TOIL AND TROUBLE (A GEEKS AND THINGS MYSTERY) Copyright © 2016 by Sarah Biglow.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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For information contact; www.sarah-biglow.com

Edited by Ken Marrow, M.A.

Cover Design by: Ana Grigoriu

Published by Sarah Biglow: April 2016

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Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

Also By This Author

About The Author

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CHAPTER ONE

A gust of October wind picked up as Kalina Greystone pulled into a free parking spot behind the Olde Main Street Pub in Salem, MA. The gust rattled the windows of the car as she cut the engine and glanced sideways at her teenage nephew, AJ. By all accounts she should be the one who was barely awake—having driven out to the coast to her hometown of Ellesworth to pick him up that afternoon—but he’d passed out as soon as he’d buckled in for the short trip to Salem.

“Hey, wake up. We’re here.” She nudged him in the shoulder before unbuckling her seatbelt.

He let out a moan. “What?”

“AJ, come on. You’re the one who wanted to come to the festival. Wake up.”

She would never understand teenage boys and their desire to be unconscious for most of the day. She and her sister Jillian had certainly never been like that when they were his age. He yawned and straightened in his seat. The streetlights around the edge of the lot flickered to life around them as the sun sunk lower on the horizon.

“Sorry, I’m up. Let’s go.”

The pair climbed from the car and headed past the entrance to the pub to the main thoroughfare of the iconic town. Given the town’s rich history with the occult, it was no surprise the townspeople had embraced the time of year and banked on tourists coming to enjoy the corn mazes and walking tours. Having grown up not far from there, Kalina wasn’t as enamored as AJ but she indulged him because she knew his mother wouldn’t.

“So what do you want to do first?” she asked and draped an arm around his shoulders.

He looked around at the throng of people and his mouth dropped open in awe. Town festivals weren’t a new thing as a general concept but the costumed people leading tours and selling trinkets could be a little overwhelming.

“I don’t know. There’s so much.”

“We could go on a ghost tour. Or the Witch’s Maze is pretty creepy.”

“I’m not a little kid, Aunt K., so don’t try to scare me.”

“I’m only pointing out the things that the teenage boys liked when I was your age.”

“That makes you sound so old.”

She swatted him. “I am not old. Now, let’s find something fun to do.”

“Not a ghost tour,” he said.

She gave him a side eye and he smiled back at her. “I’m not scared. I just think it would be cooler if we did it later at night. Like when it’s dark out.”

“Okay. Fine. Witch’s Maze it is.” They started down the street again, this time arm-in-arm.

“Stupid question but why do they call it that? I mean from what I know about the Witch Trials, they weren’t exactly sending suspected witches into mazes to see if they were supernatural beings.”

They dodged a group of Girl Scouts clustered around a woman in period dress. “It’s just a name. If I remember right they’ve got a mannequin dressed as a witch at the start and finish of the maze. It’s got all kinds of dead ends that make you think they’re messing with your head.”

“Cool. Has anyone ever gotten lost in it?”

“I don’t think so. They’ve got people throughout it to make sure if people do get too turned around there’s someone there to guide them to the exit.”

“Thanks again for bringing me. Mom thinks it’s silly and a waste of money.”

“That’s just how your mom is, kiddo. She doesn’t like to believe in the fantastical. She was always more grounded in real life.” Despite her business degree, Kalina considered herself something of a dreamer. She’d love spending her afternoons growing up sequestered in the back room of the family comic book shop reading the latest issues. Her father still owned the place and from what she’d heard it was still going strong, especially with the resurgence in popularity of Marvel and DC. She couldn’t turn a corner without some new show or movie popping up, drawing the masses to it.

The maze loomed ahead of them, framed beautifully by the twilight skyline. Actual torches lined the walkway leading to the start of the maze. A bored-looking college kid sat at a table beside the walkway, staring at his phone. Kalina had to clear her throat twice to get his attention.

“Two tickets for the maze,” she said.

“Adult or kid?”

“Adult.”

“Twenty bucks,” he said and held out his hand.

Kalina dug out a twenty dollar bill from her purse and handed it over. He tossed the bill into a metal box and held out a stamp.

“Left hand.”

She did as instructed and he pressed the stamp to her skin, leaving the blurry outline of a witch riding a broomstick in red. He did the same to AJ and then went back to whatever was so fascinating on his phone. Kalina and AJ walked up the path to the start of the maze. The rows of hay rose up to about shoulder height. Stray pieces floated on the breeze and Kalina wrapped her jacket a little tighter. A figure in an ankle-length dress and bonnet waited for them at the entrance to the maze. As they got closer, the tiny voice in the back of Kalina’s brain warned that something was wrong with the mannequin in front of them. When they were a few steps away, the torch closest to the entrance flickered and light washed over the figure’s face. The girl was pale but there was something off about the way her body hung on the fence posts.

