Dani realized that there was no way to keep her investigations secret from the girls. Especially after Ivy’s guess about her motive for inviting Laz to dinner and then admitting to the girls that she and Spencer planned to talk to Vince and Bliss.
“Let me get a pen and paper and write it down before I forget.” Dani dug through her purse and found a dry cleaning receipt and a ballpoint advertising a local farmers market. “Let’s see, earlier this evening Vance lavaliered Bliss.”
“Ah, that’s sweet,” Ivy cooed. “I know she’d been hoping he would.”
“I’m not sure about sweet,” Dani said, then explained about Vance’s demand that Bliss get him into Regina’s house and his unusual sexual tastes.
Making a face at the latter piece of information, Tippi waved Dani’s words away like a bad smell and asked, “Anything else?”
“The pledge that Regina ripped off is named Gail.” Dani looked around the table and asked, “Do any of you know a Gail from Alpha Beta Delta?”
They all said no, and Starr commented, “That could be a sorority nickname. A lot of times, they pick a name that only the sisters use. Did you ask if it was her real one?”
Dani shook her head. “At the time, I was trying to keep the conversation casual and not let Bliss know I was interrogating her.”
“We can ask around,” Tippi offered. “My cousin’s in a sorority and the Greek system is pretty small at NU, so even though they aren’t in the same house, she might know a girl called Gail.”
“Be careful,” Dani warned. “Don’t tell her the real reason you want to know.”
“Don’t worry.” Tippi ate a spoonful of hot fudge sauce. “I’ll come up with something.”
“You found out quite a bit about Vance and the pledge,” Starr said. “Anything about Bliss?”
“Sadly, yes.” Dani popped a maraschino cherry in her mouth. “She knew Regina was bulimic and had keys to her house.”
“Shoot!” Ivy scowled. “I like Bliss. I don’t want it to be her.”
“Me either.” As Dani talked, she jotted notes down on her list. Now she folded the paper and asked, “Ready to go?”
It was almost ten thirty when Dani and the girls rolled the loaded carts up the ramp at the mansion’s rear entrance. Dani unlocked the door, flipped on the lights, and froze. Her kitchen had been trashed. Food was splattered everywhere and broken glass littered the floor.
Realizing that whoever vandalized the place could still be there, she shouted, “Everyone get in the van.”
Once they were inside the locked vehicle she shivered, cold sweat trickling down her sides. Wishing she hadn’t traded her chef coat for a T-shirt, she dug out her cell but hesitated. Did she really want to involve the police? Not only was she reluctant to come under their scrutiny again, but she was also afraid that her intruder might be one of them—namely, Mikeloff.
Deciding to try Spencer one more time, she dialed his number. It rang twice and when he answered on the third ring, she had to fight back tears in order to speak.
Finally, she cleared the lump from her throat and said, “This is Dani. The girls and I just got home and we’re sitting in my locked van. Someone broke into the house and wrecked it. Can you come over?”
“Drive away now.” Spencer’s tone was clipped. “I’ll meet you a couple blocks south of your place. I’ll be there in ten.”
Chapter 20
When Spencer disconnected from Dani, it felt as if he’d just been punched in the gut. He knew she and the girls were safe, but his knee-jerk reaction to the idea of someone having the gall to break into Dani’s home and ransack it was to track down the asshat and put him in the hospital. Evidently, refusing to acknowledge his feelings for Dani and keeping a certain emotional distance between them was turning out to be a lot tougher than he’d imagined.
Spencer was as furious with himself as he was with the punk who vandalized the mansion. How did he manage to forget every damn bit of his determination where Dani was concerned? It was a freaking miracle that he’d been able to regain his cool so quickly and tell her to meet him, rather than flooring the gas pedal of his truck and charging toward the scene of the crime. Wouldn’t that have helped Spencer maintain the facade of just friends?
The whole situation with Mikeloff and the murder was eating away at his self-control. He was frustrated as hell that he couldn’t protect Dani from the dickwad detective. It was bad enough he’d had to put her in danger by including her in a murder investigation, but the thought of some prick breaking into Dani’s home and terrorizing her was almost too much to take.
He just had to make sure that he wasn’t by himself with Dani. As long as they were in public or the girls were around, he’d be okay. He would keep things in the friendship zone with her if it killed him.
With his headlights slicing through the darkness, Spencer drove along the shadowy roads toward Dani’s street. He forced aside all thoughts of her and concentrated on the matter at hand. Someone had violated her home and he needed to find out that person’s identity. Nothing was more important than keeping her and the girls safe.
Was it possible that he’d been wrong about Regina’s murderer and there was some serial predator out there obsessed with bumping off college girls?
No. Spencer didn’t buy the crazed-killer theory. It was much more likely that one of three people broke into the mansion. And his first guess was Mikeloff. He wouldn’t put it past the renegade detective to conduct an illegal search
