Adventures In Murder Chasing (Funeral Crashing #3) (21 page)

"No idea," The girl turned back to look at me. "We weren't really friends."

"Okay. Thanks anyway," I said.

"No problem," The girl said. "Hope you find her."

"Me too," I said.

The girl went into her room and Ethan and I walked out the way we came. I tried the door handle to Dana's room on our way out, to see if we could get a look inside, but it was firmly locked. There was no way we were getting in to see the grizzly crime scene unless we did some breaking and entering. I wasn't up for that yet. There were still other avenues to investigate.

"So where to?" Ethan asked.

"Well, since we don't know where Paula is living, why don't we start by talking to Dana's coworkers at Keller Dorm," I said. "She and Nico were both at dorm jobs right before they died. That's a really weird coincidence."

"And they both died on a Saturday afternoon," Ethan said.

"That's true," I said. I hadn't thought of that. "Two very weird coincidences. And of course there's the third thing."

"Antonio," Ethan said. "Do you think it's the same one?"

"I think it almost has to be," I said.

I'd have to talk to Fiorella. I was positive Antonio, himself, would be a dead end. He might even rat us out to Fiorella if he remembered us from Nico's funeral. I'd talk to him as a last resort, although maybe we should go see his alive girlfriend again. She could be in danger if he was a murdering psycopath.

"Suddenly sounds like murder may be a real possibility," Ethan said.

I wasn't going to say I told you so, even though I really, really wanted to say it.

By the time we made it to Keller Dorm, we had formed a plan, although I was a little thrown when I walked in and realized that I had been there before. Dex lived in that dorm. Was that another strange coincidence or was it just the law of probability? There were a lot of other people living in Keller Dorm too, of course, and Dex had to live somewhere. Still, I mentally added it to my list of growing coincidences. I felt even more confused than before. I had to focus.

When we walked into the dorm there was a main lobby with a reception desk. From what Dana's neighbor had said, I was guessing that the girl currently behind the desk was the desk assistant on duty. She was the only one working that I could see. I took that as my cue and sat down on one of the lobby couches. Ethan walked up to the girl behind the counter.

"Excuse me," Ethan said to the girl working the front desk.

She was doing homework and seemed pretty absorbed in it. I did homework sometimes at my job, but her job looked like it was made for doing homework. She was lucky.

The girl looked up, "What's up?"

"Did you know Dana Tulle?" Ethan asked.

"We're not supposed to talk about her," The girl said, walking up to the counter.

I could now see that she had really funky nails with some weird designs on them. I wanted to take a closer look because they looked so artistic, but of course, I was trying to blend into the wall.

"Why not?" Ethan asked.

The girl shrugged.

"But she worked here, right?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah," The girl said, tapping her nails on the counter, restlessly.

"Look," Ethan said. "Can I tell you something?"

The girl leaned toward Ethan and her nail tapping stopped. He could be super charming when he wanted to be.

"What?" The girl asked.

"You're pretty cute," Ethan said.

I tried not to cringe. We had planned this after all. I pretended with all my might to look at my cell phone. It was hard not to look over at Ethan and the girl.

"Thanks," The girl said and I could hear it in her voice - the wow, he thinks I'm cute and he's pretty cute too tone.

"So, can you tell me at all about Dana? Like what she did her last day here?" Ethan asked.

"No," The girl said flatly. "Sorry."

"But," Ethan started.

"Yeah, not falling for the line," The girl said. "We don't give out that kind of information."

"But..." Ethan tried again.

"No," The girl said.

Ethan trudged back toward me and walked outside. I followed a second later.

"Well, that backfired," Ethan said.

"It was worth a shot," I said. "You probably should have taken it slower."

Ethan shrugged, "So, are you going to give it a shot?"

"I doubt she'll talk to me either," I said. "Makes way more sense for her to gossip to a cute guy than a random girl she just met. Besides, she just told you no. We could wait for a change in shifts."

"Your call," Ethan said.

I looked inside and the girl was back to doing her homework. Did Dana Tulle live her last few hours doing the same thing? What about Nico?

"Let's come back. We should try Mezz Dorm too, where Nico worked," I said.

At Mezz Dorm a guy was behind the counter watching something on his iPad. Ethan took the cue to sit down in the main lobby to wait for me. It was my turn to try and get information.

"Hey," I said, walking up to the front counter.

The guy looked up and over at me. He had wild red hair that stood up in clumps all over his head. He was kind of cute, actually, in a nerdy way.

"What's up?" He said walking to the counter. I could see his nametag, which read Westley.

"I have a weird question," I started, thinking fast.

"What's that?" Westley said, resting his hands on the counter between us and looking at me with his full attention.

Wow, he was cute and maybe not so nerdy. It was his eyes. I suddenly felt a little nervous with him watching me like that. It helped a lot with my acting.

"Um, well, I was doing some research for a paper," I started.

"Yeah?" Westley asked.

"Uh-huh," I said. "And..."

"And what?" Westley prompted me.

I thought fast, "And okay this is going to sound totally weird, but I'm writing down people's last days. It's a...a sociology paper and I know the guy that worked here, Nico, uh, Moretti, just died recently and so I was trying to piece together his last day. I mean, we always think of old people as the only ones dying, but I think it's important to know that even someone our age can die and I, yeah, wanted to find out about his last day. I know he worked here."

