by Diane Hoh
Maxie turned to stare at her with sickened eyes.
“Maxie? What’s wrong?”
Maxie moved aside to let Erica see.
When the full effect of the sight and smell had hit her, Erica’s hand flew up to cover her mouth and nose. “Oh, no,” she breathed. “Our tea …” and then, her face draining of color, “oh, God, if my mother sees this … !”
But she recovered quickly. Turning, she ran to the phone to summon the caterer back to the house. “Keep everyone out of the kitchen,” she whispered frantically to Maxie as she dialed. “Don’t let anyone in, especially my mother. Make a speech, do a song-and-dance routine, stand on your head, I don’t care what you do, but keep them out of this room!”
Still stunned and shaken, Maxie returned to the living room, where everyone had just returned from their walk. Joan Bingham, Erica’s mother, sat alone in a corner, complaining loudly about being “famished” and asking repeatedly where her daughter was. Candie’s mother sat in the center of the room. The subject of her humorous stories had switched from her hairdresser to her own past, some twenty-two years ago, at Omega house.
I’ll bet, Maxie thought numbly as she joined the group, she’s not going to say that back then things were stolen out of the rooms, or that one day they found the refrigerator shelves piled high with smelly garbage.
How had that happened? Why would someone do something so ugly? When had they done it? Had to have been after the caterer’s staff left. The kitchen would have been deserted, at least for a little while.
Maxie glanced around the room, wondering why no one saw in her face that she was upset. Was she that good an actress? Or was it just that everyone was raptly listening to Allison Barre, who spoke of sorority life with great affection and enthusiasm.
“It was perfect,” Allison said wistfully, “absolutely perfect. The four happiest years of my life.” Then she remembered Candie and added hastily, “Until my darling daughter here came along, of course.” Candie flushed as her mother patted her hand. “And now she’s getting her chance to have the most wonderful time of her life. And you know, it doesn’t end when you leave school. Your sisterhood goes on forever. Sorority activities still keep me very, very busy. These lovely girls, Candie,” glancing around the room approvingly, “will be a part of your life even when you’re old and gray, right, Joan?”
Erica’s mother drew her lips together in a thin, straight line. “Doesn’t look to me like you ever intend to be gray, Allie. All I know is when we were here,” Mrs. Bingham added disapprovingly, “tea was served on time.”
“Oh, Joan, lighten up! Have a cracker or something.” Dismissing Joan Bingham, Allison began a new story about a dance held at the house when she was president.
Maxie wasn’t listening. She was watching out the living room window for the caterer’s truck.
Tinker came over and sat on the floor beside Maxie’s chair. “You okay?” she asked. “You look like you just witnessed an autopsy.” Tinker was premed.
So, I’m not that great an actress, was Maxie’s reaction. No wonder I wasn’t in drama in high school like just about everybody else in this room. She was suddenly very grateful to Allison Barre. If the woman hadn’t had everyone so enthralled, they’d all be asking Maxie what was wrong. And what would she say?
“Tell you later,” she answered briefly, and saw the caterer’s truck pull into the driveway. Had Erica had time to remove the disgusting mess in the frig? She’ll have to give the caterer some reason for all that work being useless, Maxie thought. Would she tell the truth?
But she knew even as she thought it that Erica wouldn’t. She’d invent some story for the disaster, knowing that the caterer served other sorority houses as well as their own, and that people were more likely to pass on bad news than good. Omega Phi’s president wouldn’t be willing to take that chance.
Maxie hurried into the kitchen.
The small catering staff was already bustling about in the kitchen, dour looks on their faces. A large black plastic bag, bulging at the seams and pinched at the neck by a twist-tie, leaned against the back door. Erica must have done a thorough job, Maxie thought as she offered to help.
A tall, thin woman in white nodded. “You can take those plates in,” she said, and muttered something under her breath.
As Maxie picked up the plates, she murmured to Erica, who was gathering a handful of silverware, “If she’d brought the whole staff back, it would go faster.”
“She did bring the whole staff back,” Erica whispered. “That’s what she’s complaining about. She has to pay them all double time.” She sighed. “So, of course, we’re going to have to pay her twice, too. After all, that mess in the frig wasn’t her fault.”
