Authors: Sarah Biglow
Toil and Trouble: (A Geeks and Things Cozy Mystery Short Story) (Geeks and Things Cozy Mysteries Book 0) (3 page)
It wasn’t hard to find Melody and the rest of the Sigma Beta Epsilon girls. They’d gathered in front of the Olde Main Street Pub. The mood was somber as Kalina and AJ approached. Melody had her phone pressed to her ear when they got to the group.
“Thanks, Mr. Fordham. Keep us updated.”
“How are you all holding up?” Kalina asked.
“OK. She’s stable now but in a coma to help reduce the swelling. We’ll know more tomorrow.”
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed that she makes a full recovery.”
“Thanks.”
“Can I ask you a couple questions?”
Melody chewed her lower lip for a few seconds before nodding and stepping away from the group. Kalina motioned for AJ to stay put. She didn’t want Melody to think they were crowding her.
“Have you ever had to ask a girl to de-pledge before?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes people get really into pledging and it takes over their lives. I had a friend in college who got really focused on being inducted and it kind of changed her.”
“The short answer is yes, we’ve had to ask girls to de-pledge before.”
“Has it happened recently?”
Melody wrapped her arms around her chest as if to ward off a chill. “This is starting to make sense.”
“Sorry? What is?”
“Mags said she was with Tasha earlier in the day and she got a text that really upset her and she took off. I think to go meet someone.”
“OK. What does that have to do with asking someone to de-pledge?”
“In the spring, we had a girl who pledged and we asked her to leave. She was posting a lot of stuff on Facebook she shouldn’t have and she expected to get away with it because of her ... connections.”
“What connections?”
“She was related to someone in the sisterhood.”
“Who?”
“Tasha. She was her cousin. Tasha was the one who told her she needed to de-pledge. It got kind of nasty for a while. She kept showing up to things and Tasha had to take out a restraining order.”
“That’s serious. If it was that girl, why would she go to meet her now?”
“Tasha said she let the order lapse because her cousin cooled down. I guess there was some personal stuff happening with their family and Tasha felt bad.”
“Do you remember her name?”
“Her name is Jocelyn.”
“There’s a Jocelyn pledging Kappa right now. We met her earlier.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me that she’s pledging another sorority. We banned her from trying to pledge again.”
“You think she’d be capable of hurting her own family?” Kalina asked.
Melody shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe.”
“I think you should let Sergeant Whitman know what you just told me. It might help them find Jocelyn before she hurts someone else or herself.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I still can’t believe Jocelyn would be crazy enough to cut up her own family.”
Kalina placed what she hoped was a comforting hand on Melody’s shoulder. At the very least, she didn’t shrug it off. She waited while Melody fished the Sergeant’s card out of her petticoat and dialed his number. Some of the other girls were still chatting and Kalina realized AJ was no longer among them. A wave of panic set in.
“Did you see where my nephew went?” she asked, her voice cracking at the end.
A few of the girls shook their heads. One girl—with a crop of midnight blue hair sticking out from under her bonnet—stepped forward.
“He said he had to go meet someone.”
“Damn it, AJ.”
She tried his phone but it went to voicemail. “AJ, you get your butt back here and don’t you dare do something stupid!”
Kalina’s anger bubbled over as Sergeant Whitman rounded a corner. Officer Larkin trailed him, his pale cheeks flushed from exertion. They must have been pretty far away when Melody called. Kalina’s adrenaline had taken over in AJ’s absence and she hadn’t paid attention to the girl’s phone call to the police.
“You’re certain you saw the Ms. Fordham take a call from her cousin?” Sergeant Whitman asked Melody.
“Sergeant, sorry to interrupt but I think we have a bigger problem,” Kalina said, trying to get her erratic pulse under control.
“You again?”
She ignored his annoyance. “I think we may have met Jocelyn Fordham earlier and my nephew exchanged phone numbers with her. I think he’s gone off to find her. He isn’t answering his phone.”
Kalina’s head started to pound as her heart continued race. Breaths came in short gasps and her hearing faded in and out. She only heard snatches of Sergeant Whitman’s questions to the other Sigma girls. She numbly hit autodial again on her phone but AJ still didn’t pick up.
“Ms. Greystone.” Officer Larkin’s voice drew her back to the world.
“Sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked where your nephew met Ms. Fordham earlier.”
“We were over by the kids’ area. I think one of the girls over there said they’d seen Jocelyn by the maze earlier in the day.” She let out an involuntary hiccup of laughter. Of course. “The maze. He probably went to meet her there.”
“Sergeant, I think we might have a location,” Officer Larkin called.
Kalina took off at a steady jog past the open storefronts and people still enjoying the festival. A group of high school aged kids waited at the front of the line for the ghost tours. None of them had any idea what was going on. She looked back over her shoulder to find both policemen and Melody racing after her. The maze came into view and her heart skipped a beat when she spotted two figures in the distance. She skidded to a halt when her phone buzzed and AJ’s number popped up.
“AJ?” she answered.
He didn’t respond but she could now hear the conversation. She waved a hand for the officers and Melody to stop and she held up her phone, putting it on speaker.
“So why’d you want to meet me?” Jocelyn’s voice came through strong and confident.
“Well, you said I should call you if I wanted to hang out.”
“I kind of meant after the festival was done.”
“Well, I don’t get up this way often so I figured I should take advantage while I could. Besides, you were done with volunteering, right?”
