Cari was already halfway to Marjorie’s apartment when she got her text. She tried to call Marjorie, but it went straight to her voice mail. Cari decided to get Genevieve on the phone too. She hadn’t run that idea by Marjorie, but the young woman had said that she was heading towards Onore’s campus police building, so she was probably okay with it. Genevieve answered immediately.
“Cari! Did you change her mind?”
“I need you to get back to campus ASAP. Marjorie’s in trouble. I don’t know what’s going on. Meet us at campus police.”
“What? Cari, this is the last time I’m chasing you around the campus. I’m not at your beck and call.”
“Genevieve! Trust me on this. You have to come. She is scared. I don’t know what happened. She just texted me. Stay on the line. I’m almost there.”
“How are you almost there? You live at least ten minutes from campus!”
“I was hoping to get her to talk to me and change her mind about talking to you. I started driving over here, and then I got this frantic text that she needed me to pick her up.”
Cari whipped around the corners, pushing the speed limit a bit. She was just two blocks away from the building now and all of the intersections had four-way stops. She slammed to a stop at the first one and was getting ready to gun it again when a blue car tore around the corner ahead of her. The nerve of some people! She thought about honking her horn at the inconsiderate driver, but before she could, the car skidded to a halt alongside the curb. The driver jumped out right in front of Cari’s car. Her tires squealed in protest as she screeched to a stop, barely avoiding the young man who had just hopped up onto the sidewalk in a dead sprint.
Cari swerved around his still open door and strained to see what would cause him to abandon his vehicle in such a careless way. Suddenly, her heart lurched into her throat. Marjorie! She saw the girl sprinting across the grass towards the campus police building just up the block. The young man was fast and gaining on her. Cari honked once, hoping to distract him and get Marjorie’s attention at the same time.
There was a small parking lot for the officers to use next to the building. Cari just needed to beat this hooligan to it. She pressed down on the gas pedal and flashed her lights as she whipped the car into the lot. She threw the car into park and reached across to open her passenger door. Marjorie jumped into the car as Cari put it into reverse and wheeled around back into the street. Her chest was heaving as she exhaled. Marjorie had tears streaming down her face.
“What just happened? Who are you running from?”
Genevieve’s voice broke into Cari’s thoughts before Marjorie could respond. “Cari! Cari! What is happening? I heard brakes squealing and tires skidding. People are crying. I’m maybe a minute away. Talk to me!”
Marjorie still couldn’t speak. Cari drove past the blue car that still had its door open and sped off towards her own apartment. She tried to take a deep breath to slow down her heart rate.
“I was driving over to the campus police building when this guy came out of nowhere and cut me off. Then, he jumped out of his blue car and took off on foot. Turns out, he was chasing after Marjorie too! She’s in the car now. I don’t know where the young man is.”
“I think I’m just passing you now.”
Headlights flashed at Cari. She flashed hers back to show her recognition. “I’m taking Marjorie to my apartment. If you can find that young man, you need to figure out who he is and what his deal is. Call me back when you’re headed my way.” She hung up.
“Marjorie, are you okay? Deep breaths, relax. You’re okay. You’re safe. What happened? Who was that?”
“I don’t know! I was at home and then Tiffany got home and then I overheard her on the phone and she was telling this guy about Stephen—about everything! I panicked and sent you a text, then started running for campus police. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“It’s okay.” Cari let out a big breath. “So, Tiffany is your roommate, right?”
Marjorie nodded.
“She went on a date with some new guy…”
“That’s who she was talking to on the phone. He’s another athlete. She said he was concerned about me, but I think she told him about the powder. It just felt all wrong. Why would some random athlete care about some dead guy’s girlfriend?” She burst into tears again.
Cari reached into her console and handed Marjorie a tissue. “Remember, deep breaths. You’re safe. Genevieve is going to find that guy and we’re going to figure all of this out.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Genevieve turned onto the street where the university’s campus police office was located. She checked her watch; it had only been ninety seconds since she had heard Marjorie slam Cari’s car door as they were driving away. No one else had passed her since she saw Cari driving by. Cari had said that it was a blue car. It had to be Niles, but where had he gone now? She turned left and saw brake lights ahead. She punched the dial for her car’s Bluetooth and got Alex on the line.
“What now?” He answered.
“Quick! What’s the license plate for Niles’ car?”
“What? Where are you?”
“The license plate. Alex!” She growled at him.
“Chill. Let me look it up.”
“Hurry. I don’t want to follow the wrong car.”
He read off the plate number to her. “Where are you?”
“I’m just about to drive away from campus. I’m not sure where he’s headed, but I am going to make a traffic stop. We’re approaching the intersection of Craft Avenue and Second Street.”
“I’ll be there in five minutes. You got your siren with you?”
“Just putting it up top.” She answered as the blaring noise drowned out her last words. She ended the call and watched the car ahead of her. Would Niles run or would he cooperate?
* * * * * * * * * *
Andrew slammed the palm of his hand into his steering wheel. Damnit! Not only had he lost the girl, but now he was getting pulled over too. Where had the cop come from? He hadn’t even been speeding, had he? He pulled over to the curb. No sense making this worse than it was. Maybe his taillight was out. It was a pretty old car. That was probably it. He wiped his palms onto his jeans and tried to relax. He looked into his rearview mirror and his heart sunk. The cop from the other day, Detective what’s-her-name, was walking towards his car. He hit the button to lower his window and sighed.
“Andrew Niles, right?” The short detective had a flashlight pointed at his face.
He squinted into the light. “Yes, ma’am, uh, Detective, sir—ma’am.” He stuttered.
