The Biker (Nightmare Hall) (14 page)

“Thought you might like to go for a walk,” he greeted her. “I don’t like the reason
why
we have the day off, but that shouldn’t stop us from taking advantage of it.” He smiled down at her. “You look like you could stand to get out of this room.”

Pruitt’s words of warning rang in Echo’s ears. “I have my ways of dealing with competition.” She knew she should heed that warning, for Liam’s sake. Pruitt was a very dangerous person who didn’t make idle threats. He’d already proved that.

“Could we walk down along the riverbank?” she asked. It was behind campus, far from Pruitt’s fraternity house. Less chance that he would spot her walking with Liam.

“We can walk anywhere you want. Is that a yes?”

She knew it was risky, but if she stayed alone in her room another second
she’d
go crazy. “That’s a yes,” she said clearly.

If Liam wondered at the defiance in her voice, he didn’t comment on it. “Good. And maybe after our walk, we can go to Vinnie’s for pizza. My treat, since you probably don’t have your wallet. And how’s the tooth?”

Wallet? Tooth? Oh, great, she’d almost forgotten that she’d lied to him about what she was doing at the police station. What a crummy criminal she made! “Oh, the tooth’s okay. And I did get my wallet. I went back later, after the dentist. You’d already left. Did you recognize any of the pictures the police showed you?” Of course he hadn’t. Pruitt’s picture wouldn’t be in one of those mug books.

He shook his head. “No. Some really creepy-looking characters in those books, though. But not a single familiar face. I’m grateful. I wouldn’t want to think that anyone I knew could have been on that bike at Johnny’s Place.”

Echo turned away quickly, to keep him from seeing the guilt in her face.
She
had been on that bike, and he knew
her.
What would he say if he found out?

She didn’t want to know.

Echo felt that she could really like Liam but a relationship between the two of them could never go anywhere. Never.

But she was past the point of caring. She was going to do this because she wanted to. She needed to be with someone—anyone—other than Aaron Pruitt. And whatever happened, happened.

She wondered as they left the room if Pruitt would call while she was gone, and wonder where she was.

Although a tremor of fear ran along her spine at the thought of how angry he would be when she failed to answer, she also felt a strong surge of satisfaction that, at this moment at least, Pruitt wasn’t pulling her strings.

The satisfaction died a quick death. It was erased by her next thought which was: You will pay dearly for this, Echo Glenn.

She only hoped Liam wouldn’t pay, too.

They walked and talked for over an hour, then headed on across the road to Vinnie’s where they joined a table that included Deejay and Marilyn, and Liam’s best friend, Archie Bordeaux.

Later when Echo went to the restroom with Deejay and Marilyn, Deejay said, “I don’t think that Pruitt would be very happy about you being here with Liam, Echo.”

Remembering Pruitt’s threats, Echo stopped brushing her hair. She said with false bravado, “Pruitt is
not
my keeper. I don’t know where you got that idea, Deejay. I’ve seen one movie with him, that’s all.”

“Yeah, but I’ve seen you talking to him on campus. And I know he has a thing for you. I’ve seen him following you.”

Echo’s eyes narrowed. “You have? When?”

“All the time. He stays far enough behind so you can’t see him, but he’s there, all right.”

“You should have told Echo,” Marilyn said disapprovingly. “That’s weird, that he’s following her. Pretty creepy, if you ask me.”

“I just told her,” Deejay said calmly. “I thought it was kind of nice, myself. I mean, he’s obviously watching out for her, making sure the Mad Biker doesn’t get her. Don’t you think, Echo?”

Hardly. Echo’s skin felt clammy. Had Pruitt followed her here tonight? Was there a chance that he might be waiting for her outside the restaurant? That he’d see her come out with Liam, and he’d be furious, knowing she had ignored his warning?

“I’m not sure why he’s doing it, Deejay. But I think maybe you’re right. He probably wouldn’t be at all happy if he knew I was here with Liam. I think I’d better go. Tell Liam I have a headache, okay?”

And although both girls called out a protest, Echo was already out of the restroom and on her way out of the restaurant, leaving by the back entrance so that Liam wouldn’t see her go.

Liam would probably be mad. They’d had a good time tonight.

But … mad was better than dead.

Pruitt wasn’t waiting for her.

As she hurried back to the dorm alone, Echo was sure she could feel eyes on her back. Several times, she whirled around, hoping to surprise him, but she saw nothing.

