by Glen Ebisch
I sat on the floor across from her. “No thanks, I ate already.” I could see that one of the boxes held rice and the other some kind of slimy vegetables.
“Well, at least take an egg roll then, I ordered two,” she said, pushing one across to me.
We ate in silence for a few seconds. Elaine was using chopsticks, so she had to hold the box up by her mouth and sort of shovel the food in. It tended to inhibit conversation. And I don’t know why, maybe it was the smell of the food or those plants creeping around on all sides of me, but I felt a little sick to my stomach.
“Do you think this is kind of weird?” Elaine asked when she came up for air.
“What’s weird?”
“My sitting here on the floor eating by myself.”
“No, I guess not. Why should I?”
“No reason, but you just looked kind of uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, well I guess it’s sitting on the floor. I get sort of stiff.”
She nodded. “People in California where I come from do stuff like this all the time.”
“Eat on the floor?”
“No, you know, impulsive things like riding horses on the beach in the moonlight, going out at midnight for dinner, driving three hundred miles to visit a friend without even knowing if she’s home. Stuff like that. It’s not really crazy, just kind of eccentric.”
“Yeah, eccentric, there’s a difference.”
“But maybe you’re not really comfortable with people who are impulsive. Some people aren’t, you know.”
“I don’t know. But if I’m not, maybe I could learn to be.”
She looked at me curiously for a moment. “Your parents are still together, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, why?”
“No reason, it’s just that I can tell. You seem real normal,” she said, then went back to her food.
I tried to figure out what I could do about being normal.
When she stopped this time she said, “The police were around this morning. They asked me about Vicki’s disappearance, and wanted to hear the story about the bikers.”
“Were they looking for me?”
“Yeah, in fact Randy Anderson was pretty upset that you and Templeton went off campus without letting him know. The headmaster yelled at him good for it.”
“Did they question anyone else?”
“I heard they went around to all the teachers who live in the bungalows near where Vicki was found.”
“That’s Jameson, Pritchard, Hawthorne, who else?”
“Duchamps, the French teacher, and of course, the headmaster himself. His residence is right near the bungalows. The police may have asked him a few questions, too, if they had the nerve.”
“Did they say whether they’d be back?” I asked.
“Not to me. But Mr. Hawthorne told me that the headmaster told them he was very concerned about the bikers, and the police said they were going to question them next if they could be found.”
“They probably won’t be,” I said, and told her about our morning’s talk with Spacer and the Heck’s Angels.
She frowned and said in kind of a shaky voice, “Why would anyone hire people to frighten me?”
I shook my head. “Could it have anything to do with Vicki?”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, did she ever ask you to do anything, you know, that seemed odd?” Templeton had asked me to try to get my mind off my love life long enough to find out if she knew anything about Vicki’s business, but I couldn’t come right out and ask if her friend had been a blackmailer.
Elaine started to say something but stopped.
“Even a boy genius like Templeton can’t help you if you don’t tell the truth,” I said to urge her on.
She gave a short laugh. “You know, it’s funny, but when you told me just now that someone had actually paid those bikers to chase me I was happy. It was such a relief to know that I wasn’t going crazy again, and somebody was really out to get me.”
“It must have been rough,” I said.
“Being crazy? Yeah, I guess so, but my psychiatrist in California told me that all creative people have a mental breakdown sometime in their lives. I guess I was lucky that I had mine while I was still young.”
“What was it like?” I asked.
“What was what like?”
“What was it like being crazy?” I said softly.
She thought for a moment. “It’s hard to explain to someone who’s never been there, but it’s like everyone else is going along behaving as though they know what’s happening, and you keep watching them, trying to guess what to do next. I have a dream about it sometimes where I’m on stage in a school play of some kind, when suddenly I realize that no one told me what I was supposed to say. So I just stand there in front of everyone hoping that I’ll get a clue about how to act.”
“Sounds scary.”
“Yeah, and pretty soon, you know, people start looking at you because you don’t fit, and even if you do the right thing, you’re a little too late, one beat off. Then you start to think that maybe that’s the way they want it to be—they don’t want you to ever catch up.” She stopped and gave me a timid smile. “So you can see why I would rather have a real enemy.”
“Yeah.”
Elaine eventually got down the rest of her food, and we went to see the movie. It was an old one called the Maltese Falcon. Elaine had seen it before, but I hadn’t. I guess she’d seen a lot of movies back in Hollywood. During the intermission she volunteered to get us more popcorn and soda from the lobby. As soon as she left, Sandy Wilder slipped into her seat.
“Some science project,” she hissed.
“Huh?”
“You got me to take that note to her with some phony story about a science project the two of you were working on together, or can’t you even keep you lies straight?”
“Sure I can. I mean—”
“You’ll be sorry. She may be cute, but everybody knows about her problems. So all I can say is, you’d better be careful.”
