by Leona Fox
“I must get away for a while,” she said. “I’m becoming impossible to live with.”
Mr. B, who had been sniffing along the edge of the balcony, came and put his front paws on her knees. He tilted his head as if to ask what in the world was she talking about.
“I’m out of sorts, Mr. Bradshaw, and Zack won’t want anything to do with me if I don’t pull myself together. I don’t want anything to do with me, for that matter.” She got up and went back inside, rinsing her cup and leaving it in the sink before going downstairs to open the shop.
When Betty, her shop assistant, came in Sadie perked up. “I’m thinking of closing the shop for a couple of weeks and taking you and Lucy with me on a buying trip. What you think?”
“I think that’s a fabulous idea,” Betty said. “It’s been ages since I’ve been anywhere.”
“What about Sil, do you think he would mind?” Sadie asked.
“No. He took a job in Boston. He’ll probably be relieved not to have to drive up here for a couple weeks.”
“Boston? What’s he doing in Boston?”
Sadie couldn’t understand. Betty’s significant other had gone to the police academy so he could get a job on the Seagrove police force so he could be near her. What was he doing in Boston?
“There weren’t any jobs here,” Betty said. “So we started looking in the cities. He figured it would be easier to get a job here if he had some experience.”
“When did this all happen?” Sadie was appalled that she hadn’t known.
“A few weeks ago,” Betty said. “But he didn’t want me to tell you because he was afraid you’d get mad at him.”
“Why would I get mad at him?” Sadie was confused. “It’s not my business where he works. If anybody has a right to get mad it’s you.”
“Might have become mad, except he was driving me crazy. He needs an occupation. He’s absolute rubbish at structuring free time.”
“In other words, he wanted to spend all his time with you but you need some space so you don’t kill him? This I understand,” Sadie said. “It’s the one thing I worry about with Zack. Will he give me enough space?”
“Zack has a full-time job,” Betty said. “And I’d be willing to bet the only reason he lets you ‘help’ solve his cases, is so he’ll get to spend some time with you. I don’t think you have to worry about too much togetherness.”
“You may be right,” Sadie said. “But I still worry.”
She walked into the office and flipped on the computer. “Come on, let’s look at the inventory and make a list of what we should pick up in Europe.”
“Right on,” Betty said. “I love making plans.”
Sadie and Betty were well into their wish list - three full pages so far - when the bell over the shop door jangled.
“I’ll go,” Betty said. She rolled her chair away from the desk and went out into the shop.
“It’s for you, Sadie,” she called back and Sadie went out to join her. Zack was standing near the checkout counter holding a manila folder. He looked grim and his face was drawn.
“I’ve got something to show you. Can we go upstairs?” he said.
“Sure,” Sadie said and led the way up the inner staircase.
“Do you want anything?” she asked as they stepped into her apartment, “Water? Soda?”
“No, I’m good,” he said. “Come sit with me.”
So Sadie joined him on the couch where he opened the folder and spread out a surprising number of pictures. They were all Sylvia. Hundreds of pictures of Sylvia.
“Where did you get those?” Sadie asked. “That’s kind of creepy.”
“They were in Justin Ives’ apartment,” he said. “Officer Ryan has him at the Green Valley police station. They’re holding him on suspicion of murder.”
“He didn’t do it, Zack. He’s not capable,” Sadie said. “And Mr. Bradshaw likes him. You know he doesn’t like murderers.”
“I know you like him, Sadie,” he said. “But this looks grim.”
“He was in love with her,” Sadie said. “He came to ask me what he should do and I told him to come see you. And you ratted him out to Officer Ryan? That’s not like you.”
“I’m not the reason Officer Ryan arrested Justin,” he said. “Someone mentioned to Steve Ryan that Sylvia secretly was seeing a professor. It didn’t take him long to figure out who. Justin is the only male professor even close to her age.”
