Chapter 15

“Martin is Derby’s roommate?” Karen asked, jumping out of bed and searching for her clothes.

“Didn’t I just say that? Move!” Mountain yelled.

Martin was sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of Fruit Loops when Mountain, Brad, and Karen arrived. Introductions were made. Martin was obviously terrified by his experience, and the older kids did their best to put him at ease.

Martin told them, “I really hadn’t gotten to know my roommate when I first got to campus, so on Wednesday morning, I tried to talk to him, and he just went off on me. I didn’t know why he was so mad at me, but he threatened me. He scared me. Then he left. I didn’t see him again until about 4am Thursday when he came into our room. It woke me up, and I tried to talk to him again, to apologize for getting off on the wrong foot. He seemed really worked up, and he started swearing at me and threatening me again.

“I told him that a girl named Christy had come looking for him Wednesday evening. I had told him about her stopping by once before, and he had told me never to talk to any girls that knew him, but when she came by the second time, I invited her in. She was really upset, because she had been calling him but he wasn’t calling her back. He had left his phone in the room, and I knew she had called because her name showed on his caller ID. Anyway, she stayed for a while waiting for him, and then she left. She seemed really nice, and she was really pretty, and she made me promise to tell him that she wanted to talk to him. So, when he came in Thursday morning, I told him about her visit.

“That’s when he went nuts on me. He started throwing my stuff around and ripping up my Star Wars posters. He even broke my light saber. He hit me and knocked me on the floor. He told me to get out and never come back, and then he punched me in the face and gave me a black eye. I got out of there as fast as I could and went to the infirmary. When I got out of there, I went to the dorm room of a Lord of the Rings expert I had met in a chat room my first night on campus. He went back to my room with me and helped me grab some clothes and my laptop. That’s how the nurse from the infirmary got a hold of me. And now I’m here.”

“And you’re staying here,” Brad said. “I’ll have one of my frat brothers here in ten minutes. He’ll bring some money to pay your host here for letting you stay for a couple of days, and he’ll be sleeping in the living room until we have a talk with Derby. You see, we have an interest in his activities, too. He hurt someone we care about. But don’t worry, Martin. You’re perfectly safe. Derby won’t bother you anymore. Hopefully, by the time classes start on Monday, you’ll be able to move back into your room. Now, give me your room key.”

“Why?” Martin asked.

“If Derby’s there,” Brad said, “we’re going to talk to him and help him move out. If he’s not, we’re going to pack up some more of your clothes and get all your textbooks and stuff so you can start classes on Monday. We’ll keep you posted on what’s going on. You’ll be OK.”

When Mountain and Brad let themselves into Martin’s and Derby’s room, Derby wasn’t there. They knocked on a few doors, but none of the neighboring kids knew where Derby was. Rather than wait for him, the guys gathered the things they had promised to bring to Martin, and took them to the grad student’s apartment.

“Martin,” Brad asked, “you said that you saw Christy’s name on Derby’s caller ID. Were there any other girls that called that you know about?”

“Christy called about five times,” Martin said, and some other girl called two or three. Her name was Melissa.”

“Any last names?” Mountain asked.

“No.”

“OK, well, you’ve been extremely helpful. Now that our frat brother Adam is staying here, you’ll be completely safe. We’ll keep you up to date.”

As they drove back to the frat house, Mountain said, “OK, Brad, what have we learned? Derby’s got a violent temper. We already knew that from the incident with Joel, from what Josie said, and from the way he abused Anna. We don’t have last names on these two chicks that were calling Derby, but we know that this Christy wanted to see him. She must know him. Do you think she went through anything with him like those other two did?”

Brad said, “I was wondering if both Christy and Melissa are victims.”

Mountain thought for a minute. “I have an idea. Let’s get a bunch of those name tags they use at conventions, you know, the ones that say, ‘Hello, my name is fill-in-the-blank.’ Since we have a big mixer planned for tonight, we could give them to everyone who shows up. If we’re lucky, those girls will come. We can just have everyone on the lookout for girls with those names. If we’re really lucky, some little fuck will have a name tag on that says ‘Derby.’”

Brad smiled and drove faster. “I like the way you think, big guy.”

On Saturday evening, fraternity row was teeming with kids. The weather was perfect, and there were food, sodas, coffee, and non-alcoholic punch available at every house. There were seminars and discussion groups on the lawns and porches of some houses, and music blared from the windows of others. Everyone was buzzing about how much fun they were having, and a lot of kids were enthused about what they were learning.

Every fraternity brother and sorority sister was looking for name tags that had Christy, Melissa, or Derby on them. Most of them didn’t know why they were supposed to find these people, but they all had cellphone numbers for someone to call in the event they were spotted. A number of Christys and Melissas were approached by people saying they were looking for their friend Derby.