Braxton Campus Mysteries Collection - Books 5-8

Chapter 4-2

“Can you confirm whether she left the library?” I assumed he would"ve told the police once he"d learned she"d gone missing.

“No, I couldn"t stick around when the fire spread. My friends didn"t want to get caught, and I was certain my dad would flog me. We ran down the street to our neighborhood and stopped at the nearest house to beg for candy to fill our plastic orange pumpkins.” My father shoved both hands in his pockets, propping himself against a three-story stone pillar. Church bells signaled the top of the hour.

“If Prudence died in the fire, many people will owe Hiram Grey an apology for suspecting he killed her or forced her to leave town.” My mother wrapped her arms around my father and kissed his cheek. “We should get going, Wesley. We"re meeting Hampton and Natasha for dinner tonight.”

Once my parents left, I interrupted Emma so we could head home. Maggie had left a text message suggesting I should wait until the following day to visit. She and Ursula, the school"s president, would be stuck in meetings with the sheriff"s office for a few hours. Connor was also on-site dealing with the press, who wanted to snap photos for the morning papers and newscasts. I pictured Lara Bouvier shoving a microphone in Maggie"s face, hoping to scoop the competition. Quite the circus!

Quite the circus!When we arrived home, Ulan offered to walk Baxter, escaping as soon as dinner ended. While he was out, I checked the hall closet where he"d been storing his clothes and personal items. Given the size of the cottage and lack of space for three people, we were quite cramped. He"d slept on a cot in Emma"s bedroom the last two months and been allocated a few shelves to use however he saw fit. I felt awful for invading his privacy, but he was hiding something from me.

Other than several days of laundry, a half-eaten sandwich beginning to mold, and a pack of cards with scantily clad women, nothing stood out. I"d make it a priority to teach him how to launder his own clothes. He"d also get a warning about leaving out food, distinctly because of all the farm animals and insects crawling around Danby Landing. As for the cards, I was torn. At fifteen, he was experiencing a lot of changes in his body. Uncle Zach had promised me they"d covered the talk, and we"d agreed to limit Ulan"s Internet access. I would ask April how she"d handled it with Augie, before confronting my young cousin about his naughty keepsake.

the talkStriding backward, I tripped over a pair of his sneakers and fell against the doorjamb. When I leaned down to pick them up, I saw red stains on the rubber heels of both shoes. It was the same red paint I"d found on the basement door and used on Ulan"s new bedroom"s walls. He hadn"t helped the day I finished his room, as he"d gone with Augie and Emma to the park to watch a football game, then slept at Nana D"s. Had he stepped in the paint when he wrote the threatening message?

The front door swung open. I speedily threw the shoes back in the closet. “You"re back early.”

Ulan c****d his head and squinted. “Forgot the dog bags. Were you looking for something—”

“Emma lost her orange scarf with the black cats. I thought she tossed it in there when we were cleaning yesterday,” I mumbled hesitantly, then gently squeezed his neck. “I"m glad you"re living with us, Ulan. It"s nice to have another guy in the house. Nana D, Eleanor, and my mother outnumbered me.” Gabriel had spent all his free time with Sam before his boyfriend left town. Also, my father"s retirement was going so well, we saw him less now than we had when he"d been Braxton"s previous president.

“You"ve got your brother, Hampton, right? He seems ultra-smart, and his wife is kinda gorgeous,” Ulan babbled, his eyes brightly glowing. “Although, he was rude the other day.”

“Consider yourself lucky you didn"t have to grow up with The Hampster.”

The HampsterAfter Ulan departed, I checked on Emma and listened to the answering machine. I hadn"t wanted to keep the landline when moving into the cottage, but Nana D reminded me we often lost cell service in the mountains. It would also come in handy when Emma wanted to call friends. I wouldn"t buy her a cell phone until she turned thirteen, but she could use the landline whenever necessary.

The last message surprised me: Kellan, this is Belinda Grey. Something has come to my attention, and it"s urgent that we speak. Please call me at your earliest convenience. My number is….

Kellan, this is Belinda Grey. Something has come to my attention, and it"s urgent that we speak. Please call me at your earliest convenience. My number is….What did she want? Given it was after nine o"clock, it was too late to call. I added her number to my cell phone and planned to contact her between tomorrow"s classes and Myriam"s staff meeting.

After our reading routine, I tucked Baxter and Emma in bed and joined Ulan on the couch. We had ample time to catch the original Halloween movie. I still couldn"t believe my uncle had never insisted Ulan watch the cult classic. At several points during the film, I swore I heard footsteps wandering the porch outside the cottage. When Ulan pressed pause for a restroom break, I peered through the front window. Something with a human shape idled in the wooded area, but when I called out, it ran deeper into the trees. I briskly checked the grounds but found no footprints, nor had he or she dropped anything identifiable. Could the Halloween season and the movie be playing tricks on me?

