Graduating (Covenant College Book 5) (16 page)

“So, let me get this straight, you were attacked by muggers, you fought them off, and they just ran?”

I didn’t recognize the two uniformed officers who arrived at the scene, which was a mild relief, but I was still keyed up. Luckily for me, someone in my position would normally be keyed up – so it worked for our ruse.

“I already told you,” Aric said, running his hand through his hair. “It all happened really fast. I was just so scared.”

He was putting on a good show. I had to give him that.

“I understand that, sir,” the cop said. “Just go through it again.”

Aric sighed, tightening his arm around my shoulders. “We were coming out of the theater.”

“And what movie did you see?”

“What does that matter?”

“It’s just for the record, sir.”

“It was the new
Fast and the Furious
,” Aric said. “You know, the one with the cars and the hot chicks.”

“I’m aware of the franchise, sir. Continue.”

“We were just talking about the movie when we were leaving and then, I don’t know, I heard something I guess. When I turned around, I saw two men coming toward us. They were moving really fast.”

“Did they say anything?”

“Give me your money,” I interjected. I’d already supplied that detail before, so I was just doing my part again.

“Did they have a weapon?”

“It was hard to see,” I said. “I can’t be sure. Aric seemed sure, though.”

“The guy tugged on his coat,” Aric said. “He had his hand in the pocket of his jacket, and he acted like he had something in there. I have no idea if it was a gun or a knife, or if he really had something in there at all.”

“And what did you do?”

“I told my girlfriend to get in the truck.” Aric had decided to keep the story as close to the truth as possible, just in case anyone had overheard our conversation and could contradict us.

“And, did she get in the truck?”

“No,” Aric said. “She argued and refused to leave me. She’s flipping stubborn. Women, I tell you.”

“Tell me about it, sir. They’re not rational sometimes. Then what happened?”

“One of them jumped on me,” Aric said. “I managed to fight him off.”

“And what was the other man doing during this time?”

“He was moving toward my girlfriend.”

“And what did she do?”

“She tried to talk him to death,” Aric replied, shooting me a rueful look as he delved back into the story. “She kept telling him she was going to fry him if he got any closer.”

“How did he react?”

“He didn’t seem like he believed me,” I said. “I have no idea why. I was very convincing.” Yeah, I was playing a part, too.

“And then what happened?”

“Then, I don’t know. It was like they heard something,” Aric said. “They just … took off.”

“One of the other witnesses mentioned a bright light.”

“Did they say what kind of light?” Aric asked.

“No, just that it was green,” the officer replied. “They said they were hiding and couldn’t really see what was going on.”

“I didn’t see a light,” Aric said. “To be fair, I was really just worried about keeping her safe. That’s all I could think about.”

I leaned my head against his chest, forcing an adoring look onto my face. “He’s my hero.”

The cop nodded. “I’m sure he is.”

“Can we go?” Aric asked, keeping his voice low. “I think I can work this hero thing to my advantage if I get her home in the next hour or so.”

This time, the smile on the cop’s face was genuine. “Just let me check with the other officers. I’m sure it won’t be a problem. You two were very lucky tonight. You should celebrate.”

“That’s what I intend to do,” Aric said. Once the officer was gone, his face instantly sobered. “He’s my hero?”

“Hey, I’m supposed to be a helpless girl,” I said. “Plus, you are my hero.”

“I’m going to remind you of that the second we get back to my place,” Aric said.

“The second we get back to your place, I’m taking a long, hot bath.”

“The tub is big. We can both fit in there together,” Aric said.

Well, that was an intriguing thought.

“I hope that cop doesn’t take too long,” I said, shivering. “I want to get out of here.”

“Your acting skills, my love, have been topnotch this evening,” he said.

“You’ve been fairly impressive yourself,” I said.

“I always am.”

“Are you trying to be cute?”

“I’m trying to make sure you feel safe,” Aric said, his dark eyes serious. “Is it working?”

“I’d feel safer away from the cops,” I said. “Does that make me a bad person?”

“It makes you a realist in this situation,” Aric said. “And I’m right there with you. The cops make me nervous.”

I shifted, moving my body over his so I could take a look at the assembled crowd behind us. To the casual onlooker, it appeared as if my boyfriend was just comforting me. I was really looking for information.

One face jumped out at me, causing my whole body to stiffen.

“What is it?” Aric kept his arms wrapped around me as he swiveled his head. He frowned when he saw who I was looking at. “What is he doing here?”

“What do you think?”

Professor Blake was standing at the edge of the crowd, his blond hair falling over his forehead, his arms crossed. The smile on his face as he regarded us could only be described with one word: Evil.