“Detective Viacorte.” She smiled at him, but her eyes didn’t look friendly. “I need you to step out of the car. Nice and slow.”
“What? Uh? Should I call someone?”
“Who did you need to call, Mr. Niles?” She cocked her head to one side with a glint in her eye as she continued to grin at him.
“Like a lawyer?” He drew the words out slowly.
“I don’t know, Mr. Niles. Do you think you need a lawyer?” Still with the grin.
He tried to relax but had never been pulled over before. “I don’t know what I’ve done wrong.”
“Why don’t you step out of the car and we can chat about it? My partner should be here any minute.”
He slowly unfastened his seatbelt and let the strap slide through his fingers. His shoulders dropped as he opened the door. This couldn’t be good.
* * * * * * * * * *
Cari led Marjorie up to her apartment. The young woman was still sniffling a bit, but seemed to be holding up okay. She hoped that they would hear from Genevieve soon. Cari unlocked the door and pushed it open.
“This is my place. It’s a little messy. Um, I don’t get a lot of visitors.” She said sheepishly as she quickly gathered up the stack of Chinese take-out boxes that lined the coffee table. She dumped them into the kitchen trash, which also had a terrible smell. She cringed. Was she really such a slob?
“Marjorie, have seat on the sofa. I’m just going to tidy up a bit.”
“It’s okay. You know I’m in college, right?” She smiled.
Cari laughed. “That I do. I don’t want to be inhospitable. It will just take a moment.”
She pulled the garbage bag from the kitchen trash and cinched it closed. After setting that by the door to take to the garbage chute, she looked into the bathroom to see its status. Her running clothes were discarded in a pile on the floor and there were several hairs in the sink. Toothpaste also dotted the countertop in multiple places. Of course, there were no paper towels handy, so glancing around, she grabbed her sweaty shirt from the floor and ran it under the faucet quickly. She scrubbed the toothpaste off the counter and wiped the hairs out of the sink. She scooped up her running clothes and tossed them into the hamper in her bedroom, which didn’t look half bad.
“Phew. Sorry about that. I’m just going to drop this into the trash chute down the hall. Are you okay for half a minute? Help yourself to the kitchen. I at least have water.”
Marjorie laughed as Cari trotted down the hallway to the chute. She tossed the garbage bag through the door and returned to her apartment just as her phone started ringing. Genevieve, finally!
“Tell me that you found that kid!”
“I did. We brought him over to the station.”
“We?”
“I pulled my partner in. We are just getting ready to speak with him. We had planned to catch up with him tomorrow.”
“What?”
“Oh, sorry. We’re familiar with this guy. I can’t tell you anymore right now, and I don’t know how long this interview will take. I really wish we could speak with Marjorie first. How is she doing?”
“She calmed down once we got off campus and over to my apartment. I told her to help herself to the fridge’s contents. I think she found some cheese and water and a banana.”
“Five-star service right there. Okay, I can ask someone else to sit in on this interview if you think I should come over now; it’s almost nine o’clock. How late is too late to check back in?”
Cari looked over at the sofa where Marjorie had been eating. The young woman was asleep. “Maybe you should just catch up with us tomorrow. I think she just crashed.”
“Okay. I’ll have a patrol car swing by your building periodically until I can get a better grasp of what’s going on here. What’s your address?”
“I’m in building four of the new Ridgeway Apartments on Grand.” She heard Genevieve scribbling on paper.
“Got it. Don’t open the door unless you know for sure who it is on the other side. I still feel like I’m flying a little blind here, Cari. I’m sorry that I didn’t believe your theory that the deaths were connected. Is there anything you can give me before I head into this interview?”
“First of all, I never open my door without knowing who’s on the other side. Second, I can’t compromise my source here. It’s her story to tell. She ran from her roommate because her roommate broke her confidence. I can’t exactly turn around and do that to her again.”
Genevieve sighed. “Keep your phone on. I can’t promise that my partner won’t want to interview her tonight.”
“Fine. I wouldn’t recommend that method, but who am I to give directions? Keep me posted."
Cari went into her bedroom to try to call Bob again. It had been over an hour since she’d last tried. Maybe he had listened to her message. She hit send and crossed her fingers that he would answer.
“Cari, I probably shouldn’t have answered this. You really crossed the line.”
“Bob, I’m SO sorry. Ithaca’s girlfriend called me and needed my help, so I just jumped up from my desk and left it unattended. It was careless of me. I’m sorry.”
“But we were off the record, Cari! How could Cardian know what I said? Did you record me, Cari?! Why would you do that?”
Cari’s head dropped. “I was completely out of line. I let my desire to get on the front page take the lead over what I knew was right. The recording was only so I could get the names correct for later, not because I was going to quote you in my article. I’m really sorry, Bob. I hope you don’t get in trouble because of me.”
“Luckily, my boss doesn’t even know that Twitter exists, so he never saw it. I only found out because I heard the lieutenant yelling at one of the detectives in the precinct on my way out of the office tonight.”
“That was probably my other friend getting into trouble on my account. Can you forgive me, Bob?”
He sighed. “I could never stay mad at you, Cari. We’ve been friends for too long.”
“Thank you, Bob. I owe you this time. When this gets wrapped up, I’ll get you some tacos from Larry’s. As many as you want.” She grinned into the phone.
“It’s a d—deal.” Bob stuttered. “Good luck with your article, Cari. See you around.” He ended the call.
Cari exhaled. She had almost ruined one of her only friendships by trying to bend the rules to get ahead. Bob was too nice for her; she really didn’t deserve his friendship.