by Sarah Biglow
“Rival sisterhood?”
“Not really. They’re a nice group of girls but we do vie for pledges sometimes. We tend to attract the same types of girls: smart, academic and driven.”
“So how many of you are out in force tonight?”
Melody stopped to point out one of the buildings they were passing before turning back to Kalina. “I think there are five of us”—she counted on her fingers—“me, Ashley, Tania, Mags and Tasha.”
Kalina kept an eye out for other tour leaders and Melody pointed them out as they encountered them. Tania, Mags and Ashley were accounted for. Kalina could see the worry crease Melody’s forehead as she fished her phone from within her petticoats and checked something.
“Weird. Tasha hasn’t checked in with the group text in a few hours. We’re supposed to check in every hour.”
Kalina bit the inside of her lip and brought up the photo of the girl from the maze. “Is this her?”
Melody looked at the photo and stopped short. AJ and one of the other tour participants slammed into her and she went stumbling forward. Kalina reached out a hand and caught her by the elbow to steady her.
“Sorry everyone, we’re going to have to stop the tour. There’s an emergency.” To Kalina’s surprise, Melody kept her voice calm and even.
With some grumbling, the small group dispersed, leaving Kalina and AJ the only ones standing beside their tour guide. Melody took Kalina’s phone and blew up the photo, studying every inch of it before handing it back.
“That’s Tasha. Where was that taken? What happened?”
Kalina glanced around and spotted a free bench outside a hair salon and guided the girl over. AJ stood nearby and stayed quiet. Melody yanked the cap from her head and let her hair fall messily around her shoulders.
“She was found near the maze,” Kalina said in a soft tone.
“Was she OK? She doesn’t look OK in that picture.”
“She was unconscious. But she’s probably at the hospital by now.”
“Did someone call her parents?”
“She didn’t have any ID on her so I don’t think the police know who she is.”
“How do you know all of this?” Melody wiped tears from her cheeks and blew out a long breath.
“We found her. Come on, let’s see if we can find the detective who is leading the investigation. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to know who Tasha is. You might even be able to help retrace her steps so they can figure out what happened.”
“Yeah. Um, OK. She was supposed to be doing the early set of tours. I only came on an hour ago so I just assumed she was fine. She’d been checking in and everything.”
“Was she doing a specific tour route?”
“Um, out by the fields where the maze is. I guess that explains how she got there.”
Kalina nodded mutely and led Melody and AJ off toward the fields. They hadn’t been away from the area very long so she hoped Sergeant Whitman or Officer Larkin would still be around. Luckily, even in the fading evening light, Kalina could spot the tall, lanky form of the sergeant.
“Sergeant Whitman,” she called, ushering Melody ahead of her.
“Yes? Can I help you with something?”
“We spoke a little while ago. I was the one who called for the ambulance. This is Melody. I think she knows who the injured girl is.”
“And how is it she knows about the injured girl in the first place?”
Melody opened her mouth to speak but Kalina cut her off. “I noticed she was wearing a bracelet that belonged to a sorority helping out here at the festival. Melody is in the same sorority.”
“Her name is Tasha … I mean Natasha Fordham. She’s a junior.”
Sergeant Whitman rubbed his chin before motioning for Melody to join him at the table—now vacated by the frat boy—and pulled out a notepad and pen.
“What do we do next?” AJ whispered.
“See if we can find any of the girls from the rival sorority. Melody may be convinced that they’re nice but you never know what someone might do if they really wanted a particular pledge to join their organization.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Kalina’s pulse quickened as they made their way back into the fray. Knowing that there might be a motive behind Tasha’s attack was making her head spin a little. They had a limited window to figure out what really happened before their presence would be questioned. It wasn’t like they could stick around until the next day. After all, the festival was set to end around 9:00—three hours from now—and Kalina had promised to get AJ home before midnight.
“Aunt K., slow down!” AJ called from behind her.
She stopped and waited for him to catch up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to walk so fast.”
“It’s cool. So how are we supposed to find these Kappa girls?”
“The same way we found Melody. We check to see what parts of the festival they are volunteering with and ask.”
“To Facebook!” said AJ with a dramatic fist pump in the air.
Kalina shook her head at her nephew’s nerdy tendencies and pulled up the event page again and found the information they needed.
“This way. They’re handling the children’s events.”
“Goodie.”
It wasn’t hard to find the Kappa girls. Unlike the Sigma girls, they could get away with being in jeans and T-shirts with their Greek affiliation emblazoned on them. A pretty girl with caramel skin and tightly curled hair approached them.
“Are you here to pick someone up?” she asked.
“No, actually we were hoping to talk to you and your sorority sisters about something.”
The girl pressed her lips into a straight line. “That sounds serious.”
“Not really. My niece is heading to college soon and I promised her I’d scope out some of the sororities to see what they’re like.”
“Well, if you can hang around for like fifteen minutes, we should be ready to pack up and we can probably talk to you then.”
“Sure thing.”
