College Curse Murder

by Candy O'Donnell

  “Absolutely.” Sandy watched as he leaned in and gently kissed her cheek. His arms wrapped around her body and when he released her, he was out the door and heading to his dorm not far from hers.

  Outside, the rain was coming down in sheets, and he seemed to disappear into it.

  Chapter Three

  The following afternoon, Ralph leaned back in his chair after Sandy showed him snapshots of the murder board on her cell phone indicating the entire Fry family. He thumbed through her photos. With a nod, he handed it back to her and cleared his throat.

  “That’s good work, Sandy. Remember to stay away from this.”

  “Thanks, I had Rena’s help with the board. A whole lot of research went into this.” Sandy looked up when an officer came to his door, knocked, and entered with paperwork for him to sign.

  “Wait a minute, Sandy.” Ralph wanted her to stay and chat as the deputy eyed her with criticism.

  “Thanks, sir.” The officer left with her clipboard in hand.

  “Please shut the door after you.” Ralph watched her slowly pull the door closed.

  Sandy sat back and thought about who those bodies in the pond belonged to. “Do you know who the bodies are?”

  “We’re not sure. Over the years before I was here, many young girls went missing. It’s up to us to discover who they are through DNA testing. I’m pushing this through as fast as I can, Sandy. With a small expense account set aside for this, I’m hoping word gets out to the alumni who have deep pockets to help out with these cases.” Ralph clasped his hands in front of him.

  Another knock came to his door, and when he looked up, he cleared his throat. “I have to let you go, Sandy. We’ll chat later.”

  Sandy nodded and saw the same female officer entering with a frown on her face. With hurried steps, she got out of there fast.

  After winding through the station and making her way outside, she bumped into a tall man, then apologized. When she looked up and saw that it was Robert Fry, she gulped.

  “Hey, aren’t you, Sandy Day?” He asked with eyes penetrating hers.

  “Yes. Why?” She felt her feet take two steps from him.

  “I heard you help the police or something. I never hurt anyone and please don’t believe everything you hear about me.” He seemed to beg her from under his long bangs.

  “I usually try not to point fingers unless I know someone is guilty.” Sandy wanted to smile, but couldn’t.

  “My family is completely innocent of anything. I know this station has said otherwise too many people out there. My father never did a thing to anyone.” He cautiously looked around him.

  “May I ask you a question?” Sandy enquired.

  “I guess so.” He shoved both hands into his front jean pockets.

  “Are you back in school?”

  He nodded as his hair danced with the movement.

  “Why are you here at the police station?” Sandy watched his nervousness bump up a few notches. When he went to leave, she apologized for probing into his business. He was already heading down the road to the college. She mumbled, “Great, Sandy. Ask questions and scare people off.”

  “What are you still doing here?” A female officer moved down the steps with a quizzical look running over her face.

  “I’m just leaving.” Sandy took a step from her.

  “You know that police work is for us and not for anyone outside of our station, right!” She hammered that home.

  “I do, and I will be going now.” Sandy smiled, then hurried down the road to the campus where she spotted Robert walking through the parking lot. When she saw him leaning into the car window talking to someone, Sandy shook her head and kept walking to the dorm. After pulling open the door and stepping inside, Rena was there holding her biology book.

  “Hey, where have you been?” Rena came up to her with a grin.

  “I need to go for a run to clear my head, Rena. Want to go?”

  Rena shook her head as Sandy ran up the stairs and to her room where she changed into her running clothes. Sandy pulled her hair into a ponytail, left her dorm room after shoving the key into her pocket and raced past Rena and another student talking about their class.

  When Sandy was outside and inhaling crisp air, she took off for the park where only a few people were jogging through. Her head filled with images of her day and Jared. Sandy smiled when she thought about Jared. He was so nice to her, and she wanted to go out with him again. After she attempted to clear her mind and concentrate on her run, she slipped and almost fell to the soft earth below her.

