Dead Even Read Free Page B

grant and scholarship forms for her to fill out. They had stayed up far into the night completing them all, laughing and talking about her new life ahead.
    She had graduated with honors four years later, with Bess sitting in the front row of chairs at the outdoor ceremony and whistling loudly as she crossed the stage. Audra had flashed her a thumbs-up sign as she returned to her seat.
    Her luck had held, and she found a position in Hays at a private school, teaching kindergarten. It was an eight-year elementary school with an unusual concept. Geared exclusively to the poor or disadvantaged students who often fell through the cracks of the educational system, William’s Academy, in the twenty years of its existence, had already gained national attention as a model school. The high school dropout rate of the children who spent their first years at William’s was almost nonexistent, and the percentage who went on to higher learning was among the best in the country.
    Audra had grabbed Bess and swung her around the living room the evening she received the phone call. “I got it, Bess! I got the job! At William’s!” They had gone to the Pizza Hut to celebrate. Impulsively, Audra had reached across the checkered tablecloth and taken Bess’s hand in hers. “I owe this all to you, Bess. You’re the best friend I could ever hope to have, and I want you to know I love you very much.” Bess had patted her hand warmly. “I love you, too, child. As much as if you were my own.”
    She had lived with Bess for one more year, then moved into her own apartment. She had been reluctant to make the break, but Bess had insisted. “Now it just ain’t right for you to still be stayin’ with me. You need to find your own way in the world, child. If you were my own daughter I would be sayin’ the same thing. It’s fun to have your own place—fix it up like you want, and be on your own. I’ll always be here if you need me, don’t forget that, but you need to start spendin’ time with people your own age—start seein’ a young man or two.” So Audra had found a small apartment near the university, and was surprised to find she enjoyed the novelty of her own place.
    It had taken her six more months to work up the courage to actually go out on a date, and even then she might not have said yes, were it not for the fact that Gerald Alden taught seventh grade history at William’s, and she had known him for over a year.
    Now, here she was all set to marry him in three weeks. Gerald. So proper. So correct. What would his reaction be to this news? Would he believe she could identify this man solely by his voice? Did she, herself, believe it?
    Suddenly, Audra realized what she must do. “All right.” She spoke the words aloud slowly, succinctly, aware that she sounded like someone beginning to spin out of control and trying to hang on to some vestige of sanity. “First I have to go to the radio station and see if they have a tape of the program. I’ll listen to it again, to be certain.” She loosened her death grip on the steering wheel, and was gratified to notice the shaking in her hands had subsided somewhat.
    She checked her watch, and saw she just had time to make it to her class. She had to go. It was too late to get a sub, and the children would be disappointed if their field trip was cancelled. Anyway, she needed time to think. She needed to talk with Gerald. Damnit. She needed a drink.

Chapter TWO
    Gerald paced back and forth across the worn carpet in Audra’s small apartment, then sat back down across from her at the dinette.
    He was, though he would have vehemently denied it, a rather nondescript man—five eleven, thinning brown hair, and a waist line that even at thirty years of age was already beginning to thicken.
    The only child of Carlton and Hazel Alden, he had led a pampered and spoiled life. His father had made a good