The Death by Cupcake Series: Books 1 - 3, page 33
Coffee helps me person. Personing is hard without coffee.
“So, what’s the plan here?” I whisper to Callie as we enter the campus police station.
She shrugs. “You just go do your report. Leave the rest to me.” Uh oh. That sounds like trouble to me. I look to Anna for support, but she’s smiling and rubbing her hands in anticipation. Make that double uh oh.
“Can I help you?” I startle at the barked words. I slowly inch backwards, but Anna and her incredibly pushy hands are on my back urging me forward. Someone needs to remind me why is it that I hang around with these two.
“Um,” I clear my throat, straighten my spine, and walk forward. “I need to make a report.” I shake my head. “Well, I think I do. I’m not really sure.”
“Oh, darling.” The older woman sitting behind the counter switches off her bark and turns into a sweet, grandmotherly type. “Come with me. I’ll take care of you.” She stands and motions for me to follow her. I turn around for one last look at Anna and Callie, but I don’t see them. Oh man, I don’t want to be them when their men figure out what they’re up to now.
I follow the woman to a small room with a table and two chairs. “Wait here, darling.” With that, I’m left alone. I don’t have time to have a full-blown panic attack before the door is swung open. A man who – judging by his plain clothes – is a detective swaggers in. I start to stand but he motions for me to remain sitting.
“I’m Detective Smythe,” he announces as he turns the chair on the opposite side of the table around and straddles it. I have to scrunch my nose to stop my eyebrow from lifting at his unprofessional behavior. “What can I do for you?”
I clear my voice and jump right in before I lose what little courage I have. Think of the victims, Kristie. Think of the victims. “I already made a report to the city police about what happened to me on Friday night, but…” I shrug my shoulders. “I’m not sure if I need to make a report here as well since it technically happened on campus.”
“Ah,” he nods. “You’re the girl who woke up with the dead guy.”
No amount of nose scrunching can stop my eyebrow-lift this time. Did he seriously just say that? Fortunately, he keeps talking because I’m sure whatever words were about to come out of my mouth would only lead to trouble.
“Look,” he says as he leans forward. “There’s nothing we can do about these cases. There’s no evidence for us to work with.”
I stand and put my hands on the table before leaning forward and glaring at Smythe. “So, you just do nothing. Women are being raped all over campus and you are the police. You’re supposed to protect them.”
Smythe has the gall to shrug before crossing his arms over his chest. “If girls are going to be stupid enough to go to frat parties, there’s not much we can do about it.”
I take a deep breath before I start to scream. He is wrong in so many ways that I don’t even know where to begin. So I don’t. Instead, I channel my father. I lean forward and in a calm but lethal voice tell him, “I’m going to have your job.” I don’t bother to wait for him to respond. I just walk out.
I hear shouting outside and head in that direction, but when I pass the woman at the desk, she stops me with a grip on my wrist. “My dear, if you need someone to talk with about…” She doesn’t finish her thought but instead shoves a card into my hand. I scan the card and realize it’s an invite for the intranet forum I found. At least that’s one mystery solved.
“Thank you,” I say and squeeze her hand. I’m about to ask her what she knows about the forum when the shouting outside increases. I shake my head as I realize that Anna is the one making the ruckus. I give the lady a smile before I walk outside to see what the troublemakers are up to now.
I nearly walk away when I take in the scene. Ben and Logan are standing next to each other with their arms crossed over their impressive chests. Their matching expressions are thunderous. They are not happy campers. They look scary as all get out. But that doesn’t stop Anna. She’s yelling at Logan and poking him in his chest. I hope she doesn’t break her finger because I’m pretty sure his chest is made of stone.
“If you think for one minute you can stop me from trying to help these women, you’re out of your cupcake-loving mind,” Anna shouts while punctuating her words with poke after poke into Logan’s chest. Logan actually rolls his eyes to the sky as if he’s asking for patience.
