My Deadly Valentine (8 page)

“A rush tea?” Bess said curiously.

“It's a chance for sisters and potential pledges to get acquainted,” Kristin explained. “They get to learn about our sorority, and we check them out to see if they'd fit in. After we get through a series of rush events, we'll choose the girls we'd
like to join the sorority and begin pledging them.”

“I'm the rush chairperson,” Brook added, checking her watch. “Which reminds me—I have classes all morning, and we need some snacks for the tea at three.” She pulled a grocery list off the refrigerator door and handed it to Kristin. “Can you make a run into town?”

“I guess I can squeeze it in around lunchtime,” she said, eyeing the list. “But I have to get out of here, or I'll be late for an economics quiz.”

“And we've got a few leads to check out,” Nancy said, nodding at Bess. “Though this snow has put a crimp in my original plan.”

“Do you really think Tamara's boyfriend will talk to you?” Bess asked.

“I have to try,” Nancy said. “Rosie is convinced that she's the one who attacked her. Even Dean Jarvis said that the girls were reprimanded for fighting. Tamara may have been at the Sweetheart Feature when the graffiti artist struck, but I need to find out what she was really doing on Tuesday night.”

After the house emptied out, Nancy went to the secluded nook at the top of the stairs and picked up the phone. With so much snow on the ground, she knew it wouldn't be wise to drive to Russell University. Instead, she dialed the number of the school's switchboard and asked for Zip Williams. The operator put her through.

“Hello?” a deep voice answered.

“Zip? This is Nancy Drew.”

Zip's response was cool. “I know what you're calling about,” he told her. “You're snooping around about Tamara.”

“I'm trying to clear her,” Nancy said. “I don't think she's responsible for the attack on Rosie Lopez, but her alibi doesn't check out.”

“You won't give up until you figure this thing out, will you?” he said, sighing. “Okay, okay. The truth is, Tamara and I went over to the student union snack bar after the game. She was hungry, but she didn't want to stick around in the gym and watch Rosie gloat. So after we had some burgers, I walked Tamara back to the Delta house and said good night. That's all, and it's the truth.”

“Why did she lie to me?” Nancy asked, wrapping the telephone cord around her finger.

Zip remained silent for a moment. Then he cleared his throat and said, “She's nervous about having been so close to the place where Rosie was attacked. But after the way you cleared my name, I figure you should know the truth.”

“Thanks, Zip.” Nancy smiled as she hung up. One suspect down—and a few more to go, she thought.

Minutes later, Nancy and Bess were making their way across the bright white campus. Most of the paths had been cleared and salted, and as
they headed toward Dean Jarvis's office, Nancy recapped her conversation with Tamara's boyfriend.

“So that rules Tamara out,” she concluded. “She didn't hurt Rosie. And she couldn't have painted that graffiti.”

“Then that narrows the suspects down to Casey Thompson and Max Dombrowski,” Bess said.

Nancy remained silent as they entered the administration building.

She and Bess didn't have to wait long to speak with Dean Jarvis. After the girls had taken seats in his office, Nancy told him what she'd learned about Tamara Carlson. “She isn't the person behind these incidents,” she said, explaining what Zip had said.

“That's good to hear,” he said, “especially since Tamara is now Sweetheart. But I'm concerned about these attacks on the Theta Pi sisters.”

“It looks like a vendetta,” Nancy said.

He nodded as he leafed through a file on his desk. “Sergeant Weinberg called me this morning. The police lab found traces of Rosie's hair and blood on that wrench from the boiler room. The electrical tape and manual also matched—though they couldn't get any clean fingerprints.”

“What about Max Dombrowski?” Nancy asked.

“I've checked the time sheets from Tuesday night, and he was on duty,” the dean said. “In fact, his file shows that he was trained as an electrician.”

“It really sounds like Max is the culprit,” Nancy said. “I don't know what his motive was, but all the evidence points to him.”

Dean Jarvis lifted his glasses. “But he was working in the sports complex from nine o'clock on. I spoke with a campus security guard who remembers seeing him there.”

“Was he there all night?” Nancy pressed.

“I don't know. But I can't accuse Max. His employee record is clean. And he's a family man with a wife and two daughters, one of whom attends Emerson.”

A daughter at Emerson? Nancy's thoughts were spinning. “Is his daughter in a sorority?” Nancy asked the dean. Maybe she's a Delta Zeta sister, she thought, recalling the graffiti that had been painted in one of Delta's colors.

“Let's see,” he said, turning to the computer beside his desk. He punched in some information and waited as a file appeared on the monitor. “Her name is Marina Dombrowski . . . and no, she has not pledged a sorority.”

“Hmmm.” Nancy frowned. “I'm not sure what his motive could be. Can you call him in? Maybe he'll confess if we put a little pressure on him?”

Dean Jarvis shook his head. “Much as I admire your investigative skills, I can't let you interrogate a campus employee in this office.”

Nancy glanced away from the older man. Maybe she had pushed a little too hard.

“But I'll call him in and speak to him,” the dean said.

“Fair enough,” Nancy replied, her mind already racing on to the other suspects. If Max didn't have anything to do with the attack, that left Casey Thompson—and then there was Fitz.

“Can you check Mike Fitzgerald's file?” Nancy asked. “He was the last guy seen with Rosie, and he works in the student union. He has keys to the whole building.”

“Fitz?” Bess's blue eyes widened. “But he's such a nice guy! And the Theta Pis love him. Besides, he was sitting next to Mindy at the movie. He couldn't have painted the graffiti.”

“His record is impeccable,” Dean Jarvis added, reading the computer screen. “He's premed, with a high grade point average. Has a part-time job on campus.”