“Wow, they go really life-like,” AJ said.

Kalina reached out a hand and pressed her trembling fingers to the side of the girl’s neck. Her throat went dry and her stomach clinched uncomfortably. Her fingers came away sticky and wet. The torchlight glinted off the angry red color of blood. “This isn’t a mannequin. This girl’s alive. Barely. You need to call the police. Right now!”

CHAPTER TWO

AJ turned back the way they’d come and sprinted back to the guy selling tickets. She watched him try—and fail—to get the guy’s attention before snatching the phone from his fingers.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing, kid?”

“It’s an emergency,” AJ answered and stepped out of reach of the frat boy.

Kalina turned her attention back to the girl. She checked for a pulse a second time just to be sure she’d felt right. It was faint but definitely there. She fought the urge to untie her wrists and try to get more color in her cheeks. This was a crime scene now. That didn’t mean she couldn’t do a little looking before the police and paramedics arrived. Her love of superheroes and the fantastical had always roused her innate curiosity. When she came across a puzzle, she had to solve it.

She took a step back and turned on her phone’s flashlight app to get a better look at the girl. Her brown hair was shoved up under a bonnet but Kalina could see where the blood was coming from. Someone had cut a pentagram into her chest that was still oozing blood. So the wound was probably fresh. Her wrists were bound to the fence posts behind her, bearing her weight awkwardly. Something silver on the girl’s right wrist caught the light and Kalina leaned in close. It was a charm bracelet with three letters:.

Snapping a picture for later, she listened as her nephew frantically tried to fill in the operator on the other end of the 911 call.

“I’m at the Witch’s Maze,” he said. “In Salem. Where else would I be?”

Kalina marched off and motioned for AJ to hand her the phone. He offered it up without a word. The frat boy at the table sat glaring at them.

“I’m sorry, my nephew is a little upset. We have a young woman who needs medical attention. There aren’t any street signs in view where we are,” she said as calmly as possible.

She heard the telltale sound of keys clicking on a keyboard over the connection.

“Ma’am, we have your location. We’re sending officers to you now. Please stay on the line until they arrive.”

“Thank you.”

Kalina set the phone down on the table and glared at the frat boy. “Leave it alone until the cops get here.”

“What are you talking about? You people are nuts.”

She pointed to the young woman tied to the fence posts. “You see that girl? She’s hurt really badly. Were you sitting here before she showed up?”

“What? No way. I showed up for my shift like a half hour ago.” He pointed to the girl. “That was already there.”

“Aunt K., shouldn’t we get her down?”

“No. This is a crime scene. We can’t touch anything. We wait for the police to show up and we tell them what we saw. They’ll handle it from there.”

She knew if she told her nephew that she intended to see this through, he’d want to get just as involved and then her sister would kill her for sure. Finally, she spotted the blue and white lights of a police car and high-pitched wailing of an ambulance siren. She scooped up the phone and said, “The police are here,” and ended the call.

“Thanks for the phone.”

A tall, slender black man in a windbreaker and jeans approached them. He held up a badge. “I’m Sergeant Evan Whitman. You called in about an injured woman?”

Kalina stepped up and offered her hand. “Yes, sir. My nephew and I were about to enter the maze when I noticed some blood on her neck. I felt for a pulse and it’s faint.” She hoped it would explain the blood smears on her fingertips.

“And other than checking for a pulse you didn’t do anything else?”

“No, sir. We waited for you to arrive.”

“Please wait here. My associate, Officer Larkin, will take your statements.” Sergeant Whitman turned to the frat boy. “What about you?”

“Man, I was just sitting here. I didn’t anything. She was here when I got here. I swear.”

Sergeant Whitman didn’t seem pleased with the answer but said nothing more. Paramedics climbed out of the back of the ambulance and approached the young woman with a backboard and oxygen mask. One of the medics produced a knife and cut the rope free. His partner caught the girl’s weight as she came off the fence posts. Officer Larkin cleared his throat and motioned for Kalina and AJ to join him away from the frenzy.

“I’m going to need your names and contact details for the report. And I’ll need you to give statements down at the station. Sorry to ruin your evening.”

“That’s fine, Officer. We want to help. Whatever statements we need to give I’m sure we can do them here.”

“I’ll get the forms from the car.”

As soon as Officer Larkin was out of earshot, AJ nudged Kalina hard in the ribs. “You’re up to something, Aunt K. I can see it in your eyes. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Look, your mother would kill me if I let you get involved in something like this. It’s just curiosity.”

