Dark and Stormy

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  She nodded. “Yes, that’s it, but I passed out at the bar because I hadn’t had dinner. I fell over in my chair. It worked too fast.” She took a long, slow breath. “And my friends who were with me called the police, so he got caught right away. He did not have to serve the full three years.” She wrung her long white fingers. “He had done it before, but none of us knew about it until he tried it with me. He didn’t…he didn’t hurt me, but he would have.”

  My head was swimming. “But how…why…Dr. Hoffen…but…” I couldn’t get the full thought out, not even close.

  “He worked here when he still attended gymnasiet—er—high school—in the summers. Lots of us kids from the Baptistisk Kyrka did. This happened right after we matriculated.”

  “I’m so sorry.” I was mostly speechless, but her quiet pause made me feel like it was my turn.

  “When he was released, he had ups and downs, but Dr. Hoffen has a soft heart for black sheep. For prodigal sons. When he hired me full time, we had a long talk about if I could work here knowing that Rolf would always be given a second chance.”

  “And you were okay with it?”

  She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she had an unexpected look of peace on her face “God protected me from what Rolf had planned. He will keep protecting me. And that experience—going to jail—seemed to reform him for a while. I was glad he was coming back to the fold.”

  “But it didn’t stick.”

  She shook her head. “No, when I saw him yesterday, I was upset. There are rumors right now that he is getting in trouble again. I didn’t want to yell at him, or cause a scene. I just wanted to work. “She held her hands out, palms up. “Now this.”

  “Now he can’t take his next second chance.” I said it under my breath mostly, but Nea shrugged.

  “There were rumors, but that doesn’t mean they were true. Maybe this killer had an old grudge.”

  “Maybe.” Or maybe not.

  The rest of the kitchen crew joined us as the slim staff began to slide their dishes through the pass through. “Back to work.” Johanna said with forced friendliness.

  Nick gave Nea a side hug, which brought the slightest tint of pink to her pale cheeks. That was almost enough to turn my whole day positive.

  After dinner clean up, I went to Isaac’s office to see if I could catch a few minutes alone with him, to my disappointment, Nick and Troy came in on my heels. There wasn’t room for the four of us to comfortably chat in the tiny space so I tried to lead them all to the student lounge. Unfortunately, as I stepped out the door, Isaac shut it behind me. Apparently it was guy time in Professor Daniels office.

  I went to the student lounge anyway and found Gretchen and Bel deep in conversation. I supposed since Bel was the girl Si seemed to pin all of his hopes and dreams on and Gretchen was Si’s cousin, it was a natural thing to see, but it shook me. Other than that one connection, the two had nothing in common and hadn’t exchanged more than a friendly hello when Si wasn’t around.

  I joined them on one of the overstuffed velvet chairs.

  Bel cracked her knuckles. She was wearing dark eyeliner and an all black outfit that seemed like it would be super hot to wear back at her island home. Had she really dressed like a moody goth back in Tonga?

  Gretchen looked like the pale, puffy, childlike Gretchen I had known all fall. Her face was sort of pale green, her bathrobe pale blue, and her snow boots a sort of pale tan. The only thing dark were the shadows under her eyes. She reminded me of my sister Drew when pollen season was especially bad.

  “Hey girls.”

  Bel lifted an eyebrow at me. I don’t know what I had ever done to the kid, besides being more awesome than her in general, but she seemed to have a major chip on her shoulder.

  “How are you feeling, Gretch?” I asked.

  Bel smirked. “You her best friend all of a sudden?”

  Gretchen ran her fingers through her hair. “I’m fine.” Her words were cold. I had kind of blown it, I guessed, telling Isaac about her secret husband. But…anyway. I didn’t want to keep secrets from him.

  If I wanted to get anywhere with her, I was going to have to clear the air between us. “Gretch, I only told Isaac about your wedding because I care about you.”

  Bel burst out with a laugh like a fog horn. “About her what?”

  “What?” I froze. “Her nothing. What do you mean her what?” I stood up. I stepped forward.

