“Are you for real going to walk around outside in this deep freeze?” Kayla looked over from her desk.

That girl did more studying than a law student prepping for the bar exam.

“Yeah. I’m tired of trig and sick of Spanish. I’m ready for a break. Want to come?”

Fat chance.

No one in their right mind would be out walking on a day like this—unless that was part of their normal routine.

And after wimping out in the sleet Thursday and the subzero temperatures yesterday afternoon, letting any more time pass between walks wasn’t going to establish any sort of exercise pattern.

“No thanks. You’re gonna freeze your butt off.”

“Not in this coat.”

She hoped.

“I don’t know.” Kayla gave the parka a skeptical perusal. “No matter how much it cost, I bet you’ll still freeze.”

“Guess I’ll find out.”

“Better you than me.” Kayla picked up her mug of hot chocolate and went back to studying.

A far preferable activity on this Saturday afternoon than traipsing around in the arctic chill.

But acing tests wasn’t why she was here.

Resigned, Cate left the room, pulled on her gloves, and followed the hall toward the exit.

Two steps outside the door, she jolted to a stop as a gust of glacial air smacked her in the face.

Sweet heaven!

They weren’t paying her enough to brave this kind of cold.

Then again, she wasn’t in this business for the money. It was all about justice—and justice wasn’t going to be served if she hibernated in her warm, cozy dorm room.

Pulling up her hood, she plunged into her walk.

After one brisk circuit of the main campus, she struck off down the path at the rear of the property, following the fork that led west—toward the barn.

Fifteen minutes later, as her nose was beginning to grow numb, her destination came into view through the denuded trees.

It wasn’t much to look at—and considering the weathered boards and the rotting siding near the top of the structure, it had been abandoned for a long while.

Not an ideal place for a tryst—but teenage hormones were a force to be reckoned with, so any port in a storm and all that.

She trekked through the underbrush and circled the building.

Curious.

From a distance, it had appeared decrepit, but the two windows were sturdy—though scratches on the one with an old crate under it suggested the lock could have been jimmied in the recent past. The main door was also secured with a shiny padlock that seemed to be of recent vintage.

Cate fished out a tissue and wiped her nose.

Man, the cold was playing havoc with her sinuses.