Page 148 of Say Yes to the Death

Claire sighed. “I had a feeling you’d say that. Fine. So, what I can’t figure out is how we’re going to spy on the meeting. Breaking into the house is too risky. We don’t know how many there are. And if we linger outside, any number of neighbors could see us and call the police. I’m thinking about shipping them some kind of surveillance device that could transmit what they’re saying to us, but what if they threw it away?”

Mindy shook her head. “The audio wouldn’t be admissible in court anyway. Can’t record them without their knowledge.”

Claire harrumphed.

Nicole glanced up from her laptop. “Spying is going to be the easy part. We’ll use the tunnels.”

Mindy and Claire stared blankly at Nicole.

“You know, the tunnels. The ones that run underneath all of campus and connect the buildings to West Haven’s underground bomb shelter? Built during the Cold War?”

Claire tilted her head. “This is literally the first time I’m hearing about them. Are you sure this is at Venor?”

Nicole sighed. “Come on, guys. I made you go on my tour sophomore year. Were you even paying attention?”

“She’s right,” Mindy said. She stopped tapping on her tablet. “In the basement of the chapel, there was a door that was padlocked shut. I always wanted to go fool around in there.”

Claire stopped pacing. “How do you know what the basement of the chapel looks like?”

“It’s where the practice rooms are. Band, remember?” Mindy was a surprisingly accomplished clarinetist.

Claire turned back to Nicole. “You’re sure they connect all the buildings on campus? Even the frats?”

Nicole nodded. “There was a framed map in the registrar’s office. ESA probably has a door in their basement.”

Claire added two items to the whiteboard—bolt cutters and dust masks. It was going to be an awkward trip to the hardware store.

“ESA doesn’t strike me as the kind of frat to leave a door bolted. So, we’ll have to hope that we can quietly break in through the basement door and then hear well enough from downstairs. Ugh, I never thought I’d spend another Friday night in a frat basement.” The smell of stale beer and body odor washed over her.

Nicole shrugged. “It’s our best option.”

Claire sighed. “I don’t love it, but it’ll have to do. Remember, no one tells the guys anything. We’re just having a normal, run-of-the-mill girls’ night.”

She bit her lip. She was already going back on her promise to be completely honest with Luke. But surely this was different. If he knew about the ESA meeting, he would probably handcuff her to the headboard to prevent her from leaving. If she could pull this off, she could find a way to get ESA out of her life forever and keep everyone she loved safe. There had to be exceptions to every rule. She’d tell him when it was over.

“At this point, this is a run-of-the-mill girls’ night. Is this our third stakeout this year?” Mindy raised her eyebrows.

“Whatever. Let’s meet back here tomorrow at seven.”

The sun was beginning to set as they pulled into the parking lot of Alabaster, a local coffee shop. Claire stared longingly at the espresso machine inside, but if she had one now, she would be up all night. Getting older sucked.

She unzipped the backpack for the millionth time. Bolt cutters, masks, and disposable gloves were still inside. She wasn’t sure exactly how many laws they were about to break, but surely they had collectively given Venor enough money to justify their actions.

“Ready?” Mindy said from the driver’s seat.

“Let’s do this.” Claire pulled on a new brunette wig and slid on a pair of glasses. Mindy donned a platinum blond wig and a Coach backpack, and Nicole paired her new waist-length black hair with a letterman jacket she had borrowed from Kyle.

They climbed out of the car and bent forward to examine their reflections in the window.

“Nothing to see here, just Chloe Patterson on her way to the library to study for the LSATs,” Mindy said.

“I like that you gave your character a backstory,” Claire said as she again applied a shade of lipstick that didn’t suit her.

They set off toward campus.

Mindy pressed the back of her hand to her forehead and adopted a Southern accent. “She just wants to save her family farm from the clutches of the evil land developers who want to pave over it and turn it into a mega strip club.”

“If the land developers were smart, they would leave it a farm and call it ‘The Hoe Down.’”

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