Before He Lapses

“I know. But this is a series of murders on a college campus. I doubt it’s going to get dangerous. It’s probably just a testosterone-laced guy that gets his rocks off on killing women.”

“Fair enough,” Ellington said. “But will you be honest with me and tell me if you start to feel weak or just out of sorts?”

“Yes. I will.”

He eyed her suspiciously, yet playfully, as if he wasn’t sure if he should trust her. He then reached out and took her hand as he headed back toward the center of town to find a hotel for the night.

***

They’d barely had enough time to settle into their room when Mackenzie’s phone rang. Ignoring the unfamiliar number, she answered it right away. She could feel the ticking clock McGrath had placed on them, ticking away second by second. She knew that if this thing wasn’t solved by the time classes started next week—in just five days, in fact—it would be increasingly harder to wrap up with all of the students back in the area.

“This is Agent White,” she said, answering the call.

“Agent White, this is Charles McMahon, an academic advisor over at Queen Nash University. I’m returning a message you left for me.”

“Great, and thanks for the promptness. Are you at the college right now?”

“No. I have a bit of a heavy workload right now, so I had all of my voicemail from the office rerouted to my personal phone.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I was wondering if you might be able to answer a few questions about a recent murder.”

“I assume it’s about Jo Haley?”

“No, actually. There’s been another murder, two days ago. Another Queen Nash student. A young woman named Christine Lynch.”

“That’s terrible,” he said, sounding genuinely shocked. “Is it…well, with two women in such a short amount of time…do you think it’s a trend? A serial?”

“We don’t know quite yet,” Mackenzie said. “We were hoping you might be able to fill in the pieces. I saw on the college website that there are only two academic advisors for the political science department, and that you’re one of them. I also happen to know that both Jo Haley and Christine Lynch shared the same advisor. Would that happen to be you?”

There was a tense nervous chuckle from McMahon’s end of the phone. “No. And actually, this is one of the primary reasons I have such a heavy workload right now. The other academic advisor within our department, William Holland, quit his job about three days before winter break. I got the majority of his students…and I’ll likely be handling that load until they find a replacement. We have an assistant that is helping where I need it, but I’ve been swamped.”

“Do you have any idea why Holland quit?”

“Well, there were rumblings that he had gotten involved with a student. As far as I know, there was never any evidence to support this, so I thought it was just a rumor. But when he just simply quit like that, out of nowhere, it made me wonder.”

Yeah, that makes me wonder, too, Mackenzie thought.

“As far as you know, did he ever do anything else that might have been shady? Was he the type of man where news like this shocked you?”

“I can’t answer with any certainty. I mean…I knew him only because we worked together. But I didn’t know him much outside of work.”

“So I’m going to assume you have no idea where he might live?”

“Sorry, no.”

“While I have you on…Mr. McMahon, when was the last time you spoke with either Jo or Christine?”

“I never did. I was assigned them both when I was handed Holland’s students, but the most I ever communicated with them was a mass email that was sent to all of the affected students.” He paused here and added: “You know, given the nature of all that’s happened, I could probably get Holland’s address for you. I just need to make a few calls.”

“I appreciate that,” Mackenzie said. “But there’s no need. I can get that information as well. But thank you very much for your time.”

With that, she ended the call. Ellington, sitting on the edge of the bed with one shoe off and the other on, had been listening the entire time.

“Who is Holland?” he asked.

“William Holland.” She filled Ellington in on all she had learned via her brief conversation with McMahon. As she did, she also sat down on the edge of the bed. She didn’t realize just how tired she truly was until her feet were off of the floor.

“I’ll make a call to get his information,” he said. “If he works at the college, the chances are pretty good he lives around here somewhere.”

“And if he is our guy,” Mackenzie said, “my calling and leaving a message has probably freaked him out.”

“Then I guess we need to act fast, then.”

She nodded and realized that she had once again placed her hand on her stomach. It was almost habitual now, like someone chewing on their nails or nervously popping their knuckles.

There’s life in there, she thought. And that life, if the books are right, is feeling the same emotions I’m feeling. It’s sensing my anxiousness, my happiness, my fears…

As she listened to Ellington hunting down a physical address for William Holland, Mackenzie wondered for the first time if she had made a mistake in keeping the pregnancy from McGrath. Maybe she was taking a huge risk by remaining an active agent, out in the field.

Once this case is over, I’ll tell him, she thought. I’ll focus on the baby and my mew life, and—

Her thoughts had apparently snagged her full attention, because Ellington was looking at her now, as if waiting for a response.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was somewhere else there for a minute.”

He smiled and said, “That’s okay. I got an address for one William Holland. He lives here in town, in Northwood. You feel up for a visit?”

Honestly, she didn’t. The day had not been overly grueling but coming into a case directly off of a trip to Iceland and not sleeping much in the past thirty-six hours, it was all starting to catch up to her. She also knew that the growing baby inside of her was sucking some of her energy away and the thought of that actually made her smile.

Besides, even if the guy was capable of questioning or taking into custody, it probably wouldn’t take that long. So she put on her best go-get-’em face and stood back up.

“Yeah, let’s go pay him a visit.”

Ellington stepped in front of her, making sure they were looking eye to eye. “You sure? You look tired. You even told me less than half an hour ago that you felt a little wiped out.”

“It’s okay. I’m good.”

He kissed her on the forehead and nodded. “Okay, then. I’m going to take you on your word.” With another smile, he reached down and caressed her stomach before heading for the door.

He’s worried about me, she thought. And he’s already so in love with this child that it’s overwhelming. He’s going to be such a good father…

But before she could latch on to that thought, they were out the door and headed for the car. They moved with such speed and purpose that it served as a reminder that she would not be able to truly focus on thoughts about their future together until this case was solved.

CHAPTER SEVEN

It was shortly after seven p.m. when Ellington parked their car in front of William Holland’s house. It was a small house tucked away on the outer edges of a nice little subdivision, the sort of house that looked more like a misplaced cottage than anything else. A single car was parked in the paved driveway and several lights were on inside the house.

Ellington knocked on the door in an almost assertive way. He was not being rude about it by any means, but he was making it clear to Mackenzie that while he was worried about her health, he would be taking the lead in just about every facet of the case: driving, knocking on doors, and so on.