Book of Horrors (Nightmare Hall) (9 page)

“So, how’s your famous author?” he asked, taking her hand as they began walking. He was careful to steer her away from the old well, new cover or not.

Reed shrugged. “Okay, I guess. Once she’d checked me over for any permanent damage from my imprisonment in the well, she disappeared inside her office, telling me not to disturb her. Hard at work on her new book, I suppose. Her office is at the back of the house, and she wears headphones while she works.

If I weren’t there, and Rain wasn’t, either, someone could walk right into the house and steal every single piece of furniture, and she’d never even know. She says her assistants stole from her, but I think if things were missing, they could have been taken by anyone. Walked right into the house and helped themselves, if you ask me.”

“Was
he
there today?”

Reed laughed. “You can say his name, Link. No, he wasn’t there. He had classes.” Privately, she thought Rain was still so upset about the well incident that he was afraid to face her.

Relief flooded Link’s face. They were halfway down Faculty Row when he said, “Listen, Reed, did you ever ask McCoy where Carl went?”

“How would she know where he went? He just called and said he wasn’t coming back.”

“She told you that?”

“Yes, she did. He didn’t give her any warning at all. Called and told her he was leaving school. I think she was pretty annoyed, and I don’t blame her.”

“He really called her? Told her he wasn’t coming back? No one told me that. Everyone on campus thinks he just disappeared.”

“You sound disappointed. You
want
to think something horrible happened to Carl, don’t you? And you want to think it happened in that house, right? McCoy’s house? You’re worse than I am.” Suddenly, Reed remembered the note she’d found. The fall into the well had wiped all thought of it out of her head.
Now that I know the truth, I’m afraid I will never
l
eave this place alive.
That would fit right in with Link’s scenario about what had happened to Carl, wouldn’t it?

It was kind of funny, in a way. She’d been reading McCoy’s work for years and had never once become paranoid. But here was Link, just starting to read them and already thinking dire thoughts. Maybe she never should have pushed him into reading the books.

“How do you know she’s telling the truth?” Link asked as they neared Lester. People were hurrying back and forth on campus, loaded down with books and backpacks and briefcases. “If something did happen to Carl in that house, she
would
lie, wouldn’t she?”

“Oh, Link, give it
up!
Why are you trying so hard to scare me
away
from there? Because Rain is there? That’s silly.” Well, not
so
silly. She had hoped Rain would be at the house, hadn’t she? She wanted to get to know him better, and that was the truth. He looked … interesting.

Because that thought made her feel guilty, she kissed Link good-bye with more enthusiasm than usual.

But he didn’t look any happier when he left.

Jealousy was so childish. She’d bet anything that Rain wouldn’t act the way Link was acting. Someone who had traveled all over the world with his famous mother would be too sophisticated, too mature, to be consumed by juvenile jealousy.

The following morning, she had just taken her shower and was drying her hair when there was a knock at the door. Tisha had already left for class, so Reed shut off her hair dryer and answered the door.

Rain was standing there, his dark hair dripping, his red ski jacket sodden. “It’s pouring out,” he said unnecessarily, “in case you didn’t know. Anyway, here.” He handed her a small bouquet of flowers and a note. “I told McCoy about the party, and she said after the week you’ve had, you should have a good time tonight. She hopes the flowers help.”

“Oh!” Reed said, opening the note. She was surprised. “That’s really nice of her. Thank her for me, okay?”

He shrugged. “I probably won’t see her all day. She went into her office right after breakfast. Won’t come out again until after I’ve left for the party. See you tonight, right?”

“Sure. Thanks for bringing this.”

Even soaking wet, Rain looked great. Maybe tonight would be her chance to get to know him better.

The note, handwritten, repeated what Rain had already told Reed. She was to take care of herself and
“get ready for a good time tonight. These flowers are my way of apologizing for your terrible ordeal in that old well.”
Then Victoria McCoy added a postscript:
“I’m so glad Rain is going to the party. He doesn’t get out of the house enough. Thank you for inviting him.”

