Graduating (Covenant College Book 5) (10 page)

As the days got shorter, and the temperature dropped, I found myself lulled into a false sense of security. I knew in my head that Covenant College was still a dangerous place. The first three months of school had been so calm and so quiet, though, that I almost forgot.

The college wouldn’t let me forget.

I was walking back from class on a Thursday afternoon, thoughts of a long weekend with Aric dancing through my head, when my inner danger alert pinged. I slowed my pace, glancing to each side and peering into the tree line in front of me. I was close to the library, which meant there were plenty of spots for someone to hide.

I cast a look over my shoulder, but there was nothing there. I had just about convinced myself that I was imagining things when it happened again. The hair on my neck was standing on end, and I closed my eyes so I could concentrate on the feeling.

Something was calling to me, something close, something that was just around the corner of the library. I followed the feeling, knowing it was a mistake the entire time. When I rounded the corner, nothing could have prepared me for what I found.

There were bodies. Yes, bodies plural. The number wouldn’t fix in my mind, and I was too scattered to count.

Focus!

I sucked in a deep breath. Okay, what was I seeing here? Maybe this was just some Halloween prank gone awry. Of course, Halloween was a month ago, and the tableau in front of me was far too real to be fake, but my mind couldn’t wrap itself around what I was seeing.

The sound of a scream dislodged me from my reverie, and I shifted my gaze to a spot behind me where two blonde girls were screaming and pointing. Well, at least I knew I wasn’t imagining it.

“Someone call the police!”

Oh, good. I hadn’t seen the police in months. They were probably missing me. I sank down to the ground, my mind jumbled. I couldn’t focus, and darkness was prodding the outskirts of my mind.

I’m not a fainter, but part of me hoped that if I did pass out, I would wake up and find this was all a dream.

No such luck.

“SO, LET
me get this straight, you just happened to stumble on a multiple-murder scene on campus and your reaction was to sit down?”

I glanced at the detective, rolling my eyes when I recognized him. This wasn’t the first time I’d had dealings with him. The first time – when I’d nicknamed him Officer Obnoxious – had been when my freshman roommate Tara disappeared. The second time was when I discovered a body during Earth Day celebrations that same spring. What was his name?

“Hey, are you listening to me?”

“Dale Perkins,” I said suddenly. “Your name is Dale Perkins.”

Perkins looked me up and down. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I think I’m just a little slow right now,” I said. “Everything seems to be going in slow motion. I’m fine. Continue.”

“When did you discover the bodies?”

“I was just walking back from class,” I said. “You know, lost in thought, and when I rounded the corner there they were.”

“Why didn’t you call 911 right away?”

“I just couldn’t figure out what I was seeing,” I admitted. “I thought it was a Halloween prank at first. Then I remembered it was November. Then … then I just needed to sit down.”

“What’s the first thing you remember?”

“What?”

“What’s the first thing that jumped out at you when you rounded the corner?” Perkins asked. “What was the first thing you thought?”

“I thought ‘hey, there’s a bunch of dead bodies in the shape of a pentagram on the lawn of the library,’” I said.

“A pentagram?” Perkins raised an eyebrow and glanced over his shoulder.

The police had erected tape around the scene – which was quite large, so the expanse was extensive. Since they need photographs, they couldn’t remove the bodies, and a crowd was starting to develop on the other side. Nothing brings a campus together like mass murder.

“Huh, I hadn’t realized that it was a pentagram,” Perkins said, his eyes flashing suspicion. “How did you notice that?”

“I watch a lot of movies,” I said. “It just jumped out at me.”

“It’s weird to me that you would key in on that first,” Perkins said.

“Well, you asked.”

There was a commotion behind us, causing Perkins to hold up a finger. “Stay here. Don’t even think about moving. I’ll be right back.”

“I can’t wait.” I didn’t bother to see what – or who – had caught his attention. I was just happy for the reprieve.

“Sir, I can’t let you beyond this point.”

“That’s my girlfriend.” I recognized Aric’s voice and swiveled, relief washing over me when his worried brown eyes met mine.

“I understand that, sir,” Perkins said. “You still can’t move beyond this point. Your girlfriend is fine. You can see she’s fine. You have to stay here.”

Aric scowled. “Do you know who my father is?”

I was surprised. Aric rarely played the senator card. He must be desperate.

“If memory serves, Senator Winters is your father,” Perkins said. “Isn’t that what you told me two years ago when you and your girlfriend discovered another body?”

“Well, it still hasn’t changed,” Aric said. “I don’t care about the scene. I just want to be with my girlfriend.”

“Well, we’re questioning her right now,” Perkins said. “You can’t be present for that.”

“You can’t question her without legal representation,” Aric argued.

“Are you suddenly a lawyer?”

“Are you going to let me see her or not?”

“Not.”

Aric pursed his lips together. I could practically feel the anger radiating off of him from twenty feet away. “Fine.” He reached into his pocket, pulling his phone out and punching in a few numbers while Perkins watched. After a second, he began to speak. “I need your help.”

I tuned out the rest of the conversation. I knew Aric. If he was calling his father to cut through the red tape, he had to have a reason. In only took five minutes for Aric to get his way. Two minutes after making his call, Perkins’ phone dinged on his waist. If his sigh was any indication, he knew what was coming. Once he disconnected, he fixed Aric with a grim smile. “Well, sir, right this way.”

Aric made a face, ducking under the police tape and rushing to my side. He pulled me in for a quick hug, running his hand down the side of my face as he searched my eyes for a clue. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m great,” I said. “I think I’m going to include this day on my Christmas card this year. Your kids made the honor roll? Well, I discovered a bunch of dead bodies and then got questioned by the police. Woo-hoo.”

Aric tucked my head in under his chin. “You discovered … this?”

“Yeah. Although, I’m not the one who called the cops,” I said. “Officer Obnoxious over there seems to think that’s suspicious.”

“Why didn’t you call 911?”

“It all happened so fast,” I said. “I was only here like twenty seconds when people started screaming.”

“Ms. Lake,” Perkins said, joining us. “I have a few more questions.”

“Just a second,” Aric protested.

“Let’s just get it over with,” I said. “What do you want to know?”

“You said that the first thing you noticed is that the bodies were arranged in the shape of a pentagram,” he said. “How did you recognize the shape?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “How do you recognize a triangle? A square? I just knew it was a pentagram. My old roommate used to wear one on a chain around her neck.”

Perkins lifted an eyebrow. “Really? And would this be the same roommate who disappeared more than a year ago without a trace?”

“Actually, it would be.”

“Do you have any reason to believe that she could be responsible for this?”

Not unless she’d found a way to come back from the dead. “No.”

“That’s a stupid question,” Aric said. “One person couldn’t have done this.”

“Are you a detective now?” Perkins challenged.

“It happened in broad daylight on a college campus,” Aric said. “There are like ten bodies over there. Whoever did this had to be quick. That means that there were multiple people involved.”

“You’ve given this some thought,” Perkins said. “Can I ask where you were this afternoon?”

“I was at my family’s office over in Midland,” Aric said. “There were at least eight witnesses. Feel free to give them a call.”

“Oh, I will.”

“Great.”

I shifted in Aric’s arms, keeping him close so I could absorb his warmth, and focused on Perkins. “Do you really think we did this? What would be our motive?”

“Ms. Lake, I’m not jumping to any conclusions,” he said. “I wouldn’t be a very good detective if I ignored the fact that you’ve been tied to two deaths and two disappearances on this campus. Those are staggering numbers for a twenty-one-year-old girl.”

“Two disappearances?”

“Your roommate and a gentleman who went missing toward the end of your freshman year. His name escapes me right now,” Perkins said.

“Zach,” Aric supplied. “You mean the guy who was killing people and burying them out behind the football field, right?”

“That was never proven,” Perkins said. “He was a person of interest, but we never got to question him.”

They’d never gotten to question Zach – who was also a sphinx – because Aric’s father had stepped in and made him disappear. I couldn’t really share that information, though. As far as the police knew, Zach had chased Paris and me into the woods and then disappeared. So, from their perspective, I had been involved in two disappearances.

Crap.

“I think we’re done here,” Aric said.

“I think I still have questions,” Perkins said.

Aric reached into his back pocket, pulling out his wallet and digging around inside. A second later, he handed a business card over to Perkins. “You can contact Ms. Lake through her lawyer.”

“Sheldon Leery? Her lawyer is Sheldon Leery? Wow. How did she manage to get the top criminal defense lawyer in the state?”

“Just lucky, I guess,” Aric said, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him. “If you want to set up a time for further questions? Call Leery. I’m done with you, and so is she.”

“Maybe
she
should speak for herself,” Perkins pressed.

I opened my mouth to reply, but Aric’s warning look had me thinking better of it. “Yeah. If you want to talk to me, call Leery. I think that will be best for everyone.”

Once we were away from Perkins and on the other side of the tape, Aric unleashed his fury. “This is not good,” he said. “I can’t believe you were the one to discover that … thing.”

“That thing was made of people,” I said, my hands shaking.

Aric sighed, pressing my hands between his. “I’m sorry. This is just unbelievable. It’s like horror and destruction just keeps finding you.”

“It’s more like I keep finding it,” I said. “Something … something inside of me told me to go there.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t explain it,” I said. “It was just a feeling. I followed it.”

“You had a dangerous feeling and you followed it? Well, great.”

“How can you be angry at me?”

“I’m not angry with you,” Aric said, squeezing my hands tighter. “I’m worried. I’m worried about you. Don’t mistake worry for anger.”

“Well, I’m worried, too,” I said. “This has to mean something, and whatever it is, it’s not good.”

“Yeah, I figured that out on my own,” Aric said, pulling me closer so he could brush a kiss across my forehead. “You have to be careful. Promise me that.”

“I promise.”

“Don’t just say it,” Aric warned. “Mean it.”

“I promise.”

Aric kissed me, sinking into it for a second. “Let’s get out of here. I can’t deal with this.”

“Let’s go to your place,” I suggested. “The last thing I want is to have to face the estrogen mafia tonight.”

“We’ll pick up dinner on the way,” Aric said. “If we’re lucky, we won’t have to leave my apartment again until Monday morning. Things will be better then.”

“Yeah. Three days is all it will take to make everyone forget that ten students were killed, mutilated, and then dumped on the library’s back lawn.”

“You’re not funny.”

“I’m a little funny.”

“Come on, trouble,” Aric said. “I need to call my father when we get back. He’s going to have questions, too.”

“Why do I think his questions are going to be worse than Detective Perkins’ were?”

“Because you’re a smart cookie,” Aric said, leading me away. “You’d have to be to snag a great guy like me.”

I knew he was purposely trying to lighten the mood, but I wasn’t sure it was possible. Every time things start going right in my life, Covenant College finds a way to make them very wrong again.

December

Winter in Michigan is a tempestuous beast. It can come late. It can come early. It can be light. It can be heavy. This winter looked to be a real bitch.

The first blizzard of the year hit in early December, causing classes to be cancelled and rendering the whole of Covenant College impassable. Luckily for us, liquor stores delivered if you were willing to pay them enough.

“Do you think we got enough?” Paris asked, eyeing the two boxes of liquor and beer dubiously. “What if we’re stuck here all weekend?”

“There’s only seven of us,” I said, peering out the window. “No one else is coming, are they?”

“Seth is stuck at home,” Paris said. “He says he can’t risk driving over here.”

“The same with Kevin,” Kelsey said. “What about Aric?”

I shrugged. “He was still over in Midland last time I checked,” I said. “He was adamant about driving back over here. I told him to stay in his office so he would be safer.”

“And what did he say?”

“He told me to stop being bossy.”

“He’ll show up,” Paris said. “He won’t stay over there. I know him.”

“As much as I want to see him, I’d feel better if he would stay there for the night,” I said. “He might be bored, and alone, but at least I know he’d be safe.”