“She did not bring the whole staff back,” Maxie disagreed as the two headed for the dining room with their burdens. “There’s one missing. That older woman with gray hair. Reminded me of my Aunt Minnie. She was in the pantry when I was downstairs earlier.”
Erica frowned. “There wasn’t any older woman, Max. There were only three of them, and none of them had gray hair.”
Maxie shook her head. “I saw her, Erica,” She set the plates on a corner of the dining room table. “She was wearing white, just like the others.”
“I don’t know who you saw, Maxie, but it wasn’t a member of the catering staff.”
Then the food was brought in, everyone was invited into the dining room, and Maxie was left wondering if she could have imagined the elderly woman in white in the pantry.
She hadn’t actually seen the woman’s face. When she had entered the pantry to grab a bag of chips, the woman was standing with her back to the door. Maxie had said hello, and although the woman had answered pleasantly enough, she hadn’t turned around. Her face had been aimed toward the shelves and wasn’t visible. Maxie had seen a white uniform, gray hair worn in a bun, covered with a hair net, and a pair of sensible white shoes like her Aunt Minnie, a nurse, wore.
But she hadn’t seen the woman’s face.
If you were standing somewhere and someone came up behind you and said hello, wouldn’t you automatically turn your head to see who it was?
Sure you would.
Maxie took a seat at the table, between Candie and Joan Bingham, who was complaining loudly about the delay. “When I lived in this house,” she said in a thin, high-pitched voice, “the teas we held were served at four o’clock sharp.” She directed a disapproving glance at her red-faced daughter, seated on her right.
“It couldn’t be helped, Mother,” Erica said meekly. “I’m sorry. After you came all this way …”
Maxie glanced at Erica in surprise. She sounded so totally unlike herself. They were all used to Erica making plans in a voice that was self-confident and optimistic. This Erica, ‘ so apologetic, so embarrassed, was foreign to all of them.
“It wasn’t Erica’s fault,” Maxie couldn’t help saying. “Something — ”
She had been about to say, “Something happened,” when Erica cut her off sharply, silencing Maxie with a desperate look.
“It’s nothing,” Erica said hastily, passing her mother a basket of rolls. “Really, I just screwed up. I apologize to everyone. Now, let’s just enjoy, okay?”
Joan Bingham fell silent and began eating, to everyone’s relief, and after a tense, uneasy moment or two, everyone else did the same.
Erica is scared to death that her mother will find out what really happened, Maxie told herself, wielding a butter knife with an expert touch. She could get herself off the hook so easily by telling her mother the truth. No one could blame Erica for what happened in the kitchen. Why isn’t she being honest?
She asked Erica that, the first chance she had. The mothers had left, and everyone else had scattered to their rooms to get ready for dates or to study. Maxie found Erica in the kitchen, sweeping the floor.
“Erica,” she began, “why didn’t you tell anyone about the frig? You let everyone think you screwed up, and you didn’t.”
Maxie nodded. “Right. What happened wasn’t your fault. She couldn’t have blamed you for that mess on the shelves.”
Erica stopped sweeping. She leaned against the counter. The expression on her square, attractive face was serious as she addressed Maxie in a low voice. “I know you think my mother is a shrew,” she said. “Everyone does.”
Before Maxie could protest, Erica added quickly, “But she wasn’t always like that. Like you saw her today, I mean. She used to be tons of fun, happy and laughing, like Candie’s mother. I know she was really popular in college, and that always made sense to me, because she was so …so fun.” The blue eyes were full of regret as Erica added, “But when my dad died, she changed. Became overprotective. Because I’m all she’s got left, I guess. Calls me all the time, writes constantly, nagging me about dressing properly and taking vitamins, that kind of stuff. So,” Erica resumed sweeping again, her movements careless and absentminded, “if she knew that something had been taken from my room, and then returned, if she knew about the mess in the frig, she’d yank me out of this house, yank me out of college, probably. Make me come home and live with her, where I’d be ‘safe.’ ” Erica’s shoulders moved in a shudder. “I couldn’t stand that.”
