A Faint Cold Fear
interrupted his thoughts, asking, 'Did he suffer?'
    'No,' he assured her, though he had no idea. He said, 'We think he jumped from the bridge.'
    She seemed surprised. 'I just assumed…'
    He did not give her time to dwell on her feelings.
    'So you saw him. You called the police. Then what did you do?'
    'I stayed on the bridge until the officer got here.'
    She indicated Brad, who gave a sheepish smile. 'Then the others came, and I stayed with him.'
    'Did you see anyone else? Someone in the woods?'
    'Just the girl going up the hill,' she said.
    'Anyone else?'
    'No. No one,' she answered, looking over Jeffrey's shoulder. He turned, seeing Matt and Lena walking out of the woods. Lena was limping, her hands out to the side in case she fell. Matt offered his hand to help her down the hill, but she waved him off.
    Jeffrey told Ellen Schaffer, "I'll follow up with you tomorrow. Thank you for making yourself available.'
    Then, to Brad, 'Make sure she gets back to the dorm.'
    'Yes, sir,' Brad said, but Jeffrey was already running up the hill.
    The soles of Jeffrey's loafers slipped on the ground as he ran toward Lena and Matt, but all he could think was that he had jeopardized another woman by sending Lena into the woods. By the time he reached them, remorse was a tight band around his chest. He put his hand under Lena's arm to help her sit.
    'What happened?' Jeffrey asked, feeling like a parrot, thinking he'd asked that question a million times today and still had not gotten a satisfactory answer. 'Are you okay?'
    'Yes,' Lena said, shrugging him off so quickly that she fell the rest of the way down. Frank started to help her, taking her arm, but Lena jerked away, saying, 'Jesus, I'm all right,' though she winced as her foot touched the ground.
    The three men stood transfixed as Lena untied the laces of her shoe, and Jeffrey knew they were feeling the same emotions he was. When he glanced up, both Matt and Frank leveled him with an accusatory glare.
    Lena could have been seriously hurt in the woods.
    Whatever had happened to her and whatever could have happened was Jeffrey's fault.
    Lena broke the spell, saying, 'He was still out there.'
    'Where?' Jeffrey asked, feeling his pulse quicken.
    'The bastard was hiding behind a tree, looking to see what was going on.'
    Frank muttered an angry 'Jesus,' but Jeffrey did not know if his anger was for the attacker or for Jeffrey.
    'I chased him,' Lena continued, oblivious to the tension, or perhaps just choosing to ignore it. 'I tripped on something. A log. I don't know. I can show you where he was hiding.'
    Jeffrey tried to get his head around this. Was the attacker staying around to make sure Tessa got help, or was he watching what happened like a home movie, sucking up the drama?
    Frank had an edge to his voice when he asked Matt, 'Where were you when all this was happening?'
    Matt used the same sharp tone. 'We spread out to cover more area. Say, a coupla minutes later, I saw the kid running.'
    Frank grumbled, 'You shouldn'ta left her in the first place.'
    Matt grumbled back, 'I was just following procedure.'
    'Both of you,' Jeffrey said, trying to stop them. 'We don't have time for this.' He turned his attention to Lena again. 'How close was he to the scene?'
    'Close,' she said. 'Off the trail, about fifty yards away. I backtracked, thinking if he was still hanging around, it'd be close, so he could see the action.'
    Jeffrey asked, 'Did you get a good look at him?'
    'No,' she told him. 'He saw me before I saw him.
    He was crouching behind a tree. Maybe he was getting off on watching Sara freak out.'
    'I didn't ask for speculation,' Jeffrey snapped, not liking the condescending way she had said Sara's name. Lena had never gotten along with Sara, but now was hardly the time to bring up the grudge, especially considering the state Tessa was in.
    He said, 'You saw the guy. Then what?'
    'I didn't see him,' she shot back, her anger ignited.
    Jeffrey realized too late that he had pushed the wrong

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