Hoping she didn’t subscribe to the kill-the-messenger school of retribution, I said, “There may be a reason that she and some of the other girls know Arnie. I suspect they’ve been transacting business with him since the spring, using him to fence stolen property.”

“Stolen property?” she echoed in a stunned voice. “But these are Kappa Theta Etas, not common girls who struggle through high school and marry factory workers and stay pregnant for fifteen years. We can’t be as choosy as we’d like, but we do examine their backgrounds and scholastic records before we accept them, and once they become pledges, we do everything we can to train them in appropriate behavior. First you slander my husband, and now you accuse us of theft and promiscuity!”

“I’m sorry, but I must tell the police what I’ve discovered. When Arnie sobers up, he can tell us where Debbie Anne is. She seemed a reluctant participant in all this, and I won’t be surprised if she’s willing to spill the whole sordid story. The motel manager might want to bargain, too.”

“The police are going to believe those three? A known drunk, a farm-girl, and an employee of the Hideaway Haven? I’d give more credence to the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker.”

“None of whose daughters could ever be Kappa Theta Etas,” I said in defense of the working stiffs of the world. “In any case, it’s going to be out of our hands, and we’ll have to see what happens. I don’t know who’s prowling in the house, but I really don’t care if it’s your husband searching for the photographs or Winkie for the cat. I’m going home.

She followed me to the hallway, talking faster than I was remotely capable of walking. “I wish you’d reconsider before you call the police with your wild accusations, Claire. You’ve no evidence of any of this, nothing but your own convoluted ideas and less than credible witnesses, but rumors will leak out and have a disastrous effect on rush. This will be our first time to have someone from the National Board with us. It’s vital to make a good impression on her so we can be sure of continued financial support until we can get our budget straightened out.”

I slowed down. “Winkie mentioned that someone was coming to audit the books at the end of the summer. I wonder if the reports of theft and shoplifting shot up the day after the girls learned an accountant would be looking at their ledgers? Jean Hall would have been the most alarmed. Yale might retract its invitation if it learned she’d been embezzling from her sorority, and National sounds like a group that would press charges.”

“Embezzling?” Eleanor said, apparently content to repeat my more startling words and phrases.

“I doubt it would be overly taxing to a business major Float some bills, dip into one account to cover deficits in another, exaggerate an assessment for party favors, tamper with invoices-all so very simple until a trained auditor appears. Jean had to scrounge up enough money to cover what she, Rebecca, and maybe Pippa had been using to update their wardrobes and pay their house dues.” I went to the foyer where there was no sign of the newest arrival. I was vaguely aware that Eleanor was continuing to plead with the oiliness of a lawyer but a couple of insights had occurred that led me to think I needed to leave immediately.

“She took my keys,” said a chilly voice.

I kept heading for the door as Winkie stepped out of her suite and gave me a disapproving look. There was nothing charmingly childlike about her now; she was as malevolent as a gnome from one of the more gruesome fairy tales.

“And she searched Jean’s things,” said a downright icy voice from within the unlit living room.

I may have faltered just a bit as Rebecca came into the foyer. She swept her hair back and continued, “You’d better hope she didn’t find anything, either”

“Not me,” I said as I reached for the doorknob. And heard the sound of a gun being cocked. And froze.

16

“I’ll shoot you if I must, Claire,” Eleanor said in a conversational tone more suitable for cocktail parties at the country club. “I don’t know exactly what I’ll tell the police, but I’m sure I can concoct some perfectly adequate excuse about mistaking you for a burglar Thanks to you, there are numerous reports on file at the campus security office.”

I reluctantly lowered my hand and turned around to look at the gun in her hand. Although it wasn’t pink, it was small and stylish, the perfect size to be slipped into a beaded bag for an evening at the opera. “For pity’s sake, Eleanor, you aren’t going to shoot me in front of two witnesses.”

She showed me all her teeth and a fair quantity of moist pink gums. “We’re Kappa Theta Etas. We’d never testify against our own sisters. Loyalty is the very basis of our initiation ritual; once we’ve attached our pins, we’re intimately linked, and even in death, we’re steadfast members of Chapter Eternal.”

Winkie and Rebecca nodded grimly, and the latter said, “Besides, I’m going to New York at the end of the summer, not some women’s prison. It would be too dreary.”

“Is John Vanderson sponsoring you?” I asked evenly.

She flinched as Eleanor’s gun wobbled in her direction. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I mean, Jean had some deal with him, but I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

“Oh, come now,” I said with a chuckle. “You found the photographs in Jean’s room and sent Dean Vanderson a blackmail note just the other day. On Monday, I believe he said. I saw it in his office.”

“She did?” said Eleanor. The question was aimed at me, but the gun, at least for the moment, was still aimed at Rebecca.

Rebecca spoke quickly. “I did not! Jean must have put the photographs in her purse when she met your husband in the alley. If anybody is in a position to use them, it’s Debbie Anne. She has Jean’s key to the chapter room. Why wouldn’t she have the photographs, too?”

“I don’t think she does,” Eleanor said. After a moment, she pointed the gun at Winkie. “Did you happen to look through Jean’s things?”

Winkie jerked her head back and forth. “No, and I know nothing about this matter. I was aware that Jean and some of the girls were… behaving badly, but she made it clear that I was to mind my own business. If National were to hear of some of the things that have happened right here in the house, they’d revoke our charter. You know how desperately I need the pension, Eleanor”

I decided to aid and abet the erosion of Kappa loyalty. “But why did you return to the house tonight? Did you want to enhance your job security with something to dangle over Eleanor?”

“I was worried that I hadn’t locked all the doors. I may have heard something from one of the girls about Dean Vanderson, but I would never stoop to blackmail.

Well, I did think it was important to make sure that no evidence of misconduct be sent to Jean’s parents.”

“That’s right,” Rebecca contributed, still speaking rapidly and in danger of flubbing her lines. “Jean’s parents might have gone crazy and called National. Her fathers a state senator, and he’s got enough clout to force the local police to reopen the investigation. A thorough search of the house would be a disaster for all of us.”

“Stop!” Eleanor leaned against the wall and rubbed her face with her free hand, a frown deepening on her face as she studied each of us in turn. “This is terribly confusing, all these accusations and lies. I think we need to sit down and talk this over, and reach an agreement about what will be said to National and what need not be mentioned. We’re Kappa Theta Etas, after all.”

It was not the moment to correct her I nodded and said, “Why don’t you put down the gun and we’ll do just that?”

“What about her?” said Rebecca, not bothering to gesture in my direction.