Page 54 of Once Silenced

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Riley’s voice, steady and clear, resonated through the lecture hall as she recounted the final showdown with Timothy Lancaster in Kirkwood Hill Cemetery.The faces of her students showed a mix of admiration and horror as they hung onto every word.

“His obsession with his mother’s legacy led him down a path of retribution,” Riley said, her eyes scanning the sea of young, aspiring agents before her.“But it also led to his own downfall.”

She paused for effect before advancing to her next point of discussion.With a click, the projector hummed to life, and two algebra quiz sheets filled the white screen.Murmurs rippled through the class as they took in the images.

“These,” Riley explained, “are not just remnants of a high school math class.They are calculated messages from a killer.”Her gaze lingered on the first sheet, its corner stained darkly with the blood of Robert Nash.Then she shifted to the second, pristine and unmarked, intended for Gwen Beck—a message never delivered.

The room was still, save for the occasional shuffle of notes being taken.Riley let the silence hang heavy, driving home the reality of the brutality they might one day face themselves.

“Take a good look,” Riley instructed.“How would you decipher their message?”

“Those are algebra problems,” a student offered.“Solve them, I guess.”

“Good enough, guess,” Riley replied.“One answer on this sheet,” she pointed to a seemingly random equation on Nash’s quiz, “gives us an important number—37.12.What do you think that could mean?”

“A latitude coordinate?”came a reply.

“Right.”She moved her laser pointer to the second sheet, Gwen Beck’s would-be death marker.“And here, we find the longitude— -78.52.”

She paused, letting the coordinates sink in.

“An FBI team followed those coordinates to an out-of-the-way spot in Pine Creek State Park,” Riley continued, her gaze sweeping over her students.“What they found was a grave encircled by stones, mirroring the resting place of Patricia Warren that we’d found earlier in Blue Ridge Wilderness Park.”

The room fell quiet, waiting for more information.

“The body was that of Clive Brown,” Riley said.“The college department head who fired Martha Lancaster from Corbin College—and vanished without a trace 20 years ago.”

“Any questions?”she asked, knowing full well the minds before her were racing with them.

A hand shot up from the middle row—a young woman with keen eyes that reminded Riley so much of herself at that age.

“How did it feel to work on a case so close to your heart?I mean, with the murder of your favorite high school teacher, Margaret Whitfield,” the student’s words tumbled out, almost tripping over themselves in their haste.

“It’s...complicated,” she began, her voice betraying a hint of emotion.“Justice is often bittersweet.It doesn’t bring back those we’ve lost, but...”She paused, her gaze returning to the expectant faces before her.“But I’d like to believe that Mrs.Whitfield can rest easier now, knowing that her killer won’t hurt anyone else.”

Another hand rose, this time from a confident young man in the front row.

“Does solving a case like this make you want to quit teaching and get back into fieldwork full-time?”he asked, a flicker of challenge in his eyes.

Riley let out a soft, almost imperceptible chuckle.It was a question she had asked herself during the last couple of days more times than she cared to admit.She leaned back against the desk, arms crossed, her stance relaxed but her mind anything but.

“Fieldwork will always be a part of who I am,” she admitted, allowing herself a moment of reflection.“But teaching...sharing my experiences with all of you, helping to shape the next generation of investigators—that’s something I’m not ready to give up.”

Her smile was genuine, even as she grappled with the pull of the field, the adrenaline, the satisfaction of piecing together the puzzles left behind by twisted minds.

Gathering her notes, she glanced around the room, the sea of eager faces, some still hungry for the sordid details of the cases she’d dissected before them.

“Alright, everyone, that’s it for today,” Riley announced, signaling the end of the session.

“Do your assignments,” she said sternly.“I’ll still be here tomorrow.For now, I’m sticking to my ‘day job.’”

Riley’s laughter mingled with the students.As the students filed out, she couldn’t shake the relief that settled over her.Leo Dillard, with his unsettling intensity, hadn’t been present.It was a small mercy, one she clung to as she made her way through the familiar corridors of the Academy.

The walk to her office was a quiet one, her footsteps echoing in the empty hallway.She pondered the curious balance she maintained between the classroom and the chaos of fieldwork.

Her pulse quickened as she rounded the corner, spotting the tall figure of Leo Dillard lurking outside her office door.His presence, an unwelcome intrusion into her sanctuary, set her instincts on edge.

---