by Diane Hoh
He was properly sympathetic, said he understood, and he’d call her later.
She felt guilty when she replaced the receiver, but she also felt relieved that they hadn’t got into another why-don’t-you-leave-that-dangerous-place-immediately argument. She wasn’t in the mood.
She didn’t tell Jenna the whole truth when she called later that night, either. But Jenna was much more suspicious. “What do you mean, you turned your ankle? Turned it into what?”
“Into a black-and-blue, swollen mess, that’s what.”
“How? And does this mean you’re going to be out of commission all weekend?”
“I … I fell in the basement.” That was almost true. Except the correct word would have been “into” the basement. “And yeah, it does mean I’m pretty much stuck in my bed.”
“Well, I’ll just saunter on over there, then, keep you company. What are friends for?”
“No!” Maxie immediately regretted shouting out the word. But Jenna was much too aware, too smart, to be allowed inside Omega house now. The minute she saw how gloomy everyone was, how oddly quiet the place was, she’d know in a second that something was very, very wrong. Besides, someone might accidentally let the truth slip out. “I mean, that’s really sweet of you, but I hit my head, too, and I’ve got this excruciating headache, so I’m just going to sleep, okay?”
There was a hurt silence on the other end of the line. Then, stiffly, “Yeah, sure I get it. Not to worry. Sleep it off, okay? I’m sure all your sisters will be tending to your every whim, just like sisters should. Talk to you later.” And Jenna hung up.
She doesn’t believe me, Maxie thought as the line went dead. She probably doesn’t even believe I actually hurt my ankle.
Some people seemed to lie so easily. Other people, like Maximilia McKeon, were lousy at it. Had to be a genetic thing.
By Monday, Maxie was able to hobble around the upstairs hall, gingerly limping along on her Ace-bandaged ankle.
She was passing Candie’s room, the door open, when she heard from behind the closed door, “I just want to know where you were Saturday night, that’s all. Humor me, okay, Graham? Just tell me?”
Maxie rapped on the door.
Candie, the phone to her ear, waved her inside. “Alone?” she said into the phone. “You went to the movies alone Saturday night? What did you see?”
Maxie sank gratefully into Candie’s desk chair, propping her injured ankle up on the edge of the bed.
“No, this isn’t an inquisition. I’m taking a survey … on what students do on weekends, that’s all. For … for soc class. It’s due this morning.” Candie grinned at Maxie. Then she listened for a few seconds, and said, “Just because I called you for my survey, Graham, doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind about going out with you. Like I said before, when there’s a nuclear war and you’re the only other human being left on earth, not a minute before. Thanks for the info.” She hung up, a satisfied smile on her face.
“You shouldn’t be so rude to him, Candie. I saw how angry he was with you that day on campus. He’s got a temper, and you’re just baiting him.”
“It doesn’t matter now.” Candie sat down on the bed, careful to avoid jarring Maxie’s ankle. “Listen,” she said eagerly, “I knew Graham never went to the Tri-Delt party because I called over there and asked. Suzy Cummings said he wasn’t there, she was positive. So I wanted to know where he was, right? So I called him. He said he went to a movie, by himself. Have you ever in your life seen Graham Lucas anywhere alone? Except when he’s driving me nuts, I mean?”
“No.” It was true. Graham didn’t seem to like being alone. He was always with a bunch of friends, but never by himself.
“Me, either. And I don’t believe for a second that he went to the movies alone Saturday night. Which means,” Candie said triumphantly, “that he could have been here.”
“Here?”
“You said the phony Tia Maria was tall and had wide shoulders, right? Well, Graham’s tall and has wide shoulders. Why couldn’t it have been him?”
“Candie, why would Graham want to hurt me?”
“It’s not you he wanted to hurt,” Candie said impatiently. “It’s this sorority. When I first started turning him down, I used stuff that was going on here as an excuse. It really made him mad after a while. He started making cracks about this place, about how we all stuck together and didn’t want anyone else in our lives. Like …like he was jealous.”
Just like Brendan, Maxie thought. And even Jenna.