  “Are you okay?” Another jogger asked. He halted his movement and came to her.

  “Yep, I had my mind on something else.” Sandy thanked the guy and kept going through the treed park. Birds were singing above her head, and after a while she noticed the sun dipping behind the trees. She didn’t see anyone else out after an hour or so after she saw a man.

  Something ached at her within her stomach to head back to the college, but she kept running along the path to get her extra energy out. Before she knew it, darkness was soon cloaking the entire park. Her mind was racing, and Sandy had to get out of there. Her brain screamed out to leave the park as quickly as possible. From behind her, Sandy heard running feet. She gathered what strength she had left and headed back.

  Sandy was inhaling and exhaling swiftly with arms swinging from side to side. When it sounded like a couple pairs of feet stamping the ground not far behind her, Sandy moved quicker and told her mind to stop going to that dark place. It wasn’t working when she heard moving feet to her right. The path was trying to see when Sandy ran faster than ever before toward the college campus. When she finally arrived at the pond, the moonlight was shimmering off its water. A couple was standing near it holding one another.

  Panic left her after she slowed to a walk. After turning around, no one was there. Fear exited her, and Sandy found humor in believing someone might have been tracing after her. When she turned to her right and saw a human form dressed in dark clothing, Sandy imagined that was one of the humans chasing her. Her body immediately reacted and hurried out of the park and to the dorm where Sandy caught her breath. After scolding herself for staying too long, she entered the dorm and wheeled around to see three men standing near the parking lot staring in her direction.

  “Are you okay, Sandy?” Jared’s voice spoke from behind.

  She jumped and acknowledged his presence. “Yes, I’m okay, Jared.” She walked around the sofa near the dorm door. It took a bit for her to calm down. “Do we have a date tonight?”

  “No, I dropped by to check on you.” He stared at her and asked, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I think so. I thought… never mind. My mind was playing tricks on me again.” Sandy tried to laugh at herself but sounded like cackling instead.

  “You’re okay. Go take a shower and go to bed.” He held a hand out.

  “Are you telling me I smell?” Sandy took a few steps toward him.

  “Just a little bit.” He backed up. “A shower will do you some good.” He waved and hurried out the dorm door.

