by Diane Hoh
The flashlight was gone, lost to the turbulent water. But she was halfway there, halfway across the creek, halfway to the police car and its radio that would make everything all right again.
Rain pouring down upon her, Daisy looked down at the raging creek and thought, I can do this. I can.
Steadfastly refusing to think of what would happen to her if she failed, Daisy Rivers gathered all of her remaining strength together and jumped from the boulder, aiming her body toward the opposite bank of the creek.
Despite her exhaustion, despite the extra weight added by sodden clothes, the slender figure, arms outstretched for balance, legs kicking for momentum, seemed almost graceful as it flew through the air above the churning water and landed, face-down, on the muddy bank.
Only Daisy’s feet and legs still belonged to the creek. The rest of her was safely on solid ground.
Not taking the time to rejoice, she pulled her legs free and stumbled up the bank to the police car.
The doors were unlocked. Daisy, almost collapsing with exhaustion, yanked the blue-and-white door open and slid into the front seat, pulling the door closed after her.
It felt incredibly wonderful to be out of the rain and the wind. She wanted nothing more than to lay her head back against the seat, close her eyes, and breathe deeply until she felt restored again.
But there was no time.
The radio was at hand, beside her right arm. It looked simple enough. She was pretty sure that all she had to do was take the receiver from its console and say something into it, anything, until someone answered her.
It’s almost over, she thought, reaching for the receiver. Relief washed over her as the creek water had. I’ll get the police, send them to the house, they’ll find Toni, and the paramedics will fix up Lynne and that young police officer, good as new.
She picked up the small, smooth, black mouthpiece and began speaking into it, saying whatever came into her head. “This is Daisy Rivers, I’m on the back road behind that place called Nightingale Hall and there’s a killer in the house and my friends are hurt. Someone, someone answer me, we need help, answer me!”
Not a sound came from the console. It was as silent as the telephone had been.
Daisy turned the receiver over in her hand. Fumbled at the console with her other hand, feeling for a switch, a knob …
Just as her fingers touched the wires protruding crazily from the bottom of the console, wires which she knew with sickening certainty should have been attached to something, a voice in her ear said, “Even if it was still working, which it isn’t, you’d have to push in the button, stupid,” and strong, angry hands came from behind and fastened themselves around her throat, squeezing until small black and red dots danced before Daisy’s eyes and she could no longer breathe.
I made it this far for nothing, was her last thought before she slid into a void that was as dark and deep as any wild and raging creek.
Chapter 19
IN THE SECURITY GUARD’S car on campus, the guard finally reached Officer Sloane and was told that Ernie Dodd had been checked out and was free to go. Then the guard explained to a thoroughly frustrated Ernie why they couldn’t go looking for Molloy and her friends.
“Not my job,” the guard said staunchly. “Campus and campus personnel only, that’s my territory. Your friends, they’re not students here.”
“Well, they will be, if they ever get here!” Ernie cried. “They’re already preregistered for the math session. Doesn’t that count?”
“Not as far as I know,” the guard insisted stubbornly. “They don’t become my responsibility until they show up on campus. Sorry, fella, but with everything that’s going on around here tonight, I wouldn’t dare leave, anyway. Got a murder on our hands, y’know.”
“Would I be this worried if I didn’t know? Okay, then, if you won’t help me look, at least use your radio to find out if Officer Reardon found anything at Nightm … Nightingale Hall. He was on his way there after he dropped me off at my dorm. Call, okay?”
The guard made the call. Talked for a few minutes. Replaced his radio. “No one’s talked to Reardon,” he said. “I just talked to Officer Sloane. He said Reardon’s probably still checking the house and grounds.”
Ernie was aghast. “Reardon dropped me off a long time ago. He should have been back on campus by now if there wasn’t anything there. Is Sloane sending someone else to see what’s going on down there?”
“No reason to.” The guard’s voice was maddeningly calm. “Look, kid, like I said, we’ve got our hands full here. We’re handling it. Relax, okay?”
