Secret Sanctuary Part 8

Had she been wrong about that look, though? Had the desire in his eyes been merely an illusion?

Maybe all she'd seen was...surprise. She'd inadvertently shown him an awful lot of cleavage. Cullen had never seen her that way before. It would be perfectly understandable if he'd been taken aback. Shocked, even.

In the cold light of day, that scenario seemed more likely. Especially in view of their history.

"Elizabeth?"

"Hmmm?" She glanced up, remembered suddenly where she was and whom she was with. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about...something."

"Are you sure you're up to this?"

"Oh, absolutely. If it's not too cold for you."

He smiled. "Actually, I like the cold."

Elizabeth stared at him for a moment. Wow, she thought absently. He did have a nice smile. A great smile, really. In fact, he was an extraordinary-looking man. He wasn't Cullen, of course, but his undivided attention was flattering, Elizabeth had to admit.

For the first time in her life, she felt the force of her femininity, that subtle s.h.i.+ft in the balance of power between the s.e.xes in her favor. If she wasn't careful, it could become an intoxicating sensation, she decided.

"I'm ready if you are," she said.

"In that case, I eagerly place myself in your capable hands."

She laughed a little at his effusive manner. "So, tell me, have you found a place to stay yet? Are you all settled in?" They started down one of the walkways.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I've rented a charming little place on Raven's Cove. You'll have to come see it some time."

Elizabeth cleared her throat. "That would be...nice." She hurried to change the subject. "The school is quite small, as I'm sure you're aware. We'll just walk around a bit if that's all right with you. There aren't many cla.s.ses on Sat.u.r.day, but you can still get a feel for the campus."

They began at the far southwest corner, where the high stone wall was b.u.t.tressed by a thick forest of hardwoods. Heavy branches drooped low over the wall, providing the more daring and athletic students easy access to the outside world after the hated curfew. From there it was only a short hike to a paved road that would lead them past the pistol range and eventually into downtown, or more likely, to the waterfront, where several bars and clubs operated till dawn.

After Brie had had to leave school during her soph.o.m.ore year, Kat and Elizabeth had been the only two remaining at Heathrow of the original five friends. Kat, no stranger to adventure, had led Elizabeth on some harrowing escapades of their own via those tree branches.

"Consider this a valuable part of your education," she would tell Elizabeth as they scrambled over the wall. "Something to tell your grandkids about." Usually dressed in black, and sometimes in leather, Kat would always land on her feet on the other side of the wall, ready for just about anything that came their way. Elizabeth would land on her b.u.t.t more often than not, but no less game for adventure. Kat brought out the devil in her, as one of their professors had told them once, but Elizabeth had long ago decided that was a good thing.

She wondered briefly what Kat would think of her daring foray into the funeral home last night and her brief encounter later with Cullen at her cottage. "You go, girl," she could almost hear Kat encouraging her.

"That's a tantalizing smile, I must say," Lucian commented.

"Oh, I was just remembering my time here as a student," Elizabeth said. "Heathrow College is the first place I ever felt truly at home."

She hadn't meant to reveal something so personal and was thankful Lucian didn't pry. He merely stared down at her and said softly. "It's a nice campus."

"It is," she agreed, in spite of the cloud that had descended since Bethany's death.

Lucian's eyes were very dark in the sunlight. Deep and mysterious. Elizabeth's stomach fluttered in uneasiness. It was broad daylight, but the campus was still almost deserted. Hardly anyone was about, and here she stood with a man she knew nothing about.

And a student had been murdered recently. Her body had just been found last night. By Elizabeth.

Earlier, she'd been flattered by Lucian's attention, but now she merely felt...unsettled. He was older than she, and very smooth. Experienced. She didn't want him thinking the wrong thing about her. She didn't want him thinking she was available.

But you are available, a little voice reminded her.

She was, but she didn't want to be.

They'd crossed the campus by this time and were standing in front of the Natasha Pierce Building of Natural Sciences. Elizabeth glanced around, groping for a harmless topic. "This is our newest building, but, as you can see, the architecture blends quite seamlessly with the rest of the campus. It was designed that way, of course."

Lucian read the dedication over one of the entrances. "Pierce, as in our hosts last evening?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes. This building was constructed almost entirely through donations made by the Pierce Foundation, which was established years ago by a Pierce ancestor who was also a prominent scientist. The family has maintained close ties to the school since its founding. They named the building after their daughter who died five years ago in a boating accident." Elizabeth started up the steps, shaking off her feelings of sadness at Tasha's memory. "Would you like to look around inside? The Biology Department is first rate, and the new laboratories are state of the art." Plus, what safera"and less romantica"environment than the sterile confines of a lab?