“Well, you can’t control him,” Kelsey said. “He’s going to do what he’s going to do.”

“Let’s get this beer in the fridge,” I said.

Once we were done, we mixed a few drinks and then joined everyone else back in the living room. This was the first time I could remember the seven of us being in the same room together since we’d moved in. Maybe Heather and Kate had a point about us being self-absorbed.

“So, what should we do?” Tally asked. “Do you want to play euchre or something?”

“Kelsey is incapable of playing euchre,” I replied.

“It’s a stupid game,” she complained. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Plus, only four of us can play euchre,” Kristy said. “Let’s do something everyone can enjoy.”

“I’m not up for an orgy,” I deadpanned.

Only Kelsey and Paris bothered to laugh. Wow. Tough room.

“I know,” Kristy said. “Let’s play Truth or Dare.”

I groaned inwardly. The last time I’d played Truth or Dare I’d been sixteen and at a slumber party.

Tally clapped her hands excitedly. “That’s a great idea.”

I glanced at Paris to see what she was thinking. She merely shrugged in response.

“It’s a good way for everyone to get to know one another,” Heather agreed. “Let’s do it.”

I sighed. There was no way out of this. “Let’s do it.”

“TRUTH
or dare?”

It was Kate’s turn, and she’d (not surprisingly) singled me out. “Truth.”

“Why did you and Aric break up?”

“We had a fight about a lie he told,” I said. “He knew something that he should have told me and didn’t.”

“What was the lie?”

“That’s really not my secret to tell,” I said. “It was about someone else.”

“Oh,” Kate said, her face falling. “I get it. It’s your turn.”

I turned to Kelsey. “Truth or dare?”

“Aren’t we just really playing Truth? No one is going to do a dare.”

“Fine. How many guys have you slept with?”

“Two. How many guys have you slept with?”

“Two.”

“Ah, Aric and Will,” Kelsey said. “I should have been able to figure that out on my own.”

“Who have you slept with besides Kevin?”

“Just the guy I went to senior prom with,” Kelsey said. “He was horrible. Three strokes and he was done.”

“God, isn’t that the way it is with guys the first time?” Tally complained. “It’s like they have no control.”

“I think that they literally don’t have control,” I said. “Control is something you have to learn.”

“What about Will? Was your first time with him horrible?” Paris asked.

“I can’t really remember it,” I said. “It was after a party.”

“That’s probably a good thing,” Kelsey said. “People make a big deal about the first time being special, but the only thing special about it is how short it is.”

I snorted. “This is true.”

“No,” Kristy protested. “My first time was magical.”

“Was it with a unicorn?” Paris asked, laughing at her own joke. Kristy had grown up on a farm on the west side of Michigan. In some ways she had been overprotected. In others, she was worldly.

“It was with my high-school sweetheart,” Kristy said. “His name was Chris, and I thought I was in love with him.”

“And?”

“And we did it two more times and then he broke up with me,” Kristy admitted. “Still, that first time was great. What about you, Heather? How was your first time?”

Heather shrugged. “Typical.”

“Typical good or typical bad?”

“Typical bad,” Heather admitted. “I didn’t even realize it had happened when he announced it was over. And, when I say he announced it, he screamed and smacked himself in the face. It was … jarring.”

Everyone burst out laughing. “He smacked himself in the face? Why?” Paris was suddenly interested. This was the longest conversation she’d had with Heather since she found out she was sleeping with Mark.

“I have no idea,” Heather said. “I thought all guys did it. Imagine my surprise when I found out that wasn’t the case. I even smacked the second guy I slept with in the face because I thought he was faking it.”

“That is just … I don’t even know what to say to that,” I said.

“Seth sounds like a choo-choo train,” Paris said. “Ugh, ugh, toot, toot.”

Everyone laughed again.

“What about Aric?” Kate asked, her interest evident.

“He doesn’t do anything odd,” I said. “He’s pretty normal in that department.”

