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at him quizzically.

    "I just want you to know that I don't for a moment think you have anything to do with
    this." He paused, searching for words. She noticed that there was a thin line of
    perspiration on his upper lip. This had to be very difficult for him, she thought. The
    academy was his whole life. To have its reputation jeopardized this way had to have him
    cringing inwardly. "And I don't hold you responsible."

    In a day and age when people were quick to shed blame and point fingers in an attempt to
    get attention refocused somewhere else, she was grateful for his taking the time to
    reassure her. He had no way of knowing about the precarious state she felt herself in.

    "Thank you."

    Harwood took her hand in both of his and nodded in the general direction of the front of
    the school. She knew he meant to indicate the two detectives who were out there, waiting
    for her.

    "Are you up to this? Going to Annie's house, I mean. I can take you home if you're not. No
    one'll think the less of you."

    As if she could go home. As if she could find a shred of peace until the little girl was
    recovered, safe and sound.

    Very delicately, Brenda pulled her hand away from his. "I'm fine, Matthew," she assured him. "I just want to do anything I can to help."

    He sighed and nodded. "Of course you do. We all do." He walked with her to the hall. "Call me and let me know if I can do anything for theTylers."

    "I will," she promised, then hurried down the long corridor to the massive double doors at the front of the building.

    Outside, Dax and Nathan waited by the car. Unlike when they'd first arrived, there were
    few cars left. One by one, the teachers had all been dismissed, the children, as soon as
    they were quizzed, had been sent home. The only sign that something was amiss were the
    two patrol cars parked on the far side of the lot. But even that was being wrapped up.

    Nathan waited in vain for an explanation. Finally, he asked, "Do you know what you're
    doing? Isn't taking the kid's teacher, along a little unorthodox? Even if she is a knockout."

    "Her being a knockout has nothing to do with it and no, it's not a little unorthodox, it's a lot unorthodox," Dax corrected him. "But I've got a feeling she might be useful. She
    seems to know the kid pretty well and she's got this calming effect on people."

    Other than himself, he added silently. One of the teachers had been close to hysteria
    once she discovered the reason for their presence on the premises. Brenda had calmed the
    woman down sufficiently so that she could give them a statement. The teacher hadn't
    noticed anything out of the ordinary, but if she had, Brenda would have been responsible
    for getting it out of her.

    Besides, something told him to keep the woman close. He wasn't sure just which instincts
    he was going on, but by and large, he'd learned to trust them and he wasn't about to
    dismiss them now.

    He straightened as he saw Brenda hurry through the double doors. The slight sultry
    breeze was playing with the ends of her hair that had come undone from the knot she'd
    arranged her hair into.

    Damn but she was one hell of a good-looking woman, he thought again.

    Martha Danridge was visibly trembling as she admitted them into what could only be
    termed a mansion some twenty-five minutes later. The three-storied building, complete
    with stables, a tennis court and two pools, sat atop a hill that was at the end of a long,
    winding road. The first time Brenda had seen it, she'd thought of a castle nestled in the
    center of a fairy tale. And Annie was the lonely princess.

    Rebecca Allen-Tyler had spared the time to tell her that it was an actual castle,
    transplanted fromIrelandand rebuilt stone by stone because she'd fallen in love with it on
    their honeymoon.

    The king and queen, it seemed, spent hardly any time at all in their castle with their
    princess.

    The housekeeper seemed barely capable of processing their names as Dax introduced
    himself and