Dark Secrets 2: No Time to Die; The Deep End of Fear Read Free Page B

eyes.
    "Ladies," she greeted us, joining us on the porch. "How are you?"
    "Fine, okay, good," we mumbled.
    "I hope you can speak more clearly than that on stage," she said, then smiled. "I'm Dr. Margaret Rynne. You may call me Maggie."
    I thought Brian had said his last name was Jones; perhaps she used her maiden name or had remarried.
    "I'm the assistant director, and for the eight of you who have been assigned to Drama House"—she paused, counting to make sure we were eight—"your R.A., or housemother. We'll start promptly. Here are copies of the floor plan. Please find your name and locate your room."
    I studied the diagram. Maggie's room, two bedrooms, a multi-bath, and the common room were on the first floor. Four bedrooms and another multi-bath were on the second, and two bedrooms and a bath were nestled under the roof. We were supposed to eat in the cafeteria in the Student Union, but there was a kitchen in the house's basement.
    "On each door you'll find a rope necklace with your key attached," Maggie said. "Please remember to—"
    "Who wants to switch rooms?" Shawna interrupted.
    "No room switching," Maggie replied quickly. "Please be attentive to—"
    "But I have to, Maggie," she insisted, fingering a braid. "I'll never be able to sleep in that room."
    "You can sleep with me," Ken said. "I'm in the attic."
    I rechecked the floor plan. So was I.
    "Each girl will sleep in her own bed," Maggie said. "I would like to remind you all that this is theater camp, not a seven-week slumber party. When the lights go out at eleven, everyone is to be in bed. Our rehearsal schedule is a rigorous one and you must be in top form."
    "But I can't be in top form if I have to sleep in that room," Shawna persisted. "My sister goes to college here, and she says the back room is haunted."
    "Haunted how?" asked the thin girl, twisting a strand of her light-colored hair.
    "There are strange sounds at night," Shawna said, "and cold drafts, and after the bed is made, it gets rumpled again, as if someone's been sleeping in it."
    I glanced at Maggie, who shook her head quietly. The other girls gazed at Shawna wide-eyed.
    "It's Liza Montgomery," Shawna continued.
    Now I stared at her.
    "That was her room last year, you know."
    "You mean the girl who was murdered?" asked a newcomer. "The one axed by the serial killer?"
    "Bludgeoned," Keri corrected with a dispassionate flick of her heavily lined eyes.
    Inside I cringed.
    "Four weeks into our camp," said the girl with the dark silky hair, "Liza went out alone in the middle of the night."
    My stomach tightened. I should have anticipated this, my sister being turned into a piece of campus lore.
    "She was found under the bridge, chased under there," the girl added.
    In fact, the police didn't know why Liza was beneath the bridge—whether she was chased, lured, or simply happened to be walking there.
    "She got it in the back of the head—with a hammer. There was blood like all over the place."
    "Thank you for that detail, Lynne," Maggie said.
    "Her watch was smashed," Lynne went on.
    I struggled to act like the other girls, interested in a story that was making me sick.
    "That's how the police knew it was the serial killer. He murders people under bridges and smashes their wristwatches, so you know what time he did it."
    "What time did he do it?" asked a new girl.
    "Midnight," said Lynne.
    Twelve-thirty, I corrected silently, twelve-thirty while I was still trying to reach her.
    "Well, I think that's enough for today's storytime," Maggie said, then turned to the four of us who were new. "Ladies, there was a horrible tragedy here last summer. It shook up all of us. But this is a very safe campus and a safe town, and if you follow the camp's curfew rules, there is no reason to be concerned. Keri, Shawna, Lynne, and Denise"—she pointed them out—"were here last year. And camp is camp, no matter how grown-up you get. Those of you who are new, don't be conned by the tales and pranks of the