Page 89 of Ruthless Court

No footsteps.

No voice calling the name I gave him.

I pull back my hood and catch my breath.

Through the narrow glass panel, Kane appears at the far end of the courtyard.

He looks left.

Then right.

I press myself against the wall.

After several seconds, he turns and disappears beneath the ivy-covered arch.

I smile.

He still thinks my name is Sandy.

Let him search.

Nine

KANE

Footnote vanishes behind a building that looks older than California.

One second, I’m close enough to grab the strap of her backpack.

The next, a tour guide is blocking the hallway with a red flag, twenty parents are staring at me, and Sandy has slipped through another door.

By the time I reach the courtyard, she’s gone.

Rain runs down the back of my neck. Ivy covers three walls. Every path leads beneath another stone archway.

“Unbelievable.”

I check the nearest entrance.

Locked.

The next opens into a silent reading room filled with people who turn toward me like breathing too loudly could get me expelled.

No Footnote.

I return to the courtyard and scan the upper windows.

Nothing.

She didn’t outrun me.

She knew where to disappear.

That irritates me almost as much as everything she said in class.

Your right shoulder turns before you make the read.

You don’t trust the left-side finish.