“HE
was obviously behind it,” Aric said.

He’d followed through on his bath promise, and we were both currently soaking in scorching water and bubbles. We were facing each other, relaxing at opposite ends of the tub, my legs resting on top of his.

“How did he manage to convince the vampires to do it?”

“Maybe he found another resurrection stone.”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “The vampires didn’t appear to be under a trance. They recognized the danger. They just did it anyway.”

“Are you sure?”

“Am I a hundred-percent sure? No. I’m pretty sure, though. There’s something else going on here.”

“Well, if I wasn’t sure that Blake was responsible for the bodies on campus before, I am now,” Aric said, gripping my foot and rubbing the sole.

“I’m not,” I said. “I’m not sure tonight had anything to do with the bodies.”

“You do know that, eventually, our file from tonight is going to cross Detective Perkins’ desk, right?”

“I figured.”

“He’s not going to believe our story,” Aric said. “He might not know the truth, but he’s going to know we’re lying. Our act was good enough to fool the uniforms, but I don’t think it would have worked with Perkins.”

I groaned when his fingers found just the right spot on my foot. “Oh, crap, that feels good.”

Aric smirked. “I have multiple talents.”

I leaned back, resting my head against the lip of the tub. “Do you think Perkins is going to try and question us?”

“No. He knows we’ll lawyer up.”

“Doesn’t that just make us look guilty?”

“Better that we look guilty than get railroaded for being stupid,” Aric replied. “They’re desperately trying to solve this crime, and we’re the only suspects they have.”

“You’re not a suspect,” I corrected. “You have an alibi.”

“You technically do, too,” Aric said. “You were in class. People saw you there. There’s no way either of us could have physically done it. That won’t stop them from trying to prove otherwise.”

“I don’t think I’d do well in prison,” I admitted. “I’ve got ‘prison bitch’ written all over me.”

Aric barked out a laugh.

“You’re prettier than I am,” I added. “You may be big and tough, but Bubba is going to be bigger and tougher.”

Aric’s face sobered. “Don’t ruin the mood.”

“What mood?” Aric moved his hands to my other foot, causing me to groan again. “Okay, there’s a mood.”

“We’re not going to go to prison,” Aric said. “We’re innocent. We just have to figure this out.”

“If it’s not Blake – and I don’t think the bodies were his work – then who is it?”

“I’m not so sure it isn’t Blake,” Aric said. “I haven’t spent much time with the man, but I’m convinced he can do evil.”

“I agree that he can do evil,” I said. “I’m just not sure he did this evil.”

“Okay, let’s play the game,” Aric said, continuing to rub my foot. “Who else could have done this?”

I considered the question. “I think we’re looking at this the wrong way,” I said finally. “We need to be looking at the initial crime.”

“How can we do that without the names of the victims?”

“Maybe the identity of the victims has nothing to do with anything,” I said. “Maybe they were just taken because they were vulnerable. Anyway, that’s not what I was talking about.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The bodies were arranged in the shape of a pentagram,” I said. “That has to mean something. We should have been researching the meaning of the symbol, and what erecting it with bodies means.”

Aric’s hands paused.

“Don’t stop,” I ordered. “I like it.”

Aric went back to rubbing. “You think that placing the bodies in a pentagram the way they were arranged is significant. You think we should be tracking whatever spell – or ritual – this is tied to instead of trying to track a culprit.”

“Exactly.”

“You’re pretty smart,” Aric said.

“Why does that surprise you?”

“It doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “It just constantly amazes me.”

“I’ll get Paris on it tomorrow,” I said.

“Monday,” Aric corrected. “We’re spending the weekend in this apartment like hermits.”

“Even after what happened tonight?”

“Especially after what happened tonight,” Aric said. “I want to spend some time with my girl before things start moving forward again. Let’s stop time here this weekend. Just you, me, food, and the television.”

“Somehow I think this is going to end up with us naked all weekend,” I said.

“We’re already naked.”

“Yeah? What are you going to do about it?” I pushed the dreary thoughts from my mind. I was going to enjoy the weekend. We could deal with real life on Monday.

Aric let go of my foot and leaned forward. “Let me show you what I’m going to do about it.”

Aric was right about Detective Perkins finding out about the attack in the parking lot. While I assumed the detective would try to question us, he responded in an entirely different way: He started overtly stalking us.

“Your new boyfriend is parked across the street, staring at the front porch,” Kelsey announced as she entered the house through the front door.

I was sitting on the floor playing euchre with Paris, Tally, and Kristy, but Kelsey’s tidbit wasn’t exactly news to me. “Yeah, he followed me to and from my classes today.”

