Ashley was hidden by the shadows at the side of the dorm but she would be in the glow of the streetlights if she took even a few steps. She couldn’t risk crossing the quadrangle, so she ran behind the dormitory and followed the backs of the school buildings to the end of the quadrangle. She peeked around the corner of the building closest to Administration. She didn’t see Maxfield anywhere.
Ashley took a deep breath and sprinted across the open ground to the rear of the Administration building. Now she was on the same side of the quadrangle as the gym, and there was another building to shield her. If Maxfield hadn’t seen her sprint to the Administration building, she would be safe.
Ashley reached the rear of the gym when she heard a sound. There was a hill at the back of the building that led down to the soccer field. Ashley dove over the edge and pressed herself against the cold grass. Sneakers scraped against the cement path that circled the gym. Ashley peered over the edge of the hill. A man opened the door to the gym and slipped inside.
Ashley was about to make a run for the mansion when headlights illuminated the street in front of the gym and a police car moved into view. Ashley leaped from her hiding place and raced to the car. She waved and screamed. The car stopped.
“Maxfield’s here,” she yelled. “He killed my guards. They’re both dead.”
A muscular black patrolman got out of the car, gun drawn, after telling his partner to radio for backup.
“He’s in the gym. I just saw him go in. He has a knife. He cut their throats.”
The driver stared at the gym and hesitated. The second officer, a stocky Latino, came around the car after finishing his call for backup.
“She says he’s in the gym, Bob.”
Bob nodded toward Ashley. “What do we do about her?”
“Don’t go in alone,” Ashley said. “He already killed two policemen tonight.”
“How many exits are there to the gym?”
Ashley was about to answer when they heard sirens. The two officers relaxed. A second police car raced onto the Academy grounds seconds later. Several other patrol cars were close behind.
“You have to send someone to the mansion,” Ashley said. “Mr. Van Meter is there.”
The officers left her at the car and conferred with the other policemen. Moments later, Ashley was driven to the mansion. She looked out the back window of the car as she drove away and saw several armed men walking around the side of the gym.
Henry Van Meter was standing in the entryway of his home when Ashley arrived. He had heard the sirens and had just finished dressing. After Ashley explained what had happened at the dormitory, Henry told her to wait in the den while he talked with the authorities, and had ordered Mrs. O’Connor to bring Ashley a pot of tea and something to eat.
An hour after she entered the den, Larry Birch told her that Joshua Maxfield had not been found in the gym or anywhere else. That was all she needed to know to come to a decision. As soon as Birch left, Ashley walked over to the phone. Jerry Philips had given Ashley his home phone number and she’d called him there last week to discuss the sale of her house. Philips sounded groggy when he answered the phone.
“Ashley, what time is it?”
“Five twenty-eight.”
“Has something happened?”
“Maxfield tried to kill me tonight.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, but I have to talk to you.”
“Where are you?”
“At Mr. Van Meter’s house at the Academy.”
“I’ll be there in half an hour.”
Ashley hung up. She sat in the armchair near the fireplace and closed her eyes. She knew she had drifted off, because Jerry Philips was sitting across from her when she opened her eyes.
“How long have you been here?” Ashley asked.
He smiled. “About an hour.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“We all thought that you could use the sleep,” Philips said. “Do you want something to eat, some coffee?”
Ashley shook her head. She remembered why she’d summoned Philips, and she was suddenly scared to death.
“You’re my lawyer, right?”
“Sure.”
“On TV what a client tells the lawyer is private…”
“Confidential.”
“Confidential. What does that really mean?”
“The law protects conversations between an attorney and his client so the client can talk freely about her problems without being afraid that someone else will learn what she’s said. It encourages full disclosure by the client, so the attorney will have all the facts and be able to give his client good advice.”
“So anything I tell you is protected?”
Philips nodded. “Now what is this about?” he asked.
“How much money do I have?”
“I don’t have the exact figures, but with the sale of the house, the insurance… I’d guess around five hundred thousand dollars.”
“Could you set up an account for me that I could draw from if I wasn’t in the United States?”
“Yes.”
“Could it be in another name?”
“Ashley, what are you thinking of doing?”
Ashley sat up. Her back was straight and her hands were folded in her lap.
“I’m going away.”
“Where?”
“Out of the country.”
“Where out of the country?”
“I don’t want you to know where. I don’t want anyone to know.”
“I’ll keep anything you tell me confidential. That doesn’t mean I can’t give you advice. That’s why you have a lawyer. Now, where are you planning to go?”
Ashley looked down but did not answer.
“Do you know anyone where you’re going?”
“No.”
“Do you speak any foreign language?”
“Spanish. I have three years of Spanish.”
“What are you going to do when you get where you’re going?”
“I don’t know.” She looked down at her lap. “I just know that I can’t stay here. They can’t protect me and I can’t live like this, locked up, surrounded by guards.”
Ashley looked up. “Maxfield won’t look for me where I’m going because I don’t even know where I’m going. I’ll change my name. I’ll live cheaply. I’ll contact you by email. If they catch him I’ll come back.”
“This is crazy. I can understand why you’re afraid. Your life has been hell. But you’re not making sense. Let me see if I can get you in the witness protection program. Maxfield has killed in different states. Maybe I can get the Feds to help you.”
“I don’t trust them.”
“You’re frightened now. I can’t imagine what you went through tonight and those other times. But you’re not thinking straight.”
Ashley’s hands tightened on each other. “This is what I want to do. If you won’t help me I’ll find another lawyer.”
“Ashley…”
“No, my mind is made up. I have a passport. I’ll book a flight over the Internet. All I need is for you to set up an account for me so I can get money to live on.”
“This is crazy.”
“My life is crazy. Maxfield wants to kill me. He’s murdered my family. If I stay here I’ll never be able to live a normal life. It will be like I’m the criminal. I’ll be locked up, surrounded by guards. I won’t be able to go to school. I won’t have friends. And I’ll be afraid every minute. Don’t you see? I have to get away from him.”
Chapter Sixteen
Ashley Spencer has disappeared,” Larry Birch said as soon as he walked into Delilah Wallace’s office.
“She what?!”
“She’s been living at the Van Meter mansion. Henry Van Meter moved her over from the dorm and hired a team of private guards. This morning, after breakfast, she slipped out. No one has seen her since. Mr. Van Meter called me as soon as he was certain that she was really gone.”
“Did Maxfield…?”
“I don’t think so. Van Meter has the estate looking like an armed camp. I doubt Maxfield would try to take her from there again.”