Back in her room, she was just about to get ready for bed when there was another knock on the door.

She opened it to find two uniformed police officers standing in the hall.

“Echo Glenn?” one asked. “Are you Echo Glenn?”

She caught her breath and nodded, too shocked to speak. Were they going to arrest her? Oh, God, no.

“We’d like you to come with us, Miss. There’s the matter of an anonymous phone call that needs to be cleared up. We were told you could help us.”

Echo let out a small sigh of relief. They hadn’t come to arrest her. Then what …? “Who?” she asked. “Who said I could help you?”

The officer glanced down at a small white pad in his hand. “Guy’s name is Aaron Pruitt. If you’ll just come with us?”

“P
RUITT?” ECHO SAID, SWALLOWING
hard.

The officer nodded. “Just trying to clear something up, miss. We received an anonymous telephone call today, accusing Mr. Pruitt of being the biker who’s been causing so much trouble around here lately. Mr. Pruitt tells us you made the call.”

Well, of course, Pruitt had guessed who made the call. Who else could have made it?

“If you’ll just come along with us, to Mr. Pruitt’s fraternity house, maybe we can get this all straightened out right now.”

“Why didn’t he come here?” Echo asked defensively. “Why do I have to go there?”

The officer shifted uncomfortably. “Please just cooperate, Miss Glenn.” He glanced at his partner, who seemed to be having trouble hiding a smile. “To tell you the truth, the guy doesn’t exactly fit the profile of a biker, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh, I know what you mean,” Echo said harshly. “But appearances can be deceiving.”

“I’ll go with you,” she told the police officers. “Let Pruitt tell me to my face that I’m a liar.”

But Pruitt was too smart for that. He didn’t call her any names at all. He took an entirely different tack, his voice smooth as butter. “Tell them the truth now, Echo,” he said condescendingly when Echo was standing just inside his door, flanked by the two police officers. “Tell the officers you didn’t mean it, that you were just really mad at me and wanted to get me in trouble.” To the officers, he said, “Look, what can I say? She’s got this thing for me, and she’s a pretty girl and all, but I’m not interested. Can’t help the way we feel, can we? I’ve tried to be nice, but she just won’t take no for an answer. When she left here this morning after I told her no dice for the twentieth time, she swore she’d get even with me. I guess her phone call to you was an attempt to do just that.”

Echo knew how it looked. She saw the officers glancing around the impeccably neat room, saw them studying Pruitt’s immaculate appearance. There wasn’t a hair out of place on Pruitt’s head, not a smudge on his khaki pants, not a wrinkle on him anywhere. While she … well, she looked like she hadn’t slept in weeks, her hair was helter-skelter all over her head, and she was wearing an old, faded sweatsuit.

“Just in case you need further proof,” Pruitt said, bending to remove something from a dresser drawer, “I’ve been keeping a record of the incidents of harassment. Every time she called or bugged me on campus, I put it in this book. Here, take a look!”

“Let me
see
that!” Echo cried, but the officers were already scanning the pages. When they were satisfied, one reached out to hand it back to Pruitt. Echo intercepted it to do her own scanning.

“This isn’t even his handwriting,” she announced a moment later. She looked at Pruitt with contempt. “I’ve seen his handwriting, and this is entirely different. He didn’t write this.”

“Where have you seen my handwriting?”

Oh, God. She didn’t want him to know she had the notebook. “In class,” she said staunchly. “You wrote on the blackboard, remember?” That was true, he had, although she hadn’t paid the slightest bit of attention to his handwriting then.

“Look, I’ll show you,” Pruitt said, reaching toward his desk for a piece of paper and a pen. He scribbled a few words. “There!” he said, extending the piece of paper toward the policemen and Echo. “Doesn’t that match the entries in my journal?”

It did. Perfectly. The t’s were crossed the same, the i’s dotted with little round circles, and the l’s looped in exactly the same way.

Echo was dumfounded. “That’s not right,” she said, shaking her head. “He’s tricking you.” But she knew how foolish she must sound.

Pruitt shook his head, too, but patiently, tolerantly, as if he were dealing with a stubborn child. “If there’s one thing I know about Echo Glenn,” he said, “it’s that she doesn’t give up easily. If she did, we wouldn’t be having this situation now, would we?”

“Echo Glenn,” the shorter of the two officers mused aloud. “Where have I heard that name before?”