“I don’t understand,” Tally said. “How could he possibly think you’re physically capable of killing ten people and then carrying their bodies onto campus? Even if they do think you could kill people, are you secretly the Hulk or something?”

“You’ll have to ask him that.”

Tally leaned back, considering. “Why don’t I?”

“Why don’t you what?”

“Why don’t I go and talk to him,” Tally suggested. “Instead of pretending we don’t see him, why not go after him the same way he’s going after you?”

I pursed my lips, unsure of what she was getting at. “How are you going to do that?”

Tally smiled. “I have an idea.”

“What idea?”

“Trust me.”

SINCE
we couldn’t eavesdrop from the living room, and it was still too cold to stand outside, everyone congregated in my bedroom and opened the window so we could listen.

Tally was tall – like model tall. Her long auburn hair swayed down her back as she flounced across the driveway and headed toward the unmarked police car. When Perkins pretended he didn’t see her, Tally boldly knocked on the driver’s side window.

Perkins finally rolled the window down and fixed Tally with an irritated look. “Can I help you?”

Tally handed him a steaming mug of coffee. She’d brewed it with the Keurig in the kitchen while laying out her plan to us. I had to admit, even though I found her brainless at times, she was a master at manipulating the opposite sex. “I thought you might be bored,” Tally said. “And thirsty. I made you some coffee.”

“I don’t need any coffee,” Perkins said.

“Oh, don’t be like that.” Tally twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “There’s no rule that says you can’t be pleasant while you’re stalking my roommate.”

“Young lady, I am not stalking your roommate,” Perkins said, taking the mug of coffee from her when she kept waving it in front of his face. “Your roommate is a suspect in a brutal slaying.”

“She’s not really a suspect, though, is she?” Tally pressed.

“Yes, she is.”

“How did she kill all those people without anyone noticing?” Tally was playing her wide-eyed ingénue part to the hilt. “She’s here four nights a week, and then she’s at Aric’s the other three. How did she manage to kill ten people if she’s always busy?”

“Maybe Mr. Winters helped her kill them?”

“Why would he do that? All he seems interested in is getting her naked,” Tally said, purposely trying to make Perkins uncomfortable. “I don’t think they have a lot of time for anything else.”

“You don’t always know the people you think you know,” Perkins said.

“Okay, what’s their motive?”

“Excuse me?”

“I watch a lot of cop shows,” Tally said. “I want to know what their motive is. They have to have one. They’re obviously not random sociopaths. So, what’s their motive?”

“You’ll have to ask them.”

“I have asked them,” Tally said. “That’s how I know they’re not guilty. I want to know why you think they’re guilty. I know, maybe we could go out to dinner and discuss it there?”

Whoa! Where had that come from? She was going off script, which made me nervous.

“Are you playing a game with me?” Perkins asked.

“No. I really want to know why you think they could be murderers,” she replied. “You see, I’m going to be an actress, and I think I would be the perfect person to play Zoe in a movie.”

Yeah, now she was definitely off script.

“Where is she going with this?” Kelsey asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I said, shrugging.

“Maybe we should go and get her before she does something really stupid,” Paris suggested.

“Why? It’s not like he can think any worse of me,” I said. “Let’s see what she does. It might be funny.”

“It’s already funny,” Kelsey said.

“You want them to make a movie about Zoe, and you want to play her?” Perkins looked perplexed.

“Yeah, but not one of those artsy-fartsy movies,” Tally said. “I want a classy one, like on Lifetime.”

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud.

“And what would this movie be about?” Perkins asked.

“Well, Zoe would be a woman wrongly accused and persecuted by a corrupt police department,” Tally said.

“We’re not corrupt!”

“From my perspective, you are,” Tally said, brushing off his concerns. “Anyway, when the police detective starts stalking her, she takes matters into her own hands and uncovers the corruption and takes everyone down and then becomes a civil rights crusader.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Perkins said.

“Hey, don’t rain on my parade,” Tally said. “I’m pitching this exact scenario to my drama instructor. I already have a monologue planned. Do you want to hear it?”

“Not really.”

Tally launched into it anyway. I could tell she was making it up on the spot, but it was actually pretty good. It would put her beloved Lifetime movies to shame. After about ten straight minutes of talk, Perkins couldn’t take another second.

“Wow, that’s great,” he said. “I bet you’ll win an Oscar one day.”

“Oh, I don’t want an Oscar,” Tally said. “I want a MTV Movie Award.”

“Huh.”

“I’ll thank you in my acceptance speech,” Tally said.

