CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 2 2

MYRA

A new threat

THE PLAN FOR Saturday morning's trip to the lake was for everyone to meet up in the parking lot at 8:30. There were eleven of us going, to be split among four vehicles. Ron had said not to worry about breakfast as we'd grab something on the way.

I got up early and dressed then waited for Kristin to do the same while checking my phone. Every day this week Ron had texted me a good morning message, but so far today there was nothing from him. I finally sent him a text to check if he was up, thinking maybe he had overslept, though that was unlikely since he seemed to be as excited about the trip as I was. When I still hadn't heard anything by 8:25, I followed Kristin out of the dorm and headed across campus to the parking lot .

We were halfway across the quad when we spotted a group of students gathered at the edge of the parking lot, all focused on what looked like an ambulance. As we got closer, I could see two attendants loading a gurney in the back. Kristin grabbed my arm and pointed out Toby and Lisa standing by the doors.

"Come on. Let's see what's going on."

Toby looked up at us as we reached them, his eyes reflecting the knot of fear I suddenly felt when I didn't see Ron among the crowd.

"I'm sorry, Myra."

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking past him at the surrounding faces. "What's going on? Who's in the ambulance?"

"It's Ron. I found him this morning. I thought…" He swiped his hand through his hair while Lisa clung to his arm. "I thought he was dead."

"Dead?" I made a move toward the ambulance, but Toby held me back as one of the attendants climbed inside while the other slammed the doors shut and rounded the vehicle to the driver's side. There was a bleep from the horn, then the ambulance turned around and made its way out of the parking lot.

"What happened?" Kristin asked.

"I don't know," Toby replied. "I woke up this morning to Ron's alarm going off. He usually shuts it off right away, but when he didn't wake up, I shook him, figuring he must've just been sleeping deep. But when he still didn't wake up, I looked at him more closely. He looked really pale and was barely breathing, and…" He hesitated, glancing at me. "There was blood on his neck."

"Blood?" Kristin asked.

"Yeah. "

"Just like with you?" Kristin asked Lisa.

She nodded, squeezing Toby's hand.

"I wasn't taking any chances," Toby said. "I called 911 right away."

The panic was like a fist around my throat. No, no, this was not like Poe. Ron was going to be all right. He was still alive. "I need to go to the hospital," I declared, looking around the parking lot at the friends who were gathered for our trip to the lake. "Can someone give me a ride?"

"I will," Toby volunteered. "I don't really feel like going to the lake now anyway."

I looked back at Kristin, who nodded and patted my arm. "Go. I'll catch up with you later."

I followed Toby and Lisa to Toby's black Jeep, climbing in the back seat while my heart thundered in my chest. Why was this happening again? I finally let down my guard, bringing Ron into my life, and now this? I should've known better. I should have just stayed alone. I was like a bad luck charm.

The trip to the hospital seemed to take forever while I tried not to let every worst-case scenario play out in my head. "It's going to be all right," Lisa said finally, turning around in the front seat to grab my hand and squeeze it.

You don't know that, I didn't say. They took him away in an ambulance, for god's sake. I looked up, meeting her gaze. "Do you think it's the same thing that happened to you?"

A shadow crossed her eyes, almost too quick to spot, before she looked away and shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well, it's a mighty big coincidence," Toby said as we pulled up to the emergency entrance of the hospital. "You guys go inside while I park. I'll catch up with you."

The nurse at the desk said Ron was in Examining Room 9.

"You go ahead," Lisa said. "I'll wait here for Toby. "

I threaded my way through the controlled chaos of the Emergency Room, passing curtained alcoves where people lie moaning in pain or waiting in quiet anticipation for medical attention. I hadn't been in a hospital since my father passed away, leaving bad memories of the experience.

I found Examining Room 9 and peeked around the drawn curtain. A nurse was standing over a cart next to the bed, preparing the syringe for an IV. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Family?"

"No. I'm his…" What was I to him? "Girlfriend," I finally said. I didn't know if that was true, but I figured it gave me the best chance of being allowed in the room. "Is he…I mean, will he be all right?"

"He's in hypovolemic shock from severe blood loss. His heart rate is weak but steady. The paramedics gave him epinephrine to raise his blood pressure and started fluids. I'm prepping an IV for blood now and we'll get an EKG." She looked at me. "Do you know what happened to him?"

"No, I…his roommate found him unconscious this morning."

"Hmph," she mused. "Well, judging by the wound on his neck, there appears to have been some kind of assault."

My throat was so dry I could barely speak. "I don't understand. He was fine when he dropped me off last night. His roommate found him in bed."

She inserted the second IV and hooked up the tubing for the bag of blood. "Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"

I nodded, wary of her tone. "What is it?"

"Were you two sexually active?"

"I…uh, what does that ha ve to do with anything?"

She shrugged. "Maybe nothing. But from our initial exam, we found evidence of recent sexual activity."

"How would you know that?"

"There was semen residue."

Semen? "I don't understand. Are you sure it wasn't his? Like, you know, if he…?"

"Masturbated?" The nurse smiled. "Not where we found it. Look, I'm sorry I brought it up. I just thought it might help us determine what happened to him. If you don't know, I guess we'll have to wait for him to come around to tell us."