  When he left, Sandy looked out and saw the figures still standing outside. Her heart continued to pound from running. Now it thumped because she had proof she had been followed.

  ~~~

  “Are you okay, Sandy?” Rena asked.

  Sandy was sitting on a bench inside the bathroom of the dorm. Her heart couldn’t seem to settle after the run and after encountering the strangers in masks. “I think so, Rena.” She looked up at Rena with a solitary tear falling down her face.

  “It’s okay, Sandy. You’re safe now.” Rena sat next to her and placed her hands on the bench. “Whatever is out there, I pray they don’t come after you.”

  Sandy shook her head. “I ran into Robert Fry today, and he specifically told me that his family had nothing to do with any murders. I believe him, Rena.”

  “Okay, if you believe him, then maybe they are innocent. Who do you believe ki
lled those girls?”

  “He was adamant about his father’s separation from what Ralph discovered in the pond. I might need to go back to my board and figure out who could have done these horrendous acts against those girls. Some people in this world will stop at nothing to do harm to those who they deem inferior to themselves. It’s scary and sad.” Sandy wiped the wetness from her eyes. “I’m determined to find out who killed them, Rena.”

  “I will help you the best I know how. Maybe we should do more research on this and dig up who else might have had a hand in these killings.” Rena stood and walked toward the door. She looked over her shoulder and asked, “Are you coming?”

  “Yes, I’m coming.” Sandy jumped up and followed Rena to her dorm room where she dressed and pulled her hair up into a bun.

  “I think we should take Richard and Damian Fry off the board, for now.” Rena removed their names and took Robert Fry’s name off too. “We need to come at this from a different angle.” She huffed when her phone chimed.

  “Who is texting you?”

  Rena frowned. “It’s my mom. She has not left me alone since my last test.”

  “I understand.” Sandy rearranged her board. After writing down the word unknown on a blank sticky note, she added it to the board.

  “She thinks I should text her every hour of every day while I’m awake.” Rena placed her phone in her lap and pushed her hands against her ears. “I cannot take this anymore, Sandy. My mother is driving me nuts.” Her face revealed frustration more than anything.

  “Moms do that. I think you should turn your sound off and let her know you’re working hard to get good grades. I bet she’ll understand then.”

  “No, Sandy. She’s resourceful. That woman will call the college and brilliantly address her concerns. This will cause great disruption to me and to those around me. Remember when we were caught sneaking out of my house and that anger she had boiled over.” Rena clenched her teeth together.

  “I received a week’s restriction for that. That sucked royally.” Sandy reminisced about the night.

  “Nothing has changed, Sandy. My mother goes total spaz about everything now that I’m here. She expects me to crack A’s on everything I do here. What am I supposed to do but study until my eyes glaze over?”

  “My mother is the same way. One of my professors, Nikolai Svendsen, gave me a D on one of my tests, then he turned around and emailed it to her. I didn’t stop hearing about it until I shut my phone off. It bugged me for days. We are who we are, Rena. They cannot change who we are on the inside. Make the best of it. I am.”

  “That was horrible. I remember that. Isn’t Nikolai your Psychology professor?”

  “Yeah, he still is. I have minimal trust in him. That professor broke what trust we actually had between us.”

  Rena lifted her phone up and typed away. When she was finished, she set it down and attempted to straighten herself. “I cannot allow her to become judge, jury, and executioner in my life. She has had that control for a while now, Sandy.”

  Sandy stared at the unknown sticky note. “We need to dig deeper here. Who wanted the Fry’s to have the finger pointed at them? Whoever it was, might still be out there killing these girls.”

  A knock hit her door. Rena went to answer it, and when she did, a blond girl was standing there with another girl wringing her hands together.

  “What’s up, Tabitha?” Rena stood with arms crossed over her chest.

  “I know we’re not the best of friends, Rena, but I wanted to let you two know that three men have been arrested for being on campus without permission. Someone said they saw them staring at our dorm earlier today.” She clicked her tongue against her teeth.

  Sandy came over and added, “I saw them, but I thought they were after me. Those three were in the park during my run. It was so creepy.”

  “I know, right. I saw those guys earlier too.” Said the other girl with hands turning pink.

  “Thanks, Tabitha, for letting us know.” Sandy watched them leave to knock on other doors on their floor.

  “Is that why you were nervous earlier, Sandy?” Rena saw her friend walk back to the board and sit on her bed.

  “Yeah. I had no idea who those strangers were. The unknown guys were looking at everyone here in this dorm. That’s just crazy, Rena.”

  “I could not agree with you more.”

  Sandy reached for her computer and began researching who else might have wanted to set up the entire Fry family. After a few names popped up, she wrote them down, off the cuff.

  “Nothing is coming up that looks promising.” Sandy gritted her teeth together.

