person wasupon her, gripping her by the throat.
She heard a voice murmur, “Pan is waiting.”
It’s him! she realized.
The junior agent’s academy training kicked in, overcoming evenher terror. She struck out, twisted violently, and managed to get out fromunder her attacker.
As she struggled to her feet, she glimpsed his large, dark formas he stood up to block the doorway.
With no way out in front of her, Ann Marie whirled and ran madlyinto the dim maze of school hallways.
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
Riley kept staring into the surrounding darkness of the cemeteryuntil her eyes were tired. The truth was finally dawning on her.
My hunch was wrong.
The proximity of the gravestone to where Allison Hillis had beenabducted was purely a coincidence. The killer probably didn’t even know wherethe marker was. Her notion that he’d come to it as a shrine had been way off.
It’s time to report in to Wightman, she thought.
She took out her cell phone and got the sheriff on the line.
“There’s nothing at the cemetery,” she told him. “Please tell methat you and your cops have had better luck.”
“I wish I could,” Wightman replied. “My guys are too