Did she think I had something to do with it? When Ron left me last night, he said he was going straight to his room. He wanted to get to bed early so he'd be rested for our trip today. Had something happened to him on the way there?

The nurse taped everything down, then bundled up her supplies. "I'll be back soon to do the EKG," she said as she hustled off.

I looked at the man on the bed. Tubes ran from IVs in both arms, with a blood pressure cuff on his upper arm and wires attached to his chest. Above him, twin monitors showed his blood pressure and a sine wave of his heartbeat. The sheet was pulled up to his chest, but from what I could see his usually olive skin appeared pale and drawn.

I stepped closer and peered down at his neck. They must have cleaned off the blood, but I could see evidence of a wound there. "What happened to you?" I murmured.

"How is he?" Toby asked as he and Lisa appeared around the curtain.

"They're giving him fluids and blood and are going to do an EKG. Was he all right when he got back to the room last night?"

"Yeah, sure. He was a little tired; he'd been up late the last few nights studying. But he was excited about going to the lake today. Why?"

I hesitated, unsure if I should repeat what was told to me. "The nurse said there were signs of assault."

Toby and Lisa exchanged glances. "Because of the neck wound?" he asked.

"Yeah. And there's something else." They both waited while I summoned the courage to continue. "She said there's evidence of recent sexual activity."

"Sexual activity? I don't get it. Did you guys–?"

"No!" I was quick to deny.

"Then how?"

Lisa emitted a small gasp and lowered herself to the chair in the corner. I didn't have time to ask her what was wrong because the nurse reappeared with a medical cart and a bundle of electronic leads. She pushed past us and went about peeling back Ron's gown and placing plastic stickers on his chest and arms. We all watched as she hooked up the leads and switched on the machine on the cart. It beeped, then after a minute started spitting out paper covered with line graphs. The nurse waited for several minutes, then tore the paper off and shut off the machine. As she was removing the leads, she said to us, "He's probably going to be out of it for a while, if you want to go grab something to eat. We'll be moving him to a room as soon as one becomes available."

"What about the assault?" Toby asked.

The nurse glanced between us. "Did you see it?"

"No. I just found him afterwards."

She nodded. "If you want to press charges, I can get a police officer in here. "

Toby looked at me and I shrugged. We didn't even know if he actually was assaulted and who did it.

"Is there any way to know about the…sexual part?" I asked.

The nurse glanced between us. "I only brought it up with you because you're his girlfriend and might be able to shed some light on it, but I really can't discuss the specifics of his condition with all of you due to HIPAA laws."

"Okay, but is there any way you can tell for sure if he was assaulted, you know, that way?" I pressed.

"We can do a rape kit."

"What does that entail?" Toby asked.

"A thorough examination and collection of any DNA evidence." She studied us for a moment. "My advice right now? If you don't know what happened for sure, maybe you should wait for him to regain consciousness. We don't want to initiate an investigation of something that might have been consensual."

"Consensual?" Toby snapped.

Lisa reached out and grabbed his arm. "Toby, let's just wait for him to wake up."

"Yeah, but…there's no way it was consensual."

I was sure Lisa was hiding something, but I didn't want to press just now. The nurse looked around at us. "You talk among yourselves and let me know what you decide. Just keep in mind, he may be your friend, but he has a right to his privacy."

Did she really think Ron had a male lover, especially one we didn't know about? And when would he have had time? Toby said he'd gone to bed early last night. Unless he snuck out after Toby was asleep, there was no way he could have had sex with someone. Even if someone broke into his room, Toby would've known. Right ?

After the nurse was gone, Toby started pacing the small room and mumbling to himself. "He was fine when he got home last night," was all I could make out.

Lisa stood up and stepped in front of him. "The nurse is right; he's not going anywhere right now. Maybe we should go grab some breakfast. You know how you get on an empty stomach."

Toby glanced at me. "You feel like eating?"

My stomach was in knots; eating was the last thing on my mind. "You guys go ahead. I'm going to wait here."

"Can we bring you anything?" Lisa asked. "I don't know what they have in the cafeteria here."

"Coffee?"

She nodded and grabbed Toby's hand, dragging him out of the examining room.

When they were gone, I pulled the chair she had been sitting on closer to the bed and sat down. I still couldn't get the nurse's comments out of my head. Was it assault or consensual sex, and when had it happened? Why was there blood on his neck? What did one have to do with the other?

Lisa knew something, I was sure of it. Was this what had happened to her? Was she sexually assaulted as well? I remembered her behavior in the library that day, how she had looked panicked then ran from the building. What was going on here? The only plausible explanation was that someone had broken into the dorm and assaulted them, but how was that possible when they both had roommates? Surely someone would have heard something.

The possibility of someone breaking into the dorm caused my panic to spike again. Were both of them attacked by the same person, and if so, what did that mean for everyone else? Were we all in danger? The only person who knew for sure was unconscious right now.

Well, him and Lisa. I determined then that I was going to come right out and ask her. This wasn't just an isolated incident now.

An hour passed before anyone else came into the room, then it was the nurse bringing a fresh bag of blood and taking Ron's vitals.