“Please. I can help. We’d be a great team.”

“Fine. We give our statements and then we’re going to find out if any of the volunteers tonight were from a sorority.”

“Why would that matter?”

“Because the victim is wearing a bracelet with Greek letters on it. I’m guessing she belongs to a sorority and if we can figure out which one, maybe we can find out who she is and, more importantly, who might want to hurt her.”

“Won’t Sergeant Whitman get upset?”

“He won’t know. We’ll stay out of his way and let him run his investigation. Besides, we are free to go once we give our statements and there’s so much more of the festival to see.”

CHAPTER THREE

Officer Larkin returned with the paperwork and they gave their statements. Kalina kept an eye out as the paramedics put an oxygen mask over the girl’s nose and mouth and bandaged her chest and head. They loaded her onto the backboard and carted her back to the ambulance.

“I think that does it,” Officer Larkin announced.

“If you need anything else from us, I put my cell phone number down,” Kalina said and pointed to the spot on the form.

“Good, thanks. I know it sounds kind of heartless but do try to enjoy the rest of the festival.”

Kalina gave him a smile and led AJ back to the center of town. They stopped under a streetlight and she pulled out her phone to show him the picture. The ambulance went speeding by them as she pulled up the photo.

“See there”—she pointed to the charms on the bracelet—“I’m not sure what sorority it is, though.”

“Can you make it bigger?”

She zoomed in on the “” and AJ pulled out his phone too, to look up what they were. “OK, it looks like there is a sorority that exists with those letters.”

She closed down the photo and pulled up the event page on Facebook, hoping it listed the groups of volunteers. It took some scrolling and flipping through sections of the page but she found it.

“Got it!” She leaned over so AJ could see it, too. “Tours will be given by the sisters of Sigma Beta Epsilon.”

“But they aren’t involved with the maze,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean one of them can’t help us identify the girl.”

“How are we supposed to check if they know her? It’s not like we have a picture or something.”

Kalina gave him a devious grin and tapped her phone screen. He broke out in a matching grin and gave a small fist pump.

“The real issue is going to be figuring out how to get some of them alone to talk to them,” she said and looked around.

The volunteers were all in period dress and not exactly flaunting their Greek Life affiliations. They’d have to get creative. Kalina stepped out into the middle of the street and turned in a slow circle until she spotted a sign pointing to the information area. That was as good a place to start as any. She waved her nephew onward and they made their way to the middle of the town square and booth marked “Information and Tours”. A middle-aged woman sat behind the booth wearing a jacket and fingerless gloves. She flipped through a magazine and only looked up when Kalina’s shadow fell across the page.

“Can I help you?’

“I hope so. We’re looking for the sisters of Sigma Beta Epsilon. We heard they’re giving tours.”

“They’re doing the historical walking tours. The next one starts in five minutes over there. There’s only one more tour after that for the day.”

“Do we have to pay anything?”

“Tours are free.”

“Great, thanks.”

Only a handful of people waited in line by the sign marked “Start”. AJ shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around. The sun had disappeared beyond the horizon. The ghost tours would start soon. She hoped they would still be able to do one of those. The maze was likely out for good since it was an active crime scene.

“Do you think that girl is going to be OK?” AJ whispered as a tall girl in a long dress approached.

“I don’t know. I didn’t get a look at her injury but we can hope.”

She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and squeezed tight. He didn’t pull away like she thought he would. Apparently, happening upon a gravely injured teenage girl had shaken him out of trying to be cool in his aunt’s presence. Their guide came to a stop in front of the small group and forced a smile.

“Hi, everybody. My name is Melody and I’ll be your guide today. Thanks for taking the tour. Let’s get started before it gets too dark and the ghost tours take over.”

The group fell into step behind Melody and Kalina did her best to maneuver to the front of the pack.

“Thanks for doing this,” she said.

Melody tugged at the bonnet strings under her chin and a few tendrils of fiery red hair fell across her cheek. “Sure. We try to give back to the community when we can.”

“We?”

“Oh, my sorority sisters and I. We’ve been helping out with the festival for like five or six years now.”

“What sorority?”

“Sigma Beta Epsilon.”

“It’s nice to know there are some Greek organizations out there who are focused on philanthropy rather than keg parties.”

Melody smiled. “Oh, we aren’t above parties, too.” She waved to a couple of girls wrangling small kids. “Those are some of our pledges. You don’t get to be a tour guide until you’re a fully initiated sister.”

“Interesting. Do you help out in any of the other parts of the festival? Like the Witch’s Maze?”