  Gretchen stood up. She stepped backwards and fell back into her chair.

  Bel laughed again. “I guess you just told the secret again. You are a great friend. Remind me to not put you in my inner circle anytime soon.” Bel stood up. She smoothed out her baggy black hoody. “Gretch, kiddo. You’ve got deeper issues than you think.” She started to walk away, but I couldn’t have that.

  “Wait!” I turned, everything still felt like it was in slow motion.

  She didn’t wait.

  I ran and grabbed her arm. “Don’t just run off to Si. Stay here and talk this through with us.”

  She laughed again. “Run off to Si? Why do you think I was hiding here in the first place?” She looked from me to Gretchen.

  My face felt very red, and I quivered as I gripped her arm, excited and scared at the same time.

  Gretchen sat down and pressed herself as far back into her chair as she could.

  Bel grinned. “Maybe I do want to stick around here for a few more minutes.” She sauntered back to the seating area, took her place in the middle of the golden velour loveseat, and sat back. She crossed her legs, and folded her stubby fingered hands with painted black nails, and rested them on her knees. “So you have a secret husband, Gretchen? I would like to hear more about this.”

  Gretchen swallowed with effort, as though she wanted to puke but wouldn’t let herself.

  “Gretch, I’m sorry.” I bit my lip. Then I straightened up. “But you know what? If you loved him enough to marry him, you need to own it. In fact, you should go talk to Dr. Hoffen right now.”

  She sunk farther into her chair like she wanted to disappear. “But on my application…”

  “You said you were single.” Bel finished for her. “Big deal.”

  “But I lied. To Bible school.”

  “Uh, no.” I said. “You applied while you were single. You got married at the airport on the way to school, right?”

  Gretchen turned away from me, her hand covering her eyes.

  “Don’t be a dope.” Bel reclined and draped one arm over the back of the loveseat. “What does Secret Husband think of all of this?”

  Gretchen hiccoughed.

  “He hasn’t called, has he?” Bel’s smirk was disgusting. Gretchen was clearly in pain and Bel was clearly enjoying it. And I clearly wanted to punch Bel in her pouty lip. But I was working hard to stifle the violent impulses, so I sat on my hands.

  “How could he?” Gretchen gulped. “I didn’t give him my cell phone number.”

  Now I took a deep breath. “For the love, Gretch! What are you thinking?”

  “I was thinking we’d email. Skype. That kind of thing.”

  “Ah. You weren’t thinking of the limitations to Wi-Fi in this remote, forested village.”

  “It’s not a very strong signal.” Gretchen scooted forward to the edge of her seat. At least she was making an effort to pull herself together.

  “And in the absence of your husband, you are being hounded by that obnoxious Garret.” Bel said. “Or did you fall in love with Garret?”

  “Of course not!” Gretchen leaned forward and shivered. “He doesn’t really like me. But he knows about Oliver. That’s why he follows me everywhere.”

  “What is the point of that?” I asked.

  “He’s not as bad as you guys think.” Gretchen said. “He wants me to do the right thing. He has kept my secret all this time. But he wants me to go home and won’t stop bothering me.”

  “How did he find out?” I was dumbfounded, to be frank. Here I
had cast Garret as the possible father for Gretchen’s possible baby, but Gretchen was making an entirely different claim. Unless Garret needed Gretchen to go home for the same reason King David wanted Uriah to come home and hang out with Bathsheba for a few nights…

  “He found out because his Dad is the airport chaplain who performed our wedding.” She grimaced. “We had taken a few weeks to plan the wedding and were completely ready. We went to the chapel, got married, and then went to the security gate where the chaplain said goodbye to the guy who played the electric keyboard for us---Garret. And then Garret and I walked all the way to our gate together and sat in the waiting area together until our plane showed up. And then we flew to Amsterdam together and got on the plane to Stockholm together.”

  “And then you took the bus together and moved together into the same school. We get it.” Bel said. “Except he was not the man you ought to have flown across the world with on your wedding day, and he won’t let you forget it.”

  Gretchen nodded.

