Halfway to the Grave

ELEVEN

D ID YOU GET THE NOTES FROM THE LECTURE today? I slept in and didn’t wake up until half an hour ago! Was it really boring like last time?”

Stephanie was in my physics class. At least, she was when she showed up. She had missed two days out of the past five, but whenever I got out of class, she’d be there waiting for me. She liked to hang around campus, it was my guess. Found socializing much more interesting than the actual courses.

Stephanie was a petite brunette with an outgoing personality, and she’d spent the last five days pulling me out of my antisocial shell. College began on Monday. Today was Friday, and so far, she was the only person I’d spoken to on this huge, overwhelming campus.

With my friendless track record, I’d been hesitant to engage in normal, amicable small talk. If it didn’t have to do with dead bodies, school, or the cherry orchard, I generally didn’t know what to say. Stephanie didn’t let that faze her. She was cheerful and ebullient enough for both of us, and for some reason, she seemed to take a liking to me right off.

“Yeah, I have them. Do you need to make copies?”

She grinned. “Nah. I probably won’t read them anyway. Studying is so boring. Besides, I’m never going to use this crap again, so who needs it?”

Stephanie was a freshman, but in many ways, she was far more sophisticated than me. During our second conversation after class, she’d informed me that she had been dating since she was twelve, lost her virginity at fourteen, and considered men as entertaining and convenient as fast food.

“Tell me why you registered for college?” I asked in amusement.

She nodded pointedly at an attractive male who passed by us.

“The boys. This place is crawling with them. It’s like an all-you-can-eat buffet!”

She and Bones had something in common. He would find the campus an all-you-can-eat buffet, too, just not in nearly the same way.

I had avoided him since waking up in bed with him Sunday morning. Wednesday, I was supposed to meet him at the cave, but I didn’t go. I was too confused. My feelings for him had undergone a drastic metamorphosis. Somewhere along the past seven weeks, I’d gone from hating his guts to being inexplicably drawn to him.

“So, do you want to go out tonight and do something?”

I simply stared at her for a second. Twenty-two years old and I’d never gone out with a girl just to have fun and do normal things. Hell, to be more truthfully pathetic, I’d never even had a girlfriend to go out with.

“Um, sure.”

She grinned. “Cool, we’ll have a blast. How about you meet me at my place? We’ll go from there to this great club where I know the bouncer. He’ll let you in.”

“Oh, I’m over twenty-one,” I said, used to people thinking I was younger. “In fact, I’m twenty-two.”

She gave me such a sharp look that I shifted uncomfortably. Okay, I was a little older than the typical college junior, but I’d had to help out at the orchard after my grandfather’s heart attack…

Finally she smiled. “Well. Aren’t you full of surprises?”

Stephanie lived in an off-campus apartment not far from the place I’d soon be renting. With the money Bones had given me, I could move out sooner. No more having to hide my bloody clothes from my grandparents or dealing with the shunning pettiness of our neighbors. Yeah, I was looking forward to it.

I knocked on her door politely. “It’s Cathy.”

That was my school name. I was up to four now. At least they were all similar enough.

She opened it a moment later, clad only in her bra and a skirt.

“Hey! I’m just getting dressed. Come on in.”

I followed her inside, waiting near the door as she disappeared into what I presumed was her bedroom. Her apartment was surprisingly nice, not like the usual college digs. She had a plasma TV across from a leather sofa, a large entertainment center, a high-end computer notebook, and several other expensive-looking items arranged for decorative effect.

“I like your place,” I said sincerely. “Do you live here alone, or do you have a roommate?”

“Come in here, I can hardly hear you,” she called out.

I repeated the question while I went down the short hall into her room. Stephanie was in front of her closet, pursing her lips as she considered its contents.

“Huh? Oh, no roommate. So, tell me more about yourself, Cathy. I know you live at home with your mom and grandparents, but where’s home?”

“In a tiny town an hour north of here that you’ve probably never heard of,” I answered, thinking her bedroom was even nicer than her living room. Rich parents, obviously.

“You never talk about your father. Is your mom divorced, or did your dad die?”

“He ran off before I was born, I don’t even know who he is,” was all I said. Well, it was kind of the truth.

“Got a boyfriend?”

My response was immediate. “No!”

She laughed. “Wow, that was emphatic. Do you bat for the other team?”

“What other team?” I asked, confused.

Her mouth quirked. “Are you a lesbian? I don’t care if you are, but the ‘no’ on the boyfriend thing was so strong, it begs the question.”

“Oh!” Duh! “No, I’m not. I, er, just didn’t know what you meant before-”

“You know,” she cut me off with a pleasant smile, still rifling through her closet, “you’re very pretty. But you dress like a troll. Let’s see if we can’t find something of mine for you to wear tonight.”

Jeez, she sounded just like Bones. Switch her accent to an English one and I’d swear it was him talking.

I glanced down at my jeans. They were so comfortable. “Oh, you don’t have to do that.”

“Here.” She filched some more and then threw a navy dress at me. “Try this on.”

Not wanting to appear too modest, since she was still only partially clothed, I kicked my boots off and started to undress where I stood.

Stephanie looked at me with cool evaluation as I peeled off my jeans. The way her gaze swept over me made me feel odd. Like I was being appraised. She’s probably just mesmerized by how pale you are, I told myself, trying to shake off the unease that had taken hold of me. You’re like a snowman with tits.

“You’ve got a great body, Cathy. I wasn’t sure, from those baggy outfits you wear, but lo and behold, you do.”

Her voice was flat. Almost indifferent. That feeling of disquiet grew. I hadn’t had any girlfriends before, true, but there was something about this that didn’t seem right. She wasn’t acting like the bright, bubbly girl from class. She seemed like an entirely different person.

