by Diane Hoh
She began searching the noisy crowd for the dark-haired guy—Finn Conran. I should have talked to him when I had the chance, in the kitchen, she told herself. He probably thinks I’m a snob, like half the people at this party.
She spotted Pete Torrance talking to a girl in red. But there was no sign of Finn.
Maybe that’s why I can’t shake this feeling of doom, Hailey thought as she moved toward a tray of chips and dip and drinks. Maybe it’s disappointment that I’ve blown an opportunity to get to know someone interesting.
But, a moment later, she realized that her premonition had nothing to do with Finn Conran.
Because a shout sounded from outside, then another and another, becoming louder and more urgent. The shouts were coming from behind Hailey’s shoulder, where a large wooden porch ran the width of the house.
People turned to listen, to stare, and then, as the shouts continued, they began to move, murmuring and shoving, in one massed throng toward the door.
As the crowd reached her, Hailey became a part of it. Someone pushed the back door open and they swept out onto the porch.
Robert Q, still shouting for help, was kneeling on the lantern-lit back lawn, looking down at something. Something lying very still, an unmoving pile of blue silk …
“It’s Gerrie,” a girl behind Hailey said. “That’s Gerrie Northrup on the ground.”
Robert Q stopped calling for help and lifted his head as the crowd moved en masse down the wide wooden steps and out over the lawn. “I think she’s dead,” he said in an odd, strangled voice. “I think Gerrie’s dead.”
Chapter 5
WHEN IT BECAME CLEAR that Gerrie Northrup was indeed unconscious, Pete Torrance ran back inside the Sigma Chi house to call for help.
“What happened to her?” Puffy cried, addressing Robert Q. “Is that blood? What did you do to her?”
Hailey could see a spreading pool of red under Gerrie’s head.
“Don’t be stupid, Puffy,” Robert Q answered. “I didn’t do anything. We were taking a walk and the next thing I knew, Gerrie sort of. … yelped, and then she fell. I think something hit her. On the head. From behind.”
“Something?” someone said. Hailey heard skepticism in the voice. She also recognized it. It was the same voice that had asked her, earlier that evening in the kitchen, if she was sick. Finn Conran’s voice.
She saw him moving forward in the crowd. He was tall, and his head bumped one of several dozen glowing, beer-bottle-shaped plastic lights strung above the lawn. “Like what kind of something?” Finn asked Robert Q.
“How should I know?” Robert Q, still kneeling beside Gerrie’s silent form, glanced around. He reached out and picked up an object. “Like this rock, maybe? It’s heavy enough to sandbag Gerrie, and that looks like blood on it.”
“Ooh, gross!” Puffy squealed.
“Who else was out here?” Finn asked Robert Q.
“No one. Just us. Someone must have been hiding.”
“Who would want to hurt Gerrie?” Susan Grossbeck wailed.
Are you kidding? Hailey thought. Everyone Gerrie had ever snubbed, which probably included at least half the campus. But then the feeling of doom returned as Hailey realized that tonight one person had plenty of reason to throw a rock at Gerrie Northrup: Darlene Riggs. Who had a better motive than Darlene?
Lindsey Kite had exactly the same thought. “That townie,” she said in a loud voice. “That Darlene. Just before she left the living room, she gave Gerrie a look that positively gave me chills. She could have been hiding out here.”
Hailey remembered the look in Darlene’s eyes when she left, and said nothing.
As a siren sounded in the distance, Gerrie stirred and moaned.
“Oh, thank God!” Puffy sang out, “She’s alive! Gerrie’s alive!”
By the time the paramedics arrived, Gerrie was conscious but disoriented, complaining that her vision was blurred. Robert Q accompanied her in the ambulance, although he made it clear right up until the doors closed that he wasn’t at all happy about leaving while Sigma Chi was hosting a party. He was especially worried about his car.
“Keep an eye on my Miata,” he ordered Richard Wentworth as the ambulance doors swung shut. “Don’t let anyone near it! We don’t even know some of these people.” He was referring to the party guests, many of whom weren’t members of Sigma Chi.
“What a guy,” Finn said to Hailey as the crowd, murmuring among themselves, dispersed. “Anyone could see he’s worried sick about that girl.”
