Sorority Sister (9 page)

“Dooley,” Cleo said. “Real young. Kind of cute, too. He had real bright red, curly hair. Like I said, cute. Seemed to know what he was doing. I mean, he had a tank of chemicals and a uniform and everything. And I checked his identification,” she added nervously. “He had a business card with his name on it.”

The officer pulled a small white notebook from her chest pocket. “Company van, miss? You check that out, too?”

Chloe’s round face flushed. “Yes, absolutely. ZAPCO. That was the name.”

“Officer,” Mildred interjected, “I’ve used this company before. I just told you that. They wouldn’t send someone who would be sloppy enough to contaminate our food with those nasty chemicals, if that’s what you’re implying.”

Making no comment, the officer turned to her partner and said in a low voice, “Have the lab check for insecticide. Make the call
now.”

Maxie heard her clearly. Insecticide? She thought Erica and Tinker and the others had ingested bug-killer?
Bug
-killer?

If it killed bugs, what did it do to people?

The doctor hadn’t said they’d all be okay. He’d only said they were “stabilized,” whatever that meant. That they weren’t at death’s door, Maxie guessed. Not much comfort there.

It was all too much. The house that she loved had become a place where people ingested deadly chemicals? And the police thought someone had deliberately made that happen?

The officer who had gone to the phone turned around. “Had to roust the manager at home,” he told them. “ZAPCO doesn’t have a Mr. Dooley working for them, never did. And one of their trucks was stolen last night, returned after work hours tonight. That van had loaded canisters in the back, and the manager says it probably even had an extra uniform or two.” Maxie’s knees turned to mush and she slid into a red plastic chair.

For the first time since she had moved into Omega house, she was afraid to go home.

M
AXIE DECIDED TO SPEND
the night at Lester with Jenna. She knew she couldn’t face returning to Omega house while Tinker and Candie were still in the hospital.

Jenna was thrilled to see her. She raced around the room, grabbing clean sheets and making up the empty bed, chattering a mile a minute the whole time.

“Grotesque!” she declared when Maxie explained why she was there. “I mean, as thrilled as I am to see your gorgeous self, I wasn’t sitting around wishing illness upon your sorority sisters. So, they’re going to recover and spring from their hospital beds whole and healthy again, right?”

Maxie didn’t know. “I hope so.” She sat down on the newly made bed. “The police hinted that maybe someone had put something in our food.”

Jenna, on the other bed, stared at her. “You mean on purpose? Like, deliberately? As in poisoning the wine in some cheap detective novel?”

“Um-hmm. They’re back at Omega house now, checking the brick wall around the fountain. They’ll see what I saw … that the bricks have been tampered with. I guess once they see that, they’ll really be sure that someone poisoned the spaghetti.”

“Maxie,” Jenna said, leaning forward, dyed bangs falling carelessly across her forehead, “
what
is going on over there?”

“I don’t know. The only person in the house yesterday who didn’t belong there was an exterminator. But Chloe said he had I.D.”

“Oh, Maxie, getting fake I.D. is as easy as writing a check. Anyone can get fake I.D. And uniforms and anything else they need. My dad says people do it all the time.” Jenna’s father was a policeman in Albany. “Freaks him out, how easy it is to pretend to be someone you’re not.”

“Well, what are we supposed to
do
?” Maxie cried, tears of frustration spilling over. “If Mrs. B. calls people to come to the house and then someone shows up with identification, how are we supposed to know they’re fake?”

“Well, that’s what freaks my dad,” Jenna answered calmly. “Listen, just be grateful you had no appetite tonight, right? But if you didn’t partake, you must be starved now. What say we hit Vinnie’s, or the diner? Might be just the thing to make you feel human again.”

Maxie didn’t feel like eating. But the eager look on Jenna’s face stopped her from saying so. It wouldn’t kill her, she decided, to act like she was happy to be here with Jenna. The truth was, she felt uncomfortable in this room now, probably because she felt guilty about leaving Omega house at such a terrible time. But Jenna didn’t need to know that.

“Let me just splash some water on my face and brush my hair,” Maxie said.

In the bathroom, she stared at her face in the mirror as if she didn’t recognize it. Her hair was a tangled mess, her eyes red-rimmed, her skin pasty. I might not be sick like the others, she thought with disgust, but I
look
like I am.

