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But…

A scrape. Near the top of the stairs. Her head whipped toward the steps. Darkness. “Is…is someone there?” Her purse strap had been over her right shoulder. At least, that was where it had been before she’d taken the header down the stairs. Her hands scrambled in the dark as she tried to find her bag. Not on her shoulder any longer. It had to be close, didn’t it?

And…

There. Found it.

Her fingers dove inside her purse. She pulled out her phone. Turned on the flashlight option. She shone it toward the top of the stairs.

A shadow moved. Darkness. A…person?

“Who’s there?” She scrambled back…and up. One of her high heels had broken. Kimber kicked off both damn shoes. Her body ached in a dozen different places. Scratches and scrapes were all over her.

She kept shining the light at the top of the stairs. She backed up more. More. But…she was backing up into darkness. Darkness was everywhere.

“Harvey!” she cried. Where was that guard?

And…

From the top of the stairs… from the darkness…A voice.

“I see you.” Low. Rasping.

A voice she seemed to feel running through her.

Kimber thought of Tiffany Blake. The dead girl in the fountain. The murder wall that she’d seen in Tiffany’s dorm room.

NOT GUILTY.

“Stay away from me!” Kimber yelled.

“I see you.”

She turned and, screaming, she raced through the darkness. She ran and she ran and⁠—

Collided. Her body hit someone else because she’d been swinging the light from her phone all around her, and she hadn’t even realized that someone waited in front of her. She slammed into someone. They both staggered. He dragged her down. He⁠—

“Ms. Lang?” Harvey’s distinct voice, nasally, cracking. “Ms. Lang, you all right?”

The lights flashed on. She sprawled on top of Harvey, the security guard who’d worked at the college’s administration offices for the last few years. He wore his dark security uniform. A neatly trimmed, gray beard covered his jaw. His eyes were wide and worried.

“S-someone was here.” Her breath came quickly. She pushed up, not wanting to be on top of the guy. Her bare feet pressed to the cool tile of the floor as she straightened. Her hand still gripped her phone. “Upstairs. Someone was upstairs.” Where were her damn keys? She’d need them so she could get in her car and get out of there.

I see you. That rasping voice seemed to echo in her head. Kimber really, really wanted to get out of there.

Harvey climbed to his feet. “Maintenance is in the basement, working on the electrical system. Some fuse blew during the storm.” His keys jingled near his waist. He had a taser strapped there, too. No actual gun. Not on campus. That wouldn’t be allowed. His shoulders hunched toward her. “You okay?”

“I…fell down the stairs.” But she replayed those moments in her mind. “I think.” She sniffed. “Or maybe I was pushed.”

“Pushed?”

Had she just missed a step? Or had she been pushed? Maybe she’d felt the brush of fingers on her back before she’d gone tumbling down? Kimber struggled to remember. “Someone was on the second floor.” On that point, she was certain. “I need you to get up there and check it out.” Because she sure wasn’t going back up there.

“Ma’am?” He blinked at her.

“Harvey, I think someone is up there. Someone was…was taunting me.” Scaring her. “Check it out?” He had the taser. And a good flashlight. Surely he could handle whatever threat waited?

Determination hardened his eyes. “I will, ma’am. You go sit at my desk. I’ll figure out what’s happening. Probably just some kid playing around.”