“You want me to go to anoverpriced bar over a thousand feet off the ground when I work at a bar?” heasked.
“Yep!” Hadley said with a bigsmile.
“I have Monday off, but I’mbusy. What about next Sunday?”
“Are you going to be here nextSunday?” Hadley asked Devon.
“Uh…yeah. Next Sunday works forme.”
“Great! Next Sunday it is then,”Hadley said. “It can be Devon’s going-away party.”
“Yeah,” Devon said dejectedly.
She didn’t want to spend only oneweek in the city. She would need to find a place to stay for the rest of thesummer or else she would have to fess up to Reid and her family sooner ratherthan later.
And that was something she justcouldn’t do.
DEVON WALKED ACROSS Brookings Quadin the early summer air mingled with the scent of blooming flowers. The Quadat Wash U was surrounded on all sides by Gothic-style buildings. The onedirectly in front of her was Brookings Hall, and it served as the face of thecampus. It primarily housed high-ranking university officials as well as thebig colleges, so she rarely visited the building, but the walkways surroundingit were pretty. Devon much preferred the openness of the area to the otherparts of campus. She was probably biased though because the social workbuilding, Brown Hall, was right next door to Brookings.
Devon would have taken theshortcut to Brown Hall, but the weather was so nice that she wanted to delaythe inevitable. She nearly reached the archway through Brookings when she felteyes on her back.
Strange. She hadn’tremembered seeing anyone else on the Quad.
It was such a beautiful day thatshe thought others would be out there studying, tanning, goofing off, andgenerally, enjoying the sunshine. But it was the summer session, and fewpeople remained on campus, so it wasn’t all that surprising.
Trying to push away the naggingfeeling that someone was watching her, Devon quickened her pace and walkedthrough the archway. She didn’t like being in there anymore than she likedbeing out in the open on the Quad, but at least in the Quad, she could seewhoever was following behind her. It wasn’t likely that whoever the person waswould do anything in the middle of the day at the heart of campus.
But the archway at Brookings wasdifferent. While it was still a very public place, connecting the Quad andHoyt Drive, it bottlenecked through the corridor. She felt suddenly trappedeven though it wasn’t a far distance. The hair on the back of her neck stoodon end, and the blood coursed through her body. She could feel her pulsebeating rapidly in each of her fingers, and she swallowed back the cotton ballslodged in her throat.
Devon glanced back over hershoulder, her blonde hair spinning out around her face, as she hoped to catch aglimpse of the person behind her. But no one was there. She didn’t even hearfootsteps or anything. Yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling. Whoever wasfollowing her was rather adept at not being seen. The only way shewould see the person was when he wanted to be seen, and that unnerved her evenmore.
Dashing through the archway,Devon crossed to the other side, unharmed. Her eyes shifted left and right,looking for anyone waiting to ambush her on the other side. No one was there. In fact, no one was anywhere.
There were no cars on the usuallybusy Hoyt Drive or Brookings Drive, which led into campus. Cars sat idly by inparking spaces along the road, but she couldn’t see anyone in them. Even onthe best day, incoming freshmen flocked the school to make their finaldecisions about enrollment. Despite her annoyance with them, Devon wanted toknow where they were.
She didn’t have more time tothink about it. Someone was tailing her and almost instinctively, she knew hewas getting closer. Without a backward glance, she barreled down the stairsleading to the street. Devon had walked up and down the soft sloping andseemingly endless staircase more times than she could count, but today, thedescent felt excruciatingly long.
Finally reaching the sidewalk onHoyt, she immediately turned right toward Brown Hall. She had a strong desireto be inside a familiar environment. Plus, she knew the entire faculty, andsomeone had to be there. Professor Turner was there every day. She had spentcountless hours in his office going over assignments and catching up. Shenever had to make appointments since he was always just there. If no one else wereon campus, he would still be there in his loosened tie staring at his Mac. Shecould get to him. She could make it.
It wasn’t a long walk. It wasliterally right around the corner. Why hadn’t she taken the shortcutthrough Busch Hall? All she would have had to do was taken a right beforethe Quad, walk straight through the Humanities department, and Brown would bestanding right in front of her. Instead, Devon had wanted to enjoy theweather, but she wasn’t enjoying the weather right now.
She jogged up the sidewalk,feeling eyes on her from every direction. She felt completely ambushed. They were coming for her. They were closing in. They would get her.
No. She had to be strongand push herself harder. Someone would be inside Brown Hall. If not ProfessorTurner, then another professor or even a student would have to be there. Devonwould make this work. She had to.
Reaching the double doors, shewrenched one open as fast as she could and rushed inside. It smelled exactlyas it always had, like too many cleaning supplies had been used to mask thedusty smell of the old building. She padded down the familiar hallways,navigating the corridors like an expert. Professor Turner’s office was on thefourth floor of the building. She knew it was a bad move to run all the way upthe stairs. She would be trapping herself in the stairwell, but she didn’thave another choice.
Jerking the door open, she tookthe stairs two at a time. Her breathing was ragged by the time she reached thetop floor, but at least she didn’t feel eyes on her now. Her pursuer must nothave known where she went.
Cautiously, she strode down thecorridor, searching for Professor Turner’s office. Halfway down the