“Relax?” Ernie threw the car door open. Rain assaulted him. “A killer’s on the loose out there, my friends are missing, and what you’re telling me is that you don’t intend to do anything about it.”
“Can’t. Sorry. Doing my part right here on campus. You need town police, maybe the state police. Might try calling them.”
“I can’t,” Ernie bit off angrily, “the phones are out. Thanks for nothing.” He got out of the car, slamming the door much harder than necessary.
Tanner Leo’s words kept ringing in his ears as he slopped through puddles. “If I were going to look for a fugitive, I know where I’d look. Nightmare Hall.”
No one had heard from Reardon?
That seemed almost as dire as no word from Molloy. At least with Molloy, he could blame no word from her on the state of the phones. But Reardon had his radio.
Why hadn’t he used it by now?
Maybe … maybe he couldn’t.
The possibility of Reardon, a trained police officer, discovering something at the off-campus dorm that he’d been unable to deal with, turned Ernie’s steps in the direction of his dorm. He was going to Nightmare Hall. Someone had to. But he wasn’t going empty-handed. He’d find something in his room … a hammer, one of his weights, anything, to use as protection.
Simon and Elise were waiting for him, sitting on the floor outside his room, playing cards. Arthur Banks was with them. All three looked like drowned rats.
“I thought you guys would be long gone,” Ernie said, unlocking the door to let them in. “When’d you get here, Arthur?”
“He just got here,” Elise said, getting up. “So did we. Simon and I ate, and then came back up here to wait for you. We finally gave up. I went to bed and Simon went up to Arthur’s room to see if he could camp out there.”
“I wasn’t there,” Arthur filled in as they all trooped into Ernie’s room. “I was downstairs in the computer room until the electricity started acting weird. It’s still on, but it’s very shaky. Wouldn’t be surprised if everything went black all of a sudden.”
“We wanted to know about Molloy,” Elise said as Ernie quickly changed into dry clothes and scanned the room looking for something to use as a weapon. “I guess you didn’t find her yet. Where have you been all this time?”
“With the cops.” He could use one of his weights, maybe. They packed a wallop. “They seemed to think I might have been the one who decimated Dr. Leo’s skull.”
“I can’t believe the cops thought it was you, Ernie,” Elise said. “Everyone knows you wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Everyone but the cops,” Ernie said, hefting the weight. Seemed about right. Could he actually hit someone with it if he had to? Elise was right about him. But if someone was threatening Molloy, well, that was different.
“So I guess they didn’t find that guy yet?” Simon asked.
“Guess not. It’s my bet they’re not looking in the right place. I think he’s at Nightmare Hall.”
All three stared at him.
“Nightmare Hall?” Simon shook his head, “What makes you think that?”
“It’s isolated; it’s off-campus. He wouldn’t want to hang around campus, not after what he did … and Tanner Leo said it’s empty now. The perfect hideout, if you ask me. A police officer went to check the place out, and he hasn’t come back yet. Or radioed in. I’m going down there.”
“You talked to Tanner Leo?” Arthur said, sounding astonished. “Tonight?”
“I had to. I know it’s not the best time, but I had to know if she had any idea who killed her father and where he might have gone,”
“Did she?” Simon’s voice didn’t register disapproval as Arthur’s had. “Does she know who did it?”
“No. But she’s the one who suggested Nightmare Hall. I would have been there by now if I didn’t look like the criminal type. It’s the long hair, I guess.”
“So, were the police questioning Tanner?” Arthur asked. “I mean, she and her father weren’t exactly the best of friends, from what I hear. And who says it had to be a guy who killed him?”
“We already had that discussion, Arthur,” Elise said, getting to her feet. “We all agree it could have been female. But it wasn’t Tanner. Tanner Leo wouldn’t hurt anyone, not even her jerk of a father. She’s not like that.” To Ernie, she said, “We’re coming to Nightmare Hall with you. If the killer is there, you can’t go in there alone. That’s nuts.”
