Toil and Trouble: (A Geeks and Things Cozy Mystery Short Story) (Geeks and Things Cozy Mysteries Book 0) Read Online Free

I think to go meet someone.”
    “OK. What does that have to do with asking someone to de-pledge?”
    “In the spring, we had a girl who pledged and we asked her to leave. She was posting a lot of stuff on Facebook she shouldn’t have and she expected to get away with it because of her ... connections.”
    “What connections?”
    “She was related to someone in the sisterhood.”
    “Who?”
    “Tasha. She was her cousin. Tasha was the one who told her she needed to de-pledge. It got kind of nasty for a while. She kept showing up to things and Tasha had to take out a restraining order.”
    “That’s serious. If it was that girl, why would she go to meet her now?”
    “Tasha said she let the order lapse because her cousin cooled down. I guess there was some personal stuff happening with their family and Tasha felt bad.”
    “Do you remember her name?”
    “Her name is Jocelyn.”
    “There’s a Jocelyn pledging Kappa right now. We met her earlier.”
    “It wouldn’t surprise me that she’s pledging another sorority. We banned her from trying to pledge again.”
    “You think she’d be capable of hurting her own family?” Kalina asked.
    Melody shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe.”
    “I think you should let Sergeant Whitman know what you just told me. It might help them find Jocelyn before she hurts someone else or herself.”
    “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I still can’t believe Jocelyn would be crazy enough to cut up her own family.”
    Kalina placed what she hoped was a comforting hand on Melody’s shoulder. At the very least, she didn’t shrug it off. She waited while Melody fished the Sergeant’s card out of her petticoat and dialed his number. Some of the other girls were still chatting and Kalina realized AJ was no longer among them. A wave of panic set in.
    “Did you see where my nephew went?” she asked, her voice cracking at the end.
    A few of the girls shook their heads. One girl—with a crop of midnight blue hair sticking out from under her bonnet—stepped forward.
    “He said he had to go meet someone.”
    “Damn it, AJ.”
    She tried his phone but it went to voicemail. “AJ, you get your butt back here and don’t you dare do something stupid!”
    Kalina’s anger bubbled over as Sergeant Whitman rounded a corner. Officer Larkin trailed him, his pale cheeks flushed from exertion. They must have been pretty far away when Melody called. Kalina’s adrenaline had taken over in AJ’s absence and she hadn’t paid attention to the girl’s phone call to the police.
    “You’re certain you saw the Ms. Fordham take a call from her cousin?” Sergeant Whitman asked Melody.
    “Sergeant, sorry to interrupt but I think we have a bigger problem,” Kalina said, trying to get her erratic pulse under control.
    “You again?”
    She ignored his annoyance. “I think we may have met Jocelyn Fordham earlier and my nephew exchanged phone numbers with her. I think he’s gone off to find her. He isn’t answering his phone.”

 
    CHAPTER SIX
     
    Kalina’s head started to pound as her heart continued race. Breaths came in short gasps and her hearing faded in and out. She only heard snatches of Sergeant Whitman’s questions to the other Sigma girls. She numbly hit autodial again on her phone but AJ still didn’t pick up.
    “Ms. Greystone.” Officer Larkin’s voice drew her back to the world.
    “Sorry. What did you say?”
    “I asked where your nephew met Ms. Fordham earlier.”
    “We were over by the kids’ area. I think one of the girls over there said they’d seen Jocelyn by the maze earlier in the day.” She let out an involuntary hiccup of laughter. Of course. “The maze. He probably went to meet her there.”
    “Sergeant, I think we might have a location,” Officer Larkin called.
    Kalina took off at a steady jog past the open storefronts and people still enjoying the festival. A group of high school aged kids waited at the front of the line for the ghost tours. None of them had any