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“That,” the headmistress sighs, “is Miss Strict, our new disciplinarian.”
“Oh.”
“I did try to inform them of that fact, but they were insistent,” Jane says, twisting the knife ever so slightly. “Storm is out of the grounds. We saw her out on the trail, but that was a good ten minutes ago.”
“I’m aware she is missing. One of the other students brought this note they found on her bed.”
The headmistress points to a note on her desk. It is written on a slip of Birchbane note paper in a scrawling hand.
“I might not be finished,”it reads. “But I am done.”
“Fun wordplay,” Jane observes grimly.
“Indeed. Hannes, Laura, if the two of you could possibly trouble yourselves to go and apprehend the young lady with the dog before she boards a train and is functionally lost, rather than antagonizing the staff, that would be much appreciated.”
The headmistress speaks in calm, refined tones that clearly cut through the pride of the security officers and promise grim consequences at a later date.
The guards depart swiftly, first at a trot out of her office, then breaking into a very un-finished run in the hall.
Headmistress Lotte looks at Jane with no small amount of sympathy.
“You look like you need a coffee,” she says. “With brandy.”
“Yes,” Jane agrees. “Yes, that would be very nice, thank you.”
The headmistress prepares Jane a steaming hot cup of coffee with a very generous serving of brandy. The moment it touches Jane’s lips, she feels much better about everything. Headmistress Lotte invites her to take a seat on a very nice couch with a very nice view, an offer Jane accepts. The older woman sits down opposite her with her own cup of coffee.
“Tell me what happened,” the headmistress says. “I’d like to understand how such an imbroglio occurred.”
Jane recounts the story. At several key points, Headmistress Lotte covers her mouth with her hand and Jane is sure by the way the woman’s eyes crease that she is restraining a laugh.
“Well,” she says when Jane is finished recounting the tale. “She certainly is a handful, isn’t she? What do you think we should do with her when she arrives?”
“If she is caught,” Jane says, allowing a sliver of a doubt to be spoken.
“Hannes and Laura come to us having retired from the Special Forces Command. They have tracked much more hardened criminals across much more hostile landscapes. Now that they have seen her, they will have her within the hour. They likely already have her. Do not worry, my dear, we have had troublesome students before.”
Jane wishes she could share the headmistress’ confidence, but she knows nothing is easy when it comes to that girl.
* * *
Storm knows the school guards will be coming for her just as soon as they get back to the school and realize their mistake, which means she makes a beeline directly for the station. As luck would have it, there’s a train departing for Basel not two minutes after she arrives. The timeliness and convenience of Swiss transport cannot be underestimated.
The train is underway long before anybody has the chance to catch up with her. As it pulls out of the station, she cannot stop grinning to herself at first, thinking of how funny it was to see Jane between those two guards. She smiles a little less when she realizes that it could just as easily be her in that position.
Kravik puts his head on her knee, gazing up at her adoringly. Looking down into his big, innocent doggy eyes, Storm’s smile fades entirely when she realizes what she has to do next.
* * *
“She has left the station already,” Hannes reports via telephone. “But we will have police waiting to pick her up in Basel.”
Overhearing the call due to it being on speakerphone, Jane does not have a good feeling about this situation. She excuses herself quietly while the headmistress speaks with her security. They are planning to have some police waiting at Basel station to catch Storm as she comes off the train, but Jane suspects Storm will have anticipated that. She’s many things, but she’s not stupid.
Hurrying, she makes her way to the station and catches the next direct train to Basel. It is leaving twenty minutes after the one Storm took, but Jane suspects Storm will get off that train a stop early and take slower, local transport routes. Jane is certain she will have time to catch up to the girl.
Unlike security and the police, she does not bother with trying to stake out a train station.
It would perhaps have been prudent to run her plan by the headmistress and the security team, but she is not at all impressed by the latter, and she does not want to have to directly defy the former. This is a better-to-ask-for-forgiveness-than-permission scenario.