Maxie ran a hand through her dark curls. Her mind fought against Erica’s words. “You don’t think this house is safe?” Jenna had implied the same thing. But Erica … Erica was Omega Phi’s president. If she didn’t believe they were safe …
Erica stopped sweeping again to glance at Maxie. “Someone,” she said slowly, carefully, “has been in this house twice in the past week. Someone who had no business being here. Someone who was up to no good. Does that sound safe to you, Maxie?”
Chapter 5
AS SHE RETURNED TO her room, Maxie thought about what Erica had said. She was overreacting, wasn’t she? It wasn’t as if anyone had been hurt. No poison in their cucumber sandwiches, no knife-wielding maniac running up and down the halls, no one had been thrown down the wide, curving stairs with the thick wooden railing.
Maxie jumped when the phone shrilled. Then, shaking herself sternly, she picked up the receiver.
It was Brendan.
“Where are you?” she asked abruptly.
“I’m at Vinnie’s. I thought you might like to meet me for pizza.”
“Is Jenna with you?” Maxie had to ask.
“Jenna? No. She had a paper to write, so she headed for the library. Why?”
Their canoe ride hadn’t led to anything else. Good. “No reason. I just wondered.” She was suddenly starving. She hadn’t eaten much at the tea.
Maxie took the local shuttle bus to Vinnie’s, a favorite pizza hangout, which was only a few minutes from campus. Brendan was sitting alone in a booth at the back when Maxie walked in. When they had ordered, she told him about the strange things that had been happening at Omega house.
When their pizza arrived, hot and gooey, Brendan was still trying to make sense of it. “I don’t get it,” he said, carefully picking up a slice of tomatoey crust. “Someone stole something but gave it back? Someone filled your frig with garbage?”
Maxie nodded.
“Maybe it’s that creepy gardener of yours,” Brendan suggested. “Sounds like the kind of stunt he’d pull to rattle your cages. Did anyone check him out before they hired him?”
“Tom Tuttle? Mildred probably did. Or the university. Anyway, he’s creepy, but I haven’t seen him inside the house, and if Erica had, she’d have told me. And why would Tom Tuttle take something from one of the rooms and then send it back by messenger?”
Brendan shrugged and wiped tomato sauce from his mouth with a paper napkin. “Why would anyone? Just to let you know they’d been in the house, I guess. Like I said, to rattle your cage.”
“That’s mean. I don’t know anyone that creepy.”
“Sure you do. We all do. We just don’t know it, because they’re creepy enough to hide it.” Brendan smiled the smile that had won Maxie’s heart. “Creepy people don’t walk around with signs hanging around their necks saying, ‘Don’t trust me, I’m creepy.’ ”
Maxie laughed, and reached for a slice of pizza.
“So,” Brendan said casually, “you going to move back to the dorm or what?”
“I’m not moving anywhere,” Maxie said firmly, taking a healthy bite of cheese-and-tomato-sauced crust. “Omega house is where I live now. No one’s chasing me out with some stupid stunts.”
“Then you’d better think about tightening security around that place,” Brendan said, his voice grim. “You just told me someone’s been getting into the place without anyone raising an eyebrow. Maybe he’s just pulling ‘stupid stunts’ now, but if you don’t do something to keep him out, who knows what he’ll do next?”
Maxie put her pizza back on her plate. Brendan sounded just like Jenna. “Who knows what he’ll do next?” Wasn’t that exactly what Erica had been afraid to say out loud?
Seeing that he had upset her, Brendan added quickly, “It’s probably someone you guys didn’t let into the inner sanctum. You know, someone who didn’t make it into Omega Phi. I guess that’s worse than death to some girls, crazy as that sounds. I don’t get it, myself. What’s the big deal about some silly Greek letters.”
Maxie toyed with a fork as Brendan’s suggestion registered. “Someone we rushed and then didn’t accept?”
“There must be a whole bunch of girls on this campus you guys didn’t take,” Brendan said. “Maybe one of them is a lot unhappier about it than the others. She could be out to make you all as miserable as you made her.”