“Nope. That’s the Kappa Kappa Rho girls.”

“Rival sisterhood?”

“Not really. They’re a nice group of girls but we do vie for pledges sometimes. We tend to attract the same types of girls: smart, academic and driven.”

“So how many of you are out in force tonight?”

Melody stopped to point out one of the buildings they were passing before turning back to Kalina. “I think there are five of us”—she counted on her fingers—“me, Ashley, Tania, Mags and Tasha.”

Kalina kept an eye out for other tour leaders and Melody pointed them out as they encountered them. Tania, Mags and Ashley were accounted for. Kalina could see the worry crease Melody’s forehead as she fished her phone from within her petticoats and checked something.

“Weird. Tasha hasn’t checked in with the group text in a few hours. We’re supposed to check in every hour.”

Kalina bit the inside of her lip and brought up the photo of the girl from the maze. “Is this her?”

Melody looked at the photo and stopped short. AJ and one of the other tour participants slammed into her and she went stumbling forward. Kalina reached out a hand and caught her by the elbow to steady her.

“Sorry everyone, we’re going to have to stop the tour. There’s an emergency.” To Kalina’s surprise, Melody kept her voice calm and even.

With some grumbling, the small group dispersed, leaving Kalina and AJ the only ones standing beside their tour guide. Melody took Kalina’s phone and blew up the photo, studying every inch of it before handing it back.

“That’s Tasha. Where was that taken? What happened?”

Kalina glanced around and spotted a free bench outside a hair salon and guided the girl over. AJ stood nearby and stayed quiet. Melody yanked the cap from her head and let her hair fall messily around her shoulders.

“She was found near the maze,” Kalina said in a soft tone.

“Was she OK? She doesn’t look OK in that picture.”

“She was unconscious. But she’s probably at the hospital by now.”

“Did someone call her parents?”

“She didn’t have any ID on her so I don’t think the police know who she is.”

“How do you know all of this?” Melody wiped tears from her cheeks and blew out a long breath.

“We found her. Come on, let’s see if we can find the detective who is leading the investigation. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to know who Tasha is. You might even be able to help retrace her steps so they can figure out what happened.”

“Yeah. Um, OK. She was supposed to be doing the early set of tours. I only came on an hour ago so I just assumed she was fine. She’d been checking in and everything.”

“Was she doing a specific tour route?”

“Um, out by the fields where the maze is. I guess that explains how she got there.”

Kalina nodded mutely and led Melody and AJ off toward the fields. They hadn’t been away from the area very long so she hoped Sergeant Whitman or Officer Larkin would still be around. Luckily, even in the fading evening light, Kalina could spot the tall, lanky form of the sergeant.

“Sergeant Whitman,” she called, ushering Melody ahead of her.

“Yes? Can I help you with something?”

“We spoke a little while ago. I was the one who called for the ambulance. This is Melody. I think she knows who the injured girl is.”

“And how is it she knows about the injured girl in the first place?”

Melody opened her mouth to speak but Kalina cut her off. “I noticed she was wearing a bracelet that belonged to a sorority helping out here at the festival. Melody is in the same sorority.”

“Her name is Tasha … I mean Natasha Fordham. She’s a junior.”

Sergeant Whitman rubbed his chin before motioning for Melody to join him at the table—now vacated by the frat boy—and pulled out a notepad and pen.

“What do we do next?” AJ whispered.

“See if we can find any of the girls from the rival sorority. Melody may be convinced that they’re nice but you never know what someone might do if they really wanted a particular pledge to join their organization.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Kalina’s pulse quickened as they made their way back into the fray. Knowing that there might be a motive behind Tasha’s attack was making her head spin a little. They had a limited window to figure out what really happened before their presence would be questioned. It wasn’t like they could stick around until the next day. After all, the festival was set to end around 9:00—three hours from now—and Kalina had promised to get AJ home before midnight.

“Aunt K., slow down!” AJ called from behind her.

She stopped and waited for him to catch up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to walk so fast.”

“It’s cool. So how are we supposed to find these Kappa girls?”

“The same way we found Melody. We check to see what parts of the festival they are volunteering with and ask.”

“To Facebook!” said AJ with a dramatic fist pump in the air.

Kalina shook her head at her nephew’s nerdy tendencies and pulled up the event page again and found the information they needed.

“This way. They’re handling the children’s events.”

“Goodie.”

It wasn’t hard to find the Kappa girls. Unlike the Sigma girls, they could get away with being in jeans and T-shirts with their Greek affiliation emblazoned on them. A pretty girl with caramel skin and tightly curled hair approached them.

“Are you here to pick someone up?” she asked.