“How did they get all the pictures? How did they get a search warrant, he was only here this morning?” Sadie felt a stab of guilt, she was the one who told him to go to Zack.
“Justin told Officer Ryan about the photos, took him to his apartment and handed them over,” Zack said.
“That’s either foolhardy or genius,” Sadie said. “I bet he didn’t even ask for a lawyer.”
“I doubt it,” Zack said. “That boy is a hot mess.”
“So why did you bring these pictures over here?” Sadie asked.
“If things go bad for Justin I wanted you to see the evidence. So you don’t, you know, go off on Steve Ryan if he ends up charging your friend.” Zack raised his eyebrows at Sadie. “Do you see what I’m saying?”
“You are saying you don’t want me to embarrass you by yelling at one of your colleagues,” Sadie snapped, but she had to blink back tears.
“Not at all,” he said, the hurt palpable in his voice. “I never could be embarrassed by anything you would do. I was more worried you might get yourself arrested. The folks over in Green Valley don’t know you as I do.”
Sadie felt vaguely ashamed of herself. “I’m sorry Zack,” she said. “I’ve been so out of sorts since we found Sylvia in the water. I’m not sure why. I just have this feeling that I need to get away.”
She rested her forehead against his shoulder. “I can’t get rid of this feeling of impending doom.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a big hug. “You don’t need to apologize to me. I know this is hard on you. And I never should have sent you home alone. I got wrapped up in the job. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she said into his shoulder. “It shouldn’t have mattered. We got home just fine. I think it’s really bothering me that my sorority is involved in another crime. I wonder if someone is targeting our girls? If they are I want to hunt them down and kill them.”
“I can relate to that feeling. But don’t go after a murderer on your own, okay? I wouldn’t take down a criminal by myself and I expect you to call for backup, just like any cop on the force.”
“If I have an idea of who did this, you’ll be the first to know.” She sat up and wiped her face.
“This is kind of creepy,” she said, gesturing to the pictures scattered all over the coffee table.
“Is this just love, or does he have an obsession? Would you accumulate stacks of pictures of me?” She wrinkled her nose.
“I would not, but don’t forget he wasn’t allowed to be with her. They couldn’t go wandering around campus hand in hand. That probably fueled his obsession in a way a normal relationship would not. Don’t be too hard on him.”
She nodded. “I see what you mean. But forget Justin for a moment, do you think it’s okay for me to go up to the sorority house and see what’s going on? I want to see what the mood feels like there. Are they all grieving or is there something more sinister going on?”
“I don’t see any harm in it,” he said. “But be sure to take Mr. Bradshaw with you. He’s small but mighty. If nothing else, he’ll warn you if someone is not what they seem.”
“I never go anywhere without Mr. Bradshaw.” She thought a moment and realized the flaw in her statement. “Except buying trips. I can’t take him overseas.”
Sadie did one better and took both Mr. Bradshaw and Lucy up to the sorority house. Mr. Bradshaw sniffed along the well-manicured grass along the edge of the walk up to the front steps. Lucy was throwing out suggestions for their buying trip, but Sadie was having trouble paying attenti
on to her. Somehow the house seemed to loom over them, oppressing her and increasing her anxiety. She really must get her imagination in check.
They rang the bell and the house mother opened the door. She recognized Sadie and welcomed them in.
“I’m afraid we are in the middle of a house meeting at the moment,” she said to Sadie and Lucy. “You can join us if you want to, but I’m afraid you’ll find it very chaotic. Everyone is in an uproar.”
“Maybe we can help settle down the girls,” Sadie said. “Are you game?” she asked Lucy.
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know what I can do to help, but sure, let’s give it a go.”
Instead of the living room, where Sadie had questioned people during her last time there, the house mother led them down a hall into a large room filled with couches and easy chairs, almost all of them full of college-aged women. There wasn’t a happy face among them and some of them were actively crying. However, there was one girl at the back of the room who didn’t appear to be grieving. She had a scowl on her face and was clearly disgusted by the level of emotion in the room. Sadie wondered what her story was.