Maxie thought about that for a moment. Two girls in particular came to mind: Isabella Sands and Holly Dukes. Both had been shocked when they hadn’t made it into Omega Phi, and neither had made any secret of her feelings. Isabella had accosted Maxie on campus, angrily questioning her, and Holly had phoned Erica more than once to demand an explanation. But Isabella had a nasty disposition and a habit of spreading rumors about people, while Holly was painfully shy, almost withdrawn. Still, she had seemed very determined to become an Omega Phi Delta.
Maxie had heard that the vote was unanimous in both cases. Not Omega Phi material.
I got in and they didn’t, Maxie thought now. Am I going to pay for that?
Brendan insisted on driving her back to the house in his car. Maxie had an uneasy feeling that he didn’t want her going back to Omega house alone.
Tomorrow she would ask Erica about Tom Tuttle. How long had he worked at Omega house? Where had he come from? He didn’t have a criminal record, did he?
She could only hope that Erica would have the answers to those questions.
And maybe it wouldn’t hurt to talk to Isabella and Holly, too. See if they still seemed as angry about being rejected by the sorority of their choice. She already knew they hadn’t been pledged to any other sorority. They were both still living at Lester, one floor above Jenna.
“Look,” Brendan said solemnly before he kissed her good night, “I don’t want to get all crazed about this, but if this funny business keeps up, promise me you’ll think about moving back to Lester, okay? At least until this stuff blows over? Jenna has room for you. She didn’t get a new roommate yet.”
The two of them had talked about her? Maxie flushed angrily, and her good-night kiss was cooler than usual.
Brendan didn’t seem to notice. “See you tomorrow,” he said. “Lock your door, okay?” And he loped down the steps and over to his car, where he stopped and watched to make sure she was safely inside. Only then did he leave.
The house was quiet, the big living room empty, the television off. Muted sounds of music and conversation and running water floated down from upstairs. The weekend was winding down. Her sisters were getting ready for the new week.
Maxie sighed as she start
ed up the wide, curving staircase. This week had to be better than the weekend.
She stopped in to see Erica before going to her own room. The sorority president was lying on her bed, but she sat up when Maxie entered. Her face was very pale and strained-looking.
“Tinker thought we should call the police,” she said as Maxie sat down on the bed beside her. “But I hate that idea. We’ve never had them here before. We can handle this ourselves, at least for now.”
“Brendan thinks maybe it’s someone we rejected. Someone we didn’t pledge.”
Horror filled Erica’s square, strong face. “You told Brendan? Maxie, how could you? I thought we agreed to keep this quiet! Do you want every sorority on campus gossiping about us?”
“He won’t tell anyone,” Maxie said with more confidence than she felt. He wouldn’t, would he? Maybe Jenna … so they could both agree that Maxie was foolish to stay at Omega house. Feeling suddenly disloyal to Brendan, she quickly added, “Besides, Erica, maybe he’s got a point. It could be someone we turned down. Someone who’s angry with us.”
Calming down, Erica nodded. “Maybe you’re right. I’ll go over the list tomorrow. Maybe I’ll talk to those girls, sound them out. See if I can tell if any of them might be angry enough to sneak in here and try to get even with us.” Then she added thoughtfully, “Some people don’t take rejection well at all.”
Feeling much better, as she always did when action was being taken, Maxie said good night and headed back to her own room.
But as she passed Candie’s room, the door standing open, she saw Candie standing in the middle of the room, her hands clasped together, tears streaming down her cheeks, wet hair spilling over her shoulders.
Maxie’s first reaction was, Oh, no, what now? But then Candie became her concern, and she hurried over to her roommate’s side. “Candie? What’s wrong?”
“My ring is gone. The ring Dylan gave me.” Candie’s boyfriend, Dylan Pierce, was miles away at an Ivy League college, but they kept in constant touch by mail and phone. Maxie knew the ring, a plain gold band with Candie’s birthstone, a tiny ruby, set in the center, was the most important piece of jewelry Candie owned. The only time it left the ring finger of her left hand was when she showered. She was terrified that it would slip off her hand and disappear down a watery drain.