Obviously, his request is denied as he grabs Anna’s hand and pulls her flush with him. “And if you think that I’m going to allow you to be in danger for even one second, you’re out of your freaking mind,” he announces before crashing his lips down on hers. Holy coffee! That’s hot. Maybe he’s not so scary after all.
He comes up for air and declares, “I’m spanking that perky behind of yours if you get involved in this investigation.” I change my mind. He’s way scary.
Callie and Ben are having some kind of stare off. I wait, knowing Callie can’t handle keeping her mouth quiet for long. “On average, only six percent of sexual assaults are reported to the police, Ben. Six percent. We know at least ten women have been assaulted.” Her voice hiccups before she continues. “Do you know how likely it is that the actual number is way, way higher? You can’t expect me to let this go. You know you can’t.”
“What I can’t do is allow you to be vulnerable so that you become a statistic. I saw a mad woman try to run you down with her car.” He shudders before continuing. “You can’t expect me to allow you to get close to a serial rapist. I can’t.” Callie throws herself at him and he squashes her in his arms.
I clear my throat and walk closer to the group. Only a bit closer because the men are still radiating all kinds of keep away vibes. “What’s going on?”
Anna turns away from Logan and huffs. “These guys dragged us out of the station. That’s what’s happening.”
Logan leans down and whispers in her ear. “You’re skipping over the part where we found you eavesdropping on police business.” Anna shrugs and rolls her eyes as if eavesdropping in a police station is no big deal. To her, it probably isn’t.
Callie walks toward me and grabs my hands. “How did it go?”
I shake my head. “Detective Smythe,” I can’t help but sneer his name. “Thinks the women were asking to get raped.”
“What is it with the police in this town?” Anna shouts and throws her hands in the air. “Asking for it? I’ll show him what asking for it looks like.” She stomps toward the building but only makes it two steps before Logan catches her and throws her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She immediately starts pounding on his back. He probably doesn’t even feel it.
“Let me down!”
“Nope. You’re done.” He lifts his chin to Ben and takes off ignoring her screams and shouts. I see him whisper something into Anna’s ear and put his hand on her back and she stills. I so do not want to know what he said.
“You okay?” Callie asks after we watch Logan throw Anna into his car.
I nod. “Oh, I did figure out one thing. The woman at the desk gave me a card with the information about the forum. So that must be how the other students found out about it.”
“We should totally squeeze her for information.” I laugh at Callie’s use of terminology, but my laugh is cut short when Ben growls and prowls toward us.
“No more snooping,” he says as he grabs her hand and starts to pull her away. At least he doesn’t throw her over his shoulder. She waves as he drags her towards the parking lot. As soon as she’s settled in the car, I turn and walk back to my apartment. Alex is not going to believe this.
Chapter 11
Coffee: Because crack is bad for you.
The second my computer is booted up, I get onto the forum and see if Alex is around. I know she said she had to go but that was hours ago. Besides, I’m pretty sure she’s on her computer more than she’s not. Sure enough, the little icon thingamabob indicates that she’s online. I immediately open a private chat box and ask her to join me.
I don’t bother with pleasantries.
Me: You won’t believe what happened?!?!
Alex: Are you okay?
Me: I’m fine but the troublesome twosome was at it again
Alex: What did Lucy and Ethel do now?
I snicker. I’m totally calling Anna and Callie those names from now on.
Me: They tried to snoop at the police station but their boyfriends caught them!
Alex: Snoop at the police station? Are they crazy? Why don’t they let their men take care of things? They’re cops, aren’t they?
Me: *rolls eyes* Sure they’re cops but that doesn’t mean we girls can’t help
Alex: We? Are you getting into trouble now too?
Me: Don’t you start too
Alex: You should leave the detecting to the detectives
Me: I thought you wanted to find out who hurt you?
When Alex doesn’t immediately respond, I panic. For the love of coffee, I’ve gone too far.
Me: Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.
Alex: It’s ok. I just don’t want you to get hurt.
Me: I’m safe. Don’t worry about me.