She thought about that for a minute. Graham behind all that makeup and cranberry-colored hair? Possible. He was the right size.
“I’m going to nose around,” Candie promised. “See if I can find out anything about Graham that we could take to the police. Want to help?”
Maxie shook her head. “I’m no detective. Let the police handle it, Candie. If Graham is the person who pretended to be Tia Maria, he’s dangerous.” Remembering that iron grip on her wrist as she hung suspended in the laundry chute, she shuddered. “Stay away from him, Candie. Promise me.”
“Okay, okay, relax!”
Maxie suppressed a wild urge to laugh. Relax? Relax?
Not in this house.
Chapter 17
THE HOUSE PAINTERS ARRIVED early on Monday morning, setting up an intricate scaffolding system on one side of the house. A thick wooden platform supported by fat white crisscrossed rungs resembling monkey bars in a playground, it held the painters high above the ground as they scraped away the old paint. When Maxie arrived home and sat in the kitchen soaking her throbbing ankle, she found the sound of their tools comforting. As Mildred had said, having people outside, especially people who had been carefully checked out by the university security force, made her feel safer. Who would be stupid enough to try anything with half a dozen men and women surrounding the house?
The person who had chased her through the house and sent her into that laundry chute was not that stupid. Disguising his or her true identity as Tia Maria had been a stroke of brilliance, as far as Maxie was concerned. Crazy, yes, stupid, no.
Erica had called a meeting for after dinner. When they were all seated on couches, chairs, and the floor in the living room, she asked if anyone had any idea who might be tormenting the residents of the Omega Phi house.
“The messenger who returned our stolen property was the real thing,” she said in a somber tone of voice, “but none of the other people who’ve visited the house lately were. The doctor, the first exterminator, and the hairdresser, were all fakes. And,” glancing at Maxie, sitting with her foot propped up on the edge of Tinker’s chair, “Maxie thinks there was a phony catering staff member, too. This is no joke, guys, and we need to come up with some answers. Any ideas, anybody?”
“A bunch of girls we rushed, but didn’t pledge?” Candie suggested. “They could have formed their own nasty little club and worked out a sick plan of revenge.”
“Right,” Tinker agreed. “I know how that feels. You get all excited and have all these fantasies about what it will be like to be an Omega, and then boom! you find out you didn’t measure up, after all. You lay awake nights wondering what you did wrong … ” Seeing Maxie’s shocked gaze on her, Tinker flushed and added quickly, “That’s why I was so happy when I did get in. But there are lots of others who didn’t.”
I never knew she felt that way, Maxie was thinking. She never told me.
Erica nodded. “We’ve already thought of that, and the police have that list. As you all know, I was dead set against involving the police, but I have to admit now it was the right thing to do. They’re checking out those girls now. Anyone else have any ideas? Anybody dump a boyfriend lately? Especially a dumpee who didn’t take it very well? He might have enlisted the aid of some of his friends.”
Everyone looked in Candie’s direction.
“I didn’t dump Graham,” she protested. “I …discouraged him. Not the same thing at all. Besides,” she added with a derisive laugh, “Graham
Lucas is afraid of his own shadow. That’s why he hangs out in groups most of the time.”
But Maxie was remembering the argument she’d witnessed on campus between Candie and Graham. He hadn’t looked the least bit afraid. He’d looked angry. Very angry.
“There’s another possibility,” Tinker volunteered. “We all know that some people on campus think we’re snobs. We’ve all heard comments. They think we look down on anyone who isn’t in a fraternity or sorority. Maybe one of us has a friend from before we pledged who feels left out now and is angry about it.”
Maxie felt her cheeks grow warm as images of Brendan and Jenna flew into her mind. But Brendan was okay with her sorority life now, wasn’t he? And Jenna would never, never hurt anyone. Or would she?
“I know you guys don’t want to think that way,” Tinker added softly, “but Cath and Maxie both could have been killed. Think about that, okay? Nothing can happen while the house is being painted, with the painters here all the time, but when they’re done … ”
They all knew only too well that once the painters left, they’d be on their own again.
