MOLLY WAS SO ENRAGED, her teeth clenched. How had he got his hands on that manuscript? It couldn’t have been when the office was vandalized. She hadn’t finished it yet. And Hank had said there’d been security stationed outside the office at night since that incident.
She couldn’t finish eating. Norman was so slimy. Did he really think he’d carried out his threat? Kept her from publishing the article? Somehow, he’d managed to get the printer-ready copy, and the disks.
She would kill to see the look on his face when “Solitaire” jumped out at him from the pages of the new issue.
“What’s wrong?” Hank asked. “I thought you’d be relieved that he’s gone, but you look a little sick.”
“No, it’s just that I’m anxious to get to the security office, see if they can sort this whole thing out, that’s all. I’m going to go now. I’ll see you later.”
He stood up. “Molly …”
“I’ll see you later,” she said firmly, and grabbing her raincoat, she left the dining hall.
The same cop to whom she’d given the first two pages was sitting in the campus security office.
She handed him the third page. “I found it under my door a little while ago,” she said. “It’s a warning, I’m sure of it. That girl whose hands are … missing is my best friend. She’s a pianist, as it says in the article. She’ll be in a concert Wednesday night on campus. And I think this picture means someone intends to stop her. You have to stop them.”
The officer studied the picture carefully. He was middle-aged, and looked tired. A network of deep lines surrounded his eyes and mouth. Without looking up, he said, “Who’s them?”
“What?”
He looked up at her. “I said, who’s them? Who is it that wants to stop your friend from playing the piano?”
“I … I don’t know. Can’t you find out?”
“Well, do you have any idea where I might start looking?”
He wasn’t taking her seriously, she could tell. “Do you still have the other pages I gave you?”
“Nope. Twin Falls police officer confiscated them, you might say. Their case now. Since that girl hurt herself on the boat, well, we don’t handle serious stuff like that. You might want to talk to them.”
“She didn’t hurt herself” Molly said hotly. “We were pushed.”
“I’ll fax this one to the cops in town, if you want,” the officer said. “They can get on it right away.”
“Tell them it’s a warning,” she insisted. “Or they’ll just think it’s another joke, and I know it’s not.”
“Right. Won’t hear anything tonight, though, so you might as well go home.”
Might as well.
When she got back to the room, Kayla was sitting on the bed, painting her toenails bright red. “You got a phone call,” she said without looking up.
Hank? He probably thought she was nuts, running out of the dining hall like that. “Who was it?” Molly didn’t take off her raincoat. She felt so unsettled, sitting down was impossible. The idea of actually sleeping seemed ludicrous.
“Norman Oakes.” Kayla made a face of distaste. “He said there’s a meeting tonight. Said you’d know where.”
“I don’t go to those meetings.”
“I know. He said that, too. But he said you’d want to come to this one. He’s got something to show you.”
“I’ll bet. What is it?”
Kayla shrugged. “He didn’t say.”
Molly went over and sat down on her bed. She wasn’t going into those woods alone. But she did need to confront Norman sometime. Why not tonight?
They had been friends, once. Briefly. Maybe he’d listen to her.
But she wasn’t crazy enough to approach him alone. “I’ll have to call Hank, see if he’ll come with me,” she mused aloud.
“You don’t need Hank. I’ll come with you.”
Molly’s jaw dropped. “You?” She was ten times more stunned than she’d been when Kayla had offered to do her laundry.
“Sure. Can’t have my roomie running around the woods after dark. Wait’ll I put on my sneakers. Grab a flashlight, okay?” She disappeared into the bathroom.
Molly stared after her. Kayla? Was going into the woods at night with her?
Well, I’d do it for her, she told herself, so why not? And Kayla’s taller and stronger than me. A person would think twice before messing with her.
“This is great,” Molly said when Kayla emerged from the bathroom in a hooded sweat-suit and sneakers. “Thanks. I really appreciate it. I need to talk to Norman about something.”
“No problem. It’ll be better than studying, that’s for sure. Got the flashlight? Let’s go.”
Molly wanted to take the river path to the park, but Kayla insisted it would be faster if she drove. When they pulled into the parking lot, Molly was surprised by the number of cars there. At least half a dozen. Six cars, maybe six people in each car … there could be over thirty people in the park.
What were over thirty people doing in the park that night?
They couldn’t all be with Norman, could they?
The hair on the back of Molly’s neck rose. What if they were? Thirty people … and she only had Kayla with her.
Molly hesitated beside the car. “Kayla, maybe this isn’t such a good idea. Norman and I had sort of an argument the last time I talked to him. He’s mad because I dropped out of the group. I don’t think I want to face him if he’s got a whole bunch of people with him.”
“Don’t be silly, Molly. He’s not going to do anything to you with me here. Anyway, he just said he wanted to show you something. He didn’t sound mad at all.”
She sounded so sure. And the only way that Molly was going to find out whether or not Norman was sending those mutilated pages to her was to confront him face-to-face. His mouth might lie, but his eyes would tell the truth.
Molly sighed heavily. “Let’s go,” she said grimly. They set off into the woods, the flashlight in Molly’s hand, Kayla following behind her. “I hope I can find that clearing again.”
They were deep in the woods when she found what she thought was the correct path. “Here it is!” she cried, waving the flashlight in that direction. “I remember turning here.”
Kayla didn’t answer.
“Kayla?” Molly had been so intent on her search for the path, she hadn’t realized that Kayla hadn’t said a word in the last five minutes.
Turning around, Molly peered into the darkness behind her. She swung the flashlight from the path ahead of her to the woods behind her, thick with trees and underbrush.
Nothing.
No Kayla.
Molly was alone.