“Yeah. So, what do you want to do?”
Kalina had to bite her tongue to keep from letting on that AJ had made the call. She wanted to smack her nephew for taking such a brazen risk but a part of her was also proud of him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sergeant Whitman signal to move forward. A wave of relief washed over her, edging out the panic from earlier. Even if Jocelyn tried something, they were close enough that the officers could intercede.
“Well, I thought we could check out the maze.”
“It’s closed.” Her voice wavered just a touch.
“No one would know. You aren’t scared are you? Just because of what happened here earlier?”
“I just don’t want to get in trouble.”
“Come on, Jocelyn. No one’s around to catch us.”
Kalina heard footsteps crunching on loose strands of straw from the maze and the group moved closer. They were many fifteen feet away and still they hadn’t been spotted by AJ and Jocelyn.
“What did you mean about what happened here earlier?”
“Didn’t you hear? The found a girl near the maze. She was really hurt.”
“Do they know who it is?”
“I think I heard her name was Tasha or something like that.”
“Tasha, you’re sure?” Even over the phone Kalina picked up on the rising panic in the girl’s tone.
“Yeah. You don’t know her do you?”
Kalina gestured from Sergeant Whitman to her nephew, hoping he understood that she wanted him to interrupt them before things could go any further. With a curt nod, the sergeant headed off in their direction.
“Hey, you kids can’t be here.” The sergeant’s voice rang out on Kalina’s phone.
“We were just looking,” AJ said.
“This is an active crime scene,” Sergeant Whitman said.
“Crime scene? I thought they just found someone who was hurt,” Jocelyn said.
Sergeant Whitman shook his head and gestured for Melody to join them. Kalina gave her hand a firm squeeze before she approached.
“This is the young woman you believe Ms. Fordham went to meet earlier?”
“I think so, sir.”
“I don’t know what she’s talking about.” Jocelyn started to back away.
“Miss, I would like to see your phone.”
“No. Why would you need to see my phone?”
“To determine if you’ve contacted the victim recently.”
“She dropped the restraining order!” Jocelyn’s eyes were wide now and her cheeks had blanched.
Sergeant Whitman held out his hand and Jocelyn handed over the phone. Kalina now stood alone, Officer Larkin having gone to offer his superior officer some backup. Kalina wanted AJ to get out of the line of fire but he stayed put. It made no sense to stand on the sidelines now while Jocelyn confessed. At least she could pull her nephew out if she lashed out.
“What did you ask Ms. Fordham to meet to talk about?”
“Nothing. Family stuff.”
Sergeant Whitman fixed her with a stern glare and held on to her phone. “The truth, please.”
“I was angry. She kicked me out of Sigma for no reason and acted like I was a lunatic. But I’m not. She knew things were bad at home. My parents split up. I had no one.”
“But you’re pledging Kappa,” AJ pointed out. “Aren’t they like family?”
“They aren’t the same. I just wanted a place to belong. They know I tried to pledge Sigma last year and they gave me a pity pledge. I wanted back in and Tasha said no. I just got angry and I pushed her. She hit her head. I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
“And why did you tie her up to the fence?”
“I didn’t know what else to do. I panicked and figured people wouldn’t notice.”
“And the symbol carved into her chest?”
“I thought it would make people think it was just part of the maze. I swear I didn’t mean to hurt her. Please tell me she’s going to be OK.” Tears streamed down her cheeks and her hands shook.
“You didn’t mean to hurt her and yet you didn’t call for help. You left her here, bleeding and unconscious.”
Jocelyn slumped to the ground, her chest heaving with loud sobs. Officer Larkin bent down and gently slid handcuffs around her wrists. He helped her up and took off his windbreaker, hanging it over her wrists to hide the cuffs. She continued to sob as they led her away. Melody watched and, as soon as they were out of sight, turned and threw her arms around Kalina’s neck.
“Thank you.”
“We didn’t do anything.”
“You did everything. You found her and got her help. You two figured out who went after her.”
Kalina returned the hug, unsure what else to say. She hadn’t intended to get wrapped in the mystery and she definitely didn’t want the recognition. She just hoped Jocelyn could get the help she needed and that Tasha would pull through. She looked over at AJ who stood with his nose buried in his phone.
“Hey, kiddo, what are you doing?”
“Deleting her number. I don’t want anything else to do with her.”
Melody released Kalina and pulled AJ into a bear hug and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks. You were really brave drawing her out like that.”
AJ blushed bright pink and grinned ear to ear. “I was just trying to help. I’m sorry it ended so crazily.”
Melody dried her eyes and brushed a few strands of hair from her face. “I’m going to tell the rest of the girls the good news.”
Her red hair disappeared from view and Kalina pulled her nephew into a tight embrace that lasted longer than AJ was probably comfortable with. But she didn’t care. He was safe. They were both safe. “You scared me. Don’t ever do something like that again.”
“I promise. I think I just want to go home if that’s OK with you.”
“You bet, kiddo.” She ruffled his hair and they walked, arm in arm, back to the car.
No doubt Jillian would ask how the trip went but Kalina was confident they’d have enough time to get their story straight. It hadn’t been the trip they’d been planning for but it would definitely be a memorable one.
Geeks and Things Cozy Mysteries
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Sarah lives in Massachusetts with her fiancé. She is a licensed attorney and spends her days combatting employment discrimination as an Investigator with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
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