She couldn’t find a washcloth. Bending to open the door to the cupboard under the sink, she rummaged around until she found one. She was about to straighten up when something caught her eye. Something bright red, fluffy. There hadn’t been anything bright red and fluffy under there when she lived in room 316. What
was
it?

She reached in and lifted it out. Held it in her hands. Turned it over several times, examining it.

A wig.

A bright red, curly wig.

Chloe’s words rang in her ears. “He had this really bright red, curly hair. Cute, like I said.”

“What are you doing?” Jenna said from the doorway. “Where did you get that?”

Maxie lifted her head. “In the cupboard. I was looking for a washcloth. What is it?” She stood up, the wig still in her hands. “I mean, I
know
what it is. But what’s it for?”

Jenna reached out and took the wig from her. “Don’t you remember? Halloween. I was Little Orphan Annie. I wore this to the party at the student center.” She opened the cupboard door and tossed the wig back inside. “Oh, that’s right,” she said as she straightened up, “you weren’t there. You went to a sorority thing that night. So you never saw my costume.” She shrugged. “Too bad. I looked pretty cute.”

“I invited you to Omega’s party,” Maxie said a bit defensively, feeling as if she’d been accused of something. “You wouldn’t come.”

“Didn’t belong there,” Jenna said briskly, and then quickly smiled. “Look, I had fun where I was, okay?” She turned away. “Come on, hurry up. I’m ravenous.”

Maxie was too unsettled to hurry. Something Brendan had said was nagging at her. Brendan had suggested that the person tormenting the Omega Phis might be a reject. He’d meant someone not pledged by the sorority. But there were
other
kinds of rejection, weren’t there? Like …like rejection of a former roommate and best friend. Maxie had once seen Jenna dump everything off her desk and throw a hairbrush across the room because she was angry at the guy she was seeing at the time. There had been fury in her round, usually placid face. Pure, unrestrained fury. Her eyes had blazed, the pupils narrowing into tiny pinpoints.

When she’d calmed down enough to notice Maxie staring at her, Jenna had laughed self-consciously and said, “Forgot to tell you, I’ve got my dad’s temper. Don’t look so scared. I only attack things, not people.”

Was that still true?

The question shocked Maxie. What am I
thinking
? she wondered, feeling sick to her stomach. Jenna? What’s wrong with me? I’m coming unglued here.

Anyway, the doctor, the exterminator — those had been
guys
who had come to Omega house. Not a blonde
girl.

Not
Jenna. Definitely not Jenna.

Get a grip, Maxie, she told herself, and left the bathroom.

Although it was nearly midnight on a weeknight, the long silver diner was packed. Some students were using Burgers Etc. as an escape from hours of studying, while others had stopped in on their way home from a movie in town.

Brendan was standing by the jukebox, talking to a tall girl with long, blonde hair.

She looks like Erica from the back, Maxie thought, her stab of jealousy defeated by her concern for the hospitalized Erica.

When Brendan turned around, laughing, and saw Maxie and Jenna heading for a booth, he hesitated, and then walked toward them. Alone.

He wasn’t
with
that girl, whoever she was. Maxie smiled at him, forgetting for the moment that he hadn’t called to apologize after their argument, hadn’t come to Omega house to talk to her. He didn’t even know yet that many of her sorority sisters were in the hospital. She dreaded telling him. He’d have a fit.

To her surprise, he didn’t. His reaction when she’d told him after they gave the waitress their order was one of concern, not anger. “You think they’re all going to be okay?” he asked.

Too surprised to speak, Maxie only nodded. He’d been so anxious for her to leave Omega house when the other things had happened. Why not now? Maybe he was as sick of the arguing as she was. “I guess so. We won’t know for sure until tomorrow, when they tell us what was in the spaghetti sauce. The doctor thinks it’s some kind of chemical.”

“Chemical?”

“Tell him the whole story, Maxie,” Jenna urged.

Well, he hadn’t exploded yet. She might as well tell the whole truth and nothing but. And so she told him all about the fake exterminator and the spaghetti sauce.

“But …you’re not sick,” Brendan said.

“I didn’t eat. Some of us didn’t, and we’re still fine. That’s why the police are convinced it was the spaghetti.”

