Captives (Nightmare Hall) by Diane Hoh

Author:Diane Hoh [Hoh, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781480421769
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2013-08-27T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

ERNIE FINALLY MANAGED TO convince the two policemen that he hadn’t been anywhere near the Leo house on Faculty Row when the doctor was killed and that although he wasn’t a fan of the psychologist, he hadn’t hated him. His roommate, reached by telephone, affirmed his alibi, saying that yes, Ernie was at his word processor writing when the attack took place.

With an alibi and no apparent motive, detaining Ernie Dodd any longer would have been a waste of time.

“Okay, you can go,” Officer Sloane said.

Ernie hesitated. “What I want to know is, while we’ve been wasting all this time, has anyone bothered to check out Nightmare Hall?”

Sloane frowned. “Say again?”

“I meant Nightingale Hall. It’s an off-campus dorm down the road. Gloomy old place? Top of the hill overlooking the highway? You guys been there yet? There’s no one there right now, and the guy on the radio said the killer would probably be looking for a deserted place to hide in until the roads clear. Nightmare Hall sounds perfect to me. Has anyone been there to look for your guy?”

Neither officer knew. “I think they’re still searching the dorms,” Reardon said, “but I’ll check.” He left the room, returning a few minutes later to say, “Nope. No one’s gone off-campus yet. Chief says with the main highway flooded, the fugitive is probably still hanging around here.”

“Maybe he is,” Ernie said, “but maybe he’s not Look, I’ve got friends out there in that storm. They might be stranded out there somewhere by high water, and I don’t like the idea that he could be out there, too, okay?”

“I think he may have a point,” Reardon told his partner. “I know the house. Been called out there once or twice. And at six-thirty tonight, when the crime took place, the roads weren’t that bad. The murderer could have made it that far. Might have holed up there, especially if it’s empty.”

“It is empty,” Ernie insisted. “And it’ll only take us a few minutes to check it out.”

Sloane’s bushy, graying eyebrows lifted. “Us? No ‘us’ here, son. We don’t take civilians along on police business. Tell you what, though. I have to stay here to finish up our interrogations, but Reardon here, if he can get through, can go take a quick look if the chief says it’s okay.”

“He already okayed it,” the young officer said, nodding. “I told him what Dodd said, and he agreed that it was a possibility. And I’ll get through. I’ll take the back road.” To Ernie, he said, “I’ll drop you at your dorm. And I’ll let you know,” he added kindly.

It was clear that Ernie wasn’t being given a choice. No way were they going to let him go along.

Okay, so he’d let Reardon drive him to the dorm.

But he had no intention of staying there.

In the attic at Nightingale Hall, Toni fought down the nausea that was threatening to overwhelm her. It had been growing steadily since Daisy and Molloy left. Toni attributed

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