  “Please, stop that. It’s irritating.” Rena squealed.

  “I know. This is getting on my nerves. I suppose we should look these men up to see who is still alive and who has passed.”

  “What’s the first name you have?” Rena was prepared with her cell.

  “Okay, Ronald Montgomery.” Sandy watched Rena look him up.

  She shook her head. “Is his middle name Lennie?”

  “This Ronald’s middle initial is an L.” Sandy scrutinized the other names on her list.

  “Sorry, he’s deceased. He died from a heart attack back in 1981, I believe. Yes, that is the year. He didn’t finish University either. It says here that he had to take time off to take care of his ailing mother, then she passed soon afterward. But he had a brother who was fifteen years younger than him. His name is Robert Montgomery. Well…. Nope, he is dead too.”

  “Okay, let’s move on.” Sandy crossed that name off her list. “How about Samuel Montrose Parker?”

  Rena looked him up and shook her head. He never attended University down the road. He is still alive and married to his high school sweetheart. Here’s a photo of them.” Rena showed the lovely couple to her. “I don’t think he’s the one we’re looking for either. I bet you could go and talk with Samuel. He lives right down the road in town. He might have information for us.”

  “Great idea and I will add that to my list of homework, daily runs, and sleep.” Sandy grinned wide.

  “What’s the next name on the list?” Rena waited patiently.

  “Hubert McKenzie is the next name.”

  “Okay, let’s see. It’s a rare first name for these parts. Here he is. He finished University with Robert Fry’s father, Richard Fry, but went on to work in Wisconsin for a while. It shows he returned within a year and went to work for the city hall for a few years. Oh!”

  “Oh, what?” Sandy queried.

  “He was fired for stealing a paper cutter and a fax machine. Why would anyone do something like that?”

  “Who knows, Rena. People steal weird things nobody would have thought about. Does Hubert still live around here?” Sandy was about to circle his name.

  “Yes, he does. He lives near the University campus.” Rena gave Sandy both addresses for both men. “I think we should visit Samuel first since he was first on your list.”

  “We’ll go by tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, there will be light shed on what took place years ago.” Sandy placed the sticky note inside her Psychology book.

  Chapter Four

  Sandy stood outside Samuel’s home and wondered how she arrived at his doorstep. After ringing the bell and waiting for someone to answer, nobody did. A neighbor called out, “Sam will be right back. He went to the grocery store.” A female neighbor waved her hand at an older blue car pulling into the drive.

  “Thanks.” Sandy waved back. She approached the incoming car as it parked and its engine cut.

  When the door opened, an elderly gentleman slowly climbed out with a white cane in hand. His pale blue eyes stared down at Sandy when his calm voice asked, “Can I help you, young lady?”

  “Yeah,” she trembled under his commanding blue eyes. “I’d like to ask you a few questions if that is okay with you.”

  “Sure, pull the groceries out of the trunk, and we’ll go into the house and talk.” He moved from the car door and pushed it cl
osed, then meandered to the front door as Sandy went to his trunk, inspected it, then pulled out three cloth grocery bags for him.

  Once inside, Samuel asked her to help him put them away which she did out of respect for this kind, elderly man. “Where do your canned goods go?”

  Sam pointed at the cabinet near the sink. “They go under there. Thanks, by the way. My body is not growing any younger nowadays.”

  “No problem, sir.” Sandy placed a dozen cans into their rightful place and noticed this man didn’t have a lot of food. What she added was it.

  “What kind of questions did you want to ask me, young lady?” He extended his hand out, and she shook it.

  “I’m Sandy Day. I attend college down the road from here.” She smiled.

  “Oh, I went there for a few years and so did my kids. My grandson isn’t quite there yet.” He asked her to pour him a cold glass of water from the fridge. Sandy poured herself a drink too.

  “I wanted to know about the Fry family. I know they were around these parts for many decades. Did you ever have issues with them?” Sandy sat opposite side of the table from Samuel at the small kitchen table.

  “Wow, you are bringing up an old name. I couldn’t say I knew them well. I knew of Damian. He and my father went to the school down the road from here. The Elementary school that is. They were best buds for a long time, but I never really got to know his son. What’s his name again?” Sam extended his ear toward her.

  “It’s Richard Fry. He has a son Robert.” Sandy watched his eyes blink many times.

  “I wish I could say I knew them well. I didn’t. We never hung out together, if you know what I mean.” Samuel sipped his water. “That’s very good.”

  “I’m glad.” She smiled.

  “It’s because a pretty lady poured it for me.”

  Sandy grinned. “Did you know, Hubert McKenzie?”

  Samuel’s face went from happy to disappointment. “Yes, most of us from the old neighborhood knew him, but none of us liked him very much. He was a troublemaker. That boy got suspended from Elementary school around twenty times, then in high school too, I hated sitting next to him in class. He was not a nice person.”