"I've never had much of an interest in science," he admitted with a wry smile. "Dissecting frogs and pig embryos isn't exactly my thing, but I wouldn't mind having a look around." As long as you're with me, his eyes seemed to say.

You're reading too much into this, Elizabeth warned herself as she led the way inside. Lucian was new in town, and she was the first person a.s.sociated with the school that he'd met last night. He was probably just wanting to be friends.

And she hardly looked glamorous this morning. She was, as she'd always been, just plain Elizabeth Douglas. Smart, yes, and mildly attractive, but nothing to write home about. Not at all the type to inspire a man's romantic fantasies.

Certainly not a man like Lucian LeCroix. Elizabeth could tell just by looking at him that he'd been with lots of women, and he knew exactly how to treat them. How to woo them. How to make them fall at his feet.

A real lady-killer. Brie would have said.

Trouble. Kat would have warned, while sizing him up from head to toe. And all areas in between.

"Elizabeth?"

She started. "Yes?"

He gave her a quizzical look. "I wonder where you go when you drift off like that."

"No place interesting." She shrugged. "Shall we?"

They took the elevator to the lower level where the laboratories were located. The bas.e.m.e.nt was well-lit with several small labs radiating from the main hallway. At the end of the corridor was the largest facility, over ten-thousand square feet of s.p.a.ce, implemented with millions of dollars of equipment including Olympus microscopes, Dell Optiplex microcomputers, a Cray C90 supercomputer and a Sorvall MicroUltra centrifuge. Thanks to the Pierces' pa.s.sion for science, no expense had been spared.

Through the frosted-gla.s.s door that opened from the hallway. Elizabeth could see that the lights were on, and she a.s.sumed someone was working, a graduate student monitoring an experiment perhaps.

She opened the door and glanced inside. Paul Fortier, wearing a white lab coat, stood with his back to her, busy with something on one of the worktables.

"Dr. Fortier?"

Obviously he hadn't heard them come in because he spun, startled, and a test tube he held in one hand dropped to the pristine floor and smashed.

Red liquid splattered against the white tile.

Chapter Eight.

"I'm sorry." Elizabeth said. "I didn't mean to startle you."

After his initial stunned reaction. Fortier managed to get his emotions under controla"except for a slight muscle twitch in the side of his jaw. "Dr. Douglas! Don't you believe in knocking?"

"The door was unlocked." Elizabeth explained. "And I've never had to knock before entering the lab."

"Yes. well, it's not a good idea to sneak up on someone."

Not a good idea to hit on your students, either, Elizabeth thought. She'd heard via the rumor mill that some of them actually reciprocated his advances, but for the life of her, she couldn't understand the attraction. At best, Fortier was an average-looking man, around forty or so, with dark hair frosted at the temples and a neatly clipped beard and mustache. His eyes were a grayish green and closely set. His only outstanding feature was a rather prominent nose, which gave him a hawkish look, as if he were constantly on the lookout for prey.

Elizabeth took a step toward him. "I'll help you clean upa"""

"No! No." He looked vaguely alarmed by her offer and quickly turned back to the worktable. "Just leave it. I'll attend to it myself." He picked up a plastic holder which contained several more gla.s.s vials, all filled with a red substance, and then walked over to store them in a nearby refrigerator.

The sight of the test tubes reminded Elizabeth of the one she and Cullen had found in the cooler room at the mortuary last night. And thinking about it brought back the same question. Who had left it there? In spite of what Cullen had said. Elizabeth knew there was no good reason for anyone on the staff to have a test tube in the cooler room. Fluid extractions and injections would be handled in the embalming room.

But if not someone who worked there, then who had brought the test tube into the cooler room? The killer? That didn't make much sense, either. If he'd wanted a sample of Bethany's blood or other bodily fluids, why not get it at the time of her murder? Judging by the condition of her body, he'd kept her for several days.

Elizabeth's gaze went to the broken test tube on the floor, then back to Fortier. She had no idea what kind of experiments he conducted in the lab. He'd always been very secretive about his work. Secretive about everything really.

The only thing Elizabeth knew about his private lifea"aside from the occasional dalliance with a studenta"was that he'd once been a.s.sociated with a large lab in Boston specializing in gene therapy. Elizabeth's parents knew him slightly, and they'd hinted once that he'd given up research for teaching because he hadn't been able to cut it in the real world. Why else would one choose to teach? their disdainful tones had implied.

Fortier caught her staring at him and frowned. "Was there something you wanted, Dr. Douglas?"