Alex: Do you have a boyfriend to take care of you?
Me: Take care of me? I don’t need a boyfriend to take care of me. I can take care of myself.
Alex: Sure you can but sometimes a man can protect you better.
Sweet mocha latte! How do I respond to that? I totally disagree with that kind of sexism. But I don’t want to isolate Alex any more than she already is. She never talks about herself. Does she have anyone to talk to besides the women in this chat room? I can’t push her away. I’m just going to have to ignore her comment.
Me: What about you? Any hot men in your life?
Alex: Nope. Gotta go.
Oh, shootawhoota! That was stupid of me. I ended up pushing her away anyway. Every single time I try to get personal information out of her, she shuts down. I slap my forehead. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
♥♥♥
“Okay, ladies,” Callie calls from her office. “It’s time for a sitrep. Get your butts in here.”
A sit-what? I shake my head and head into her office, not bothering to ask her to clarify. I probably don’t want to know the answer. Anna’s already bouncing around in one of the chairs. I sigh and sink into the chair next to her.
“What’s up?” I ask as if I don’t know what Lucy and Ethel here are up to.
Callie ignores my question. “Did you learn anything at the police station?”
I raise an eyebrow at her. Me, did I learn anything? I was just reporting a crime and not snooping around before being thrown out by my police officer boyfriend. Of course, I don’t say any of that and just shake my head. “I thought we already talked about this.”
Anna snorts. “Like we could talk with the men around.”
Um, okay then. “What did you guys find out?”
Anna makes a face. “Nothing. Stupid Logan has some kind of sixth sense or something and caught us before we could hear anything.”
“Or he heard you giggling like a schoolgirl…” Callie shakes her head at Anna who responds by sticking her tongue out at her.
I quickly change the topic before things get out of hand with those two. “What were Ben and Logan doing there anyway? I didn’t think they investigate murders.”
Callie shrugs. “Who knows?”
Anna huffs. “Those two do whatever they want.” I’m pretty sure that statement has nothing to do with Logan investigating the murder and everything to do with him carrying Anna off like she was a sack of potatoes yesterday.
“So we don’t have any new information about the rapes at all?” I try to hide my disappointment, but I’m sure I totally suck at it considering the looks of sympathy coming from my boss and her bestie.
“Well, I know a few things,” Callie answers and blushes. Anna snickers. Oh, man, someone’s been up to her old tricks to get information. “There is no ongoing investigation into the rapes.”
“WHAT?” I jump from my chair and start pacing. “You have got to be kidding me. We know of at least ten women who were raped and there isn’t an investigation!”
Anna jumps up and hugs me. I try to shake her off, but apparently, she’s been taking hugging lessons from an anaconda because I can’t get rid of her. I feel another hand on me and look behind me to see Callie rubbing my back. “There are open case files, but no one’s actually doing anything because there’s no evidence.”
I manage to shake the girls off and collapse in the chair. “That simply can’t be true. I’m not some CSI person or anything, but there has to be evidence. You cannot tell me someone has committed ten rapes and didn’t leave behind one bit of evidence!”
“Don’t worry, girly,” Anna says and grabs my hand before squeezing it. “We’re on the case. Pixie and Nerd investigations to the rescue!” She throws one fist into the air and sings the last part. Oh, boy.
Callie shakes her head at Anna, but she has a huge smile on her face. She claps her hands together and puts on her professor-face. “We need to figure out the next step.”
“I have no idea what to do. It’s not like we have any evidence or clues or anything either.” I’m whining, but who cares at this point?
My boss, the nerd, opens up a notebook and taps her pen on it. “Let’s think about this. There must be some clue we’re missing. Didn’t the cop you talked to yesterday give anything away at all?”
I shake my head and try not to get angry when I think about that jerk who calls himself an officer of the law. “He just said that they didn’t have any evidence and the girls were asking for it.” Wait a cotton-picking minute! He did say something. I jump up in excitement. “I think the girls were all at frat parties before they were raped.”