  “And you say he’s blackmailing you?” Bel narrowed her eyes. An ominous dimple let me know she was suppressing her smile with effort. Almost like she wanted Gretchen to think she was taking this seriously.

  “Absolutely not. He’s not blackmailing me. He has some kind of discount on airfare he can give me because of his dad’s job. He has been working with his dad, trying to figure out a way to get me home. Every morning when I drag my vacuum around the boys' dorm, he follows me and talks about deals his dad can get me, ways they can help arrange the transportation. How his dad would be willing to meet me and Oliver and my parents all together in his office for counseling as soon as I arrive.”

  “What a jerk.” Bel said.

  “Gretchen…” I gave Bel a dirty look. “Garret is right. You have got to do something about this.”

  Gretchen’s shoulders slumped. “How can I with the murder investigation?”

  “Don’t act like you were going to do it, but now you can’t.” Bel said. “You know you weren’t.”

  “Whatever I was going to do, I can’t now.”

  “So it was a very convenient murder for you.” Bel stood up. “Sorry. It turns out your problem is too boring for me after all.”

  “Please don’t say anything!” Gretchen pleaded.

  “I feel no obligation to keep this secret.” Bel tossed us a grim smile and left.

  “Let’s go find Dr. Hoffen. We can help you.” I offered Gretchen my hand.

  Gretchen turned away. “I wouldn’t take help from you if you were the last person at this school.”

  Her opinion seemed final, so I left without her. If Bel didn’t feel obliged to keep Gretchen’s secret, maybe it was best if I didn’t try to keep it either.

  Not that I had done very well keeping it in the first place.

  SEVENTEEN

  Isaac Daniels

  Troy and Nick had maneuvered Dani successfully, which must have meant they had something urgent and unsettling to tell.

  They did.

  The story of Rolf, the roofies, and Nea made my stomach sick. I wouldn’t say he had deserved to die, but if he were alive, I would be more than willing to beat him to within an inch of his life. Then kick him once more.

  Nick looked angrier than I felt.

  “I wasn’t here when this happened. It was several years ago. But Nea told me about it two summers ago when Rolf was around a lot.” His jaw worked back and forth. “The thing is, it seems to have been his regular practice. Nea told me a little bit about her interview with the police and they wanted as many names as she could come up with, for women he might have assaulted.”

  “The cops think one of his victims might have done it?” I sat up.

  “She didn’t think so. Not exactly. But any connection to Rolf’s life of crime was very interesting to them.”

  “Maybe he ratted someone out while he was in prison—his dealer or something.” Troy stood with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. “If he had turned state’s evidence, it would explain his shortened sentence and also provide a good motive.”

  “I would like to think the murder was done by a drug dealer and not one of us.” I sat down at my desk and opened Google. “If I just understood a little more about Swedish criminal justice or even just Swedish.”

  Nick shrugged. “I don’t think it would help. We need to know more about his life in town.”

  “Then we need to talk to Stina.” I opened Gmail and sent her a quick message. I wasn’t sure if they were letting people on campus or off, but Nick was right. We needed to know more about Rolf if we wanted to eliminate the possibility that someone on campus was a killer. “We have another problem we should probably get to the bottoms of.” I cleared my throat. “Remember the fish?”

  Nick and Troy nodded.

  “They struck again. This time they did a bra-raid and froze them in a big bucket of green water.”

  Troy rolled his eyes. “Before or after everyone left?”

  “Dani found the bucket. She wants to think it was from before the kids left, but the ice didn’t look old enough.””

  “Have you seen it for yourself?” Troy asked.

  “No, I haven’t had a chance to head out there yet.”

  Troy opened the door “Then let’s go now. We can check out the damage and then find out who did it. This is a bad time for pranks.”

  The night was overcast, so we didn’t have the help of moonlight on the snow to brighten things up. But with our flashlights, we managed to find the bucket hidden in the patch of trees Dani had told me about. Snow had been falling on and off all day, but lightly, so Dani’s footprints were still easy to make out with the flashlights. It looked like the police had been through since her visit, but they hadn’t removed the bucket.