“No, actually we were hoping to talk to you and your sorority sisters about something.”

The girl pressed her lips into a straight line. “That sounds serious.”

“Not really. My niece is heading to college soon and I promised her I’d scope out some of the sororities to see what they’re like.”

“Well, if you can hang around for like fifteen minutes, we should be ready to pack up and we can probably talk to you then.”

“Sure thing.”

The girl walked away to tend to a little boy digging in the dirt by himself. AJ leaned on the edge of the barrel that had once held a collection of apples for bobbing.

“I can’t believe you lied to her!”

“I couldn’t tell her we’re investigating a girl being attacked, especially if they could potentially be involved.”

“You really think they’re going to talk to us?”

“I think so.”

“I hope the cops figure out what’s going on, too. I mean even if we solve the case, we can’t do anything to whoever hurt Tasha.”

“I know. We’ll figure it out. Just be patient, kiddo.”

The tips of his ears burned bright red when one of the sorority sisters walked by and gave a little giggle at his pet name. “Could you maybe not call me that? It’s embarrassing.”

Kalina couldn’t help but laugh too. “They are so out your league. Not to mention it would be illegal.”

Time passed quickly and soon the last of the kids had been retrieved by their parents or older siblings and Kalina and AJ were left with the sisters of Kappa Kappa Rho. In an effort to keep up the charade that she was interested in assessing the sororities, Kalina approached the girl she’d talk to earlier and helped gather chairs and stack them beside the picnic tables.

“So you’re getting a jump on things, huh?” the girl said.

“Yeah.”

‘I’m Amber, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Why don’t you tell me about your niece?”

“Well, she’s curious about Greek Life but shy. And she didn’t want to come today so I figured, since so many of the activities were run by sororities, I’d take a look. So what kind of girls are your target pledges?”

“Oh, we want girls who are smart and academically minded.”

“That sounds like Sigma Beta Epsilon.”

“We do tend to attract the same girls. We usually end up splitting them each pledge class.”

Kalina nodded. “What would you say is the biggest difference between your organizations?”

“I think they do more national-level philanthropy work and we focus more on community. A lot of our sisters are going into the education field so we do a lot of tutoring for elementary school kids. It’s a lot of fun.”

“Sounds it.” Kalina looked around in search of AJ. “This may sound a little weird but is there any tension between you guys over specific pledges?”

“Not really. I mean it’s really up to the pledges to decide which organization to join.”

“So they never get rejected?”

“They could be asked to de-pledge if their grades slip or if they reveal sisterhood secrets to people who aren’t supposed to know them.”

“Has that ever happened since you’ve been a member?”

“With us, not very often. I thought I heard that one of the girls pledging Sigma Beta got kicked out but I’m not sure what for. You’d have to ask one of them.”

“Thanks. You’ve been really helpful.”

She finally spotted her nephew chatting with a young girl not wearing sorority letters. She looked a little like Tasha from where Kalina stood. She tried to brush off the thought and waved to get his attention. They needed to find Melody and ask a few more questions.

“Oh, one more question,” Kalina said as AJ jogged over to join her.

“Sure,” Amber said and shoved her hands in her pockets.

“Was anyone from your sorority working out by the maze today?”

“We weren’t running it. One of the frats was doing that. But I think a couple of the girls were out that way in the afternoon just to take a break.” Amber glanced around and pointed out a couple people, including the girl AJ had been talking to. “Elena and Jocelyn were there.”

“Thanks.”

Amber gave them both a smile and headed off to deal with corralling the rest of her sisters. AJ’s cheeks were flushed and he clutched his phone tightly to his chest.

“What happened?” Kalina asked.

“I got that girl Jocelyn’s number. She’s a pledge.”

“And did you find anything else out about her?”

“She’s a sophomore and is really hoping she gets inducted.”

“Anything that might help us figure out who went after Tasha.”

“Oh”—his cheeks burned brighter—“not really.”

“Come on, Romeo.”

“Don’t you want to see if she saw anything?” AJ asked when they turned and headed away from the group.

“I want to ask Melody a couple more questions first. But, yeah, I think talking to Jocelyn is a good idea when we’re done.”

CHAPTER FIVE

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.”

CHAPTER SIX

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.

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About The Author

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.

She is a self-professed TV junkie and in her spare time (what’s that?), she runs a TV recap blog with her best friend (and sorority sister), Jen.

You can connect with Sarah on Twitter @SBiglowWrites or by joining her newsletter on www.sarah-biglow.com

For those TV-obsessed souls, you can head on over to the recap blog: www.more-tv-please.com. You can also follow the blog on Twitter @MoreTVPlease and check it out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoreTVPlease.