Deadly Attraction (Nightmare Hall) Page 11

  I don’t think so, she told herself grimly. She thanked Amy, closed and locked the door behind her, propped the chair under the doorknob, and went to bed.

  But unlike Nell, who slumbered away peacefully, Hailey lay awake for hours.

  Hailey’s first thought upon awakening the next morning was, I have to see Finn and find out if he talked to Mike Riggs last night. Or Darlene, if she was back. But if she called Lester, that twit at the desk would say, “No Conran here.”

  The truth was, she was nervous about seeing Finn. Amy had said Finn sounded annoyed, and it was going to be impossible to explain to him where she’d been. Maybe it would be a good idea to avoid him until she could figure out what to say.

  Her second thought was, I need to find out if Darlene is back. If she is, who better to ask about Mike Riggs?

  Nell had already left for her run. Glancing at her jumbled bedding, Hailey remembered the terror of the night before … thinking Nell was … dead. Her hands began to shake. She had trouble combing her hair.

  She had to find out something. They couldn’t go on like this.

  When Hailey called the Riggs house, Darlene’s mother answered.

  “I was just wondering,” Hailey said, “if Darlene had come home.”

  “Oh, no, not yet,” she was told. “In a few days, we’re hoping.”

  Hailey hated to hang up. This phone line was her link to Mike Riggs. Impulsively, she added, “Well, is Mike there?”

  “No, I’m sorry, he’s not.”

  Well, at least she hadn’t said, “Mike who?” the way everyone on campus seemed to.

  “He does live at home, doesn’t he?”

  “Oh, of course. But he had an early class.”

  “Would you by any chance know what class he has?”

  “Let me check his schedule. It’s right here.”

  Hailey heard the phone dropping, and the rustling of paper. Then Mrs. Riggs came back on the line. “Here it is. A nine o’clock philosophy class. Professor Monahan. Lindbergh Hall, Room 132.”

  That was helpful, but it wasn’t enough! She would have to lie, a little. No other choice. “Mrs. Riggs, the thing is, I have some things Darlene left in my room. I thought she might want them. I can give them to Mike, but I’ve had trouble finding him on campus, and I don’t know what he looks like. Does he look like Darlene?”

  “Oh, no,” Mrs. Riggs said, “Michael looks just like his father. He’s very handsome. And if it helps, he wore his blue sweater today, the one I knitted for his birthday.”

  Like his father? Hailey had met Darlene’s father the night of the pizza party. A small, weary-looking man with graying hair. Handsome? I guess that’s true love, she thought. But it was hard to imagine a younger version of Mr. Riggs.

  She thanked Darlene’s mother and hung up. Then she dressed in jeans and her gray Salem sweatshirt under a navy blue blazer. Making sure she had her key, she hurried off to Lindbergh Hall.

  She only had to wait five minutes outside of room 132 before the door opened and students began pouring into the hall. She saw no one who resembled Mr. Riggs. Ian and Milo were in the class, Robert Q and Lyle, and Finn and Pete, but room 132 must have been cold because they were all wearing their jackets. No blue sweater was visible. None of them saw Hailey half-hidden behind the open door, and she let them hurry on to their next class without calling to them. She had to concentrate on finding Mike Riggs.

  When she peered inside the room, it was empty except for the teacher, stuffing papers into his briefcase.

  Had she missed Mike Riggs? Or had he cut class? Would someone actually hurry from town to campus practically at the crack of dawn and then skip the class they’d come for? That seemed irrational.

  Hailey uttered a short laugh. Irrational? She could be dealing with a murderer here. Irrational seemed too mild a term.

  If Mike Riggs hadn’t attended class, where was he? Hailey thought of Nell, running alone in the woods, and fought panic. She couldn’t get upset about Nell again, when her roommate was probably perfectly safe.

  And, as if she were being rewarded for thinking so sensibly, the first person she saw when she left Lindbergh Hall was Nell. She was standing beside the fountain in the Commons talking to Pete.

  Hailey hurried over to them. The wind stung her cheeks. The sun that had been shining when she first left Devereaux had taken refuge behind thick gray clouds that hinted at more snow, and the air had turned raw and chilly.

  “Gotta go!” Nell cried as Hailey arrived. “Catch you later.”

  “I heard about your scare last night,” Pete said, watching Nell run in the direction of the dorm. He was hatless, his blond hair tousled, his ears beet-red. “Should she be running in the woods by herself?”

  “I was wondering the same thing this morning,” Hailey said, sitting down on the low stone wall around the fountain. “But I have a feeling that unless we tied her feet to the bed and locked Nell in, she’d run no matter what was going on.”

  Pete laughed. “You’re right.”

  “Listen, Pete,” Hailey said, “I’m getting really suspicious about Mike Riggs.”

  Pete sat down beside her, stomping his feet on the old, hardened snow to keep them warm. “Mike Riggs?”

  “Darlene’s brother.”

  “Her brother?”

  “Yes. What everyone who was hurt … or killed … had in common is Darlene. At first, I thought it was her. But she really is in Willowcreek, so …”

  Pete looked shocked. “Darlene wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

  “I know. But she was having a really hard time dealing with the Robert Q stuff. I thought maybe she’d flipped. But now I’m wondering about her brother. Couldn’t he be angry enough about what happened to her to seek revenge for her?”

  “What about that guy she was dating? He looked like he could get really nasty. That Jessup guy.”

  “The police said Bo wasn’t in town when some of the stuff happened. Look, help me out here, okay? Do you know Mike Riggs?”

  “Mike Riggs? You don’t think it was Bo?” Pete rubbed his hands together.

  “Oh, Pete, I don’t know what I think anymore. I just know I’m tired of looking over my shoulder all the time. Richard’s dead and I came close, and other people have been hurt … and someone’s getting away with it. I’m scared. So is Nell.”

  Pete said he didn’t know Mike Riggs, but he’d find out what he could and get back to her. And then, complaining that he was freezing, he left.

  Hailey was cold, too. But she stayed where she was for a few more minutes. Campus seemed so … normal. People hurried, heads down against the wind, to and from buildings just as they always did. Small groups gathered here and there, chatting briefly before rushing off to find warmth. Except for a trio of town police who glanced inquiringly at Hailey as they passed, campus looked pretty much the way it was supposed to.

  Then why, Hailey asked herself as she stood up, am I so terrified?

  Because, came the answer, appearances can be deceiving.

  Chapter 20

  HAILEY WAS WITHIN A few yards of Devereaux when Milo Keith caught up with her. It occurred to her that maybe Milo could help. She waved him inside the dorm to escape the cold. The lobby was crowded with uniformed marching band members about to leave for a pep rally. They were making so much noise, laughing, talking, tooting a few careless notes on trombones and trumpets, that Hailey couldn’t hear Milo’s answer to her question.

  “Do you know Darlene’s brother, Mike Riggs?” she shouted over the cacophony.

  Milo moved into a corner to let the troupe pass by. “No. I never met him. But his name isn’t Riggs.”

  A trombone on its way out the door blasted a trio of deep, resonating notes.

  “What?” Hailey shouted as a drummer jostled her from behind. “What did you say?”

  Milo leaned closer. “I said, Darlene’s brother’s name isn’t Riggs!”

  With a melodic tooting on a flute, the last band member left the lobby, and in t
he ensuing silence, Hailey caught Milo’s answer.

  “It’s not? What is it?”

  Milo shrugged bony shoulders. “Beats me. But we were talking about it after you and Finn left Duffy’s in such a hurry last night. Our waiter heard us mention Darlene’s name. He grew up near Darlene. We asked him about her brother, and he said Mike was really her half brother … his mom had married Darlene’s dad. But Mike kept his original last name. So it’s not Riggs.”

  Chagrin washed over Hailey. She’d been asking questions all over campus about someone who didn’t exist? There wasn’t any Mike Riggs?

  Who, exactly, am I looking for? Hailey wondered. “Okay, that’s it!” she cried. “It is time to go to the horse’s mouth. I’m calling Darlene and I’m not letting her talk about Robert Q. She’s going to tell me who and where her brother is!”

  “Good thinking. Gotta go.” Milo turned to leave. But before he yanked the door open, he added, “Listen, Kingman, just be careful out there, okay? One thing I’ve learned from living at Nightmare Hall is, you can’t be too careful, okay?”

  Hailey smiled a rueful smile. “Okay. Will do.”

  As she waited, with a handful of other students, for the elevator, Hailey picked nervously at her nails. Darlene’s brother could be anyone.

  The hallway was chilly and deserted, and when Hailey arrived at room 416, Nell wasn’t home. She and the others were already at the bonfire and pep rally for tomorrow’s football game, which was where Hailey planned to go as soon as she’d talked to Darlene.

  She dropped her books and jacket on her bed and went straight to the phone. Dialing Darlene’s grandmother’s house in Willowcreek, she wondered if Finn would be at the pep rally. And she wondered if he was mad at her because he thought she’d been with some other guy the night before.

  “Oh, Hailey,” Darlene gushed when she learned who was calling her, “I’m so glad you called! You’ll never guess who’s here. Bo! It turns out he’s been here in Willowcreek the whole time, staying with his aunt, and trying to get up enough nerve to apologize to me about the way he behaved at the Sigma Chi party.”

  “What?” Hailey said.

  “Bo was afraid I’d never forgive him for his temper tantrum. He didn’t even wait for me that night, after all. He was so ashamed, he just got in his truck and drove here.”

  So, the police had been right. Bo hadn’t been in town when things started going haywire.

  Darlene rushed on: “Even when Bo found out I was in Willowcreek, too, he was afraid to come see me right away. Isn’t that silly? As if I wouldn’t forgive Bo, the person I love most in the whole world.”

  Hailey’s head was spinning. Since when was Bo Jessup the person Darlene Riggs loved most in the whole world? What about Robert Q?

  “Darlene, slow down! You’re talking too fast. I thought you were finished with Bo.”

  “I know, Hailey, but I was wrong. I can’t believe I gave up Bo for that creep, Robert Q.”

  Hailey’s eyes widened. That creep? Darlene had switched her devotion back to Bo? That was fast.

  Speaking in the same high-pitched, breathless voice she’d used when talking about Robert Q in the past, Darlene went on, “Bo hates working in the garage, so he’s going to quit, and we’re going to take some courses together at Salem—he’s so wonderful, Hailey, I can’t stand to be away from him for even a single second—I make him call me first thing every morning and last thing at night …”

  Hailey stopped listening. Darlene’s switched heroes, she thought, but she’s still using the same script. Woman overboard. She may not be a killer, but she sure could use some help. “That’s great, Darlene,” Hailey said weakly, when Darlene finally paused for a breath. At least Bo apparently felt the same way about Darlene. He wouldn’t hurt her the way Robert Q had.

  “You know, Hailey,” Darlene confided in a calmer voice, “I was pretty bummed that Mike got to go to college and I didn’t. Part of the reason I didn’t study harder in high school was, I knew my parents couldn’t afford to send me. And Mike had some money his father had left him. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to get him started. I didn’t even have that, and I knew my parents figured it wasn’t as important for a girl to go. That really ticked me off.”

  It was the perfect opening for Hailey. “Darlene, you never told me Mike wasn’t your … well, I mean, you didn’t say he was your half brother.”

  “Oh, gosh, Hailey, I never think of Mike that way. He’s been just like my real brother right from the very first day. I think he’d do anything for me. He was so mad when all that stuff happened with Robert Q.”

  Just how mad had Darlene’s brother been?

  Footsteps sounded outside in the hall. Nell coming home? The pep rally couldn’t be over already.

  Time to get some answers. “Darlene, what exactly is Mike’s last name, anyway? I was going to look him up, find out if he’d heard from you, but of course I was looking for a Mike Riggs.” Hailey laughed. “And now I know there is no such person.”

  The footsteps were getting closer, echoing hollowly in the empty hall. They were too heavy to be Nell’s. She walked lightly, gracefully, always on an imaginary balance beam.

  “You probably already know my brother,” Darlene said. “He’s a freshman, like you, and he knows a lot of people. He was at the Sigma Chi party that night, Hailey, and if things hadn’t been so crazy, I’d have introduced you. I know you’d like each other.”

  The footsteps came to a halt just outside the door to room 416.

  And fear began to creep up Hailey’s spine. She was alone in the dorm and someone was standing on the other side of the door. What if it was the same person who had pushed her out the window?

  If she had gone to the bonfire with Nell, she’d be safe in a crowd right now.

  There was a sharp knock on the door.

  But before Hailey opened it, she repeated her question to Darlene. “What is Mike’s last name, Darlene?”

  And Darlene answered, “Conran. My brother’s name is Michael Finn Conran.”

  Chapter 21

  HAILEY STOOD STOCK-STILL, her mouth open in shock. Finn was Darlene’s brother? No. He would have told her.

  “Of course,” Darlene rattled on, “we still call him Mike at home, but he goes by Finn now. It was his dad’s name. Hailey? Hailey, are you still there?”

  Without saying good-bye, Hailey slowly, carefully, replaced the receiver on the wall telephone.

  Finn was Darlene’s brother.

  No. Not possible. She had talked about Darlene with Finn. And not once had he said, “She’s my sister.” Not once.

  But … Darlene certainly knew who her own brother was.

  It had to be true.

  Finn had deliberately kept from her the information that he and Darlene were related? Why would he do that?

  Lost in disbelief, she was oblivious to the knocking on the door, until a voice shocked her back to reality by calling, “Hailey?”

  Hailey jumped, startled.

  Then the door opened a crack and Pete Torrance poked his head in. “I could hear you on the phone,” he explained, “so I knew someone was in here. What’s up? You look like you just lost your best friend.”

  “Oh, Pete, you scared me.” Hailey’s heart was pounding wildly.

  “So, did you?” he persisted.

  “Did I what?” She couldn’t concentrate.

  “I said, did you lose your best friend? Where is Nell, anyway?”

  Maybe I did lose a best friend, Hailey thought sadly, but it wasn’t Nell. Tears stung her eyelids.

  Pete’s voice changed. “Hailey, what’s wrong? You look weird. It’s not Nell, is it? Has something happened to Nell?”

  “No, Nell’s fine,” Hailey answered in a surprisingly level voice. “She’s probably already at the rally. I need to find her. Come on!”

  Pete ran a hand through his unruly blond hair. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s wrong.”

  Hailey told herself in d
esperation that hiding the truth about who he was didn’t make Finn a killer. It didn’t!

  But … Finn was at the Sigma Chi party the night Gerrie was hit by the rock. And he was behind the frat house when Robert Q’s car burned.

  Darlene had said, “I think my brother would do anything for me.”

  Anything?

  Hailey raised her eyes to meet Pete’s worried gaze. Pete was Finn’s friend. Maybe he could explain.

  Please, please, she prayed, let him tell me that what I’m thinking is crazy, that his friend Finn isn’t a liar and a killer. “We have to find Nell,” she said urgently, grabbing Pete’s hand. “We can talk while we look for her. C’mon!”

  Together, they hurried down the hall to the elevator. She stabbed the down button. Then she turned to Pete and accused, “You knew there was no such person as Mike Riggs, didn’t you? You sat right there on the fountain with me and played innocent. You even said you’d ask around, when you knew the whole time that Darlene’s brother was Finn.” The elevator arrived, the door opened, and they stepped inside. “How could you?” Hailey cried as the doors closed. “I feel so stupid. You knew!”

  Pete’s face flushed guiltily. “I’m sorry, Hailey. I really am. But I’d promised Finn I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

  “Why? Is he ashamed of his own sister?” But even before Pete answered, Hailey knew it wasn’t that simple. It couldn’t be.

  “That’s not why. But … you might wish it was, when I tell you what I think.” The elevator doors slid open and they exited to an empty lobby. Pete held the heavy front door open. A bitter gust of wind greeted them. Darkness had fallen while they were inside. From the wide stone steps of Devereaux, Hailey and Pete could see the orange glow of the huge bonfire in a field behind Butler Hall, and hear the marching band playing a rousing rendition of the school fight song.

  Pete hunched his green-jacketed shoulders against the cold. “Finn said he didn’t want anyone to know he was Darlene’s brother because he intended to nose around, find out who had thrown that rock at Gerrie. Darlene was already a suspect, so he said no one would tell him anything if they knew he was her brother. Made sense to me. Then, when you were pushed out the window, he said it would be safer for you if you didn’t know. So I kept quiet, and when you asked me about Darlene’s brother, I pretended I didn’t know who he was. For your sake, Hailey.”