Late that night, Luke and Pippa sat in the headmaster’s office, listening to him and Chief Corcoran explain everything that had happened. Luke’s wrist had been slashed significantly, and he’d had to go to the hospital to receive seventy stitches, meeting up with Pippa, who was bruised and battered, but well enough to leave the hospital.
Luke felt exhausted and ached to his core.
Mr. Crawford had been taken into custody. Luke’s parents had been called and were on their way from Georgetown to see him. He could go home, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to.
Luke was tired. Very tired. But he wanted to hear an explanation of everything; he needed to know what had really happened. Thankfully Pippa was on her toes enough to lead the inquisition, putting her natural haughtiness to good use.
“If you could please start from the beginning, that would be brilliant,” Pippa told them.
“Yes, and make sure to tell us exactly why you were about to arrest the wrong man for the murder,” Luke added.
“We knew it was someone from the school,” said Chief Corcoran defensively.
“But the wrong guy,” said Luke.
The chief ignored him.
“If you knew it was someone from the school, you were putting all of the students in danger,” said Pippa. “Including, and most especially, Luke and me.”
“Not exactly,” said Chief Corcoran. “We had undercover people all over this place, keeping an eye on everyone.”
“Not me,” said Luke.
The chief turned and stared at Luke. “You don’t even know how much we were watching you. We were all over you. I only took my men off you last night when we were closing in on the dean.”
“And I was almost closed in on by a killer,” muttered Luke. He felt he had a right to be petulant, especially toward the chief.
“How did you know it was someone from campus?” asked Pippa. “And not, say, the Southborough Strangler.”
“The Southborough Strangler is a myth,” said the chief. “Something the kids scare up on Halloween.”
“Are you sure Mr. Crawford isn’t the Southborough Strangler? He was a student here back then,” said Luke quickly.
“Mrs. Holliway just looked up Mr. Crawford’s records,” interjected the headmaster. He pushed his glasses up his nose and stared down at a file on his desk. “He was on a semester abroad when the first murder occurred.”
“But I’m sure he knew about it and probably used the premise of it to his advantage,” said the chief.
“Then it could have been someone else off-campus who knew about it,” said Pippa.
The chief shook his head. “No. We knew it was someone from St. Benedict’s, because it was clear from the beginning that they were trying to pin it on Oscar. We had an anonymous call telling us he was involved.”
“And it was Oscar’s scarf,” said Luke.
“Yes, and what you didn’t know is that the caller told us there was a piece of her jewelry in your room.”
“The bracelet?” asked Luke.
“No, an earring. The bracelet came later.”
“Did you find the earring?” asked Pippa.
“We did, but we knew it had been planted. It was stuck in the pocket of a freshly laundered shirt on top of Oscar’s hamper. But underneath was all dirty laundry. We knew Oscar wouldn’t just launder one shirt and not do the rest. It was too suspicious. That’s when we talked to him.”
“And what did he say?” asked Luke.
“He confessed he’d been out there. But I can assure you; he didn’t give you up easily. And we had no idea you were out there, Pippa. But he told us about Luke when he realized it was for your own safety,” said the chief.
“Great,” said Luke.
“And that’s when it was clear to us that we had to remove him. That it could be very dangerous for him,” said the chief.
“We agreed that we would have to make people believe he had been suspended. It was for his own protection,” said the headmaster.
“So that’s why he couldn’t talk to me! He wasn’t allowed to tell me anything,” said Luke. And that’s why Mr. Tadeckis said he was lying. In that moment, Luke felt awash in gratitude for his friend. His best friend. He was now more certain than ever that Oscar appreciated him as much as Luke appreciated Oscar. He couldn’t wait to have him back as his roommate.
“The more we kept him out of it, the faster we could close in on the killer,” said the chief.
“You didn’t seem to get very close at all,” said Luke.
“It’s true we focused our investigation on Dean Heckler. The same red flags that alerted you also alerted us,” said the chief.
“Yeah, he was really in my face,” said Luke.
“When we questioned him, he said he thought you were in grave danger. I think he knew the police were looking at him, and he knew you were wide open, conducting your own investigation,” said the headmaster. “He did everything he could think of to keep you out of it.”
So the dean was trying to protect him? Huh. Who’d have thunk it?
“I thought it was strange how close he was with his ex,” said Luke.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but Mary was the one who ended the marriage. She loves children and didn’t want to miss her chance to make a difference in a child’s life, but Dean Heckler wasn’t prepared to make that commitment. I figure after the maturity you’ve shown, you can handle some adult truths,” said the headmaster.
Luke felt guilty, thinking of how much Mrs. Heckler had remembered of him from last year, and yet she had barely even registered on his radar. She had called him one of her students, and he hadn’t ever given her a second thought. He was glad she’d made the decision to become a foster mother. It seemed like she would be a good caretaker.
“Dean Heckler and Mary remained close. Mary made sure of that, because she told us she had invested too much of herself into the school and her students to lose it all over a bad end to their relationship. In turn, Dean Heckler confided in her and asked her to keep an eye on Joanna. He knew Joanna was being unfaithful. That night, when Mary was working at the library, she happened to see Joanna go into the woods and followed, but became frightened so she immediately left,” the headmaster said.