Before I could respond with one of my usual clever remarks, she flounced out of the chair with a toss of her red hair and headed across the room. I wondered if maybe there wasn’t some truth in what they said about redheads having a temper. But I figured I couldn’t blame her. The whole thing did make me look pretty bad. My mood didn’t improve any when Elaine came back in the room excitedly talking with Randy Anderson.
Randy handed me a soda and said, “It was a bit crowded out front, so I helped out with the carrying,” he said, making me feel like an ill-mannered clod who treats his dates like servants.
“Good for you.”
“How do you like it here at North Hill now that you’ve been around a while?” he asked, like it was his private estate or something.
“Fine, except for the high probability of getting mugged or killed.”
Randy winced. “We all feel badly about what happened to Vicki, but it really isn’t the school’s fault. This is still a nice place.”
“I know,” I said contritely, feeling more like a jerk than ever.
“And we appreciate the heroic way in which you protected Elaine from those vandals,” he said, giving Elaine a smile as though she belonged to him as much as the school did.
I looked carefully to see if I could detect any sarcasm, but he seemed sincere. At least as sincere as a guy can be wearing a preppy blue blazer, gray slacks, a bow tie, and loafers with tiny leather bells.
“You’ll find when you’ve been here a while longer,” he said looking at the two of us, “that this place is sort of like a giant family. Oh sure, we have our differences, but when anyone is really hurt, everyone pulls together to help the person.”
“That’s really nice,” said Elaine warmly. “I know that’s the way I felt about Vicki. We used to stay up till all hours talking about our past and the things that had happened to us. We were like sisters; I still can’t believe . . .” Elaine broke off as her eyes filled with tears.
“Swell advice,” I said.
He gave me a sharp look that might have held a bit of anger. I was pleased that I’d managed to get his goat. “And it’s no big deal, Charlie, but maybe the next time you left campus, you’d let me know. It was a bit embarrassing this morning when the police wanted to question you, and I couldn’t tell the headmaster where you’d gone. It made it appear that I wasn’t doing my job, and I don’t like that.”
“I’ll see what I can do next time.”
He nodded and his smile returned. “And I do appreciate the fact that you are managing to get along with Templeton. That can’t be easy.”
“It’s not too hard,” I said.
“Hey,” he said, reaching out to put a hand on my shoulder. “Would the two of you like to join us after the movie? Sheri and I are going to drive my car into town to get a pizza,” he said gesturing in the direction of a girl sitting in the back. She had short dark hair and was wearing a maroon blazer and a white blouse with one of those floppy ties. In that outfit it was hard to judge her age. She could have been anywhere between seventeen and twenty-three.
“I don’t think so, but thanks for asking,” I said quickly before Elaine could respond. Saying that we’d have to do it some other time, he returned to his seat.
“Don’t you like Randy?” Elaine asked.
“Why, is he a friend of yours?” I asked in a tone that even I knew sounded childishly jealous.
“Not particularly, but he was very nice to me when I first started here. He’s sort of a funny guy, always dressed up like he’s on his way to a dance at the club. But he takes this place seriously, and really tried to help me fit in when I needed it most. If it weren’t for him and Vicki, I don’t know if I’d have made it through the first month.
“Well, if he was nice to you, then I’ll try to treat him a little better, but you can’t believe all the stuff he was giving us about this being a big, happy family.”
“Maybe he goes too far, but there are worse places to be. The people here don’t get down on you much, do you think?”
“No, I guess not,” I agreed as the movie started up again. Except for Vicki, I thought; somebody in the family had really been unhappy with her.
After the movie, I walked Elaine back to the dorm. I put my arm around her. She didn’t seem to mind. And we sort of bumped into each other all the way along the sidewalk. She almost slipped once on a small patch of ice, and I easily picked her up and carried her the rest of the way to the dorm. She began to laugh, and I did too. It was lucky I didn’t drop her with all the laughing that was going on. I don’t think either one of us knew exactly why we were laughing, but I kind of liked it because I figured I was really being impulsive. Maybe even a little abnormal.
When we got to the steps of her dorm, I stopped laughing as I put her down. No one was around, and I guess I must have been staring at her with a pretty serious expression because she stopped laughing too. I leaned over and gave her a kiss, then without a word we smiled at each other and she went inside.
It was cold out but I was certainly warm inside. I thought for a moment about taking off all my clothes and running across the dark campus. Now that would really be impulsive, even Elaine would be impressed. But I decided to let that wait until another time. No sense using up my impulsiveness all at once.
Chapter 10
Templeton was sitting in front of the fire staring into the flames when I returned. His chin cupped in his hand, he didn’t glance up when I flopped into the chair across from him. I knew I had a big smile on my face, and I was determined that not even Templeton in one of his sulky moods was going to change that.
Sometimes, I had heard, he would disappear on Saturday nights, not even bothering to return by the midnight curfew, and never mentioning to anyone where he’d been. But tonight he was in the same spot where I had left him hours earlier, and he didn’t appear to have moved an inch.