Hailey grimaced. “Yeah, must be true love.”
“Listen,” Finn said, “do you really want to go back inside?”
“No.” She smiled at him. “Got a better idea?”
“Coffee at the diner. Sound good?”
Hailey’s earlier uneasiness returned. The diner would remind her of Darlene. Could Darlene really have thrown the rock that sent Gerrie Northrup away in a shrieking ambulance?
She didn’t want to think about that now.
Finn picked up on her lack of enthusiasm. “How about Vinnie’s?” he asked, referring to a favorite Italian restaurant not far from campus. “Their coffee is almost as good as their pizza. The only thing is,” he added quickly, “I don’t have wheels. Any chance you feel like a walk?”
“I have my car,” Hailey answered, “but I would like to walk. Of course,” she added, grinning, “I will absolutely have to find someone to keep an eye on my precious old secondhand Ford. Maybe Richard Wentworth could do double duty?”
Finn laughed.
During the walk to Vinnie’s and while they sipped the strong, hot coffee, they carefully avoided mentioning Gerrie Northrup.
But Hailey could see in Finn’s eyes that he was thinking the same thing she was. And she knew they had to talk about it.
“So, do you think it could have been an accident?” she asked, finally.
“I might have thought it was just a stupid prank if Robert Q had seen someone else hanging around out there. But he didn’t. Which probably means someone was hiding.”
“But,” Hailey responded with false hope, “it could have been a joke, couldn’t it? Maybe someone intending to just rattle the two of them? I mean, maybe the rock or whatever it was, was aimed at one of the plastic lanterns and hit Gerrie instead.”
Finn raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Sure. And maybe Robert Q has a heart of gold.”
Then two carloads of Sigma Chi partygoers descended on Vinnie’s and the place became so noisy Hailey and Finn decided to leave. The newcomers were, of course, gossiping wildly about what had happened to Gerrie, and Hailey didn’t want to hear it. Sooner or later, someone would mention Darlene. She definitely didn’t want to hear that.
Back on campus, Finn walked her to her car. “Can I give you a ride somewhere?” Hailey asked as she slid into the driver’s seat. He had told her very little about himself. She’d done most of the talking. She didn’t even know where he lived.
“No, thanks.” He leaned his arm on the windowsill. “It’s just a short walk.”
“You’re not in a frat house, are you?” She hoped not. That would give him too much in common with Robert Q.
“Nope.” He shook his head. “Frats aren’t my thing.”
She’d bet anything Sigma Chi had wanted him, though. Who wouldn’t? She liked that he’d turned them down, and she liked that he wasn’t a snob like Robert Q and his crowd.
“See you around,” he said, moving away from the car door. “You’re at Devereaux, right?”
Had he asked someone? About her? That was a good sign, wasn’t it? She nodded. “Call me,” she said impulsively. “I can actually hear the phone ring if my roommate isn’t playing the stereo loud enough to shatter glass.”
Finn laughed. “I’ll let it ring a long time,” he said, and then he turned away and broke into a loping gait, headed across campus.
She liked the way he moved, light and easy on his feet.
When Hailey got back to her own dorm, it
was quiet. Nell was sound asleep, her face half-covered by her pillow.
Hailey was disappointed. She needed to talk about tonight, about Finn, about what had happened at the party. Nell was so … grounded. Hailey’s mother would have said “Nell has a good head on her shoulders.” It was probably all those years of discipline and training to be a gymnast. Nell might come up with a sensible explanation for Gerrie’s “accident” that didn’t involve Darlene.
And that was what Hailey wanted. She didn’t want Darlene involved in that pool of blood on Sigma Chi’s back lawn.
But who else had reason to be that angry with Gerrie Northrup?
Bo. Bo Jessup, Darlene’s ex-boyfriend. He had been that angry. He’d made threats. Could he have taken Darlene home and come back to the party? If it was Bo, the rock had probably been aimed at Robert Q, and Gerrie had somehow got in the way.
Hailey glanced at her illuminated clock radio. Was it too late to call Darlene? And what, exactly, would she say? “Darlene, this is Hailey. I was just wondering if you hid behind a tree tonight at Sigma Chi and threw the rock that bashed in Gerrie’s Northrup’s skull?”