“They think someone sprayed chemicals on your food? You mean, like insecticide?”

“Well, actually, it could have been anything. Since the guy wasn’t really
from
ZAPCO, he could have had something else in the tank. Some kind of plain old poison, maybe. Erica looked
so
sick … I was afraid she was dying.”

Their food came then, ending the conversation. But Maxie was unable to take even one bite from her hamburger. She kept seeing the faces of her friends, twisted in pain.

She tried to push the ugly picture out of her head. All around her, people were eating and talking and laughing and playing the jukebox. The diner was a warm, friendly place to be, and she was perfectly safe here. Why couldn’t she relax like the others?

Because I’m
scared,
came the answer, and they’re not.

“I have to get out of here,” she said suddenly, standing up.

“I’ll drive you back to Omega House,” Brendan said, sliding out of the booth.

“Oh, she’s not staying there tonight,” Jenna said quickly, jumping up, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “She’s staying with me.”

Oh, boy, Maxie thought, her stomach churning. “Jenna, I can’t,” she said earnestly, “I just can’t. I know I said I would, and I wanted to, but I’ve got to go back to Omega house. I just don’t feel right about not being there when so much is going on.”

Jenna’s round face fell. “You can’t possibly want to go back there when you’re so much safer at Lester with me.”

Maxie stood her ground. “I have to go. Please understand, Jenna. Please?”

Jenna sagged against the booth and her mouth twisted. “Sure, I understand,” she said heavily. “I guess I just can’t compete with all your ‘sisters.’ “

“Jenna …” But it was too late. Jenna had already turned away.

Maxie watched her saunter, oh so casually, over to another booth. “I hurt her feelings,” she told Brendan, her voice heavy with regret. “But I really do need to get back to the house.”

“She’ll survive. C’mon, let’s go.” He paid the bill, and they left.

She wanted to stay in Brendan’s car forever. She felt safe there, sitting amid all the clutter and the smells of after-shave and peppermint breath-savers and the riper smell of gym clothes. They would just ride forever, up and down the highway, where nothing at Omega house could touch them.

But that wasn’t possible.

She was at least grateful to Brendan for not insisting again that she move out of the house.

“Thanks,” she said as he walked her up the wide stone steps to the front porch. “Not just for the ride. For not arguing with me about leaving here, especially after I told you what happened here tonight.”

“Forget it. I know when I’m licked. You made that clear when you stomped away from me at Butler Hall. I had no business telling you what to do, anyway.”

“This is true,” she said lightly, turning at the front door to face him. “But I guess I don’t blame you for trying.” She raised her arms to encircle his neck. “I know you were just worried about me.”

“Still am. More now than before.” He put his hands on her shoulders, drew her close. “The truth is, though,” he murmured into her ear, “if you only did what I told you to, this relationship would be about as exciting as a pair of old shoes. Easier, maybe,” he added with a rueful laugh, “but not much fun, right?”

“Right,” Maxie agreed, laughing.

He was about to kiss her for a second time when a deep voice from the foot of the steps said, “Well, now, I thought there wasn’t to be no congregatin’ on the front porch.” A snicker followed the comment.

Maxie pulled abruptly away from Brendan. “Tuttle! What are you doing out here?”

“Heard there was some trouble over here. Heard it on the radio. Bunch of girls carted off to the hospital, man on the radio says. So I come to see what it’s all about. Sounded like you girls been eatin’ somethin’ you shouldn’t of.”

Maxie was sure she heard a sly grin in that voice, lost in the shadows at the foot of the steps. “Everyone’s in bed,” she said sharply.

“Everyone ’cept you.
You
could fill me in.”

“Not now, Tuttle. Come back in the morning.”

He put one foot on the bottom step. “I don’t think it’d be right of me to leave till I know you’re safe and sound inside. I gotta watch out for you girls.”

Creep! Everyone knew he did most of his “watching” through the windows! But it was obvious that he was going to stay right there at the foot of the steps until Brendan left.

Telling Brendan she’d see him tomorrow, and giving him a gentle shove, Maxie turned and went into the house.

Maxie slid the new chain lock into place, pulled the curtain aside to make certain that Tuttle had disappeared, and when she was sure that he had, she went upstairs to bed.