Fatal Intent - Jamie Jeffries Page 0,20

what was happening as anyone older did. She’d known from a very young age that her mother had gone somewhere and not come back. No one ever told her, though, whether they thought she was dead. In fact, her dad to this day insisted she was alive.

“I understand, and for that reason I support your decision to ban inappropriate language. But you can’t ban everyone’s dissenting comments. Otherwise, what you have is editorials, not journalism.”

Surprised, Alex retorted, “I intended to have editorials. That’s what blog posts are, aren’t they? Opinion?”

“Only if you unequivocally state them as such. Do you?”

The question disappointed her. Had her professor, her adviser, not read her blog? Surely, he should have known.

“Unless the post is a news item, I do label it an editorial,” she said. Was her tone sufficiently respectful, even though she was disappointed in the man she thought was on her side?

Unbelievably, he had yet another challenge for her. “And do you think it is in the best interest of the debate to disallow dissent with your opinion?”

Was this a trick question? Alex took a moment to think. “No… ” she said, still thinking as she spoke. “I don’t guess it is. To be fair, though, I haven’t had many comments, and most of them have been in agreement with what I’ve said. Only this one wasn’t, and it didn’t really have any thing intelligent to say. Just name-calling.”

“Very good, Alex,” Daniels answered, smiling now. “You’ve crossed another milestone. Journalism is about exposing truth. You can’t expose truth without debate. You’re doing fine.”

Alex was relieved, until he spoke again. “Did you ban that person, or just his comment?”

“Just the comment.”

“In that case, make sure there is no trail leading back to your physical location. He sounds like a dangerous character. Your boyfriend was right to insist you take your personal photo down. I only hope it’s not too late.”

Alex left Daniels’ office wide-eyed and fearful. She’d had enough personal interaction with danger in her short life, and she wasn’t particularly interested in pursuing another encounter with it. When she got home, she’d talk with her housemates about always securing the door, even when they were at home. Her discussion with Daniels suggested she’d better think more seriously about getting a private hosting account with extra security around the ownership of her blog. Not once did she consider abandoning it.

Two days later, she was thankful she hadn’t. She arrived at the regular get-together of the activist group at the Student Union building, to find the group in chaos.

“What’s going on?” she asked one of the boys that seemed closest to Dawn.

“Have you seen or heard from Dawn?” he asked, startling her.

“No, why? Haven’t you?” Alex was under the impression that this boy was more than a fellow activist to Dawn. In fact, she’d thought them a couple.

“Not since Sunday,” he revealed. He gestured at the knots of others, all talking with animation and plenty of noise. “I’ve asked everyone. No one has heard from her since I did. She sent me a text Sunday afternoon that she was going for a visit to the rez. Since then, nothing.”

“What about classes? Have you checked to see if she was in class? Maybe she’s just been busy.”

The boy, whose name Alex now remembered was Jesse, became even more agitated. “No, that’s just it! Every class she has, she shares with one or more of us. We haven’t seen her. She hasn’t returned my texts or calls. It’s as if she disappeared into thin air!”

“Calm down. Let’s get this organized,” Alex said. She stood on a chair and whistled loudly. Everyone turned to look at her.

“Jesse tells me Dawn is missing. We need to verify if that’s true, and if so, we need to get a search organized. Has anyone heard from her or seen her since Sunday afternoon?”

No one responded. Alex began to get a sick feeling.

“Does anyone know her people on the rez?”

A couple of girls raised their hands. “Can you call and see if she’s still there? Maybe she’s sick or something.” Alex climbed down from the chair and met Jesse close to the two girls, who could have been sisters. One was holding a cell phone to her ear.

“There’s no answer,” she said.

Alex could see no other alternative than going to Dawn’s home in person. A call that she was missing might panic her folks, come to think of it. Who knew what that would cause? “Can you direct me to her parents’