“Oh, come on,” Kelsey protested, sipping from her drink. “I’ve seen him with his shirt off. He has to be gifted or something.”

“He certainly thinks so,” I agreed.

“What do you think?”

“Oh, I’m not playing that game,” I said, wagging my finger. “You’ll tell him anything I tell you, and then he’ll be mad.”

“I would never do that,” Kelsey said, faux hurt washing over her face. “I’m insulted.”

“You like to mess with him,” I said. “Paris does, too. There’s no way you could just let it go.”

“That’s simply not true.”

“I don’t know,” Paris hedged. “I would probably feel the need to tease him.”

“Just think,” I added. “Are you going to be able to look Seth in the face and not picture a train now?”

Kelsey giggled. “No.”

“See.”

“Do you think you and Aric will get married?” Kate asked. She really was fixated on Aric.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Marriage isn’t really on my radar right now. I’m still a semester away from graduating, and then there’s that whole finding-a-job thing.”

“If he asked, would you say yes?” Kate pressed.

“He won’t ask,” I said. “We have too much going on, and we’re definitely too young. I don’t think marriage is something people should even worry about when they’re our age.”

“That’s all I can think about,” Kate said. “I dream of getting married. The white dress. White roses. Hundreds of people showing up on my day.”

“You aren’t dreaming of a marriage,” Paris pointed out. “You’re dreaming of a wedding.”

“What’s the difference?”

“A whole heck of a lot,” Paris said. “A marriage is work. A wedding is a party.”

“Don’t you want a day where you’re the center of attention?”

“The cops have been parked outside of this house watching me for two straight weeks,” I said. “I think being the center of attention is highly overrated.”

“I can’t believe they think you could manage to carry ten bodies onto campus by yourself without anyone noticing,” Tally said. “That’s just stupid.”

“They don’t have any other suspects,” I said. “I’m all they’ve got.”

“Still, it’s creepy, right?” Kate said. “It happened. Everyone knows it happened. And, yet, no one’s been arrested and there’s no new news on the subject. I just don’t understand how that happens.”

“It’s because they cover things up here,” Heather said.

“What?”

“Haven’t you noticed? Big things happen and then everyone tries to pretend they didn’t happen,” Heather said. “There’s a huge cover-up machine here.”

“What do you think they’re covering up?”

“I don’t know,” Heather said. “Whatever it is, I think it’s evil.”

I exchanged a look with Kelsey and Paris. “What kind of evil?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe there’s a serial-killer class no one knows about.”

“Ooh, that would be interesting,” Tally said.

What the rest of us were thinking was: That would be creepy.

The sound of footsteps pounding on the front porch caused us all to jump. When the door swung open, Aric was framed between the stark white snow on the outside and the haze of smoke and alcohol on the inside.

“What are you doing here?” I was on my feet and walking toward him. “Are you crazy? You could have died.”

Aric shut the door, accepting my hug, and then shrugging out of his coat. “Maybe I didn’t want to be separated from you. Isn’t that romantic?”

“That’s sweet,” I said. “You’re still an idiot.”

“Ah, I can feel the love,” Aric said, giving me a quick kiss. “What are you guys doing?”

“We were playing Truth or Dare,” Paris said.

“We were playing Truth,” Kelsey corrected. “I guess we can’t play now that you’re here.”

“Why can’t you play with me? Aren’t boys allowed?”

Paris pursed her lips. “Okay. It’s your turn then.”

“Paris,” I warned.

“Zoe wouldn’t tell us what noises you make when you’re … you know … about to finish.”

“About to finish what?”

Paris waited for Aric to realize what she was talking about. It took him almost a full minute, and then his face flooded with color. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Paris said. “So, what noises do you make?”

“I don’t make noises,” Aric said, shifting a look in my direction. “This is what you were talking about? I’ll never understand girls.”

“If you won’t tell us what noises you make, tell us what noises Zoe makes,” Kelsey suggested. “That might be fun.”

“That is more fun,” Aric agreed, smirking. “She purrs like a cat.”

Yup. The game was definitely over.