Halloween* * *

The kids excitedly rushed off to school the next morning, wearing multiple layers and thick woolen socks because the temperature had dropped overnight. Also, Braxton"s Wear Your Favorite Halloween Socks Day had arrived, prompting me to adorn my feet with blood-red Dracula socks. I stopped at The Big Beanery, a coffee-bean shaped café on South Campus where students and college staff shared light meals or devoured a frequently necessary caffeine jolt. Braxton was divided into two separate campuses, North and South, and linked by an old-fashioned cable car system that transported its passengers across a one-mile hilly expanse of quaint pubs, historic homes, and artisanal shops. One of my favorite bespoke stores offered free gingersnaps and apple cider tastings every October afternoon.

Wear Your Favorite Halloween Socks DayI joined the queue behind Lloyd Nickels, the cable car"s former lead engineer, and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, Mr. Nickels. I saw your daughter at the Pick-Me-Up Diner the other day. She put my persnickety brother in his place. Loved it.”

Lloyd had a weathered appearance from spending so much time working outdoors and in cramped spaces. As an electrician and expert on the cable car, he"d saved the day many times, but was developing painful arthritis and breathing issues. “Calliope always was a straightforward gal. A little gossipy too. How"s it going, Kellan? Seraphina keeping you in line, I trust.”

“Of course, wouldn"t have it any other way,” I affirmed, noticing he"d chosen not to participate in the town"s fun and frenetic sock holiday. Nana D and Lloyd had been friends for years. Both had lived their entire lives in Wharton County, frequently boasting how their combined ancestors had plowed every available tract of the area"s land. “Bringing your regular order to Mrs. O"Malley?”

Lloyd snickered, blushing and glancing in the opposite direction. “Can"t keep a secret in this town, eh?” He and Minnie had been dating for twenty years but refused to marry one another. At nine o"clock every morning, they"d meet for coffee and a pastry on a bench in the north section of Cambridge Lawn. “I"m testing out their new maple-glazed pecan fritters. Sure hope Minnie likes them.”

A student bellowed at the cashier to raise the volume on the corner television. “Hurry. That hottie Lara Bouvier is reporting on the awesome skeleton they dug up at Memorial Library.”

Lloyd and I exchanged perfunctory glances. “It"s all over the news this morning. Didn"t Minnie tell you?” I cautiously prodded while he collected his order from the barista.

Lloyd frowned and noted Minnie was busy attending to Father Elijah the night before.

A video of Lara chatting with April the previous evening lit up the screen. … and Sheriff Montague has promised an update once her team determines if it"s safe to extricate the remains from the shaky ground. Could this be the famous Prudence Grey who went missing fifty years ago on Halloween? Reporting live from Memorial Library at Braxton College, this is Lara Bouvier.

… and Sheriff Montague has promised an update once her team determines if it"s safe to extricate the remains from the shaky ground. Could this be the famous Prudence Grey who went missing fifty years ago on Halloween? Reporting live from Memorial Library at Braxton College, this is Lara Bouvier.Students cackled and whistled over the latest news from their school. None of them had any idea who Prudence Grey was, yet the grisly thought of a body found on campus excited them beyond belief. I leaned toward Lloyd, who"d blanched as white as a ghost. “It"s gonna be a while before they know if it"s Prudence. I doubt there"s any DNA or evidence left if she"s been underground that long. Were you around when she disappeared?”

“I"m late to meet Minnie. Gotta go.” Lloyd grabbed the bag of fritters and rushed out of The Big Beanery faster than any seventy-something I knew. And that was saying a lot, given I"d spent most of my free time surrounded by Nana D and her septuagenarian friends.

“Wait! You forgot your coffee,” I shouted, jogging after him but failing to catch up. He boarded the cable car, which took off before I reached the station. What had caused his hasty exit?

After settling into my Diamond Hall office—fully decked out in Halloween-themed décor—with a spiced latte, I prepared notes for my morning class. Women and Film was a core component of the curriculum and a favorite of my boss. Dr. Myriam Castle was an emphatic feminist and tempered only by her stunning and brilliant wife, also our college"s newest president, Ursula Power.

Women and FilmBefore leaving the second floor, and since I had five spare minutes, I attempted to contact Belinda Grey. When her secretary at the high school indicated the principal was in an assembly in the auditorium, I left my cell number as the best way to return my call. I dawdled to the first floor and taught my fifty-minute class. Students were unhappy when I returned their project outlines with more suggestions for improvement to their original proposals. Should I have served pumpkin muffins too?

I rode the cable car to North Campus, purchased two sandwiches from the cafeteria, and prepared to meet Maggie. They had built the original library in the early nineteenth century as a two-story schoolhouse, with a hollowed out but unfinished sub-level, on the outskirts of land owned by Braxton College. At the time, it wasn"t officially part of the campus. After the Civil War, the Stanton family, who"d controlled much of the county"s power, donated a generous amount of money. When the college courageously led the country to approve the admission of women into their student body, the Board of Trustees allocated the Stanton funds to address minor repairs to the existing schoolhouse, build a new wing, and convert the entire structure into the library. By the twentieth century, they had added two more wings to meet the needs of the school"s graduate program and law school expansion.