“You know,” I said, putting down the dress I’d been about to don, “I think I’ll just wear my jeans. I’d hate for something to happen to this, and you know how clubs are. Someone could spill a drink on me or it could get ripped-”

“You really are just another clueless farm girl, aren’t you?” That little smile never left her face. “I had you pegged the first time I saw you on your way to class, with your head down and your shoulders hunched. No friends, no connections, from a poor family…you fly totally under the radar. Someone like you could just”-her fingers snapped-“disappear.”

My mouth had dropped after the first insult. It continued to hang open until I shut it in disbelief.

“Is this some kind of joke? Because it’s not funny.”

Stephanie laughed. It was so cheerful, for a second I relaxed. She’d been kidding. Okay, it wasn’t funny, but maybe she just had a weird sense of humor-

She reached back into the closet. This time, instead of another dress, she pulled out a gun.

“Don’t scream or I’ll shoot.”

What the hell? “Stephanie, what is wrong with you?” I gasped.

“Nothing,” she replied affably. “Just making my rent, and you, cookie, are just what the landlord likes. Here. Put these on.”

She tossed a pair of handcuffs at me. They landed near my feet. I was still so stunned, I didn’t move.

She cocked the gun. “Come on, Cathy. Don’t make this messy.”

“You won’t shoot, your neighbors would hear,” I said, keeping my voice calm while wondering what in the name of God was going on.

Her finger tapped the side of the barrel. “Silencer. They won’t hear a thing.”

My gaze narrowed as a thought occurred to me. “Did Bones put you up to this?”

“Who?” she asked in annoyance.

From her expression, she’d never heard of him, and that chilled me. If this wasn’t another of his little tests, or if she wasn’t pulling some kind of twisted sorority prank, then this was the real deal.

I picked my words very carefully. “I don’t have any money or drugs, so you’re wasting your time. Just put the gun down and I’ll walk out of here and not call the police.”

She came closer. Only about six feet separated us. “College girls, you’re all the same. You think you’re so smart, but when the time comes, I have to spell everything out like I plucked you from preschool. I should just tape-record myself and play it to you bitches so I don’t have to keep saying everything over and over again! All right, listen up, stupid! I’m going to give you to the count of three to put those cuffs on, and if you don’t, then I’m going to shoot you. First round goes in your leg. One…two…three.”

The gun went off, but I lunged away before she’d finished speaking. Holy shit, whatever this was, she meant business! If I hadn’t moved, she would have plugged a hole in me!

Stephanie fired again with a curse, clearly not expecting my speed. I jumped her, grabbing for the gun. To my shock, she was far stronger than I’d anticipated. We fell to the floor, rolling, the gun in between us, each of us tugging roughly for it. When it went off again, I froze.

Her eyes were as wide as they could be, and staring straight into mine. Something warm spilled onto me. I pushed back, letting the gun slide from my numb fingers, and watched as the blood spread in a widening pool around her chest.

My hand came to my mouth in horror and I scooted back until I felt the wall behind me. Stephanie made a noise that was half grunt, half sigh. Then she stopped moving altogether.

I didn’t need to check her pulse-I’d heard her heart stop. For a few moments that seemed to stretch into forever, I stared at her. In the apartments around us, no one noticed a thing. She was right. The gun had a silencer. Its muffling abilities had worked as described.

In a daze, I went over to her lovely wicker nightstand and picked up the phone, dialing the only number I could think of. When I heard his voice, my composure cracked, and I started to shake.

“Bones, I-I just killed someone!”

He didn’t ask any of the questions that would have been first on my list. Like, What’s wrong with you? or Did you call the police? Bones only asked where I was and then told me not to move. I was still holding the phone when he arrived ten minutes later. I hadn’t moved, all right. I was barely even breathing.

The sight of him coming into the bedroom filled me with profound relief. If Stephanie had been a vampire, I would have been just fine. I’d wrap up her body, drive her out into the woods, and bury her in a deserted spot without missing a beat. This, however, was different. I’d taken a life, and I had no idea what to do about it.

“What have you touched?” was his first question as he knelt in front of me.

I tried to think. That was asking a lot at the moment.

“Um…the phone…maybe the edge of the dresser or her nightstand…that’s it. I’d just gotten here when she started acting nuts and saying these awful things…”

Bones took the phone from me. “It’s not safe here. One of them could return at any moment.”

“One of whom? She doesn’t have any roommates,” I protested, watching as he unhooked the phone from the wall and put it in a large garbage bag.

“This place stinks like vampires,” he said shortly. “We have to tidy up and leave.”

That got me to my feet. “Vampires! But she didn’t…she wasn’t-”

“What did she say about Hennessey?” he cut me off.

Now I felt completely lost. “Hennessey? Hennessey? He has nothing to do with this!”

“Like hell he doesn’t,” Bones growled, stripping Stephanie’s comforter off the bed and wrapping her in it, cocoon-style. “He’s one of the people I smell. Him, or someone who’s had contact with him. His scent’s here.”

My head started to pound. This was like a bad dream. Bones finished rolling up Stephanie and then began filling that garbage bag with her stuff. Schoolbooks. Folders, papers. He rifled quickly through her drawers and added other various items. I wasn’t much help. I just stood there, making sure my hands didn’t stray to leave any incriminating fingerprints.

He left me to check the living room and returned with the bag even bulkier.

“Take this, luv.”

The garbage bag was handed off to me. I had to hug it to hold it, fearing the plastic would rip from its weight. Bones then took one of her shirts and began briskly rubbing down the dressers, doorframes, end tables, and doorknobs. After he was satisfied, he hefted the lump of blankets that was Stephanie and threw her over his shoulder.

“Nice and quick to your truck, Kitten. Don’t look around, just march right to it and get in the passenger seat. I’ll be right behind you.”