“Well,” Erica finished, “if any of you come up with someone you think the police should be checking out, let me know, okay? It’s important. For all of us.”
“Besides,” Tinker pointed out as they all got up and pushed their chairs in, “the painters leave at seven o’clock every day. That means we’re fair game from seven on.”
“The police are stepping up their patrols from seven to eleven,” Erica said. “But it’s still up to us to come up with some answers about who’s doing this. Put your thinking caps on, okay, and don’t let your loyalty to friends or old boyfriends get in the way. We all have to think about what’s best for our sisters.”
Maxie knew Erica was right. Maybe, she thought then, I should tell someone about the wig I found in Jenna’s bathroom.
But Jenna had explained that. Little Orphan Annie, right? That wig certainly wasn’t the one the phony Tia Maria had been wearing, anyway. Although, if you knew where to get one wig, you could get another. You could always dye it a cranberry color yourself.
During the evenings all that week, the house emptied out the minute the painting crew had gone. No one was keen on staying in the house during those hours when their mock security force had left for the day. Suddenly, the library or Vinnie’s or Burgers Etc. or the radio station in the Tower or a friend’s dorm room or the mall seemed infinitely safer than Omega house.
But Maxie’s ankle was too swollen after a day of hobbling around campus to allow her to leave the house. If Tinker didn’t stay home and keep her company, Erica or Candie did. Sometimes all three stayed, and they ate popcorn and Oreos and studied and talked and laughed and played music, just as if their lives hadn’t been turned upside down.
Maxie would try to pretend that life was just as it had been ever since she moved into Omega house. Nothing had changed. All of that had just been a bad nightmare, and now it was over.
But it didn’t work. There was always a reminder, like her throbbing ankle, or the ruby ring on Candie’s finger or the pearl earrings Erica was wearing, or the hot rollers sitting out on the dresser, reminding her of the fake Tia Maria.
The nightmare wasn’t over.
The police had found no fingerprints in Maxie and Tinker’s room. Tia Maria had worn plastic gloves.
Jenna and Brendan were on the list Maxie had given to the police, the list of people who knew about everything that had happened and knew about Tia Maria. She hadn’t wanted to write down their names. But they knew. So she’d had no choice.
Would the police question them? They’d be angry, knowing they might be suspects. Graham Lucas wouldn’t like it, either. But he was on those lists, too.
Wednesday, she was trudging across campus against a chilly, late-March wind, when Charlie Donovan flagged her down near the fountain on the commons.
“Seen Brendan?” he asked. His round, freckled face was red with cold.
“No.” She’d hardly talked to Brendan at all since the night of the Tri-Delt party. He had called her on Sunday and said he was busy with arrangements for an April Fool’s party scheduled for that Friday night in the student center. It was being sponsored by the Young Democrats club on campus. Brendan was the group’s vice president. He had said he probably wouldn’t have much time to party, but he’d take her home. She hadn’t talked to him since.
She could hardly complain about how busy he was now, when she’d disappointed him so many times because of sorority activities.
“How was your sister’s engagement party?” she asked as she and Charlie began to walk toward the dining hall at Lester, intent on lunch.
“Beats me,” he said. “I never got there. Boy, was my mom on the warpath when she found out I wasn’t going to make it. You’d think I’d done it on purpose.”
Maxie’s steps slowed. “You didn’t go to the party? But I thought Brendan was taking you.”
“He was.” Charlie held the door to Lester open for Maxie. “Good old Brendan was going to haul me over the hill to Shadrach, but at the last minute, he called and said he couldn’t get his car to start. It was too late to ask someone else, so … anyway, it worked out okay. I had a paper to turn in on Monday and if I’d gone to the party, I wouldn’t have finished it. When my mom started in on me for disappointing Lucy, that’s my sister, I said, ‘Well, mom, which would you rather have, a son who’s nice to his sister or a son who’s a college graduate?’ She didn’t seem to think that was very funny. She’ll get over it.”