“And he obviously cares a lot about the girls in the sorority,” Nancy said, tapping a nail on the top of the dean's desk. Casey seemed more and more likely, though she still couldn't help but wonder about Max. At any rate, she had to catch Cupid—before he struck again!

• • •

As Nancy and Bess walked up the driveway of the Theta Pi house, Kristin was scraping snow off the windows of her car.

“This is going to be an adventure,” Kristin told Nancy and Bess. “I've got to get snacks for rush, but I don't know whether or not the Emersonville roads have been plowed yet.”

“Maybe we should go along,” Bess suggested as she wiped a mound of snow off the car's bumper. “If you get stuck in the snow, there'll be two extra people to shovel and push.”

“Good idea,” Nancy agreed. The three girls cleared a path out of the driveway. Then they piled into the car.

Kristin drove slowly. “So far so good,” she said as she turned onto the road leading down the hill to the main part of town. The street had been cleared, so Kristin drove a little faster.

As the road dipped, the car picked up speed, and Kristin applied the brakes.

“Easy,” Nancy said as the car skidded.

Kristin tightened her grip on the wheel. “It's weird, but we're sliding—a lot!”

“The road doesn't seem that icy,” Nancy said. “Try pumping the brakes.”

“It's not working!” Kristin cried, stepping on the brake pedal frantically as the car careened ahead. “The brakes—they're not working!”

Nancy stared ahead. The car was speeding toward a treacherous curve in the road.

They were going to crash!

W
E'LL NEVER MAKE
that turn up ahead!” Bess cried from the backseat.

Nancy knew that Kristin had to slow the car somehow, or they would go flying off the road and down the side of the hill. “Switch to low gear!” Nancy shouted.

Kristin grabbed the gear shift and shoved it into first. There was a jerking motion as the car slowed.

“That helped,” Kristin bit out the words as she tried to steer into the skid. The nose of the car stayed on the curving road. But the rear end fishtailed, propelling the car toward the narrow shoulder on the side of the hilltop.

The car bounced out of the turn, and Kristin turned the wheel again, steering the car back onto
the right side of the road. Her hands were riveted to the wheel.

The rest of the ride was rough, but there were no more hairpin turns to negotiate. At last they made it to the bottom of the hill, rolling to a stop a few blocks short of Main Street. Kristin pulled the car onto the shoulder and killed the engine.

“That was close!” Bess said.

“I don't understand it.” Kristin rested her head on the steering wheel, then looked over at Nancy. “This car is old, but I take good care of it. The brakes were replaced last year.”

Nancy frowned. “Why don't you open the hood and we'll take a look?”

Wind and snow whipped around them as the girls huddled at the front end of the car. Although Nancy wasn't a mechanical expert, she had had enough experience to know that the car had been tampered with.

“Here's the problem,” she said, holding up a cable coated with plastic. “This cable was cut in half.”

“Someone cut the brake lines?” Kristin said, her mouth dropping open in surprise.

“We could have been killed,” Bess said, shaking her head. “That's another strike against Theta Pi.”

“You're right,” Nancy told Bess. “We'd better call the sorority house and warn the other girls to check their cars.”

“And I'd better get this one to a mechanic,” Kristin said, shielding her eyes against the snow. “There's a gas station a few blocks away. Maybe they can fix it.”

Twenty minutes later the girls were sitting in the corner booth of a diner on Main Street. An attendant at the service station had sent over a tow truck to get Kristin's car. Nancy had phoned the Theta Pi house to warn the sisters. Then the three girls had walked over to the diner, where they could stay warm and eat some lunch.

“The mechanic said that you were right about the brake lines being cut. But he won't have my car fixed until tomorrow,” Kristin said as a short, round waitress placed bowls of steaming clam chowder on the table.

“How're we going to get back to Emerson?” Bess asked. “Doesn't the Theta Pi rush begin at three?”

The waitress remained at the table. She was staring at Kristin. “I thought I recognized you,” she said. “You're a Theta Pi, right?”

“She's the president of the sorority,” Bess offered as she picked up her spoon. “And we're her friends, Bess Marvin and Nancy Drew.”

“You look familiar, too,” Kristin said, eyeing the waitress. “You're a student at Emerson, right?”

“A sophomore,” the waitress said. “Did you guys get stuck in the snow?”

“Something like that,” Nancy said cautiously.
With her square face and dark, curly hair the waitress seemed vaguely familiar to her, too, but she couldn't figure out why.

“My shift ends at two, and I'm headed back to school,” the waitress said. “I'd be happy to give you a lift.”

Kristin stared down at her soup, then smiled up at the girl. “We've got a few errands to take care of. It'll be easier if we call a taxi. But thanks for the offer. What's your name again?”

“Marina,” the waitress said. “Marina Dombrowski.” She smiled. Just then someone called her name from the kitchen. “Whoops! I think the rest of your order is ready. I'll be right back.” She turned and disappeared into the kitchen.

“Is something wrong?” Bess asked Nancy.

“Marina Dombrowski,” Nancy repeated. “No wonder she looks familiar! She's Max's daughter.”

“The maintenance man from the student union!” Bess said, her eyes wide. “Dean Jarvis mentioned that he had a daughter.”

“I didn't know that he was her father,” Kristin said, glancing back at the kitchen to make sure Marina was out of earshot. “That's a weird connection, though. Marina wanted to pledge Theta Pi last year, but we didn't extend a bid, and she was really bitter about the whole thing.”

“What's a bid?” Bess asked, as she carefully took a taste of the steaming chowder.

“An invitation to join the sorority. After a few weeks of ‘rushing,' each sorority reviews the list of rushees and decides which ones to extend bids to. If a girl accepts a bid, she becomes a pledge. Pledges spend a few weeks learning about the sorority. It's kind of a trial period before initiation.”