Smiling, Reed put the flowers in a vase on her dresser and slipped the note into her bathrobe pocket, and got ready for school. If she was going to have the afternoon free, maybe she’d try doing something different with her hair.
After
she decided what to wear. Black leggings? And maybe the hand-knit black sweater she’d bought on sale at the mall. Debrah would make cracks, of course. But wearing bright colors just didn’t appeal to her these days.

It wasn’t until she was sitting in psych class, bored to distraction by the droning lecture, that something struck Reed about McCoy’s note. Something about the handwriting … What
was
it?

Reaching into her purse, she fumbled around until she’d unearthed the note taken from the desk drawer. She unfolded it and read it again.

Now that I know the truth, I’m afraid I will never leave this place alive.

She didn’t have with her the other note, the morning message delivered by Rain. It was still in her bathrobe pocket. But she suddenly had an overwhelming urge to have the two pieces of paper lying in front of her on the desk, side by side. There was something about the handwriting that bothered her.

The first thing she did when she got back to her room was run to the closet and rummage in the pocket of her robe until she found the morning message given her by Rain.

Then she took it to the dresser, unfolded it, and placed it beside the note she’d found in McCoy’s desk drawer.

And she knew immediately what had been bothering her about the two notes.

The handwriting on the two pieces of paper was completely different.

Victoria McCoy hadn’t written the note in the drawer.

Someone
else
had scrawled,
Now that I know the truth, I’m afraid I will never leave this place alive.

R
EED’S EYES LIFTED TO
the dresser mirror. What am I
doing?
she asked her image. I’m as bad as Link. McCoy must have come up with an idea and asked someone else to write it down for her, that’s all. Rain, maybe, or one of her assistants.

Right, her image retorted, and did they also fold the notepaper and stick it in an envelope as if they were going to mail it to someone but never got the chance? If it’s an idea for a novel, why wasn’t it put away with the rest of the notes for that particular book?

Reed turned away from the mirror slowly, thoughtfully. Maybe it
wasn’t
an idea for a book. Anyone could have written the note. Someone … frightened. Someone in trouble. At the McCoy house? Someone who had seen the dark side?

“Hey!” Lilith said, as she pushed the door open without knocking and stuck her head inside, “got anything I can borrow for tonight? I’m bored with my own clothes. I want something sexy. Rain and Link are going to be there, right?”

“Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?” Reed said rudely. Lilith had scared her, calling out to her like that when her mind was on something else. Then, relenting, she added, “You can borrow my red jumpsuit if you want. I’m not wearing it.”

“It’ll be too long on me. Can’t I have the purple sweater instead? I’d look smashing in that.”

“Don’t whine, Lilith.” Reed picked up the two notes and stuffed them into her black shoulder bag. “Yes, you can wear the purple. I’m not wearing it.”

“I suppose you’re doing the black thing again. Link won’t like it. He hates black,” Lilith said knowingly.

“Too bad.”

“So,” Lilith said, sinking down on Tisha’s unmade bed, “how are you and Rain getting along? Do you talk about anything besides books? Does he think you hate him because you fell into that awful well of his?”

“It isn’t
his
well, Lilith. It’s just on their property. And it wasn’t Rain’s fault the lid was gone. Anyway I hardly see him, Lilith. He has classes. And I
haven’t
switched my affections from Link to Rain.”

“Not
yet,”
Lilith said with a sly grin as Reed unearthed the purple sweater from a drawer and handed it over. “I’m a patient person, Reed.”

“No, you’re not. Now, get out so I can get ready for the party. And don’t spill any punch or taco sauce on my sweater, Lilith.” Two hours later, they climbed into Debrah’s car for the short drive to Nightmare Hall.

“I can’t wait to see the inside of the place,” Reed said. “It looks so creepy on the outside. All that dead ivy and the dark brick and those huge old trees standing over it like bodyguards.”

“You should talk,” Debrah said. “Compared to McCoy’s house, Nightmare Hall is a cozy little cottage. Is that place nicer on the inside?”

“No, not really,” Reed answered honestly. “It’s pretty cold and damp and there’s this mildewy smell … I love it.”