Maxie wasn’t listening. They went into the dining hall and she walked through the Une with Charlie. She selected a tuna salad sandwich, a small salad, and a piece of carrot cake, but she was hardly aware of what she was doing.
Brendan hadn’t gone to Shadrach Saturday night? Why hadn’t he told her that? Why hadn’t he called and told her he could go to the Tri-Delt party when he found out he was going to be in town, after all?
If he had, she wouldn’t have ended up in the cellar with a sprained ankle.
Not fair. Brendan couldn’t have known that was happening to her at Omega house. But he’d never told her that his plans had changed that night.
She saw Jenna sitting in the corner with two other girls, and waved.
Jenna smiled and waved. After a few minutes, she picked up her tray and walked across the room to sit down opposite Maxie. Charlie said hi, then excused himself to go join some friends at another table.
“Did you go to the Tri-Delt party Saturday night?” Maxie asked abruptly when she had assured Jenna that her ankle was better.
“Me? Are you kidding? Why would I want to do that?”
“Oh, come off it, Jenna. You’ve been to sorority parties lots of times. And you always have fun, so quit pretending you think sororities are only one step up from witches’ covens.”
Jenna grinned. “Okay, so I went. So sue me. And yeah, actually, I did have a good time. Met this real cute guy. Guess what his name is?”
“Biff.”
“No, but close. It’s Skip.”
Maxie hooted. “You’re dating someone named Skippy? Skippy?”
Jenna’s round cheeks flushed scarlet. “Not Skippy,” she said hotly, “Skip! Real name, Howard. Howard Ulysses Porter.”
“No wonder they call him Skip. Fraternity guy?”
The flush deepened. “Afraid so. Sigma Chi. And don’t say a word, Maximilia McKeon, or I’ll slap you with my corn fritter. Frat brat or not, he’s cute and he’s got a brain. Can’t beat that. And he doesn’t care that I’m not in a sorority.”
“Why should he? You have more hang-ups about that than anyone else does. Listen, Jenna, I’m thrilled about your new romance, really, I am, but was Brendan at that party?”
“Brendan? Without you? Would Homer be there without Marge? Would Abbott be there without Costello? Would Isabella Sands be there without makeup? No to all of the above.”
“He wasn’t there?”
; “Nope. Why?”
“I … I just wondered, that’s all.”
They agreed to meet at the April Fool’s party on Friday night. “You’ll like Skip,” Jenna said happily. “And if you don’t, keep it to yourself. Nobody cares.” But she laughed as she said it.
The wig really was part of her Orphan Annie costume, Maxie thought with relief as she watched Jenna leave, a new bounce in her step. But then, I always knew that … didn’t I?
It occurred to her then that out of everything that had happened, the worst thing by far was the mistrust. It ate away inside of you, like a worm burrowing through an apple.
And now she needed to know why Brendan hadn’t told her he wasn’t going to Shadrach, after all.
“I did call,” he said when he called her that night and she asked him that very question. “Nobody answered.”
The phone … ringing when she was hanging in the laundry chute.
“I figured you’d probably left early, a bunch of you, going out to eat first or something, and you’d go on to the party with other people.”
“Why didn’t you go to the party, then? If you thought I was there.”
She could almost hear his shrug. “Had to work on my car. Got it running, finally, but it was too late to take Donovan to his sister’s party. So I hit the books for a while and then sacked out. And when I called you and you said you didn’t go to the party, I didn’t see any point in telling you I hadn’t gone to Shadrach.” After a moment, he said, “Why all the questions? Anything wrong?”
A lot of things are wrong, she thought, but she didn’t feel like getting into it. “No. Charlie said you guys didn’t go to his sister’s party, and then Jenna said you weren’t at the other party, either, so I just wondered what you did Saturday night.”
“Yeah, well, like I said, it didn’t turn out exactly the way I’d planned. Maybe this Friday night will make up for it. You are coming, right? Your ankle okay now?”
“It will be.” She wasn’t staying home alone again. Not after last Saturday. Friday night, the painters would leave and they’d all go to the party at the student center, and nothing horrific would happen. A good time would be had by all.