Page 10 of Peak Suspicion
He didn’t wait for an answer, but left. She clutched the note and stared after him, the soft click of the door as it closed behind him filling the sudden silence. Only when she was sure he was gone did she begin to cry.
She wanted to believe Carter Ames was a nice guy. But she would have said the same about everyone she had met in the last three weeks. People had welcomed her to town and been eager to include her—from her colleagues at the school to the volunteers she had met at the search and rescue meeting.
But one of those people wasn’t nice at all. One of them had accused her of the worst crime of all, and every motive she could imagine for that made her more afraid.
Chapter Four
The following Monday evening, Mira double-checked her computer and Wi-Fi connections for the fourth time and rearranged the stack of handouts on the corner of the table at the front of the meeting room. She resisted the urge to check her face in the mirror again. She had done her best to cover the minor cuts and bruises from her accident with a thick layer of makeup. If she kept the lesson material interesting enough, maybe her students—the ones who didn’t already know about her wreck—wouldn’t notice.
Her stomach fluttered with a mixture of nerves and excitement. She had taught this course enough times that she was confident in her ability to engage her students, but there was always an initial uncertainty.
At the sound of voices approaching, she turned to greet her first pupils. Carter Ames pushed open the door and grinned. “Are we the first?” he asked.
His twin, Dalton, pushed past him. “You might as well get the dunce cap ready for this guy,” he said, patting Carter’s shoulder. “I’m the one in the family who always got straight A’s in school.”
“Hello, Mira.” Bethany stepped forward. “You’re looking much better than the last time I saw you. How are you feeling?”
“Pretty good,” Mira said. “Thank you again for all your help.” Her gaze shifted to the fourth man—taller, with close-cropped, darker hair, but the same family resemblance.
He stepped forward and offered his hand. “Deputy Aaron Ames, with the Rayford County Sheriff’s Department.”
“I’m glad you could join us, Deputy Ames.” She took in the four siblings. “Any other family members I should expect?”
“We’re the whole crew,” Carter said.
“Do you have brothers or sisters?” Bethany asked.
“I have four brothers,” Mira said.
“And I thought three were bad,” Bethany said.
“I could tell you stories,” Mira said. Having four brothers had been overwhelming at times, but now that they were all scattered around the country, she missed them.
Other students arrived and began filling the room. “All right everyone. Let’s get started,” Mira called.
She moved to the front of the room and waited while everyone settled behind the long tables that filled the conference room. “Bienvenida,” she said. “Welcome.Mi nombre esMira Veronica. My name is Mira Veronica. Let’s start by going around the room and introducing yourselves. Let us know what organization you’re with and if you’ve had any previous Spanish classes.”
As each student introduced themselves, she matched the names with the registration forms she had received. She had a couple of paramedics, two more sheriff’s deputies, three firefighters, and four more search and rescue volunteers. A good group. About half of them had taken a Spanish class or several in school, but none of them admitted to being fluent.
“My goal isn’t fluency,” Mira said when the introductions were done. “That wouldn’t be practical in a six-week course. But by the time we complete our time together you should be able to communicate necessary information to people you may encounter in your work. You should be able to get your message across and understand the basics until a qualified interpreter comes on the scene.”
“You might end up being the closest interpreter,” a good-looking brown-haired man with smile lines around his eyes whohad introduced himself as Sergeant Gage Walker said. “The sheriff’s department used to call on the previous high school Spanish teacher from time to time.”
“Oh.” Mira told herself she shouldn’t have been surprised. Eagle Mountain was a small town and though she took it for granted there were plenty of Spanish speakers in the area, this wasn’t Santa Fe. “Of course I’d be happy to help. Though if you do well in my class, you probably won’t need me.”
“We’ll always need you.”
She didn’t have to look over to know that Carter had said this, to the laughter of his fellow students. When she did look at him, he sat up straight and picked up his pen. “Ready for the first lesson, teacher.” He smirked. Was he taunting her because he knew her secret? Or at least some of it? No one else had said anything to her, so she didn’t think he had told anyone about the note she had received and its reference to David.
She turned away, ignoring him. “We’ll start with the basic information you’ll need from people you encounter.” She passed out a vocabulary sheet and they spent the next forty-five minutes practicing quizzing each other on their names, addresses, ages, occupations and physical conditions. They learned to askWhat is the trouble?andWhere do you hurt?,How can I help you?andWho can we call to help you?
By the end of the two-hour class, Mira had identified the students who had an aptitude for language, and those who would have to work harder. “Your homework is to keep practicing using those phrases,” she said. “Get together with each other and try out different scenarios. You might copy the phrases you think you’ll need to use most and put them where they’ll be handy in an emergency. I’ll see you all again on Wednesday.”
Several of the students lingered to talk with her after class, including Carter and his siblings. “How are you doing?” Carterasked, his expression serious, gaze probing enough to make her feel uncomfortable.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Nothing exciting going on at all.” He could make of that what he would.
“That’s good,” he said.