“You would. Sounds creepy to me. But then, that’s appropriate, right? Maybe McCoy would have trouble writing her books in a cozy little cottage. Anyway,” Debrah added caustically, “it serves you right that it’s so dreary there. Jude’s right about you, Reed. Sneaking out to that house first thing, before
we
even knew McCoy needed an assistant. I couldn’t stand it if you were working in luxury.”

Reed and Lilith laughed.

Debrah didn’t.

Link was waiting on the front porch of Nightingale Hall, and, as Debrah pulled up the graveled driveway, Rain was getting out of his car.

Oh, great. They
would
have to arrive at the same time.

She had hoped to have some time alone with Rain. He probably needed more convincing, just as Lilith had said, that she didn’t blame him for the well incident. How could he have known that the cover would be off the well? And she had thought about showing him the note from the drawer to see if he recognized the handwriting, until she’d realized she couldn’t do that. He’d ask where she’d gotten it, and she wasn’t ready to admit she’d been snooping.

But she
could
ask him if McCoy ever shared ideas for new novels with her assistants, something she hadn’t yet done with Reed. It didn’t seem like the kind of thing McCoy would do. She was such a private person and so secretive about her work.

But with Link here … he’d see to it that she didn’t spend any time alone with Rain.

For the first two hours of the well-attended party, Link did exactly that. Until Lilith talked him into dancing with her. Link was about to say no when Reed urged him to go ahead. “I want to get something to eat. Dance with Lilith.”

When Lilith triumphantly led Link away, Reed went looking for Rain. The last time she’d seen him, he was in a corner earnestly discussing something with Milo Keith.

She found him in the crowded dining room, filling a plate. She was about to join him when a tall, thin, blonde girl with a grim expression on her face approached Reed. The girl stood in front of Reed, her eyes, behind glasses, were fixed on Reed’s face. She said something so softly it was barely discernible. Then she turned and disappeared into the crowd.

Reed stood perfectly still, frowning, her eyes searching the room for the girl. She wasn’t sure she had heard correctly.
Couldn’t
have heard correctly. The girl wouldn’t have said what Reed thought she’d heard.

But, though Reed stood on her tiptoes and craned her neck, there was no sign of the girl. She had vanished. For a moment, Reed wondered if she’d actually been there at all.

Of course she had. I don’t
imagine
things, Reed told herself. But did that girl really say what I thought she said?

No, Reed decided, she hadn’t. I heard her wrong, she thought, reaching out to pick up a paper plate from the rapidly dwindling pile at one end of the table. It’s noisy in here, and I wasn’t expecting her, so I was caught off guard and didn’t hear her right. That’s all. Because she couldn’t have said what I thought she did.

A girl she had never seen before, a girl she didn’t know, wouldn’t have walked up to her at a party in Nightmare Hall and said, in almost a whisper,
“Quit. Before it’s too late.”

“R
AIN,”
R
EED SAID, “DID
you see who I was just talking to?”

He nodded. “Lindsey Overmeyer. Why?” The name didn’t ring a bell. “Do you know her?” They began walking toward the crowded living room in search of a place to sit.

“I don’t know
her.
She’s a sophomore. But her younger sister Karen worked for my mother.”

Rain stopped walking. “She did? When?”

“Before Carl. McCoy liked her at first, but that didn’t last long. She said Karen was accusing her of forgetting things and being unorganized. Made McCoy really mad. She hates it when people tell her she’s forgetting things, even though she probably
is.
She said Karen was snooping, too. That made her even angrier. She won’t tolerate people going through her material. She’s never once let me see one of her unfinished manuscripts.”

Reed felt her cheeks growing warm, but she was relieved. McCoy must not have told her son about Reed and the latest snooping incident.

“Next thing I knew,” Rain said as he led her to a quiet corner, “my mother was without an assistant again. I never asked her what happened. Figured she fired Karen.” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t count on long-term employment if I were you. A box of cereal lasts longer at our house than the hired help.”

Then he abruptly began talking about their oceanside mansion in California. Enthralled, Reed became engrossed in the conversation. But she didn’t completely forget about Karen Overmeyer.

Later, while Rain was dancing with Lilith, Reed asked several people if they knew where Lindsey Overmeyer was. No one did. So she went hunting for Milo. It was
his
party. He ought to know all of the guests.