The girl walked away to tend to a little boy digging in the dirt by himself. AJ leaned on the edge of the barrel that had once held a collection of apples for bobbing.
“I can’t believe you lied to her!”
“I couldn’t tell her we’re investigating a girl being attacked, especially if they could potentially be involved.”
“You really think they’re going to talk to us?”
“I think so.”
“I hope the cops figure out what’s going on, too. I mean even if we solve the case, we can’t do anything to whoever hurt Tasha.”
“I know. We’ll figure it out. Just be patient, kiddo.”
The tips of his ears burned bright red when one of the sorority sisters walked by and gave a little giggle at his pet name. “Could you maybe not call me that? It’s embarrassing.”
Kalina couldn’t help but laugh too. “They are so out your league. Not to mention it would be illegal.”
Time passed quickly and soon the last of the kids had been retrieved by their parents or older siblings and Kalina and AJ were left with the sisters of Kappa Kappa Rho. In an effort to keep up the charade that she was interested in assessing the sororities, Kalina approached the girl she’d talk to earlier and helped gather chairs and stack them beside the picnic tables.
“So you’re getting a jump on things, huh?” the girl said.
“Yeah.”
‘I’m Amber, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Why don’t you tell me about your niece?”
“Well, she’s curious about Greek Life but shy. And she didn’t want to come today so I figured, since so many of the activities were run by sororities, I’d take a look. So what kind of girls are your target pledges?”
“Oh, we want girls who are smart and academically minded.”
“That sounds like Sigma Beta Epsilon.”
“We do tend to attract the same girls. We usually end up splitting them each pled
ge class.”
Kalina nodded. “What would you say is the biggest difference between your organizations?”
“I think they do more national-level philanthropy work and we focus more on community. A lot of our sisters are going into the education field so we do a lot of tutoring for elementary school kids. It’s a lot of fun.”
“Sounds it.” Kalina looked around in search of AJ. “This may sound a little weird but is there any tension between you guys over specific pledges?”
“Not really. I mean it’s really up to the pledges to decide which organization to join.”
“So they never get rejected?”
“They could be asked to de-pledge if their grades slip or if they reveal sisterhood secrets to people who aren’t supposed to know them.”
“Has that ever happened since you’ve been a member?”
“With us, not very often. I thought I heard that one of the girls pledging Sigma Beta got kicked out but I’m not sure what for. You’d have to ask one of them.”
“Thanks. You’ve been really helpful.”
She finally spotted her nephew chatting with a young girl not wearing sorority letters. She looked a little like Tasha from where Kalina stood. She tried to brush off the thought and waved to get his attention. They needed to find Melody and ask a few more questions.
“Oh, one more question,” Kalina said as AJ jogged over to join her.
“Sure,” Amber said and shoved her hands in her pockets.
“Was anyone from your sorority working out by the maze today?”
“We weren’t running it. One of the frats was doing that. But I think a couple of the girls were out that way in the afternoon just to take a break.” Amber glanced around and pointed out a couple people, including the girl AJ had been talking to. “Elena and Jocelyn were there.”
“Thanks.”
Amber gave them both a smile and headed off to deal with corralling the rest of her sisters. AJ’s cheeks were flushed and he clutched his phone tightly to his chest.
“What happened?” Kalina asked.
“I got that girl Jocelyn’s number. She’s a pledge.”
“And did you find anything else out about her?”
“She’s a sophomore and is really hoping she gets inducted.”
“Anything that might help us figure out who went after Tasha.”
“Oh”—his cheeks burned brighter—“not really.”
“Come on, Romeo.”
“Don’t you want to see if she saw anything?” AJ asked when they turned and headed away from the group.
“I want to ask Melody a couple more questions first. But, yeah, I think talking to Jocelyn is a good idea when we’re done.”
CHAPTER FIVE
It wasn’t hard to find Melody and the rest of the Sigma Beta Epsilon girls. They’d gathered in front of the Olde Main Street Pub. The mood was somber as Kalina and AJ approached. Melody had her phone pressed to her ear when they got to the group.
“Thanks, Mr. Fordham. Keep us updated.”
“How are you all holding up?” Kalina asked.
“OK. She’s stable now but in a coma to help reduce the swelling. We’ll know more tomorrow.”
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed that she makes a full recovery.”
“Thanks.”
“Can I ask you a couple questions?”
Melody chewed her lower lip for a few seconds before nodding and stepping away from the group. Kalina motioned for AJ to stay put. She didn’t want Melody to think they were crowding her.
“Have you ever had to ask a girl to de-pledge before?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes people get really into pledging and it takes over their lives. I had a friend in college who got really focused on being inducted and it kind of changed her.”
“The short answer is yes, we’ve had to ask girls to de-pledge before.”
“Has it happened recently?”
Melody wrapped her arms around her chest as if to ward off a chill. “This is starting to make sense.”
“Sorry? What is?”
“Mags said she was with Tasha earlier in the day and she got a text that really upset her and she took off. I think to go meet someone.”