Westley was staring at me. Please believe me, I thought. Please believe me. Wait. Was it sociology or psychology I should be studying? What was the difference? I could feel my hands shaking from nerves.

"Okay," Westley said. "I actually wasn't here that day, but we're supposed to write down anything that happened in a log. Let me check it. My guess is that he just sat here and did homework, but I'll check for you."

"Okay," I said in an exhale of air. "Cool."

"What was the date?" Westley asked, picking up a logbook from the shelf next to the desk behind the counter.

I gave it to him. I had practically memorized my case notebook. I was hoping that would help all the puzzle pieces fit together.

"Okay," Westley said, flipping pages and walking toward me. "Here it is."

Westley put the logbook down on the counter between us. I looked down at it. There, scrawled in boyish handwriting was the following.

8 am: Nico in, all's quiet, open.

10 am: Lockout Room 221.

10:30 am: Call for Residence Hall Director. Left message.

11:15 am: Phone Call for Dorm Chaplain. Left message.

11:45 am: Lockout Room 336.

12:00 pm: Nico out, Leslie in.

I looked up from the logbook, "Where would he have written the message for the Residence Hall Director and the Dorm Chaplain?"

Westley looked at me, "Wow, you're thorough. It would be in here."

Westley grabbed a message pad from the desk behind him and flipped backwards, "Here we go, but wait."

"What?" I asked.

"This is so against protocol," Westley said.

"Please," I said and tried to make myself look all doe-eyed and sweet. I hoped it didn't just make me look weird. "It would really help me with my paper."

"Fine," Westley said and handed me the message pad, which said:

Call For: Residence Hall Director at 10:30 am From: Jeffrey Turner

Message: Needs to cancel meeting on Monday.

Taken by: Nico Moretti

Call For: Chaplain at 11:15 am From: Wouldn't leave name.

Message: Needs to talk to you ASAP. Referred her to and gave her the number for counseling center. Says they're not open. Wanted to talk to you. Wouldn't leave her number, though.

Taken by: Nico Moretti

I took a couple of pictures with my phone to reference later. I wondered what Jeffrey's meeting was about. The girl who wouldn't leave a name was pretty interesting too since she obviously needed help if she was referred to the counseling center.

"Cool, thanks," I said.

"You're welcome," Westley said. "Anything else?"

I thought for a moment, "When's Leslie in next? I'd love to talk to her about the change in shifts with Nico, see if she remembers anything."

"Let me call her," Westley said.

"Really?" I asked, smiling in spite of myself.

"Sure," Westley said, smiling back. "I've already dug myself in this far. Give me a minute."

Westley went behind the desk, looked at a phone list, and dialed. I was tempted to turn around and give Ethan a thumbs up, but I didn't. I remained standing at the front counter, waiting for Westley to finish talking to Leslie.

Westley hung up the phone after a minute and came back over to me. "She says that she doesn't remember too much. Nico was in a hurry to get home. That's about it."

"Okay," I said, although I felt disappointed. "Thanks."

"Does that work?" Westley asked.

"Yeah, totally," I said.

"Cool," Westley said.

"Actually," I said, my brain turning. "Is there any way you have access to Keller's logbook?"

Westley frowned, "Why?"

"Well, I'm doing a write up on a few last days. I'm trying to cover all the campus deaths," I said. "I really want to focus on kids our age."

"Oh. Dana Tulle?" Westley said.

"Yeah," I said. "Only the desk assistant there wouldn't give out any information."

Westley nodded. "Tell you what."

"What?" I asked, too excited to wait for him to continue.

Westley smiled. "I'll find out for you if you meet me for coffee after my shift ends. I'll tell you all I know then and maybe we can hang out for a little."

I hesitated. Did I tell him I had a boyfriend? But I really wanted this information. I wondered what Ethan was going to say. Wait. Was Westley giving me all of this information because he thought I was cute? No way. Although, if the evidence was there... Whoa. Maybe Ethan was right and I was underestimating my looks. Nah.

"Okay," I said. "Deal."

Westley grinned. "See you at one thirty at Campus Coffee?"

"Cool," I said. "See you there."

I turned and walked past Ethan and out the door. I hoped Ethan would take the hint and follow me without making it obvious that we were together. He did. Although, maybe I walked so fast that he didn't have time to catch up to me until I had already stopped to wait for him outside. I quickly explained what had happened before Ethan could say anything.

"Are you serious?" Ethan asked.

"About the coffee?" I said. "Yes. It's not a big deal."

"It's a date to him," Ethan pointed out.

"Well, I'm just getting information and if you want you can sit at the table next to us," I said.

Ethan frowned, "Yeah, I'm not sure I could handle that."

"I'll tell you what then," I said. "I'll tell him I have a boyfriend and leave within fifteen minutes."

"Alright," Ethan said. "Fine. I'll be outside, though, in case there's any problems."

I frowned. "Don't worry. He seems cool enough."

"He might not be if you're blowing him off for another guy," Ethan pointed out.

"True," I said. "Anyway, we need to decide what to do next. We have a few hours to kill."

Ethan nodded. "We should find Antonio's girlfriend Aryana again."

"I agree," I said. "And maybe try and find out where Dana's roommate Paula is staying."

We went to look for Aryana first. She wasn't at her dorm room and her roommate told us that she was at the library studying. I hadn't been to the library yet on our tour of the campus, but I was pretty impressed by how many students were studying at tables all over the library. It was actually crowded, unlike our high school library. I mean, unless we were forced to go there for class or something.