"How long have you two been dating?" she asked me. Part of me reasoned it was just an innocent attempt to make conversation, but it still felt like an interrogation. I couldn't help but wonder again if she thought I had something to do with what happened to him. No, that sounded like paranoia, I scolded myself. She was just being friendly.

"Not long," I replied, hoping that didn't make me sound guilty. "We were supposed to go to the lake today with some friends."

"Well, maybe if everything turns out all right, you can go next weekend."

"You really think he's going to be okay?"

"His vitals are stronger than they were when he came in. The blood and fluids are helping, but it's still touch and go right now. We have no idea how long ago he suffered the blood loss and if there was any permanent damage to his organs."

"Damage?"

"Lack of blood flow means lack of oxygen to critical organs. Like I said, his vitals look better, and he's young and otherwise healthy, so he has a good chance of making a full recovery, but we won't know for sure until he regains consciousness."

"How long do you think that will be? "

She shook her head. "Everyone is different. Could be an hour, could be later tonight. All we can do now is wait."

Toby and Lisa pushed aside the curtain and entered. Lisa handed me a styrofoam cup of coffee and a couple of packets of sugar and creamer. "I wasn't sure how you took it."

I set the cup on the bedside tray and dumped sugar and creamer into it, taking a slow sip. It wasn't the best coffee, but the small jolt was welcome.

"How is he?" Toby asked the nurse.

"He's getting stronger, but it takes time. We'll be moving him to a room within the hour."

After she was gone, I turned my attention to Lisa. I didn't want to bring up past trauma, but I needed to know if there was a connection. "I don't mean to pry, but is this what happened to you?"

She looked away from me, her eyes darting around the room. I didn't think she was going to answer me, then she replied, almost too low for me to hear.

"I'm not sure. There was…someone. A man, I think." A flush colored her cheeks, and she threw a sideways glance at Toby. "I can't recall the details."

Can't or won't, I wondered. Was she saying that because it was true or because she didn't want Toby to know? Regardless of her reasons, this was too important to ignore. If it had just been an isolated incident, it would be easy to dismiss. But this was two attacks now. "So it wasn't a bug bite?"

She exhaled then met my eyes. "No."

I opened my mouth to question her further when my phone rang. I dug it out of my purse and looked at the screen, wondering who would be calling me, then I saw it was Kristin.

"What's up?" I asked when I answered .

"I don't know if I should tell you this or not, considering where you are and why–"

I didn't have the patience for Kristin's games today. "Just tell me."

"Okay," she sighed. "They found a body on campus this morning."

"A body?"

Lisa and Toby looked at me questioningly. "It's Kristin," I mouthed to them.

"Put it on speaker," Toby insisted.

"I'm putting you on speaker," I told Kristin. "What's this about a body?"

"She was a student; don't know her name. Jack and Renee found her and Jack called the cops. Renee is pretty shaken up. The police aren't saying much, but Jack said the girl's clothes were ripped off like she had been raped. And there was a bloody wound on her neck."

Raped? A wound on her neck? The room suddenly seemed to be spinning as all the things I had been wondering about hit me at once. First assault, now murder? What was going on here?

"You say they found the body?" Toby asked.

"Yeah. When we didn't go to the lake, Renee and Jack headed around back of the campus for some…privacy."

"Renee and Jack are together?" Lisa asked.

I didn't care about people's hook ups. "Where was the body?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation on topic.

"Behind the Admin building, right by the path. Whoever did it didn't even try to hide it. And it gets weirder. There was something left on her chest."

"What?" Toby asked.

"A single red rose."

"A rose?" I asked. "What does that even mean? "

"A signature," Toby replied.

I looked at him, not liking the way that sounded. "What kind of signature?"

"Serial killers sometime leave clues behind to taunt the police."

"Serial killers? You don't think…?" I couldn't even bring myself to say it.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe there have been other murders around town we don't know about, maybe this is the first. Hey Kristin?"

"Yeah?"

"Is Jack around?"

"He took Renee back to her room. Why?"

"Never mind. I'll call him myself."

"How's Ron?" Kristin asked, changing the subject.

"It's still touch and go," I replied. "They're giving him blood, and supposed to be moving him to a room in a little bit."

"How long are you planning to stay there?"

I glanced at Toby, who shrugged. "I don't know. I was hoping to be here when he wakes up." I didn't say I wanted to ask him about the assault.

"Well don't stay out too late. This whole murder thing is kind of freaking me out."

"I'll talk to you later."

I hung up and looked at Toby, who had pulled out his phone and was calling someone. "Hey Jack?" he said, then ducked out of the room. I glanced at Lisa.

"Jack's dad is a cop," she said by way of explanation.

"Here?"

"No, back in Virginia. But he has connections. If anyone could find out what's going on, it's Jack. "

"Look, I'm not ready to leave yet, but you guys don't need to hang around," I assured her. "I can call an Uber when I get ready to head back."

"We'll at least stay till they take him to his room, though I don't think Toby will be too happy about leaving you here alone after what's happened."

"I'll be fine. I'll make sure the Uber driver drops me near the dorm."