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in the middle of the forest was to have his phone ring. 'Give them ten minutes.' He glanced at his watch, not sure how much time had already passed. 'If they're not out by then, we'll go look for them.'
    'Right.'
    Jeffrey dropped his clothes on the ground, resting his wallet and badge on top. He continued, 'Call the station. Get six units out here.'
    Frank started to dial in the number, asking, 'You want to cut the witness loose?'
    'No,' Jeffrey told him. Without another word he started down the hill toward the parked cars.
    He tried to get his thoughts together as he walked.
    Sara had felt there was something suspicious about the suicide. Tessa's being stabbed in the immediate vicinity made that possibility even more likely. If the kid in the riverbed had been murdered, it was possible Tessa Linton had surprised his assailant in the woods.
    'Chief,' Brad said, his voice lowered so as not to be rude. Behind him Ellen Schaffer was on her cell phone.
    Jeffrey cut his eyes at Brad. Within ten minutes everyone on campus would know exactly what had happened.
    Brad winced, understanding the mistake he had made. 'Sorry.'
    Ellen Schaffer followed the exchange, giving a quick 'Gotta go' into her cell phone before ending the call.
    She was an attractive young blonde with hazel eyes and one of the most off-putting Yankee accents Jeffrey had heard in a long time. She wore a pair of tight running shorts and an even tighter cropped Lycra shirt.
    A belt with a CD player sat low on her hips, and an intricately designed sunburst was tattooed in a circle around her belly button.
    Jeffrey began, 'Ms. Schaffer-'
    Schaffer's voice was more grating than he remembered when she asked, 'Is she going to be all right?'
    'I think so,' Jeffrey said, though his gut twisted into a knot over the question. Tessa had been unconscious when they loaded her onto the stretcher. There was no telling if she would ever wake up again. He wanted to be with her now with Sara but there was nothing Jeffrey could do at the hospital except wait. At least this way he might be able to find some answers for Sara's family.
    Jeffrey asked, 'Can you tell me again what happened?'
    Schaffer's lower lip trembled at the question.
    He prompted, 'You saw the body from the bridge?'
    'I was jogging. I always jog in the morning.'
    He looked at his watch again. 'This exact time?'
    'Yes.'
    'Always alone?'
    'Usually. Sometimes.'
    Jeffrey made a conscious effort to be polite when what he really wanted to do was shake the girl and make her tell him what he wanted to know. 'You usually jog alone?" 'Yes,' she answered. 'I'm sorry.'
    'Do you normally take this trail?'
    'Normally,' she echoed. 'I go down the bridge and then up into the woods. There are paths…' Her voice trailed off as she realized he must know this.
    'So,' he said, getting her back on track, 'you jog this same path every day?'
    Ellen nodded, a quick up-and-down. 'I don't usually stop at the bridge, but something didn't feel right. I don't know why I stopped.' She pressed her lips into a thin line as she considered it. 'There are usually birds, nature sounds. It felt too still. Do you know what I mean?'
    Jeffrey knew. He had sensed that same eerie feeling when he was running through the woods looking for Sara and Tessa. The only sounds had been those of his own feet pounding into the ground and his heart pounding even more loudly in his head.
    Ellen continued, 'So I stopped to stretch, and then I looked over the railing and there he was.'
    'You didn't go down to check on him?'
    She looked embarrassed. 'I didn't… Should I have?'
    'No,' he said and then, to be kind, added, 'it's better that you didn't contaminate the scene.'
    She seemed relieved. 'I could tell…' She looked down at her hands, silently crying.
    Jeffrey glanced back at the woods, nervous that Matt and Lena were not back by now, especially with the noise the helicopter had made. Sending them out into the forest was probably not one of his better ideas.
    Schaffer