“Well, it’s an unusual name,” Echo said helplessly, knowing what was coming.

“She’s been in trouble on campus a lot,” Pruitt offered. “You guys had to be called to campus when she almost started a riot on the steps of the library a while back, verbally attacking the administration. I know you have your job to do,” he said sympathetically, “but if I were you, I wouldn’t take her word for anything. She’s a flake. Ask anyone.”

Echo’s face burned.

The taller officer turned to her and asked, “Can you prove these allegations against Mr. Pruitt?” he asked. “He says he doesn’t own a motorcycle. But you say he does. Where would that motorcycle be?”

“He hides it,” she answered, her voice cold. “It was in a cave on the other side of the river, the one in the middle, closest to the top of the hill. But he moved it. I don’t know where it is now, but it’s around here somewhere. I’m sure you can find it.”

“A cave on the hill?” Pruitt said, looking amused. “How original.”

“We’ve looked, miss. No sign of a bike here. No black leather, no boots, no nothing.”

She stared at Pruitt. He’d ditched the boots?

He stared right back at her, his eyes slivers of gray ice.

“Ask him about Ross!” she cried, desperate now. She would have to mention the notebook after all. If she only had it. “I found a notebook with these weird things written in it, telling why the biker was hurting people. Pruitt wrote it. And he mentioned someone named Ross. It was because of this Ross person that he was hurting people.”

“Where is this notebook now?” Pruitt asked. “I’m sure the police would like to see it. So would I.” To the officers, he said calmly, “I don’t know anyone named Ross.”

Echo’s flush deepened. “I … I don’t have the notebook with me. It’s in my room.”

Her heart turned over when she saw the skepticism flooding the officers’ faces. Pruitt was so convincing. He would simply deny ownership of the notebook, saying that it wasn’t his handwriting.

How did he do that? Write in an entirely different hand? He must have been practicing.

“Look, miss,” one officer said, “you can understand our position. Mr. Pruitt denies all knowledge of the bike attacks, and there’s no proof at all to contradict his denial. I’m afraid our hands are tied.”

“But …” Echo protested.

“And,” the second officer said firmly, “don’t be making any more phone calls unless you can back them up, okay? We don’t have time right now to be running all over the place following false leads.”

Exactly what the desk sergeant had said after she’d made that call about the cave and it had proved to be empty.

There was no point in showing them the notebook now. They’d be positive she’d written the words herself.

The policemen offered to escort her back to her dorm, but before she could accept their offer, Pruitt stepped forward. “If you don’t mind, sergeant,” he said, “I’d like to talk with Miss Glenn for a few minutes, see if we can get this straightened out.”

“I’m not staying here with him!” Echo cried. “I don’t care what you people say, he’s dangerous!”

“Let’s get something straight,” the taller officer told her in a firm, no-nonsense voice. “You’ve caused a lot of trouble today, making unfounded accusations. If Mr. Pruitt is willing to straighten things out so that something like this doesn’t happen again, I’d take him up on it. It’s a very generous offer. If I was him, I don’t know that I’d be quite so tolerant. If you want, we’ll wait right outside. But get this taken care of, okay?”

The offer to remain outside in the hall wasn’t meant to protect her, Echo knew that. They didn’t see Pruitt as a threat. They just wanted to make sure she stayed there long enough to “straighten things out.”

When they had gone, closing the door after them, Pruitt smiled at her. The smile was arrogant, satisfied, with only a hint of anger. “You probably think I’m furious, don’t you? Because you finked on me. But actually, you’ve done me a favor. You were foolish enough to accuse me without proof. Now, they’ll never believe anything you say about me again.”

Echo knew he was right. Her head began to ache fiercely.

“However,” he added, the smile disappearing, the eyes turning icy again, “you
did
betray me, Echo. Your effort may have been futile, but your intent was betrayal. I warned you what would happen if you told.”

A wave of dizziness swept over Echo. If she hadn’t known the officers were just beyond the door, her knees would have collapsed beneath her.

“But I’m not ready to kill you,” Pruitt continued. “I’m not finished with you yet. And,” he tapped an index finger lightly against his lips, “I don’t know when I will be. It’s fun having a pretty girl to show off around campus. And you’re no longer any threat to me. Anyway, judging by the look on your face, I’d say being seen around campus with me is a better punishment than killing you.” He smiled again. “Am I right?”