Chapter 9 - More Problems

WARNING: This chapter contains sensitive content that some viewers may find inappropriate.

Kenzie slept much later than she’d wanted to. It was nearly eleven before her eyes fluttered open. Considering her job was done, she didn’t have to play up the student act anymore. In fact, she could technically go home after the dean paid her.

But that wasn’t to be. For as she was walking toward the dean’s office, Kenzie bumped right into none other than Addison Pennington. And she didn’t look pleased.

“I’m sorry,” Kenzie apologized.

“Fine, whatever.”

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

“What business is it of yours?”

“Look, Addison…”

“And how do you know my name?”

Damn! Kenzie realized belatedly that she was no longer wearing her Mindy disguise. Addison wouldn’t know her now. She was planning to leave anyway, so she thought nothing of putting her disguise back on. She was actually relieved not to have to worry about contact lenses anymore or having her hair get matted against her head in a tight bun.

Still, “Uh…” was all she could think to say.

“Well?”

“I’m the girl you met asking about something…”

“That girl had dark hair and she didn’t wear glasses.”

“It was a disguise. I’m here on business.”

“What are you talking about?”

“My name’s Kenzie Howell, and I’m a private investigator. I was here to figure out what was going on with all the students getting sick.”

“Oh, you’re a cop? Then take a report. A psycho bitch showed up at my sorority house door this morning and just ripped into me and all my sisters. She accused us of hazing or some shit like that. Nothing we do is considered hazing. Pledges know what’s expected of them, and if they want out, they can get out. They’re not forced to do anything.”

“Oh? Like having a pledge streak across campus naked just to ensure they’ll get into your sorority?”

Addison was fuming beneath her makeup. “I just told you…”

“I know what you said. And I also have proof of hazing. Branding someone with a sorority logo paddle is hardly acceptable behavior for pledges. Plus, your pill supplier gave you up, and the fraternity as well. I’m on my way right now to talk to the dean about it. So if you’ll excuse me, I have a job to do. A verbal confrontation from a former victim of your sorority is not a crime.”

Kenzie shoved herself past Addison and made her way to the dean’s office. Once there, she told him everything she’d discovered, and threw in the part about the sorority. The dean promised to look into it, starting with talking to Savannah and checking surveillance cameras to see if the streaker could be identified for questioning.

Kenzie then went back to the dorm, ready to pack up and go home. This case was one of the most exhausting ones she’d ever dealt with, and it was mostly in part that she had to masquerade herself as someone else.

But her problems were not yet gone. As soon as she got back to her room, she was surprised to see Savannah there, lying on the ground, her eyes closed.

“Savannah?” Kenzie asked in a troubled tone. Her only response was a moan.

Kenzie made her way to Savannah and propped her up on her arm.

Savannah didn’t answer, and her eyes were fluttering open and closed as though she were battling to keep them open.

Then Kenzie saw the pill bottle on the floor.

“Oh no,” she cried, exasperated.

She tried to shake Savannah to wake her up, but her efforts were in vain. It was obvious what had happened – Savannah had ingested pills, probably the same ones she’d just caught the maker of last night, and was in the middle of an overdose.

Kenzie was on the phone faster than she’d ever been in her life. The police assured her that an ambulance would be there as soon as possible, but somehow that didn’t seem soon enough.

“Savannah, please, wake up,” she pleaded as she held Savannah’s hand in hers.

The younger woman stirred slightly, and her eyes opened. For a moment, Kenzie thought that she’d be all right.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly.

Savannah began to nod weakly, but then her eyes squinted shut and she let out a strangled yelp of agony.

“Aaahhh!” she cried as she clutched her stomach. And then Kenzie saw the blood oozing through her pants.

“Shit!” She cried. “Hang on, Savannah! The ambulance is on its way!”

Savannah continued to scream in pain while Kenzie held onto her.

“It hurts!” she bellowed. “Kenzie, please, help me!”

The one time Savannah wanted Kenzie’s help, and she couldn’t provide it. All she could do was get her up onto the bed and watch over her as she writhed in agony, waiting for the paramedics that seemed to be a million miles away.

At last, the ambulance arrived. Savannah was whisked off to the hospital and rushed to the ER. Kenzie made a few phone calls while she waited for the verdict.

That verdict came in half an hour due to the rush analysis requested by the physician. Savannah had indeed taken the same pills that were now confiscated from the university lab, and she’d taken two or three of them. They showed up in her bloodstream this time, and it was because she’d taken them so recently. It turned out that after an hour, the pills were non-detectable in the bloodstream. That was why the other victims had no trace of them in their system.

Regardless, Savannah had evidently taken the pills to calm her nerves after her unsuccessful confrontation with the sorority that morning (turns out she was the one Addison had been referring to), and the panic that began to set in because she was expecting a baby.

Or rather, she had been expecting a baby. The pills weren’t only too much for the college students – they were literally murder on a developing embryo. The strength of the pills, combined with all the drinking that Savannah had been doing like at the recent frat party, had caused a miscarriage.

The cruel irony was that Savannah was already experiencing the first signs of the miscarriage – abdominal pain, most likely from all the alcohol she’d ingested, so she’d also taken the pills as a pain relief measure. That decision had proven to be a fatal one.

Kenzie was sitting in the waiting area when the doctor told her the news. She couldn’t help but feel partly responsible. Had she told the dean sooner about the sorority, had she focused more on them when Savannah had first told her...But it didn’t matter now. What was done was done, and the past could not be altered.

Her phone rang and she scrounged around to make sure she had some privacy before answering it. Her “Hello?” was melancholy.

“Kenzie?” Jillian’s voice asked on the other end of the line.

“Jill. You got my message.”

“Yeah. And so did Alexis and my parents. No word from Hunter, though.”

“I called all of them. I thought they should know.”

“How is she?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her yet.”

“I just can’t believe this. I knew she was kind of spiraling downhill, but to get pregnant? And then to lose it?”

“Yeah, I know. I helped her the best I could, but I think right now she could really use her family.”

“My parents are on their way, and Isaiah and I are driving up there first thing tomorrow. I think Alex is going to come too.”

“Good.”

The rest of the conversation was short and distraught. Kenzie did get to see Savannah once, just so the younger woman could thank her for all her help, though Kenzie didn’t think she helped that much. She stayed with her until Oliver and Liza arrived, and they seemed upset as well, and perhaps even a little cold to Kenzie. But she didn’t want to think about that at the moment. Instead, she headed back to campus.

As she began packing in the eerily empty dorm room, Kenzie was overcome with the realization that, though she’d uncovered the secret of what was going on with the sick students (who were all now recovering), she still felt that she’d failed. She’d failed Savannah, and the Swansen family.

It was hard to focus on packing, especially when she was doing so in Savannah’s dorm room. She finally gave up when the tears slid down her cheeks and blurred her vision like she was staring through a rain-drenched window. She collapsed onto the floor and sobbed.

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