Sadie stood at the front of the room with Lucy beside her and Mr. Bradshaw at her feet. She looked around the room and cleared her throat.
“My name is Sadie Barnett,” she said. “This is Lucy Shylock, and my companion, Mr. Bradshaw. He doesn’t know he’s a dog, and you probably shouldn’t tell him that he is because he won’t believe you.”
A few small smiles twitched the corners of girls’ mouths here and there, and Sadie felt a bit better.
“I am a key girl the same as you, and I’m the one who found Sylvia. I can see you all are very distressed, as am I, and I’m hoping you will be able to help us find who killed her. I know you are upset and grieving, as you should be, but if you know anything, or remember anything that could help, please tell me. Let’s do right by Sylvia.”
Her pronouncement was met by a fresh round of sobbing, and someone in the back cried out “Holly Rigby always hated Sylvia, I bet she did it.”
“That’s right,” a small brown haired girl in the front said. “Holly blames Sylvia for her boyfriend leaving her. She practically spits whenever she sees her. Not that they saw each other often.”
“Why not?” Lucy asked. “Didn’t they both live here?”
“No,” This was a plump blonde whose mascara had run down her face. “Holly moved out. She couldn’t stand to be in the same house with Syl.”
“That’s not it,” a slender redhead in sweats and a tank top chimed in. “Holly hated always being second and Sylvia was first at everything.”
“That’s true,” said a serious-faced woman sitting stick straight on a ladder-back chair. “Holly and Sylvia always were competing for top place. And Holly was very frustrated that she never could pass Syl. She thought maybe there was cheating going on – Oh, and she caught Sylvia with one of her professors.”
“Where?” the redhead said, her face suddenly lively.
“Holly wouldn’t say,” the serious-faced girl replied. “She just went on about how it wasn’t right that Syl was using the professor.”
Lucy looked at Sadie with her eyebrows raised. “Later,” Sadie mouthed.
She obviously knew who the professor was, but she wasn’t going to discuss it here. That would be the end of Justin’s career for sure. And Steve Ryan might think Justin was a murderer, although Mr. Bradshaw said otherwise.
"That can't be right," called a voice from the back, Sadie couldn't see who was speaking but whoever it was clearly was nearly hysterical. "She would never sleep with a professor to raise her grades. Syl wasn't like that."
"She was really competitive," another voice chimed in. "Maybe she felt like she needed an edge."
After that, it was complete bedlam. Voices were raised, accusations rang out across the room and it seemed as if there was a solid division between Sylvia supporters and Holly supporters. Sadie looked at Lucy and nodded toward the door. They slipped out and walked back to the car.
"That was wild," Lucy said, "how they all turned on each other at the end. Scary."
"It was never like that in my day," Sadie said sadly.
"In a case like this, the house mother would sit the girls down and there would be discussions; many discussions until we were so tired of talking that we pretended to like each other. Before long, liking each other was our default position and by the time we graduated, we genuinely did."
"Now that's a good house mother. This one seems a bit in over her head," Lucy said. "They should get training."
"It's a different time," Sadie said.
"They don't do things like we did back then. I don't think they believe in making people like each other. Or maybe they do, but kids haven't been raised to believe they have to get along. It makes life unnecessarily hard for them, in my opinion."
"What are we going to do now?" Lucy asked, slipping into the car.
"Now we are going to visit Holly Rigby," Sadie said. "And see what she has to say for herself."
It took them some time to convince the registrar to give them Holly's contact information, but a call to the Dean of Students finally got results and they waltzed out of the building with both her phone number and address.
"Should we stop and get Mr. B before we go see her?" Lucy asked. "He's really good at breaking the ice."
“Sure,” Sadie agreed. “And anyway, he probably needs to get out for a walk.”
At the shop, Betty looked at Sadie with puppy dog eyes. So they locked the shop and, after a walk in the park, piled into the car.