“Oh, right.” Ernie glared at her. “Let’s get a bunch of people together and go trooping up the driveway in plain sight. Then, we’d certainly catch him by surprise, wouldn’t we?”
Elise looked hurt.
“Sorry,” Ernie amended quickly. “Look, there’s something else I’d rather have you do. There’s this cop on campus, Officer Sloane. Middle-aged, balding, bushy eyebrows. He was at the infirmary, but he’s probably left there by now. See if you can find him. If you do, tell him I lied about my alibi, and got my roommate to lie, too. Tell him you know I did it.”
Elise looked at him with a blank expression on her face. “Did what?”
“Killed Dr. Leo,” Ernie answered impatiently.
“Ernie!” Arthur, his mouth full of chocolate-covered raisins, swallowed. “You want us to lie to the cops?”
“You have to. Tell them I’ve gone to Nightmare Hall. Because … because I heard the housemother hid money in the house, and I needed money to get away. Or make something up, I don’t care. Just get the cops down there, and fast!”
“This is not a good idea, Ernie,” Simon said, his eyes on the weight in Ernie’s hand. “Gotta be a better way.”
“There isn’t. And I’ve wasted too much time already. Maybe Molloy isn’t in that house. Maybe she isn’t anywhere near it. It’s not like I have any reason to believe that she is. But she could be, and I’m pretty sure he is. There’s only one way to find out for sure.”
“Well, you’re not going without me.” Simon went to the door, leaned against it, “Elise and Arthur can go find Officer Sloane. Me, I’m tagging along. Won’t do me any good to be pitching like a champ if I’m missing my second baseman.”
Ernie knew Simon meant it. The truth was, he was grateful. Reardon had gone to Nightmare Hall alone, and no one had heard from him since. It would be dumb to go into that place alone.
“Do you really think you can get through?” Elise asked as they all left the room. “I mean, the radio announcer said that the highway was closed between campus and town. That parts of it were flooded.”
“Well,” Simon joked, “we’ll only walk on the parts that aren’t flooded.”
The last thing Elise said to them as they parted outside of Devereaux was, “We’ll find Officer Sloane, Ernie. I promise. And we’ll make him go down there. Good luck.”
“We’ll need it,” Ernie muttered, and then he and Simon loped off across campus toward the highway.
Chapter 20
THREE DOWN, ONE TO go.
It’s so deliciously ironic that they tried to keep me from leaving. Me! Putting that dresser in front of the staircase door. As if that would stop me. A puny piece of furniture. What a joke.
It’s only a few steps from that staircase to the cellar door leading to my outside exit. I’ve been going in and out the whole time, and they never knew it.
Hell, the cops aren’t even close. Still checking the dorms. That’ll take them forever. Lucky for me.
Even if my last little victim tried the cellar door, it wouldn’t do her any good. I lock it from the inside whenever I go downstairs and, when I come back up, I lock it from the outside and pocket the key.
Meanwhile, I’m free to go wherever I want. Unlike the little pigeon hiding in the library, with her wings clipped.
If she had half a brain, she’d have been long gone. Wouldn’t leave her friends, though. How disgustingly loyal of her. I’ve never had friends who came anywhere close to that degree of loyalty. Wonder what it’s like to have friends like that? Friends who don’t turn on you, friends who wouldn’t even think of deserting or betraying you. What is that like?
Dangerous; at least in her case. Very dangerous.
I wonder how long it will take all of them to figure out who killed Dr. Leo?
I’ll be long gone by then.
Long gone.
But first …
Chapter 21
MOLLOY HAD NO IDEA how long she crouched behind the couch waiting for Daisy to return. She had no sense of time. But after a while, the image of herself hunkered down in hiding made her stomach lurch in revulsion.
You’re planning on putting yourself through college with no help from anyone? she asked herself in scorn. Where exactly are you going to get the courage for that, if this is the best you can do?
I’m the only one of us in this house who’s still standing, she thought, getting to her feet. The folds of her long, wet skirt stuck to the carpet, and she had to tug on them. Lynne needs me. Toni needs me. And I’m not doing them any good curled up in here like a scared rabbit.
