A.W. Hartoin - Mercy Watts 04 - Drop Dead Red (39 page)

“Later,” I said.
 

“Really?”
 

“No.” I rang the doorbell and, when there was no answer, I pounded on the door. Toby answered and his face looked like he wanted to punch me.
 

“What are you doing here?” he asked.
 

“I have some more questions.”
 

He tried to close the door and I stuck my sandaled foot in the opening. Ouch.

“Please. This isn’t a joke,” I said.
 

“No kidding. Thanks to you. The Counsel is looking at us again over the Farrell thing.”
 

“It didn’t happen.”
 

“I know that, but now the cops are crawling all over us. They’re asking questions and it’s not like the campus cops. Cortier is serious,” said Toby.
 

“She is, but there’s nothing to find. Christopher didn’t do it, but Faith’s father believes he did. Have any of you seen him around the house?”
 

“No, we haven’t.” He shoved the door against my foot and I winced in pain. “Go the fuck away.”
 

“I will not. Someone tried to kill those kids.”
 

“Nobody here.”
 

A guy I didn’t recognize jogged down the stairs behind Toby. He wore a stained Metallica tee and boxer shorts over his extremely hairy legs. He chugged a Coke and yelled, “Hey man, you gotta see Alex.”
 

I took the distraction as an opportunity to throw my shoulder against the door, but I didn’t manage to budge it. Then Stevie slapped his hand against the door with a force that wasn’t typical of him. Toby wasn’t expecting it. He jumped back and I tumbled into the entry hall, nearly landing on my face. Stevie ran in behind me and lifted me to my feet. “Bastard. You always let a Watts in.”
 

“Says who?” asked Toby.
 

Stevie put his finger in Toby’s face. “Everybody.”
 

I pushed his arm down. “It’s fine. I’m not exactly fragile.”
 

“Dude,” said the guy on the stairs, “It’s Marilyn in the flesh. Come to see the hottest dudes on campus?”
 

I straightened up with what I hoped passed for dignity. “It’s Mercy Watts. Is Derek here?”
 

“What do you want with that fresh?”

“Don’t worry about it.” I leaned over the bannister. “Derek!”

My helper ran down the stairs, completely decked out in Tulane gear. He looked like a walking advertisement. “I’m here.”
 

Toby pointed at him. “I told you to drop it.”
 

“Alex is sick.”
 

“Mercy’s a nurse,” said Stevie.
 

Boxer short guy laughed. “He’s not sick. He’s drunk. Freaking lightweight.”
 

“It’s barely noon,” I said.
 

“So?”
 

Good point. It is a frat.
 

Derek pushed past him. “He barfed all over himself.”
 

Toby grabbed my arm. “Get out. We don’t need your help.”
 

“Did Alex eat anything odd today?” I asked.
 

“He lives on kimchi and pork sausage, so yeah,” said boxer short guy.
 

A groaning moan came from upstairs. Not like a drunk coming to. There was real pain in it.

“Mercy,” said Derek. “I don’t think it’s booze.”
 

“It’s booze,” said Toby.
 

“Did he eat anything else?” I asked. “Cupcakes?”
 

Toby dragged me toward the door. “No.”
 

Boxer short guy scratched his hairy belly and said, “There’re cupcakes in the common room.”
 

“Shut up, Dillon.”
 

I broke away from Toby and ran into the TV room. On the sofa table were two plastic containers filled with store-bought cupcakes in Mardi Gras colors. Five cupcakes were missing. Shit.
 

Stevie went for the cupcakes. “Alright. I’m starving.”
 

I smacked his hand. “Those are bacteria bombs.”

“Are we sure about that?”
 

“Pretty sure.”

“Toby, where’d those come from?” I asked.

Toby shrugged. “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
 

“Some girl brought them this morning,” said Dillon, still scratching.
 

My stomach twisted. “Faith Farrell?”
 

“Who?”
 

“The one who accused Chris of rape, moron,” said Derek.
 

“Oh. Nah, it was a blond chick. Never seen her before. Sweet body, though.” He gave me a horn-dog look. “Not as sweet as yours though.”
 

“Gross,” I said. “Derek, find out who ate those cupcakes. Dillon take me to Alex.”
 

Toby stepped in front of me. I expected another protest, but his face was in a deep frown. “You really think—”
 

“Yes, I do. Get out of the way.”
 

Stevie shoved him to the side and we ran up the stairs. Alex was lying on his bed, clutching his head and moaning. His fingers were pressing so hard into his dark hair that they were white up to the second knuckle. I ran over dirty clothes and pizza boxes to his bed. There were two cupcake wrappers on his bedside table, and he’d vomited so much that it coated the side of the mattress and dripped onto a pair of sweatpants on the floor.
 

“Alex?” I pushed him onto his back, but he stayed in the fetal position with his knees drawn up to his chest. I didn’t try to check his pupils. His eyes were screwed shut and the sound of my voice made him flinch. I turned to Dillon. “Call 911.”
 

“Really?” he asked.
 

“Now!”
 

He picked up Alex’s phone and called, telling them it was the flu.
 

“It’s not the flu,” I said. “He’s been poisoned with listeriosis.”
 

“Listerios…what?” asked Dillon.
 

“Bacterial meningitis. Tell them now!”
 