“Well, as great as I think your idea is, you might want to rewrite it as a horror movie,” Perkins said.

I stilled next to the window, exchanging a look with Paris and Kelsey.

“A horror movie? Why?” Tally asked.

“Well, something tells me that this story would be better served with a supporting cast of characters that include vampires, witches, and werewolves,” Perkins said. “Just call it a hunch.”

He knew, I realized. All this time, he’d pretended otherwise, but he knew. Now he was feeling Tally out to see if she knew, too.

“That’s a great idea,” Tally said. “I can do nudity in a horror movie, and I look great naked.”

TALLY
returned to the house a few minutes later, pride evident on her face. While the rest of my roommates returned to the living room, I remained at my bedroom window watching Perkins for a long time.

Then, finally, I shrugged into my coat and headed outside.

“Where are you going?” Paris asked.

“Just to have a little talk with my stalker,” I said. “I’ll be back in a second. Keep my spot in the euchre circle warm.”

If Perkins was surprised to see me heading in his direction, he didn’t show it. He rolled down the window as I approached. “Where’s your actress friend?”

“She’s inside,” I said. “She’s writing her acceptance speech.”

“She’s a funny girl,” Perkins said. “How long did it take all of you to come up with that little act?”

“That was all her,” I said. “She’s got a certain … knack.”

“She does at that,” Perkins agreed. “What are you doing out here?”

“We were listening at the window,” I said, pointing back at the house.

“I should have guessed,” he said. “So, you got the monkey to perform? Are you happy?”

“Why did you tell Tally to turn her movie into a horror movie?”

Perkins frowned. “I was just playing the game.”

“No, you weren’t,” I said. “You were talking about something else.”

Perkins raised an eyebrow, challenging me to continue. I knelt down next to the car. “What do you know about this campus?”

“What do you know about this campus?”

Neither one of us wanted to be the first to break – in case the other was truly in the dark – but someone had to go first. I was tired of playing games.

“I know that the vampire population is large, but it’s smaller now that the Academy has been hunting and collecting them,” I said. “I know that the werewolf population is strong, but it’s about to splinter. I’m sure there are a few witches running around, but their powerbase has been mostly nipped in the bud. I also know that something bad is going to happen on this campus, but I have no idea when or what.”

I waited.

Perkins nodded. “And what are you?”

“I’m not any of those things,” I said, refusing to tell him my secret. Not only would Aric have a fit, I couldn’t be sure Perkins was trustworthy.

“Then how do you know all of this?”

“How do you know all of it?” I challenged.

“I’ve been a police officer here for almost twenty years,” he said. “Some things you can’t hide. As hard as they try, not everything on this campus can be hidden. We’re talking about you, though.”

I decided to give him a version of the truth. “They tried to recruit me into the Academy.”

“Tried?”

“I didn’t last long,” I said. “I didn’t trust them, and they didn’t trust me.”

“I don’t suppose you want to tell me what happened to your two missing roommates, do you?”

“I can tell you they were both witches,” I said. “They tried to do some bad things, and when their plans fell apart they fled.”

“You can’t tell me more than that?”

“I don’t know more than that.” That was a lie, but since Tara and Laura were no longer threats, I didn’t feel bad about telling it.

“What can you tell me about the Academy?” Perkins asked. “We’ve had our eyes on them for years, but they’re hard to infiltrate.”

“They’re not what they appear to be,” I said. “While I think most of the students there are probably innocent and just being misled, the leadership there is more evil than the monsters they hunt.”

“And who is in charge?”

“Professor Sam Blake,” I said.

“I’ve never heard of him,” Perkins said, rubbing his chin. “Do you think they could be responsible for putting the bodies on the lawn of the library?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I wouldn’t put it past him to try and frame the supernaturals, but I’m not sure how he could pull it off.”

“So, who did pull it off then?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“But it wasn’t you, right?”

“It wasn’t me.”

“And your boyfriend?”

“Aric Winters is the best person I know,” I said. “He would never do anything like that.”

“I’m still not sure I believe you,” Perkins said. “I’ll give this some thought, though.”

“That’s all I ask.”

“If what you’re saying is true, you could be in danger,” he said. “You might want to be careful.”

“The only thing I can say about Covenant College without any equivocation is that I’ve been in danger since the first day I arrived,” I replied. “I’m guessing that won’t change until my last day here. Thankfully, that’s not too far away.”

“Well, be careful.”

“You, too,” I said. “You know. That makes you dangerous to some factions. Always look behind you before you move forward. That’s the only way to survive here.”

I left Perkins sitting in the car and returned to the house. I could only hope I hadn’t just made a huge mistake.