‘It sounded too big for a rat,’ Helen said, as if worried that they had missed her observation the first time around.
‘Drop it, huh?’ Cora stopped at the final pair of doors. She shone her flashlight on 24. But didn’t reach for the knob.
Finley did. The door didn’t open. Neither did 25.
‘We’re in luck,’ Abilene said. ‘Now, let’s go find some fresh air.’
They hurried back to the center corridor and walked to the light of the door. Cora snapped back a bolt. She twisted the knob and jerked the door. It creaked, crackled, and popped open with a squeal, fanning fresh air into the corridor.
‘Careful,’ Vivian warned.
Cora kept a foot on the threshold, held onto the jamb, and shoved her other foot against the floor of the balcony as if testing the safety of a frozen river. Satisfied that the floor was stable, she stepped out.
The others followed. Abilene stood motionless for a moment, relishing the soft breeze. She scanned the rear grounds. The entire area was now in shadow. Sunlight didn’t even brush the tops of the trees. She looked for the kid, but didn’t see him.
Then she went after Finley, who was sneaking along the balcony toward the window of room 23. The window was broken. ‘See what made that noise,’ Finley said. She leaned forward, peered into the room, then lurched back. ‘Oh my God! ’
‘What?’ Helen asked, looking as shocked as Finley.
‘It’s… too horrible!’
Abilene gazed through the window. Resting on its haunches near the center of the room, bushy tail curled in a question mark, sat a gray squirrel munching on a nut.
‘What is it?’ Helen asked.
Abilene shook her head. ‘Don’t look. It’s hideous!’
Cora kept her distance and watched them, arms folded across her chest, legs tight together, face pale.
Vivian glanced into the room. ‘Jesus!’ she blurted. ‘Thank God it didn’t get us!’
Cora and Helen looked at each other. Helen sighed. Cora smirked.
‘Yeah, right,’ she said. ‘Must be something monstrous like a kitten.’
‘Close but no cigar,’ Finley said.
Cora stepped up to the window, bent forward and peered in. ‘Oh, he’s darling. Look at those tiny feet. Isn’t he cute?’ Reaching up through the jagged opening, she released the window’s lock.
‘What are you doing?’ Vivian asked.
‘We want to explore a room, don’t we?’
‘Not that one,’ Abilene said. ‘The squirrel might be cute, but he probably isn’t above biting someone.’ As she spoke, she wandered farther along the balcony. The window of the next room was also broken. ‘We can try here.’
She looked through the shattered glass. The room was bare. She could see its decor. On both sides of the door were enclosures: a closet and a bathroom, she supposed.
‘Any visitors?’ Finley asked, coming up beside her.
‘Looks okay.’ She reached in and snapped the lock open. Then she shoved upward on a sash bar. The window didn’t budge, so she pounded it with the heels of her hands. It skidded up. When it was open all the way, she swung up a foot and used the sole of her shoe to sweep away the shards of glass littering the inside sill. They clinked and shattered on the floor. And crunched under her shoes when she climbed into the room.
‘Why don’t you check around before we come in?’ Cora said from the window.
‘Alone?’
‘Don’t be a woos,’ Finley called.
Abilene walked across the room. On her left was a sliding door. She rolled it open and found a shallow closet with a shelf and clothes bar. Nothing inside. Turning around, she stepped to the other door and opened it.
She saw a tile floor, a sink with a mirror above it, and nothing else but darkness.
‘You can come in now, ladies. No boogeyman, rats, or other surprises.’
CHAPTER NINE
BELMORE GIRLS
After their close brush with Hardin, Helen wanted to wash her foot. Abilene wouldn’t let her, fearing that the sound of the faucet might carry through the building. So the girl merely dried her sneaker and sock as best she could with paper towels.
Then they returned to the student bookstore. Abilene twisted the lock button to secure the entrance. They hid among shelves near the back, and waited.
Nearly an hour passed before they heard the distant sound of a door thudding shut.
‘Think that was Hardin?’ Helen asked.
‘Might’ve been the custodians showing up. Or just her poor victim leaving.’ They waited longer. They heard no more sounds from anywhere in the building. At a quarter till ten, Abilene said, ‘We’d better go out and scout around, make sure nobody’s here.’
She led the way to the door, unlocked it in case they might need to return, then inched it open and looked into the dark hallway. ‘Coast is clear,’ she whispered, and stepped out.
On her way to the center staircase, she felt terribly exposed and vulnerable. She wanted to run. She walked slowly, instead, listening, setting her feet down softly. At last, she reached the stairs. Helen stayed close behind her as she climbed.
‘What if Hardin hasn’t left?’ Helen whispered.
‘Shhhhh.’
From the landing, Abilene could see that the second floor hallway was dark. She continued to the top, and peered around a corner to the right. Hardin’s office was the third one down. No light came from under its door or shone through the open glass transom.
Stepping forward, she checked all the offices along the corridor. They were dark.
‘Looks like we’re in business,’ she said.
Helen followed her to the door of Hardin’s office.
Abilene tried the knob. ‘Locked.’
‘What did you expect?’
‘I just hope she’s not sitting in there, meditating in the dark.’
‘Don’t say that.’
‘Go on down the hall.’
‘Huh?’
‘Go to the stairs. Get ready to make a run for it.’
‘What’re you gonna do?’
‘Go.’
Helen hurried to the far end of the hall. When she stopped at the head of the stairs, Abilene knocked on Hardin’s door.
No harsh voice demanded to know who was there.
Abilene willed herself to hear the slightest sound from inside the office: the creak of a chair, a footstep,
