Cal Taber chose that moment to walk past her. He laughed at Alison’s remark, looked over his shoulder and said, “You bite, Rolaids.”
Roland flipped him a finger.
“Real cute,” Alison muttered.
“Sorry. Some of these guys are such pigs. You want to come in?”
“Here’s fine. Do you know where Jason and Celia are?”
Try the Oakwood Inn, he thought. Frowning, he shook his head. “I don’t know. The last I saw of Jason, he was taking off from here to pick her up. He planned to take her to the Lobster Shanty.”
“You haven’t heard from him since then?”
“No.” He wondered if Alison always wore her blouses buttoned that high. He imagined slicing off each button with his knife and spreading open the blouse.
Alison’s eyes narrowed. Mind reader? Roland wondered. “So you don’t have any idea where they might be?” she asked.
“Well, not really. Maybe. I don’t want you thinking I’m a snoop, but…”
“Don’t worry about what I think.”
“Well, yesterday afternoon I noticed that Jason had a couple of telephone numbers on his desk. He wasn’t around and I was a little curious, so I called the numbers. You know, just for the hell of it. One was the Lobster Shanty. When I called the other number, I got the registration desk of a motel in Marlowe.”
“A motel? What was the name of it?”
Roland frowned. “The…uh…” He shook his head. “Jeez, what was it? I really can’t remember. It’ll probably come to me later. Anyway, I guess Jason was thinking about taking her there.”
“Why all the way in Marlowe?”
“You’d have to ask Jason. I don’t have any idea. He did take an overnight bag with him when he left.”
“It still seems pretty strange that they’d be gone this long.”
Roland smiled. “They must be having a good time.”
Alison didn’t look amused.
“I’m sure there’s no reason to be worried. They’ll probably be back pretty soon—unless they decide to stay over another night.”
“Yeah,” Alison muttered. From the look on her face, she wasn’t convinced.
Shit, Roland thought. I should’ve told her Jason had phoned and
He could call Alison later and tell her that. But would she believe him?
It doesn’t matter.
She won’t be with us long enough to cause any trouble.
“I wouldn’t worry,” he said, “unless they don’t get back tomorrow morning. Jason has a ten o’clock. I’m sure he’ll be back in time for that.”
Alison nodded. “You’re sure you can’t remember the name of the motel?”
“I might think of it later. I could give you a call if it comes to me.”
“Okay. I probably won’t be there, but you can leave the message with Helen. Do you have something to write down my number?”
“It’s in the student directory, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
And so is the address. “I’ll call if I remember.”
“Thanks.” She turned away.
Roland watched her walk down the corridor, the loose fabric of her white shorts pulling lightly across her buttocks with her strides. She began to twist around for a glance over her shoulder, so he stepped back and closed the door.
He rushed over to his bed and stepped into his shoes. He tied them. He felt under his hanging shirt front and touched the knife case on his belt, then patted a pocket to make sure he had his room key.
By the time he opened his door again, Alison was out of sight. He pulled the door shut and raced down the hall. He bounded down the stairs.
“Slow down, jerk-off,” Tod Brewster warned as Roland dodged him and his girlfriend on the landing.
“What a dip,” he heard the girl say.
Three steps from the bottom, he leaped.
Through the glass doors ahead, he saw Alison outside. She was on the walkway alongside the dorm’s north wing.
Roland waited in the lobby until she disappeared around the corner. Then he followed.
He stayed a distance behind Alison as she headed through the center of the campus. She took the walkway along the western side of the quad. Some guys were playing touch football on the lawn. In spite of the late hour, several girls were scattered about, most of them wearing bikinis, some reading, others apparently asleep, some talking in small groups, a few watching the football game. Here and there, couples were sprawled on blankets. One couple was tangled in an embrace. One girl, alone near the walkway, had her top unfastened and was braced up on her elbows, engrossed in a book, and Roland slowed down to stare at the pale exposed side of her breast. He felt a stir of arousal.
I wonder who she is, he thought.
Forget it. You’ve got other plans for tonight, and you’re hitting the road as soon as you’re done. No time for this one, even if you did know who she is.
Things are getting too hot around here.
If you really wanted to play it safe, you’d leave right now and forget about Alison.
Oh, I can’t do that. No way.
Alison first, then I’ll take off.
Though it’s a pity to leave all this behind.
Don’t let it worry you. The world is full of delicious young flesh.
At the far end of the quad, Alison turned to the left and made her way through the shaded area between Doheny Hall and the Gunderson Memorial Theater. She walked directly to the street. Then she crossed it.
Roland watched from behind a tree until Alison rounded the corner of the block. Then he rushed to the other side of the street. When he reached the corner, Alison was no more than twenty yards ahead. If she turned around now…He quickly back-stepped and ducked behind the shrubbery bordering the lawn of the Alpha Phi sorority house.
He waited for a few minutes, then peered around the bushes. Alison had stopped midway down the block. She was gazing at something high and off to the side. She raised the strap of her purse onto her shoulder. Her back arched and she seemed to take a deep breath. She touched the top button of her blouse. Her hand dropped to the bottom of the blouse and felt around as if to make sure she was tucked in. Then she left the sidewalk.
Roland hurried forward.
He spotted her. She was inside the courtyard of an old apartment building with ivy vines on walls of rust- colored brick. As he watched her, she climbed a flight of stairs to a balcony that ran along the upper story. She walked past two doors, and stopped in front of the third.
Instead of knocking or opening the door with a key, she backed away from it and leaned against the wrought iron railing of the balcony. Her head lowered. For a while, she didn’t move. Then, stepping away from the railing, she lifted an arm and twisted around as if trying to see the back of her shorts. She swiped her seat briskly a couple of times. Finally, she stepped to the door and knocked.
A man opened the door. He was bigger than Alison, probably six feet at least. He wore slacks and a clinging knit shirt. Even from this distance, Roland could see that he was powerfully built. He had a flat belly, a big chest, pecs, a thick neck, and bulging upper arms.
This was not a guy to mess with.
The man backed out of sight, and Alison entered the apartment. The door swung shut.
Now what? Roland wondered.
Go up and give it a try?
Don’t be stupid.
