the same thing. Disconnecting the computer was one of those tough love moments that gutted him.
He knew Olivia cared or she wouldn’t have contacted him.
But that had been hours ago.
He was banking on her contacting him again . . . soon.
They drove through the flat countryside of late fall colors while winter’s pointy nails put a chill in the air. The terrain, the climate . . . all of it was so incredibly opposite of living in California.
“What are the chances of Charlie talking to us?”
“He won’t tell us a thing unless he thinks it will protect Olivia.”
“He called Neil. Obviously, he felt she needed something.”
Jax nodded. “I wouldn’t be here if Neil felt differently.” She reached for the volume on the radio and turned it up with a smile. “I haven’t heard this song since I graduated.”
Leo smiled. It was in German. He didn’t understand a word.
The gates of Richter reminded him of old movies where the camera rolled up to a castle.
Jax gave her name to a man at the gate.
“Since when do schools have guards?” Leo asked.
“This is Richter.” She leaned out the window, said something else to the man, and waited for the gate to open.
Even though Leo had seen the grounds via Neil’s cameras—or more to the point, Neil tapping into Richter’s cameras—they didn’t do justice to the real thing.
The school loomed ahead like the giant it was. Stone and brick, pillars and glass. Lush trees lined the drive that went on forever. “This is pretty impressive.”
“It is all that.” Jax looked out the window and up into the trees as she drove. “Cameras are everywhere. Big Brother has nothing on Richter.”
“Duly noted.”
There were only a couple of cars parked in front of the school. From the maps he’d studied, the staff parking was around the back and only visitors parked at the entrance. “I take it there aren’t very many visitors.”
Jax put the car in park and cut the engine. “Never really are. More now than when I was here. This is more for dropping off and picking up, and since it’s a boarding school, that only happens on weekends and holidays. When there are events, a valet service is hired.”
“What is tuition?”
Jax laughed. “Too much. You ready?”
“From the second I got on the plane.”
They exited the car and walked the short distance to the front doors.
Jax lost all semblance of the slightly carefree twenty-four-year-old the second she placed one foot on the first step. Her shoulders pushed back, her chin shot up, and she removed her large-rimmed sunglasses as they approached the man standing at the top.
Her first words were in German and met with a smile.
She reached out a hand and shook his.
Both of his hands sandwiched hers.
“Where are my manners?” Jax turned to Leo. “Headmaster Vogt, I’d like to introduce a friend of mine, Leo Kenner.” The last thing they wanted was Leo’s real name used.
“Mr. Kenner. Welcome to Richter.”
“Leo, please.” They shook hands. “Headmaster.”
The man was slightly shorter than Leo, maybe a decade older. When he spoke English, most of his German accent disappeared. “Only the students call me Headmaster. It’s Johan.”
Jax placed her hand on Leo’s arm and stepped closer. For the next however long they were on campus, Jax and Leo were a couple, and she was showing him where she went to school.
“I told you he was kind.”
“What brings you back?” Johan asked.
“Like I told your secretary, I wanted to show Leo where I grew up before he meets my parents.”
Johan stepped aside; his eyes found Leo’s. “Ahh, the parents. That’s always a special time.”
“Jax has warned me.”
She smiled, patted his arm. “That I have.”
They walked into a grand foyer that spread out to the left and right in equal proportions. Straight ahead were massive windowpaned doors leading into a courtyard.
“This is unbelievable,” Leo murmured.
“Nothing in America compares,” Jax said.
Johan walked them toward the courtyard. “I would certainly hope not.”
The courtyard was filled with clusters of students of all ages.
“The scarves are new,” Jax pointed out.
“A demand of the students.”
“Since when do the students demand anything?” Jax asked.
“You know there have been many changes since you were in attendance. The students having a voice in their lives here is one of them. When scarves for the different dorms were suggested, I honestly thought we’d be asked to hand out wands and teach classes on how to use eye of newt.” He paused as they all chuckled. “As it turns out, it’s easier to determine if a student