Free The Night Walker (Nightmare Hall) by Diane Hoh Page B

reacquainted, and that would be easier without a crowd around.
    Ivy had pretended to be insulted. “You’re not coming to Tim’s frat party? Okay, that does it, Quinnie, you are no longer in my will.”
    Quinn laughed. “You don’t have any money, Ivy.”
    ‘That’s not the point.” Ivy, in a thick white bathrobe, hair turbanned in a white towel, was sprawled across Tobie’s bed. “It’s the thought that counts. Come on, Quinn, the party’s going to be a blast. It’s bad enough that Tobie wimped out. Now you’re telling me neither of my best friends is going to be at this festive celebration?”
    “Suze is going, isn’t she? I thought she was your best friend.” Maybe she wouldn’t be, Quinn thought, if you knew that she lies. “Besides,” she added dolefully, “what is there to celebrate with all the creepy things happening on this campus.”
    “You’re all my best friends,” Ivy said. “And Tim said we’re having this party to show that we’re not afraid. Thumb our nose at that maniac, so to speak.”
    “There’s bravery and then there’s stupidity,” Quinn pointed out.
    “Look who’s talking. You and Simon are going out alone, as a couple, while the rest of us are going to be hanging out together. Not even a crazy person would be dumb enough to descend on a crowded frat house. But this particular crazy doesn’t seem to have any problem at all attacking a couple. That’s you and Simon, Quinn.”
    “I need to be alone with him,” Quinn insisted. “We have some things to straighten out. Maybe we’ll drop by the party later.”
    Ivy seemed satisfied with that, and left to get dressed, adding that if Quinn showed up at the party, she just might consider putting her back in the will.
    Quinn was laughing as the door closed.
    But the uneasiness had returned. Ivy could be right. Maybe it was foolish to go out as a lone couple on this particular Friday night. Were she and Simon just asking for trouble?
    Well, that depends, a niggling little voice said, on who’s doing these nasties. Are you forgetting it could be you? You’d hardly attack yourself, would you?
    Oh, I don’t know, Quinn thought drily. Seems to me, if I’m crazy enough to set off a stink bomb, pour paint on people, and attack a car with a hammer, I’m probably crazy enough to do almost anything.
    They did not talk about the incidents on campus at dinner. Quinn was surprised to discover that no one else from campus was in the small Chinese restaurant. Although it wasn’t as popular with students as Vinnie’s or Burgers Etc., there were usually a handful of couples from Salem at the round, white-covered tables on a weekend night.
    But not this weekend night.
    “I wonder where everyone is?” she mused aloud.
    “Probably at the frat party,” Simon answered, wielding chopsticks as if he’d been born with a pair in his fingers. “We can check it out after the movie if you want.”
    They talked about life at college throughout dinner. It was a challenge to tackle that subject without mentioning what life at their particular college had become recently, but Quinn noticed. gratefully that Simon was as determined as she was to avoid such an unpleasant topic. He talked about prelaw, she about science, and after a while they became so caught up in their discussion that the recent attacks slid onto a back burner and stayed there.
    The movie was less satisfying. A bittersweet romance, it ended unhappily, leaving a sour taste in Quinn’s mouth as they left the theater. “Tobie and Ivy would have loved it,” she said as they headed back to campus. “I can just hear both of them, saying, ‘Well, Quinn, what did we tell you? Nothing ever lasts!’ ”
    Simon reached over and took her hand in his, driving one-handed. “Well,” he said with a grin, “now that we’ve straightened things out, it’ll be fun proving them wrong, won’t it?”
    Satisfied with that, Quinn settled back in her seat for the ride to campus.
    “So,”