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“Library Girl,” I explained, to which most of the guys responded with, “Ah…”
“Well, what does she have to say?” Alec asked.
“Let’s see…” I read through the message silently before explaining, “She said there wouldn’t be any faculty and staff directories from ten years ago, since they’re only online and are updated regularly to stay current, and they stopped making paper copies twelve years ago. So if someone did work there then, but doesn’t now, it wouldn’t be in the online directory. But shedidget a copy of the twelve-year-old paper directory from the Special Collections librarian and has been going through it all night. She’s about halfway done and will give me the full list once she is.”
“So, if our killer started working there ten or eleven years ago and quitsincethen, we’re screwed,” Parker, the pessimist, realized.
I only shrugged. “It’s better than nothing.”
“It is,” Thane agreed encouragingly. “Ask if she can give you what she has so far. We’ll split up the names and start researching them now.”
“Good idea.” I nodded and started to type out my reply when more suggestions came in.
“Did she talk to anyone else besides this Special Collections librarian about your search? And what’s his first name, anyway? How long hasheworked there?”
“And don’t forget to warn her to be careful,” Keene tossed in.
“Okay, I’m just going to call her.” This list was getting too long to type that much. Holding up a finger for silence, I put the call through, and Waverly answered two rings later.
“Oaklynn?” she said, sounding confused.
“Hey,” I greeted cheerfully. “Do you have a minute?”
“Um, I guess. What’s up?”
Ten minutes later, I hung up with her, feeling slightly guilty about how much I’d freaked her out.
“Well, she admitted that last night she thought some white car had followed her home,” I reported. “But her dad had been outside, working in the yard when she’d pulled into the driveway, so the car gunned the engine and sped past.”
“Damn…” Hudson whistled, shaking his head. “Close call.”
“And she told me she planned on staying home today because of my warning,” I added. “But she was going to keep going through the directory.”
“What about—” Alec started, but I held up a finger to silence him because I wasn’t done yet.
“Also, the Special Collections librarian is a female who’s only worked on campus for three years,” I said. “And she’s the only person Waverly asked about getting the directory, plus she said she didn’t even mention what the directory wasfor. So…that’s a dead end.”
“But if news didn’t spread from her, then… How did this bastard know you were looking into him?” Damien asked.
I glanced at him and shook my head, confused. “The only people I mentioned it to were you and Waverly.”
“I didn’t say anything to anyone,” he swore.
“The prick didn’t even tellus,” Parker confirmed.
A jolt of terror crept up the back of my neck.
“Well then, I’m officially terrified.”
38
OAKLYNN
“It’s not too late to change your mind,” Alec assured me as he tagged along to my first class of the day. “I can take you back to our place right now. Just say the word.”
I sent him a dry glance and ignored the sensation of a million creepy eyes watching me. “We’re already here; we’re doing this. Besides…” I spread my arms to encompass everyone around us, walking toward their own classes and sitting on benches, drinking from to-go cups, while more lounged on the grass, engrossed in their phones. “Everything is absolutely normal.”
When someone screamed, we both jumped and whirled toward the sound, only to find some guy lifting his girlfriend—or whoever she was—up over his shoulder and spinning her in a circle to make her scream out another laugh of delight.