“What I want to know is how you found out it was Crawford,” the chief asked.
Luke and Pippa looked at each other. “I wasn’t sure until it was almost too late,” admitted Luke.
“We would have found him, but you found him first. In fact, just this morning, we got a call from Las Vegas PD with confirmation that Skip Crawford was the boyfriend who accompanied Joanna to Nevada. The staff at the Hard Rock identified him.”
“Yeah, still, it might have been too late for me,” said Luke.
“You really took your time,” Pippa said.
“We would have found you,” said the chief with confidence.
“I guess no one gets away with murder,” said Luke.
“No,” said the chief.
“Oscar will be back at school tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll both be happy to be reunited,” said the headmaster.
It was the best news Luke had heard all day. “Can’t wait,” he agreed.
“You’ve beaten the odds twice in your life, Mr. Chase. I hope that’s it for you,” said the chief.
“Me too.”
“Luke, you look exhausted. Why don’t you go get some rest, and we’ll fill you in on everything else later,” said the headmaster.
“Okay.” Luke did want to ask some more questions, but he was tired from his head to his toes. He wanted to go relax, get rid of the stress that had been eating at him for weeks.
As he and Pippa walked to the door, Luke turned back. “And what about Mr. Tadeckis?”
“Mr. Tadeckis?” asked the headmaster.
The chief looked equally blank.
So, they didn’t know everything. Maybe he was a better detective than they were after all.
“My mistake,” said Luke. “I’ll see you later.”
“Thanks, Luke,” said the chief. “You did good.”
* * *
When Pippa and Luke left the building, Luke took a deep breath. He relished his newfound sense of peace. Even though they were making him spend the night in the infirmary, he had his freedom again.
“I owe you everything,” said Pippa as he walked her back to Hadden. “You know, I’ve never met anyone like you, Luke. You go above and beyond.”
“Don’t embarrass me.” But Luke was pleased that Pippa had said it. When he heard it from her, it meant something to him. He felt like she really understood him and didn’t just want to assign him the role of superhero. It felt nice to be recognized.
“Let’s go to the snack shop tomorrow,” Pippa suggested. “Chocolate milkshakes, my treat.”
Chocolate milkshakes. Perfect. Something uncomplicated and normal, that’s exactly what Luke wanted to do.
“Well done, Luke,” said a voice behind them on the path.
They both whipped around.
“Mr. Tadeckis,” said Luke.
“May I have a word?”
Luke looked at Pippa, who shrugged. Luke followed Mr. Tadeckis over to a clearing so they would be out of Pippa’s earshot.
“Good work,” said Mr. Tadeckis.
“Thanks for your help. You saved my life,” said Luke with gratitude.
“You saved your own life,” said Mr. Tadeckis with confidence.
Luke smiled. “If you knew, why didn’t you tell me?”
“You didn’t need my help. You needed my knife, but not my help,” said Mr. Tadeckis in his usual brisk manner.
“I could have died.”
“Please. Don’t be dramatic.”
“Was this all some sort of a game for you?” asked Luke. “I don’t get it at all.”
Mr. Tadeckis straightened upright like a soldier. “Luke, I am a survival instructor.”
“I didn’t think I needed to prove myself again.”
“Of course you did. You were brainwashed into believing your first escape was just luck. You refused to acknowledge your heroics. Now you can’t deny them. You can now know that you are truly special.”
“So what next?”
“You’re ready for the big time.”
“What’s the big time?” asked Luke. He didn’t think he could take anything else.
Mr. Tadeckis smiled. “Stay tuned.”
He started to walk away.
“What does that mean?”
Mr. Tadeckis turned around. “It means you’re going to help me clean up this campus and this town. Just wait.” He continued walking.
“I’m not sure about that!”
“Just wait! You’ll see.”
* * *
Luke returned to Pippa. It was strange, feeling the same familiarity with her that he had with Oscar. He’d never thought that sort of a connection could happen with a potential girlfriend.
“That dude is crazy,” said Luke, but he meant it affectionately.
“Homicidal crazy?”
“No. Vigilante woodsman crazy.”
Pippa shrugged. “That could come in handy.”
“I’m so glad this is over,” Luke said. “And I’m psyched for Oscar to come back. Ready for life to return to normal.”
“I’m sure he’ll be just as glad to see you,” Pippa said.
“Oscar will grow on you, I promise.”
“Look, if you think he’s so brilliant, I’m sure there’s something decent to him.”
“There is, trust me,” Luke said with a smile, taking her hand. He liked the way she tucked in her thumb so that her whole hand was inside his.
“So you’ve got this courageous exploit thing down pat. Maybe you’ll be FBI or something,” she teased him, lightly swinging their arms.
“Never. I’m retired.”
“That’s a pity.”
“Why?”
“Because I was going to ask you to come to England with me over Christmas and help me find Tamara’s murderer. Clear my name.”
Pippa’s tone was still light, but she was looking at him intently.
A thrill swept through Luke’s body. Maybe one more murder case wouldn’t be so bad. They did make a great team.
He smiled at Pippa. “Brilliant.”