The Case of the Night Rider (Night Rider/Piper's Call crossover)

Chapter 2

    Helen glared daggers at me from across the dashboard. "I can't believe you got me to agree to this."

"It's all in the name of good research."

Helen made a noise halfway between scoffing and choking. "No, Nina. This is crazy! It's illogical and stupid and so damn risky. After all we've been through-"

"We know how important this is," I finished for her. "Helen, this is our father we're talking about. Look, no matter how different we are, Dad is the unifying factor. He's all I've ever known. For us, Dad is like the progression of time- a constant. Fascinating principle, actually. Generally we accept that time travels in a linear fashion but if we were to think laterally-"

"Nina." Helen clenched her teeth.

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "But you have to understand. Dad is all I ever had, it was just us. This is important. Besides, Charlie only has a window of about twenty minutes so it would be in our best interests to move quickly." I slammed the car door behind me, already setting down the path. I didn't trust myself to glance back at Helen's face. I couldn't face the disappointment and disapproval in those eyes. She was an idiot. But an idiot that I cared about.

"Nina!" Helen's yell pierced the spring morning air, several students shooting quizzical looks our way. "Call me after fifteen minutes, I don't want you getting carried away."

I returned her strict expression with a wan smile. "When have I ever done that?"

      I headed down the tree lined drive that seemed to stretch on endlessly into the distance, the faculty casting a huge shadow over it's students and visitors alike. Dark and foreboding, with a hint of resented authority- this was definitely Charlie's ideal habitat.  After navigating through the dim labyrinth of corridors flanked by classrooms full to bursting of drowsy prisoners (perhaps the more politically correct term would be "college students), I found Charlie's classroom. I say "classroom" of course, in the loosest sense of the word. Doubtless, it was more of a room in which to steal forty winks. I took a moment that I couldn't afford to take to gaze though the slit of a window in the door, my breath misting up the glass. Was this all I was destined for? Finish school, finish college, get a degree or two, get a mortgage, get a job- was that it? Was I doomed to spend my life as bored as these people?

     I was jolted out of my thoughts by what can only be described as a vicious attack on the auditory nerve, the constant ringing of the bell pulsing through my head. I had tolerated that far too much at St. Malachy's. The students barreled out of the door, knocking me aside as easily as a threadbare rag doll. Elbowing my way through the masses, I managed to battle my way into the room. Really, if I was going to put myself in mortal danger to enter an area, my first choice would not be Charlie's box classroom.

"Nina," Charlie beamed at me from his desk, whipping off the thin-rimmed spectacles he liked to pretend that he didn't need as quick as a flash. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"To Paul Jenks," I replied, snatching up the research paper in his hands. A quick skim left me disgusted, this paper was the editorial equivalent of sour milk. "Their information is wrong, the narrative itself is far too vague and the grammar is appalling."

Charlie rubbed beneath his shirt collar, as if he was too hot. This action puzzled me, given that Loughshore has a climate to rival the Baltic, even in March. "I happen to believe this student has an extensive range of credentials, I can't allow one bad paper to discredit her."

I scoffed. "And what credentials could possibly validate why you gave her a 'B' plus? It's nothing short of galling!" I flipped back to the cover sheet of the assignment, spotting the photo. A slim, heart shaped face, framed with strawberry blonde locks, stretching past her shoulders and gleaming with lustre. Though the photo wasn't of quality, I could spot the sheen of lip-gloss on her plump lips and the feline flick of eyeliner. "Oh, I see..." I sighed in realization. "Well, regardless of your libido, we have business to attend to."