  Troy grabbed it, and we went back to my office in silence.

  After assuring ourselves the block of ice was a classic Crayola green and had begun to show signs of melting as it sat on my desk, the three of us did our best to ignore the frozen bras.

  “I think this is a situation we ought to handle ourselves.” I said.

  “Definitely. This falls right under the job description for RA. I don’t see any need to bother Hoffen about it.” Troy said.

  “So how do we go about it?” I directed my question to Troy, since he was the RA in question.

  “I’d start with a room search. We’re looking for food coloring, or food coloring stained clothes, mainly.”

  “We’re assuming the perp hasn’t tried to frame someone else?” I asked.

  “This doesn’t strike me as the most sophisticated act.” Troy said. “Especially since they went to all the work and then abandoned it in the woods.”

  Nick cleared his throat. “We’ve got plenty of food coloring in the kitchen. They may have used it, and then put it back.”

  Troy narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, but have you seen any of the boys doing their laundry over break?”

  Nick laughed.

  I didn’t.

  The only “boys” still on campus were Garret and Si. I supposed Xavier as well, but he was about as likely to be responsible for the fish and bra fiascos as I was.

  “We need to check the girls’ rooms.” Troy added. “I’ll talk to Cadence. I’m not saying it wasn’t one of our boys, but I wouldn’t put it past Bel.”

  Troy texted Cadence. Troy texted Cadence. “She’s not the best at responding, but if she doesn’t get back to me soon, I’ll go find her.”

  We were stopped at the boys’ dorm by the police tape and two grim-faced officers with their arms crossed. We had forgotten, for just a moment, that this was a murder scene, and we couldn’t just come and go as we pleased.

  EIGHTEEN

  Dani Honeywell

  My visit with Dr. Hoffen had waited until the following morning, after breakfast. I had wanted some quiet time with Isaac, but he spent the evening deep in conversation with Troy and Nick, so I gave up and went to bed.

  However, Dr. Hoffen had time
for me right away, so I went to his place as soon as our kitchen crew had finished cleaning up the breakfast.

  Megan made me a cup of tea and let me wait in her living room. I could hear the kids upstairs, playing and laughing. I wondered if they had any idea about the murder or the investigation.

  Megan went up and down the stairs three times with laundry while I waited. She tossed me an apologetic smile. “Steven will be here any second. I texted him and he replied, I promise. But you know how it is out there.” She glanced out the window. The police had come back early in the morning. Two men stood on guard in front of the door to the boys’ dorm, and two others were standing, talking in the open doorway on the side of the building where we first found the body. I had seen two others head into the woods as I crossed the campus to the Hoffen’s little house.

  I sipped the tea. It burned my tongue, but it was better than sitting and doing nothing.

  Dr. Hoffen came in with a blast of cold air.

  I wrapped both of my hands around my cup and moved it closer to my mouth.

  Dr. Hoffen hung his coat up and took off his boots before he joined me in the living room. “Megan said you needed something?” His eyes rested on me for a moment, then flitted over to the window. He took a seat with his back to the window. It looked like he was going to do his best to pay attention.

  “I’m sorry for bothering you. I know there is a lot going on right now.” I rested my cup on my knee.

  “That’s fine. Megan said it was important.”

  I sucked a breath in through my teeth. I felt like it was massively important, but Dr. Hoffen had a vein bulging in his forehead, a campus full of policemen, and a dead prodigal son. “I’ve been worried about Gretchen.”

  He nodded, not impatiently.

  “And I finally got her to open up to me, but what she said…”

  “Something to do with Rolf?” He lowered his voice, a look of nausea crossed his face.

  “No. So maybe this isn’t the best time, but I don’t think it can wait.”

  He frowned, then pulled his face back to neutral.

  “On her way to school, she eloped. At the airport. Garret’s dad did the ceremony, but she didn’t get married to Garret. She has been sick, I guess with worry, but I thought she was pregnant for a while. She has lost touch with her husband because of the Wi-Fi and Garret is working hard to get her to go home. I don’t know…she seems really desperate.”