Keera Thompson stopped midstride when she turned the corner and saw her office door ajar. School had been out for hours, and this was the one room in the building the janitorial staff didn’t go into unless she was right there with them. The confidentiality of her students mattered to her, and too many times private information got leaked because principals and/or teachers were lax about who was allowed near important documents.
Though she tried telling herself she must’ve left the door open when she’d gone for a stroll to the soda machine, a sense of unease was causing her spine to tingle. Even if she thought she’d only be gone for a couple of minutes, she always shut that door. Sometimes what was supposed to be a quick stroll ended up turning into a long walk to clear her brain.
Moving quietly, Keera stepped forward, her ears on high alert as she listened for anything suspicious. There wasn’t so much as the sound of a ticking clock, which was eerie in its own sense, but even with no unusual noises, her heart was thudding too hard to ease her sense of dread. Cautiously, she pushed her door open with her booted foot. Blackness greeted her.
After a few tense seconds, she began to realize she was being foolish, so she moved through the doorway and was reaching for the light switch when a cold chill washed through her. Looking up, she noticed a shadow behind her desk—and it was moving.
Her pupils dilated as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she realized a man was standing there, barely visible in his black clothes. Before she had even a second to process what was happening, the man began moving toward her, which brought him into clearer focus. Not a trace of skin showed; even his head was obscured by a black mask.
Fight or flight kicked in with a vengeance—and she was definitely fleeing.
Flight. It was time to get out of Dodge. It was late and she was utterly alone, her janitorial staff currently working in the gym and all of her teachers long gone. Before she was able to flee, the man shot at her like a bullet. Keera didn’t even have time to let out a warning cry, just in case someone happened along.
Moving at lightning speed, the intruder’s body slammed into hers, sending her flying sideways, straight into the filing cabinets she’d been so worried about protecting. Her neck jerked to the left, and bright dots flashed before her eyes as her head cracked against the unforgiving metal.
Pain ripped through her as she fought not to lose consciousness. Dizziness made it difficult to remain on her feet, but she didn’t know where the man was, or if he was coming for her again.
The sound of a door shutting barely registered in her brain, and somewhere inside, she knew that meant she wasn’t alone, but it was taking her longer to process things than it should have. But then her office door hit the wall as the man fled her office, and she heard the blessed sound of footsteps fading as he got farther away. She should go after the person, but there wasn’t a chance of that.
The first step away from the cabinet nearly undid her, the throb in her head so intense it made her nauseous. She gripped the wall as she flicked on the light and squinted around her office. She’d only been gone ten minutes, so the intruder couldn’t have been there long.
What in the world was going on? Things like this didn’t happen in Edmonds, Washington. She’d taken this job as school principal less than a month earlier because she’d wanted out of the city. She’d needed to get away from the fear of coming to work, wondering if this was the day she was going to be attacked.
Had she made a mistake coming to this town?
No. She wouldn’t allow one scary incident to skew her opinion of an otherwise peaceful place where the sidewalks were clean, the merchants friendly, and her students happy and eager to learn.
Sure, there were problems. Of course there were. No place was without them, but overall, Edmonds was a haven compared to other places in the world. Shaking her head, Keera looked around her office, but she didn’t move. It was officially a crime scene, and she didn’t want to erase evidence the criminal might have left behind.
Her desk drawers had been opened, the contents spilled across the floor. Her computer monitor was tipped over, and she hoped not broken. The one picture she kept on the corner of the desk was halfway across the room, as if he’d swept his arm across the desktop with no regard to noise or destruction.
She was more upset over the picture being thrown than her desk being gone through. She didn’t keep anything in there that would be of value to anyone but her. She might have thought the person was a student, but his size assured her he couldn’t be.
The school wasn’t that big, and she’d have an inkling of who’d plowed into her if she had any future NFL players wandering her halls. She needed to call the police, but she was having a difficult time tearing herself away from her visual perusal of the room.
She spent more time in this office, in this school, than she did in her small apartment. Work had become her main focus in life, and to have someone so carelessly come into her sanctuary and treat it with such disregard made her feel violated.
Her shoulders stiffening, Keera stopped her mind from traveling down that path. She refused to act the victim or pity herself. She’d make sure the person was caught; then she’d have answers as to why he’d been in her school.
Pulling her cell phone from her back pocket, Keera dialed the Edmonds Police Department. As school principal, she’d memorized that number the day she moved into the sleepy town. She’d always hoped she wouldn’t have to use it, but she knew being prepared was necessary.
The call was answered on the third ring by a very perky woman. “Edmonds PD. How may I help you?”
“This is Principal Thompson at Edmonds High School. I’ve had a break-in,” Keera said, hating the slight quaver in her voice. She told herself it was only because her head was pounding and the adrenaline was still surging through her.
“Is anyone hurt?” the woman asked, her voice going from perky to alert in an instant.
“No. I’m the only person in this part of the building,” Keera answered.
“Is the perp still present?” the woman asked.
“I don’t think so. He ran from my office, and I heard his steps heading toward the door.”
“Was he armed?” was the next question.
“I . . . uh . . . I don’t know. My office was dark, and as soon as he spotted me, he lunged for the doorway,” Keera said. She’d tell the whole story when the police showed up.
“One moment,” the woman told her.
Keera heard her speaking to someone, or possibly into a dispatch radio.
“Okay, there’s a unit nearby. They’ll be there shortly. I want you to step into your office and lock your door just in case the perp didn’t flee the building,” the woman said.
“I’ll check if he’s still here,” Keera told her, moving into the hallway, doing the exact opposite of what the woman had told her.
“Ma’am, please wait for the officers,” the woman said, her voice firm.
Keera was shaking, but she’d already let her fears get in the way once. She couldn’t keep hiding away when her school was in danger. “This is my school, and I need to do this. I should’ve done it already.”
The woman continued telling her to go to her office, but Keera just thanked her and hung up the phone. She made it to the large double doors at the end of the hallway, which were closed. Using her key, she unlocked the right side so the alarm wouldn’t sound, then pushed it open, her heart thundering as she looked out into the semi-lit parking lot that was nearly empty.
There wasn’t a sign of life anywhere. When she stepped back inside, leaving the door unlocked so the officers could get in, she closed her eyes and listened for any unusual noises.
All was quiet.
Her school was safe. She knew she’d feel something if she were somehow still in danger. If she hadn’t been so lost in her own thoughts as she’d made her way back toward her office, she was sure she’d have felt something was out of place sooner than the moment she’d spotted her open door.
She leaned against the wall and waited for the officers to arrive. It was less than a minute later when she heard footsteps rushing down the back hallway, heading in her direction. Keera’s heart began pounding so loud it drowned out the sound of whoever was in such a hurry to get to her.
Before she had time to decide what to do, a person turned the corner, his face lit up as he gazed at his cell phone and continued forward.
“Ethan,” Keera called.
The man stumbled a step, always a bit klutzy, and looked up at her in confusion as his hand lifted and he pushed his ever-sliding glasses back up his nose so he could see her more clearly.
“Keera? What are you still doing here?” he asked as he took a good look at her. Confusion vanished as concern lit his eyes.
“I’m here this late just about every night,” she said with a wry smile, feeling safer in his presence. It wasn’t that she felt he could protect her, though she’d never say that thought out loud. The hallways just felt a lot less ominous with two people versus one.
Ethan Dower was her vice principal and had been at the school for twenty years. He was a good man, at least to her. What she appreciated most about him was that anything she needed done, he was the person she could go to. He’d spent countless hours familiarizing her with the building. He liked to brag he’d once been a student in the very halls he now walked as staff.
Keera knew she’d rather walk over hot coals than be a principal at the school she’d attended, but some people took comfort in staying in one place their entire life. Maybe if she’d had a different experience when she was younger, she’d feel how Ethan did.
Ethan had never been married, and though he wasn’t the largest of men, he had beautiful green eyes that were hidden behind his bifocals. He rarely ever smiled, and she’d quickly learned he was a no-nonsense kind of man, but still, she’d managed to grow attached to him, as she spent more time with him than any other person in the town.
He was somewhere in his midforties, though with his receding hairline he seemed a little older. He had told her that keeping the kids in line was a full-time job, and if the students didn’t respect him, they wouldn’t do what needed to be done. So the fact that he was losing his hair worked to his advantage, as he didn’t want to look like a damn high school kid—his exact words.
And though it appeared Ethan was always quick to leave when the day was over, he normally was the first person there each morning, making sure everything was good to go for a new school day. Though he was certainly respected, the one thing Keera didn’t love about Ethan was how he viewed the majority of the students.
It was almost as if he was just waiting for them to fail. Though Keera had wanted to get away from a large city school, she had always held the belief that the majority of people were good. She refused to allow a few bad apples to change her view of the world. Ethan seemed to think his view was the only correct one.
“Keera, what’s going on?” Ethan asked, pulling her back into the here and now.
She shook away the cobwebs before speaking. “Someone broke into my office. They got away.”
His eyes widened, and he looked around as if he was afraid the intruder was going to jump out of one of the lockers and attack. Then his eyes flashed back to her face before he scanned her from head to toe.
“He didn’t touch you, did he?” he said, a protective edge entering his voice that, surprisingly, caused her to grin. Ethan certainly wasn’t old enough to be her father, but his demeanor made her think he would’ve been a pretty good dad, and maybe that would have made him a lot less grumpy.
“Yes, I’m good. He ran into me as he rushed from the room, and I got a decent smack on the head when it connected with the file cabinet, but I’m okay,” she told him.
“Let me check.” He stepped forward, his fingers instantly twining in her hair. She was so shocked, she stood there for a moment as he felt for injuries. Then she pulled away. He was just concerned for her, but he’d never invaded her personal bubble like that before, and she wasn’t comfortable with it.
“I promise I’m okay,” she said with a smile she hoped would ease the look of rejection in his gaze. He’d just been acting as a friend, and she’d pushed him away, like she did with everyone.
“Think it was a student?” he asked, now refusing to look her in the eyes.
“No. The guy was too big. He was dressed in black from head to toe, so I really don’t have much to give the police,” she said on a sigh of frustration.
“Pity,” he said as he began pacing the hallway.
Lights flashed through the glass doors she’d unlocked, and Keera let out a sigh of relief she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in. The police had arrived.