And what could Darlene say to that? “Yes, I did it and I’m glad”? Or, “Hailey, how could you think I would do such an awful thing”? Or, maybe, “It wasn’t me. It was Bo.”
And if she does deny knowing about the rock-throwing, Hailey asked herself as she slid into bed, will I believe her?
Hailey dreamed that night that she was standing beside the fountain in the center of the commons, watching in horror as a frenzied crowd threw rocks and stones at Darlene, who was trying to shield her face with her hands and crying out for Hailey to help her. But Hailey was frozen to the spot, her limbs paralyzed, unable even to speak.
She awoke early the next morning in a cold sweat. The feeling of impending doom clung to her.
When she had filled Nell in on all the gory details of the Sigma Chi party, she was disappointed by her roommate’s reaction.
“Well, Gerrie isn’t dead, is she?” Nell asked, slipping into gray sweat pants and a matching sweatshirt for her morning run. “So she’s got a headache for a few days. She is a headache, so don’t expect me to crumble in sympathy over Gerrie Northrup.”
“That’s not the point,” Hailey argued. “She was probably attacked, Nell. On purpose. Right here on campus. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“No.” Nell slid a sweatband under her dark bangs. “You and I don’t act like Gerrie, pushing people around, treating everyone like dirt, so why should we worry? She made an enemy, that’s all. We don’t make enemies.”
Although she had a valid point, Hailey wondered if Nell was deliberately avoiding mentioning Darlene’s name. Nell hadn’t been at the party, hadn’t seen Robert Q and Gerrie welded together, hadn’t watched Darlene’s face twist in rage. But … I told her all that, Hailey thought as Nell headed for the door. So she has to know Darlene is the most obvious suspect. Darlene or her ex-boyfriend.
Nell left for her usual thirty-minute run, although the sky outside their window was charcoal gray and they could hear the distant angry rumblings of thunder.
Hailey, telling herself that the feeling of uneasiness she couldn’t shake had nothing to do with Nell, headed for the bathroom to take a shower.
Ninety minutes later, Nell still hadn’t returned.
Chapter 6
HAILEY DIDN’T KNOW WHAT to do about Nell, who should have returned to the room long ago. She never ran for more than half an hour, and she was missing her nine o’clock class. Nell wouldn’t cut a class. She had to keep her grades up to stay on the gymnastics team.
Hailey paced back and forth in the small room. Outside, the rumble of thunder intensified. It was going to storm.
Hailey’s earliest Monday class wasn’t until ten o’clock. She decided to go look for Nell. She knew Nell’s usual route. If she didn’t find her, she’d. … what? Get help? Call someone? Start a campus search? What did you do when someone was … missing?
Was Nell missing?
Why would Nell be missing?
Refusing to dwell on the worst possible scenario, Hailey threw a yellow, waterproof wind-breaker over her T-shirt and jeans, scribbled a quick note to Nell in case she returned before Hailey did, and hurried from the room.
As she followed Nell’s run route, Hailey’s mind whirled: If Gerrie hadn’t been hurt at the party last night, would I be this frantic about Nell? If I didn’t have this stupid feeling that something awful was about to happen, would I be chasing after my roommate, when any second now, the skies are going to open up and I’m going to get drenched?
All she could think was that Nell might be lying in the woods somewhere with her head split open like a ripe melon, just like Gerrie. Why did Nell have to run, anyway? None of the other gymnasts ran. Too risky. Tripping over an unseen rock or a fallen tree limb could keep you off the team for weeks with an ace bandage wrapped around your leg.
But Nell had been running regularly since she was eleven, and she refused to give it up. “It clears the morning cobwebs out of my head,” she’d told Hailey. “Without it, I’d be a zombie until noon.”
Where was Nell?
Campus was very quiet. Some people were attending nine o’clock classes, but most were probably still sleeping, Hailey thought. Dark clouds hung low over the wooded area she was aiming for. As she hurried her steps, a few raindrops splattered against her windbreaker, telling her she wasn’t going to beat the storm. Hailey tightened her lips and kept going. Wasn’t finding her roommate worth getting a little wet?