“You know,” Sadie said as they drove past the town limits, “I think Holly lives near Faraway Lake.” She looked to see Betty frowning.
“That’s where Zack and I found Sylvia.”
“Oh, that’s ominous,” Betty said.
“It is,” Lucy said, “But I think we are trying not to jump to conclusions.”
“I can keep an open mind,” Betty said. “But still.”
“I know,” Sadie said. “It’s creepy. I don’t even like driving back into this area. But look,” she pointed to a dirt lane leading off Main Street, “that’s her road.”
They found the address – a small cottage set back from the road – and exited the car. They made it halfway up the narrow path when the door flew open and a young woman burst out onto the step. Her hair was unkempt, black wisps flying everywhere, and her eyes were wild. She saw them and froze, comically balanced on one foot until she seemed to realize it and set her foot down.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m Sadie Barnett, this is Lucy and this is Betty.” She indicated the women on either side of her.
“This,” she pointed down, “Is Mr. Bradshaw.” The woman looked at the terrier in surprise.
“Mr. Bradshaw?” she asked. “His name is Mr. Bradshaw?”
“I mostly call him Mr. B,” Sadie said, “But he came to me as Mr. Bradshaw and it didn’t seem fair to change his name.”
“I had a teacher named Mr. Bradshaw in sixth grade,” she said and crouched down.
“I have a feeling this Mr. Bradshaw would be a better teacher than he was.” She held out her hand toward the dog, who was a good fifteen feet away and looked to Sadie for permission.
Sadie let out the leash and let him walk up to the girl, who he sniffed cautiously before letting her rub his ears. The girl talked softly to Mr. B and Sadie felt like she totally had forgotten the women at the other end of the leash.
“We are looking for Holly Rigby,” Sadie said. “I think she lives here?”
“I’m Holly,” the girl said without looking up. “But you don’t seem like reporters to me.”
“Are you expecting reporters?” Sadie asked.
“Someone killed Sylvia, my academic rival, it’s only a matter of time before the press comes looking for me.” She gave Mr. B one last pat and stood up.
“You’re not expecting the police?” Lucy asked. “I think that’s
who’d I’d be expecting if my rival was murdered.”
“Academic rival,” Holly corrected. “Not that I was much of a rival for her. I came in second in everything.”
“Weren’t you tired of coming in second?” Betty asked, “I sure would be.”
“Of course, I’m tired of being second. I worked my butt off to pass her and never did. And the kicker? She didn’t have to work at all. It all just came so easily to her. She could party all night before a test and still come in top of the class. It was frustrating.”
“Frustrating enough that you wanted to kill her?” Lucy asked.
“Kill her? So I could be first? What good would that do? What’s the point of coming in first if you have to kill someone to get there? Now I’ll always be second best. I’ll never know if I could have come in first in fair competition with her. It sucks.” She jammed her hands in her pockets.
“And I paid for classes to learn a bunch of new study skills and retention methods. It’s all ruined now. And if you are right I’ll probably get arrested, too.”
“We don’t know that,” Sadie said. “We are just surprised you expected reporters.”
“Are you kidding? Top of the class sorority girl is murdered. Of course they are going to run down anyone who had a grudge against her. As if.” She rolled her eyes.
“Do you know anyone who hated her enough to kill her?” Sadie asked.
“We had a particularly heinous hazing ritual this year,” Holly said.
“A lot of the girls felt humiliated, and most of them didn’t make the cut even after they went through that. Samantha Vitt thought Sylvia was in charge of it and threatened to report her to the school when she found out it was Syl’s idea. Hazing is prohibited by the college, but everyone does it anyway.” She shrugged. “Nobody thinks they should have to change the way they do things. Tradition and all that.”
“A lot of horrible things happen in the name of tradition,” Sadie said.
She watched Mr. Bradshaw sniffing around the edge of the flower garden. “Do you know how to get hold of Samantha Vitt?”