AllFreeNovel
Share Us
THIRTY-SIX
Iconsidered telling Frank my suspicions, but if I did I’d have to also tell him that Soheila was a succubus. Somehow I couldn’t bear to betray her secret, knowing how Soheila felt about him. Unless, of course, it was Soheila who was draining the students.
I started keeping track of the students who got sick and then seeing whether they had any contact with Soheila. Both Nicky and Flonia were in Soheila’s Introduction to Middle Eastern Mythology class. So was Scott Wilder, who got so sick he had to take a leave of absence. And of course the dean had had ample contact with Soheila. But when I went to see Liz to share my concerns with her I found her completely recovered.
Her eyes were sharp again, her skin smooth and pink, her silver hair coiled into a gleaming chignon. She was wearing a kelly green tweed suit and pink blouse to celebrate the approach of spring, but her fur coat lay across the back of the couch where she sat, and occasionally she reached out to stroke its glossy pelt.
“Is Ursuline better?” I asked, eyeing the coat uneasily.
“Oh yes! She pretended to be a dog and we took her to the Goodnoughs’ clinic. She enjoyed being a dog so much I’ve agreed that she can spend a few hours each week at the dog park so she can see Abby and Russell with their rottweiler Roxy—as long as shebehaves.” She injected a note of sternness into her voice but patted the coat fondly. I wondered how Ursulineliked the hours she spent as a coat but thought it might be rude to ask. Instead I told her my suspicion that the “flu” that was going around might be caused by a succubus.
“I suppose that’s possible, but the only succubus on campus is…Oh! You can’t mean Soheila? She would never do such a thing! And especially not to students!”
I felt instantly guilty for even suggesting the possibility, but I persevered. “If not Soheila, then is it possible that there’s a succubus—or incubus—on campus we don’t know about? I mean, you don’t always know who is and who isn’t a supernatural creature, do you?”
Liz frowned. “No, I’m afraid it’s not always possible to tell. With you, we suspected something when you told us about letting the bird out of the thicket. But if someone really wanted to hide their true nature…Oh my, it would be awful if I hired a succubus or incubus who was draining the students. I’d never forgive myself!” She looked stricken. “I’m going to do a thorough background check on all recent hires. I’ll ask Mara Marinca to help me…if you can spare her.”
“Sure,” I said a little too readily. As useful as Mara had been I’d found our sessions awkward and exhausting—especially now that she was focusing on the erotic passages in Dahlia LaMotte’s books. I wouldn’t mind having my afternoons free again. I was actually disappointed when Mara volunteered to do both jobs but told myself that I was being ungenerous. Clearly the girl needed all the money she could get from her work-study jobs.
As the semester went on fewer students got sick and many who had been sick recovered. The exceptions were Nicky, who became so sick she had to move back into her grandmother’s house, and Mara, who missed class the last day before spring break. She texted me from the infirmary saying she was sorry she had missed class and that she wouldn’t be able to come by that day to work on the Dahlia LaMotte manuscripts. My firstreaction was relief. I could go home and take a nap instead. But then I felt so guilty at that thought that I went by the infirmary after class to visit her. Lesley Wayman was in her room, fluffing her pillows and straightening her blankets.
“Poor dear,” Nurse Wayman said, laying a motherly hand on Mara’s pale forehead. “She was weak as a kitten when she came in last night. She should have come sooner.”
“I hated to miss class and work,” Mara said through bluish lips. “I could lose my scholarship and get deported.”
Nurse Wayman clucked her tongue. “Nonsense, dear, I’m sure no one’s going to take away your scholarship because you’re sick. Isn’t that right, Professor McFay?”
“Of course not,” I answered, patting Mara’s hand.
“But we were making so much progress on cataloging Dahlia LaMotte’s books. I could still come to your house over break to work on them…”
“Don’t be silly, Mara. Those manuscripts will still be there after break and you should really use the time to rest.”
“That’s what I intend to do with my break,” Lesley Wayman said, bustling me out of the room. “I’m going to spend the whole week in my hot tub.”
“I bet this has been rough on you, having so many sick students at once.”
Nurse Wayman yawned and arched her back, kneading her sacrum with one hand, a gesture which made me feel the ache in my own back.
“At least it wasn’t stomach flu. Most of them get better with a little rest. I hear Nicky Ballard’s still pretty bad, though. I’m afraid that fool mother of hers has got her running around taking care of old Miz Ballard instead of resting.”
“Hm. Maybe I should drop by and see how she’s doing,” I said, seeing the possibility of an afternoon nap slipping away.
“If you do, could you take these iron supplements with you? I ordered them for Nicky and called JayCee to pick them up,but she said she was too busy.” She snorted. “Can you imagine? Too busy to pick up her sick daughter’s vitamins? I went to school with JayCee and she was a nice enough girl back then so I hate to say anything bad about her, but…” Lesley Wayman shook her head and folded her lips together as if to suppress her criticisms of JayCee Ballard. I offered to take the vitamins and wished her a good break.
“You, too,” she said. “Get some rest and put some meat on your bones. You’re still looking peaked.”
Before I left the campus I texted Liam to tell him I’d meet him at home later. He texted me back to say he had an appointment with the dean and would be back around five. I walked out the southeast gate, passed my house with a longing look, and turned down Elm Street. The Ballard house looked more decrepit than ever in the sunshine, although there were some cheerful crocuses peeking up through the sooty snow on the front lawn. I wondered who had planted them. Someone had cared once about making the house look more cheerful. I noticed, too, that stacks of newspapers, tied off neatly with twine, had been left for the recycle pickup. Maybe Nicky had been cleaning up while she was home—an admirable endeavor, but probably not the best way to recuperate.
I knocked on the door and waited. I could hear a radio playing inside—WFAI, the college station—and an occasional thump. I knocked again and heard some muttered curses. Then the door was yanked open. JayCee Ballard, in the middle of lighting a cigarette, scowled when she saw it was me.
“Let me guess, you’re here to check up on Nicky. Don’t you people have any other students to worry about up at that college of yours?”
“Why, has someone else been to visit?”
JayCee squinted through her cigarette smoke and then smiled slyly. She folded her arms across a faded Phish logo on her tight ribbed tank top. “So you didn’t know your boyfriendcame here this morning. Inner-resting…He even brought muffins! Can you feature that? A man baking! If he hadn’t stared at my tits so hard I’d have said he was a homo.”
“Oh, Liam was here?” I said, trying not to sound surprised. “Hedidsay he was going to drop by sometime. I didn’t realize he’d gotten around to it. I’d like to see Nicky, too. I’ve got some vitamins for her.” I took the bottle out of my pocket and JayCee snatched them out of my hand.