She was about to step onto the curving dirt path leading into the woods when she heard someone calling her name. She turned to see Nell waving at her from the steps of the science building.
Relief washed over Hailey just as the storm did the same. She was soaking wet in seconds, although she ran as fast as she could to join Nell, who grabbed Hailey’s elbow and pulled her inside, out of the downpour.
“Where on earth have you been?” Hailey gasped, shedding her sodden windbreaker and wiping her face with a tissue she unearthed from her jeans pocket. “You never came back from your run! I was worried sick!”
“Worried? What for?” Nell peered into Hailey’s face. “Hailey, what’s wrong with you? Why are you so upset?”
“What’s wrong with me?” Hailey’s voice echoed in the huge, empty front hall of the science building. “Nell, you didn’t come back! What was I supposed to think? You always come back in half an hour.”
Nell smiled tentatively. “Well, not always,” she said, a devilish grin in her dark eyes. “I mean, if I always came back in half an hour, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?” When Hailey failed to return the smile, Nell got serious. “Look, Hailey, I’m sorry you were worried, but I really don’t get it. I mean, what did you think had happened?”
“That’s just it,” Hailey said, exasperated by Nell’s attitude, “I didn’t know.”
“So you imagined all kinds of things, right?” Nell leaned against a large glass case containing Salem University’s collection of science awards. “Don’t you think maybe you overreacted, just a little? I can take care of myself, Hailey.”
“I’m sure that’s exactly what Gerrie Northrup thought yesterday before her brains were bashed in,” Hailey cried.
Enlightenment dawned in Nell’s eyes. “Oh, Hailey, I’m sorry,” she said. “You’re still upset about that awful business last night and you thought something like that had happened to me?”
Hailey nodded silently. Embarrassment began to overcome her anger. Nell was right: she had overreacted. “Where were you?” she asked in a calmer voice. “If you hadn’t spotted me going into the woods, I’d be in there now, in this storm, hunting for you. Why didn’t you come back to the room?”
Nell sighed. “Because I ran into Darlene and had to listen to her tale of woe for forty-five minutes. I knew if I went back to the room, I’d miss my nine o’clock. So I went straight to class.” Nell glanced dow
n at her sweatsuit and made a face of distaste. “Like this, I went to class! You should have seen the look on Lindsey Kite’s face. Like she’d just smelled something rotten.” Nell laughed. “I should dress like this more often. Anyway, Hailey, I’m really sorry. I’d just left class when I saw you heading for the woods. Aren’t you missing your ten o’clock?”
Hailey waved a hand in dismissal. A horrendous clap of thunder shook the old building. When it had died, she said, “Doesn’t matter. I’ll borrow the notes from Jess. What did Darlene want?”
“She’s really mad, Hailey. About the Sigma party. She said people couldn’t treat her that way and get away with it. And then she went on and on about how some people don’t know when to let go, meaning Gerrie, which is weird, since everyone knows it’s really Gerrie Robert Q wants, and not Darlene. And what’s even weirder is that she’s mad at everyone but Robert Q.”
“She was mad at him.”
“Well, she isn’t now.” Nell and Hailey moved to the wide, glass-windowed front door to watch the storm. “You know,” Nell continued, “Darlene never once asked me if Gerrie was okay. And she’d heard what happened. She said her brother told her. She said people on campus had been looking at her funny, as if she’d done something terrible. I didn’t tell her that’s exactly what everyone thinks. But Hailey, she never once asked me how Gerrie was. Don’t you think that’s pretty weird?”
“Bo wasn’t with her, was he? Big guy, dark hair?”
“No. She was alone.”
“And she was looking for Robert Q?”
“Yep. She’s not going to let go of him, is she?”
“Doesn’t look that way.”
When Hailey returned from classes later that day, the phone was ringing. When she answered, Darlene’s voice said impatiently, “Hailey, is that you? Have you seen Robert Q today?”
“No, Darlene,” Hailey answered truthfully, wishing she hadn’t picked up the telephone. “I haven’t. You didn’t run into him on campus?”
“No. But I ran into that snotty Richard Wentworth. He told me Robert didn’t want to talk to me. But I know he was lying. He’s never liked me, Hailey.”