Ali put her phone back in her pocket trembling, as the icy February wind pierced through her, and she moved even closer to the trunk of the tall pine tree that provided her shelter. She had already been waiting for almost twenty minutes. If she had to wait any longer… She swallowed dryly; her throat hurt. The gate in front of her was tall and imposing, with sharp black metal tips. As far as she knew, the gate was the only entrance to the Kimmeria Academy campus and the only exit from it. About one and a half kilometers from the school building at the end of the road, it opened and closed by remote control. Only the principal and a carefully selected team of security guards were allowed to use it. Passenger cars were quite rare at Kimmeria Academy. Most teachers and staff lived on the school premises. Nevertheless, vans from various suppliers and the postal service came and went daily, as did the guards working for Raj Patel.
Ali had been watching the vehicle traffic for the past few weeks and thus knew that, on most days, a supplier’s van arrived just before four o’clock. It was almost four now. If she was lucky, the van would pass through the gate before she got caught. Her hiding place was very close to the spot where Joe was killed. The memory of that night, eight weeks ago, tormented her. If she closed her eyes, she saw everything – the white blanket of snow, the blue moonlight, the delicate body thrown like a rag doll on the road… The pool of blood spreading around her like the petals of a deadly flower. She opened her eyes. Tonight there was nothing else to see but an empty dirt road.