Alex groaned and another guy walked in carrying a half-eaten cupcake. “What’s going on?”
 

I leapt at him and smacked the cupcake out of his hand.
 

“What the fuck?” he yelled.
 

“How many have you eaten?” I asked.
 

“You are one crazy bitch.”
 

Stevie gave him a light smack on the cheek. “Mercy asked you a question. How many?”
 

His mouth fell open at the minor assault on his person and then he said to me in a respectful tone, “Just one. I mean, half of that one.”
 

“They’re sending an ambulance,” said Dillon, holding out the phone.
 

“Tell them there are multiple patients.” I turned back to Alex and squeezed his shoulder. “An ambulance is coming. When did you eat the cupcakes?”
 

“My head,” he groaned.
 

“I know, Alex, I know, but try to remember. How long ago?” I asked. “An hour?”
 

“No.” Tears dripped down his face and his body jerked as he dry-heaved.
 

Less than an hour. Very fast. Double dose.
 

Toby and several other guys had squeezed into the room.

“Toby, every cupcake is contaminated with the bacteria. I want you to bag all the remaining cupcakes for the cops and call Cortier. Tell her I’m here and what’s happened.”
 

“Dillon said it’s bacterial meningitis,” said Toby.
 

“It is. A form of it, anyway. Everybody who’s had one, even a tiny bite, has to go to the hospital,” I said.
 

“I have to go?” asked the guy who’d eaten a half.
 

“Yeah, dipshit. What’d she just say?” asked Stevie

“Call your parents,” I said. “Call all the parents.”
 

“What for?” Dipshit asked. “They’ll get pissed. They’re always pissed at me.”

That kid was making Stevie look like a rocket scientist.
 

“You’ve been poisoned, dipshit,” said one of the new arrivals, a guy with shaggy red hair and a good-sized beard. “What can I do?”
 

“Name?” I asked.

“Avery.”
 

“Take Dipshit into the bathroom and make him throw up.”
 

“Gross,” said Dipshit.
 

“Like you don’t throw up every weekend,” I said.
 

Everyone, but Alex laughed.
 

“You do, dude,” said Dillon.

“I do not,” protested Dipshit.
 

I got up in his face. “Do you see Alex? You’re next. Stick your finger down your throat or they’ll be shoving a tube down it.”
 

“Alright. Alright. Jeez. Keep your panties on.”
 

Avery went to go with Dipshit, but he waved him off. “I’ll do it. I don’t need an audience.”

Derek ran in and grabbed Dipshit. “Did you eat a cupcake?”
 

“Yeah, yeah. I gotta go barf.” He left, grumbling about pushy girls, and Derek came to me at the bed.
 

“I’ve got them all. There are six. Sean ate three. He just started vomiting. Oh, man. It, like, went all the way across the room and hit the wall.”
 

“Six? How can there be six? Five cupcakes were missing. Alex ate two and that guy ate one. There’s only two left.”
 

Derek’s mouth formed an “O” and he ran back out. Alex started to rock with the pain, moaning, and his teeth were grinding so hard I could hear it. He was the worst. The first infected.
 

“Alex, who brought the cupcakes?” I asked. “It’s important.”
 

He wouldn’t answer. He couldn’t. I doubt he could hear me through his agony. Sirens sounded in the distance. Thank god.
 

“Did anyone see the girl who brought those cupcakes?” I said to the solemn group in Alex’s room.
 

Avery raised his hand. He looked like he was about to get paddled. “I did.”
 

“Who was it?”
 

“Probably that crazy Faith Farrell,” said another guy.

“No,” said Avery. “I wouldn’t take a toothpick from that chick. It was Vanessa from my American Lit class.”
 

“Do you know where she is right now?” I asked.
 

“No. I’m not some freaking stalker.”
 

Toby squeezed back in the room. “I do. She’s on my girlfriend’s floor.”
 

“Good. Go get her.”
 

Toby rushed out and the room went silent. Alex’s body had gone limp. He was unconscious. I grabbed the phone from Dillon and dialed 911 again. I told them we needed another ambulance and that Alex was now unresponsive. He was burning up. I guessed his temperature at 104. The operator said two more ambulances were on their way.
 

The siren was outside. I ran downstairs with Stevie on my heels, and met them at the door. Derek had all the infected guys in the TV room. Sean was bent over a trash can, shaking violently, but he was conscious, so I sent the EMTs up to Alex. They had him assessed and out the door in less than five minutes. The second ambulance showed up and they took Sean, who’d begun screaming and clutching his head. The rest of the guys stood in the entryway, white-faced and talking to their parents on their cellphones.
 

“Okay. Who are the rest of my cupcake eaters?” I asked.
 

Dipshit and three others raised their hands tentatively
 

“Did you all vomit?”
 

They nodded and told me their names.

“Good. How are you feeling?”

They were all nauseous and had light headaches, except for Dipshit aka Leo, who’d only gotten a small dose and had cleared it pretty quickly.
 

Two more sirens were in the distance. I didn’t have much time. This had to be about Faith. It had to be. Derek came in, holding an empty plastic container. “I found it in the dumpster out back. I think that’s it.”
 

“Excellent. Avery, was that all the boxes?”
 

He nodded. “Yeah. There were three.”
 

“How come you didn’t eat any?” I asked.
 

“Look at those artificial colors. That shit’ll give you cancer.”