"I'd like you to meet Professor Lucian LeCroix. He's the new chairman of the English Department. This is Dr. Fortier, chairman of our Biology Department."

"You'll excuse me if I don't shake hands." Fortier held up his hands, encased in thick latex gloves.

When Lucian didn't respond, Elizabeth glanced at him. He was staring at the red stain on the floor. He seemed almost mesmerized. "Is that blood?" he finally managed to ask.

"Animal blood," Fortier a.s.sured him. "But the lab rat was unharmed, so no cause for alarm."

Unharmed? Elizabeth glanced at the spill on the floor. No lab rat had given up that much blood and lived to tell the tale. She started to ask him the nature of his experiment, but thought better of it. Fortier was not only secretive about his work, but he could be resentful. Vindictive even. If he thought Elizabeth was prying into his business, he might get downright nasty.

"Elizabeth." Lucian's voice sounded urgent. He put a hand on her arm.

"Are you okay?" she asked quickly.

His hand crept from her arm to his throat, where he seemed on the verge of tearing open his collar. "Would you mind...if I waited for you outside? I think I need some air."

"Of course, buta""

He turned and hurried from the room before she could finish her thought. Fortier gave a low chuckle. "The new professor seems a little squeamish at the sight of blood."

"Luckily, he won't need to come into contact with it in the English Department." Elizabeth said dryly.

"Oh, I don't know. Some of today's literature is quite violent. Don't you keep up with your reading, Dr. Douglas?"

She shrugged. "I'm not much into fiction." Which wasn't at all true. She had a pa.s.sion for certain kinds of fiction. She thought briefly about the prized volumes she kept under lock and key in her bedroom. "Don't you want some help with that?" She indicated the mess on the floor. "I feel somewhat responsible."

"I'll take care of it. Was there something else you needed?" He seemed anxious for her to leave.

Elizabeth hesitated. "You weren't at the Pierces' masquerade ball last night, were you?"

He gave a bitter laugh. "My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail. Why do you ask? Did anything noteworthy happen?"

Her gaze again strayed to the stain. There'd been no blood at all on Bethany's body. Nor on the floor beneath where she'd been hanged. No visible marks on the body...

It's almost as if the killer went out of his way to... preserve her, she'd told Cullen. The thought of that was almost as horrifying as mutilation.

Elizabeth glanced up. "As matter of fact, something did happen. A young woman was found dead. The police suspect foul play. It was Bethany Peters."

Fortier's gaze seemed to freeze for a moment, then he turned quickly back to the counter, busying himself with a notepad and pen he kept handy. But Elizabeth didn't think he was taking notes. He acted like a man who was buying himself some time. "Bethany Peters?" he finally asked in a voice that sounded determinedly calm. "My G.o.d. what happened? Did they find who did it?"

"No, not yet."

"How did she die?"

With his back to her again. Elizabeth noticed several reddish brown smudges near the right elbow of his lab coat. The sleeve was ripped as well.

"The police don't know yet," she told him. her gaze on the rent. Had someone grabbed him and torn his coat? Someone with b.l.o.o.d.y fingers? "They're waiting for the autopsy."

Fortier turned then and his gaze met hers. Something about the way he looked at hera"his eyes guarded, his expression absent of emotiona"caused Elizabeth to shudder. One of his students had been found murdered last night, and he seemed at best mildly interested. "How do they know she was murdered?"

"She was hanged from a steel beam in the solarium at the Pierce estate."

"Hanged? Then I would think cause of death would be obvious."

"The police think she was dead before she was hanged. They believe she was killed elsewhere and brought to the Pierce mansion."

One dark brow lifted. "Why would someone go to that much trouble?"

A strangely detached way of putting it, surely. "I don't know." Elizabeth hesitated again. "Bethany was a student of yours, wasn't she?"

His gaze turned icy. narrowed. "I hope you're not implyinga""

"I'm not implying anything. I just wondered if she'd been absent from cla.s.s the last few days."

He shrugged. "Come to think of it, she did miss a couple of cla.s.ses last week. I just a.s.sumed she had the flu. It's going around campus. You had the bug yourself a few weeks ago as I recall."

True enough. She'd been sick that day when she'd b.u.mped into him after a faculty meeting and thought he'd made a pa.s.s at her. Elizabeth had been in a feverish haze that day, not to mention highly medicated, and it was possible she'd dreamed the whole encounter. But in light of what had happened to Bethany, the exchange, real or imagined, took on an even more macabre sentiment.

She glanced up to find him watching her with that same odd speculation he'd had that day after the faculty meeting.

"The police may be around to talk to you," she said quickly, trying to dispel her sudden unease.