“OK. What does that have to do with asking someone to de-pledge?”
“In the spring, we had a girl who pledged and we asked her to leave. She was posting a lot of stuff on Facebook she shouldn’t have and she expected to get away with it because of her ... connections.”
“What connections?”
“She was related to someone in the sisterhood.”
“Who?”
“Tasha. She was her cousin. Tasha was the one who told her she needed to de-pledge. It got kind of nasty for a while. She kept showing up to things and Tasha had to take out a restraining order.”
“That’s serious. If it was that girl, why would she go to meet her now?”
“Tasha said she let the order lapse because her cousin cooled down. I guess there was some personal stuff happening with their family and Tasha felt bad.”
“Do you remember her name?”
“Her name is Jocelyn.”
“There’s a Jocelyn pledging Kappa right now. We met her earlier.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me that she’s pledging another sorority. We banned her from trying to pledge again.”
“You think she’d be capable of hurting her own family?” Kalina asked.
Melody shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe.”
“I think you should let Sergeant Whitman know what you just told me. It might help them find Jocelyn before she hurts someone else or herself.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I still can’t believe Jocelyn would be crazy enough to cut up her own family.”
Kalina placed what she hoped was a comforting hand on Melody’s shoulder. At the very least, she didn’t shrug it off. She waited while Melody fished the Sergeant’s card out of her petticoat and dialed his number. Some of the other girls were still chatting and Kalina realized AJ was no longer among them. A wave of panic set in.
“Did you see where my nephew went?” she asked, her voice cracking at the end.
A few of the girls shook their heads. One girl—with a crop of midnight blue hair sticking out from under her bonnet—stepped forward.
“He said he had to go meet someone.”
“Damn it, AJ.”
She tried his phone but it went to voicemail. “AJ, you get your butt back here and don’t you dare do something stupid!”
Kalina’s anger bubbled over as Sergeant Whitman rounded a corner. Officer Larkin trailed him, his pale cheeks flushed from exertion. They must have been pretty far away when Melody called. Kalina’s adrenaline had taken over in AJ’s absence and she hadn’t paid attention to the girl’s phone call to the police.
“You’re certain you saw the Ms. Fordham take a call from her cousin?” Sergeant Whitman asked Melody.
“Sergeant, sorry to interrupt but I think we have a bigger problem,” Kalina said, trying to get her erratic pulse under control.
“You again?”
She ignored his annoyance. “I think we may have met Jocelyn Fordham earlier and my nephew exchanged phone numbers with her. I think he’s gone off to find her. He isn’t answering his phone.”
CHAPTER SIX
Kalina’s head started to pound as her heart continued race. Breaths came in short gasps and her hearing faded in and out. She only heard snatches of Sergeant Whitman’s questions to the other Sigma girls. She numbly hit autodial again on her phone but AJ still didn’t pick up.
“Ms. Greystone.” Officer Larkin’s voice drew her back to the world.
“Sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked where your nephew met Ms. Fordham earlier.”
“We were over by the kids’ area. I think one of the girls over there said they’d seen Jocelyn by the maze earlier in the day.” She let out an involuntary hiccup of laughter. Of course. “The maz
e. He probably went to meet her there.”
“Sergeant, I think we might have a location,” Officer Larkin called.
Kalina took off at a steady jog past the open storefronts and people still enjoying the festival. A group of high school aged kids waited at the front of the line for the ghost tours. None of them had any idea what was going on. She looked back over her shoulder to find both policemen and Melody racing after her. The maze came into view and her heart skipped a beat when she spotted two figures in the distance. She skidded to a halt when her phone buzzed and AJ’s number popped up.
“AJ?” she answered.
He didn’t respond but she could now hear the conversation. She waved a hand for the officers and Melody to stop and she held up her phone, putting it on speaker.
“So why’d you want to meet me?” Jocelyn’s voice came through strong and confident.
“Well, you said I should call you if I wanted to hang out.”
“I kind of meant after the festival was done.”
“Well, I don’t get up this way often so I figured I should take advantage while I could. Besides, you were done with volunteering, right?”
“Yeah. So, what do you want to do?”
Kalina had to bite her tongue to keep from letting on that AJ had made the call. She wanted to smack her nephew for taking such a brazen risk but a part of her was also proud of him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sergeant Whitman signal to move forward. A wave of relief washed over her, edging out the panic from earlier. Even if Jocelyn tried something, they were close enough that the officers could intercede.
“Well, I thought we could check out the maze.”
“It’s closed.” Her voice wavered just a touch.
“No one would know. You aren’t scared are you? Just because of what happened here earlier?”
“I just don’t want to get in trouble.”
“Come on, Jocelyn. No one’s around to catch us.”
Kalina heard footsteps crunching on loose strands of straw from the maze and the group moved closer. They were many fifteen feet away and still they hadn’t been spotted by AJ and Jocelyn.
“What did you mean about what happened here earlier?”
“Didn’t you hear? The found a girl near the maze. She was really hurt.”