Callie tilts her head at me in question. “Why do you say that?”
“It’s something the jerk-a-lot said. He said: ‘If girls are going to be stupid enough to go to frat parties, there’s not much we can do about it.’”
Anna jumps up and claps. “To a frat party, we go!”
I sigh and shake my head. “Actually, I already tried this. I couldn’t find anything out.”
Callie’s eyes get wide. “You went to frat parties to try and find a rapist?” I don’t nod. She’s looking a bit too much like a mama bear right now.
Anna slaps my arm. “How could you?” I turn to her and she slaps me again. “How could you go all Nancy Drew and not tell us!” She’s actually pouting now. I just stare at her.
“Ladies! Ladies!” Callie claps her hands. “Sit down.” Unable to ignore that tone of voice, I practically fly into my chair. “This is what we’re going to do.” She points at me. “You’re going to find us a frat party to go to this weekend.” She turns her finger on Anna. “You’re going to figure out outfits for us so we blend in and look like college students.”
I can’t help but point out, “I am a college student.”
Callie snorts at me. “Let me clarify, a college girl who would be at a frat party.” I roll my eyes at her. She stands. “Come on, back to the grind. We’ve got work to do.”
♥♥♥
It doesn’t take much effort to find a frat party happening this Saturday. The frat boys sure like to advertise when they’re having a happening. I told Callie about the party and we made plans to attend, but I absolutely, positively refused to let Anna dress me. The duo was shocked when I stuck to my guns. I have no idea why. My family thinks I’m the most stubborn person to walk the earth. Probably because I refuse to do their bidding. Nope. Not going to be a doctor. And, oh yeah, I’m using my inheritance to build a youth center in the absolutely worst area of town. Just call me Ms. Stubborn.
I’m just putting on the last of my make-up or rather re-doing my make-up before the dynamic duo picks me up. When you usually don’t wear make-up, doing the whole smoky eye thing and not ending up looking like a raccoon is a challenge. Let’s not even get into how often I poked myself in the eye with my mascara wand.
My phone beeps and I ignore it, assuming it’s Anna telling me that they’re almost here. It beeps again and I roll my eyes before setting down my eyeliner and grabbing it. It’s a message from Alex. After our last chat, we both decided it would be easier to text each other rather than go through the forum. I’ve been using the opportunity to send her daily motivational messages as well as silly jokes to keep her spirits up. I swipe the screen and read the message from Alex.
Alex: What you up to?
Me: Just getting all dolled up to go out
Alex: Do you have a date?
Me: Nah, just going with Lucy & Ethel to a party
Alex: What kind of party?
Me: Just a frat thing
Alex: A FRAT THING! Are you out of your mind?
Me: Relax. I’m going with Anna and Callie. We’ll look out for each other.
Alex: But you know what happens at those frat parties! I have no idea how to respond to that. Alex just keeps going. Why are you going to a frat party anyway? You’re not that kind of girl.
I’m totally ignoring that condescending remark.
Me: Chill out. We’re just going to do a bit of snooping. Don’t you want to find the rapist?
Alex: Gotta go.
Oh, for the love of soy lattes! I know I shouldn’t have asked her about finding her rapist, but she was really starting to annoy me. Sure, she’s worried about me. That’s sweet and all, but nothing’s going to stop me from pursuing the rapist. Especially now that we suspect the rapist is a murderer as well. I shake my head and put my phone in my back pocket. Time to party.
Chapter 12
A real prince brings coffee.
I’m nervous as we walk the few blocks between my apartment and the frat house where the party is being held. Anna, on the other hand, is buzzing with excitement. I can’t help but ask: “What did Logan say about you going to a frat party?”
She rolls her eyes at me and skips ahead. “You’re crazy if you think I actually told him I was going to a frat party.”
I shake my head. I can somewhat sympathize with Logan’s need to haul Anna off over his shoulder from time to time. The girl is reckless with a capital R. “How are we going to do this?” I look at Callie for an answer.
