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Ellie tilted her head to the side considering Beverly’s comment. A knock sounded at the door and a tall blond rushed in.
“Oh, my God, Bev, are you okay?”
Beverly’s face crumpled as her friend drew her into a hug.
“No. Someone broke in and he had a knife.” Beverly ran her hand over the jagged ends of her hair. “And he cut my hair.”
“That’s horrible,” the other woman said with a gasp. “Who would do that?”
“I don’t know,” Beverly whispered. She glanced at Ellie. “Can I shower now?”
“I’m sorry,” Ellie said. “But we don’t want to disturb anything until after the crime team is finished.”
“Pack some things and you can shower at my place,” the woman offered.
Ellie introduced herself. “Are you Janie?’
The woman nodded. “Bev and I have been friends for years.”
“Then maybe you can help,” Ellie said. “Beverly mentioned she thought someone was following her. And that she thought it might be some weird guy she knew in college.”
Janie’s eyes widened. “There were some creeps who were kind of scary, but we had nothing to do with them,” she said. “I think I saw one of them today in town when I went into the coffee shop.”
“Tell me about them,” Ellie said.
Beverly shivered. “One of them liked to organize mock murders and filmed them on campus. Another guy had creepy eyes, bad acne scars and wore T-shirts with emblems of heavy metal bands on them.”
“Anything else?”
Janie rubbed her arms. “There was another one, too, a skinny geeky guy who liked to cut himself. Once I… saw him staring at a cut on his arm and watching it bleed.”
Ellie had to admit that was disturbing. “Were they violent or did they hurt anyone?”
Beverly chewed the corner of her fingernail. “No, but the mock murders looked so realistic, it was unsettling.”
“I thought they might have used real blood and the guy filming had a sinister smile when the victims were screaming,” Janie added.
“They all took Dr. Dansen’s criminology class together,” Beverly said.
“Go on,” Ellie encouraged.
Beverly continued, “She taught about serial killers and famous criminals.”
“Thanks, ladies, that may be helpful.” Ellie breathed out. “You both lived in Lake Haven Apartments at the time?”
Beverly jerked her head up, eyes startled. Both women quickly nodded.
“Did you know Darla Loben?”
Beverly’s lower lip quivered. “Not well. Just that she found spiders in her apartment. And after that, she dropped out of school.”
“The police’s only suspect was a guy named Vincent Billings,” Ellie said. “Did he hang out with the other guys you mentioned?”
Janie shook her head. “No, but he was odd, too.”
“He was,” Beverly agreed.
“Around that same time, you reported Amy Dean missing?” Ellie said, switching gears.
