Shadow of Vengeance by Kristine Mason

irritated, but never truly angry. For whatever reason, he looked mad as hell right now. She didn’t know if his sudden mood swing had something to do with her or the lack of security. She didn’t care.
    Liar.
    She nodded toward the main hallway where a bullnecked, burly young guy approached. Wearing a navy security uniform, he walked with a little kick to his step, drawing attention to his scuffed black shoes and the white tube socks peeking from beneath the hem of his pants. He stopped at a water fountain, took a few slurps, then wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. When a pretty coed passed him, he nodded and smiled, then, as he checked out her rear, he ran a hand over the top of his short brown hair. Shaking his head, he continued toward the desk. Once he realized she and Owen were watching him, he grimaced and quickened his pace.
    “Sorry, folks. Unless you have an appointment, this building is for students only.”
    She and Owen both handed him their IDs. “Sheriff Jake Tyler said campus security and staff would cooperate with us while we investigate the disappearance of Josh Conway,” Rachel said as she slipped her ID back into her pocket.
    “Sure, sure,” the guard said as he moved behind the desk and flipped though paperwork. “Got your names…well, I know they’re somewhere.” He flashed them a smile. “It doesn’t really matter. Come on and I’ll take you up to Josh’s dorm room.”
    “Hang on,” Owen said. “You just told us only students were allowed, yet the desk was unattended and the door unlocked. Now you’re going to leave your post again?”
    The guard’s face grew mottled as a heavy red blush stained his cheeks. “I…I…oh, man,” he said on a sigh. “Please don’t report me. I—”
    “What’s your name?” Rachel asked, and grew more irritated by the second. If this guy had been on duty the night Sean and Josh had been abducted, she’d do more than report him.  
    “Bill Baker.”
    Frowning she looked to Owen, who raised his dark blonde brows and half-smiled. “Are you related to Joy or Hal?” she asked.
    “Hal’s my dad, which makes Joy my aunt.” Bill held the back of his head, then threw his hands in the air. “If they find out…man, oh man, I’m in real trouble.”
    Although annoyed with Bill for not taking his job seriously, especially in the wake of Josh’s disappearance and her brother’s beating, she couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for the guy. If Hal was anything like his sister, Bill had a right to be worried.
    “Let’s talk this out,” Rachel suggested. “Starting with the unlocked doors to the residence hall.”
    Bill nodded. “Yeah, it’s been broken since Friday. I requested the work order and maintenance was supposed to take care of it. But they haven’t gotten to my building because they’ve been too busy taking care of all the others.”
    “The others?” Owen prompted.
    “Yeah, all four of the residence halls, the entrance to the grad student apartments, along with the main administration building, the athletic department, the library, the computer lab, not to mention three buildings used for classes—”
    “Slow down.” Owen half-chuckled and gave Bill a smile that would put anyone at ease, which right now included her. Something wasn’t right at Wexman. “It sounds like the entire campus needs some major repairs.”
    “Not repairs, just the locks fixed.”
    “Do all the buildings require a keycard to get inside?” Rachel asked.
    “Uh-huh, but maintenance and campus security have regular keys for emergency use.” He looped his fingers through his belt and jingled his key chain. “Like I said, once I figured out the lock wasn’t working, I called maintenance. They gave me the runaround, so I called my boss who told me to make sure the RAs and students knew about the problem.”
    “Was the sheriff aware of this?” Rachel asked. Going on the assumption the boys had been drugged, if the lock to this hall had been