Daisy had done something. Daisy had gone for help. Until she returned, Molloy Book was the only hope for Lynne and Toni. A very scary thought. But true.
She had no flashlight. The house was very dark. She knew her way around a little, but she needed to see. Would there be a candle in the kitchen?
Her feet were freezing.
She would make her way to the kitchen, run into the bedroom and get a pair of socks, and then hunt for a candle and something to light it with. The stove, maybe. If it wasn’t electric.
Where was he now? Upstairs? Downstairs? In the cellar? Her ears strained for the slightest sound. She heard nothing but the wind howling around the house outside, and the fainter sound of steady rain assaulting the windows.
In the kitchen, she had to fight against the overwhelming urge to climb through the broken window, as Daisy had. Molloy had never wanted anything as much as she wanted to leave that house, run as far away from it as she could, until she was totally, completely safe. Her eyes went to the back door. There was something so terrifying about knowing that she couldn’t simply walk over to it and yank it open. That it was locked against her, making her a prisoner.
She went into the bedroom for a pair of socks.
And slammed, in the darkness, into something huge and solid. It knocked the breath out of her and she stumbled backward, almost falling. Catching herself in time, she felt with her hands to see what the thing was.
The dresser. The ugly old dresser that she and Daisy had struggled to move against the door to the back staircase, to barricade it.
What was it doing in the middle of the room?
Oh, no! He had moved it. Shoved it out of his way somehow, so he could enter the first floor.
Was he down here now? Where? In the closet? Under the bed? Behind a door somewhere?
Molloy listened again. Nothing. If he was down here, he was being very, very quiet. Hiding somewhere, quiet as a spider. A poisonous one.
Lynne had probably never even known what hit her. Someone must have come up behind her quietly, stealthily. Toni, too, probably hadn’t sensed what was coming before she flew out that window.
That’s not going to happen to me, Molloy thought with fresh resolve. She stood up very straight. She grabbed a dry pair of socks and sat on the bed to pull them on. Stood up again. Having warm, dry feet was amazingly comforting. No one, she thought
again, is going to sneak up behind me. I’m not going to let that happen. I’m not sure how I’ll keep it from happening, but I will.
What she wanted most was to run up the stairs to the attic and make sure Lynne was still breathing. And then race through the house opening every door in a search for Toni.
Some sense of self-preservation kept her from doing either of those things. She’d be making herself too available to him. She had to stay alive for Lynne and Toni’s sake. And for her own, of course. The best way to do that seemed to be to stay in one place and defend it in every way she could think of.
For that, she needed light. And for light, she had to go into the kitchen. Where he might be hiding behind a door or under the table or in some dark corner.
She went slowly, lifting her feet without making a sound, feeling with her hands to avoid bumping into anything, her head constantly swiveling from side to side, her ears listening for the sound of breathing that wasn’t her own. She heard and saw nothing.
Once inside the kitchen, she had to fumble through four kitchen drawers before she found two stubby white candles. She lit them from the stove burners, which were gas, after all, and set them on saucers from the cupboard. Her hands were shaking the whole time, her ears straining for the slightest noise from above or behind her, and every second she had to fight a strong urge to jump from the kitchen window into freedom. Only thoughts of Lynne and Toni kept her from doing so.
Besides, she told herself, seeking even the tiniest bit of comfort, he moved the dresser. Maybe he did that so he could leave the house. He could have seen the window they’d broken and climbed out through it. He could be long gone now.
When she had the candles lit, one stationed on the round wooden table at the far end of the kitchen, the other on the kitchen counter at her end, she felt better.
The candlelight allowed her to move about more freely. The all-white kitchen was long and narrow, the table and chairs at one end, the cabinets and appliances at the other, the floor worn linoleum. There were three interior doors in the room. Cautiously, carefully, Molloy checked out each of them. One opened into a pantry, sparsely stocked with a few cans and some paper goods. Another door housed an oversized washer and dryer, and Molloy guessed that the third wooden door had to lead to the cellar.