“Did you manage to find out anything further from Elaine about what Vicki was involved in?” Templeton growled after several minutes of silence.
“I asked her, but we got kind of distracted,” I admitted.
“Wood, you have to separate your romantic inclinations from the analytic approach necessary for detection,” he said with disdain.
I shrugged, trying to keep my smile in place, and concentrated on the fire for a while. It was a restful alternative to Templeton. I found it almost hypnotic.
“And do you think Elaine Sharp is really an appropriate object for your affections? She has failed to tell us the truth, and her background is hardly one to inspire much confidence.”
“Hey, now, just wait a minute!” I said, forgetting to concentrate on the fire. “Elaine isn’t crazy. She’s probably saner than you are, and another thing—”
Templeton held up his hand. “She may very well be sane, but is that all you require in a girlfriend? If so, I believe there must be one or two other girls here who might fill the bill. But are you certain, to use a simple phrase, that she is the ‘right person’ for you?”
“What business of yours is it if she isn’t?” I almost shouted.
Templeton looked at me with an amused expression until I started to calm down. “None at all, Wood. Unless, of course, it interferes with my investigation.”
My smile was all gone by now, and I was trying to think of somewhere I could go to get away from him. But before I could come up with anything, he started to speak again as though nothing had happened.
“We can be reasonably certain that Vicki was blackmailing someone here at school, and that the person being blackmailed had the authority to grant her special permission to leave campus at night. So it must have been someone on the faculty or in the administration. This person is also familiar with Elaine’s mental problems and knows what she wears and the fact that she travels by bus. I have an excellent idea as to who this person might be, but without proof we are stymied. The only person who might be able to give us that is Elaine, so I suggest that we pay her a visit. Since I am less susceptible to her charms, perhaps I can gain information where you have so miserably failed. Where is Ms. Sharp now?”
“Back in her dorm, I suppose, that’s where I left her.”
Templeton was already on his feet. Grabbing his coat, he headed for the door. “Let’s go!” he called.
Scrambling into my coat I followed him downstairs and ran to catch up. We went at a trot across the campus from our dorm to the other. In the lobby of the girls’ dorm I put through the required phone call to Elaine’s floor. I let it ring and ring.
“There’s no answer,” I said. “Isn’t there always a monitor on duty on each floor?”
“Every Saturday night Miss Carmody goes to the movies in town and doesn’t come back until eleven because of the late curfew; therefore, the hall monitors secretly take turns covering for each other so they can go out on dates,” Templeton explained. “There’s probably only one monitor responsible for all four floors until around five to eleven when Carmody is expected back. The monitor might not be able to hear the phone ring.”
“How do you know?” I started to say, but figured there was no point. So instead I said, “Well, if Elaine were here she could hear it, so I guess she went out again.”
“What’s her room number?” Templeton asked, heading for the stairs.
“Three-fourteen, but we can’t . . .”
“C’mon, Wood, there may be no time to lose!”
With surprising speed for someone whose idea of exercise was sitting in front of the fire, he raced up the stairs ahead of me. Fortunately we didn’t run into any girls wearing bathrobes or less and start a wave of hysterical screaming.
Templeton knocked on Elaine’s door. There was no answer.
“This is Maxwell Templeton,” he announced, as though the door should fall off its hinges at the mere mention
of his name. Nothing happened. “Wood and I must speak with you. It’s urgent!”
The door remained closed.
Templeton bent over to examine the lock, then lay on the floor and looked under the door. “When they replaced the original oak doors with these new ones, they also installed simple button locks. If enough pressure is exerted, it should snap open,” he said, turning to me.
“Hey, I’m not going to break down a door. Maybe she just went out again. After all, it is Saturday night. Some people have a social life, you know, as in seeing other people,” I said, although as I thought about it I realized I didn’t like the idea of Elaine seeing other people, especially guys.
“The light is on in the room. I doubt she would have left it on if she were going out. We must take a chance and act!”
Filled with doubts, I stepped forward, took a firm grip on the handle, and began to twist. Harder and harder I turned, as the knob began to bite into my hand. The hall was starting to spin before my eyes from the effort when I heard a dull snap. I pushed the door open.
Elaine lay across the bed, arms flung out loosely to her sides as though someone had thrown her there. A cold wind was blowing in from the window, which was wide open. Templeton rushed over and leaned out, while I shook Elaine gently until her eyes started to flutter.
“Is she alive?” Templeton asked, pulling his head back in and closing the window.
“Yeah. You’d better find someone to report this to. Get security,” I said.
Elaine mumbled my name, and looked around her with a dazed expression, as though wondering why there was a party in her room. She stared over my shoulder. I followed her eyes and saw that Templeton was still there.
“Didn’t you hear me? Get security?” I said angrily.
“Before we report anything, Wood, I think we should talk to your friend here and decide whether that would be wise,” he said, pointing up into the shadows at the beam which ran across the ceiling. Something was up there, and as my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw that it was a piece of rope. A piece of rope tied in a hangman’s noose.