“Why isn’t Shawn at the DEM house?” Aleah asked curiously as we pulled into his driveway. The trek down the long stretch of pavement was smooth and involved only a slight turn, leading us easily onto the parking space just in front of the house. Shawn’s house was big, really, really big. So big in fact that if he ever wanted to move out, all he’d have to do is move his stuff to the other side. To be perfectly honest no one was certain what Shawn’s dad did for a living; Mr. Derringer was as mysterious as he was dangerous I supposed. At least I assumed he was dangerous, I hadn’t asked Shawn much about him.

“He likes to hang out here on weekends,” I explained with a brief shrug. “He uh…likes to shoot scat.”

“Skeet,” Aleah corrected. “The other thing is um…oh look, here we are.”

Aleah turned the key and yanked it out of the ignition, exiting the van quickly followed by the rest of us. We met her around back and from the corner of my eye I noticed Leina using a single hand to guide Kari back toward the group as she attempted to wander off. I smirked a little bit, as per usual she was wearing her red hair long, draped over her shoulder. Her outfit was the simple red Woodcrest PT uniform that you could literally buy from a vending machine in the admissions office. It came wrapped in plastic, sizing was questionable but it seemed to fit her perfectly. Emblazed on the front was the brown Beaver mascot below the black and white Woodcrest letters. The uniform was a little rank, like she’d been wearing it for a few days. Maybe someone needed to talk to her about that.

We left the lot and climbed the brief stairs leading to the front door, and I kept a subtle eye on Kari as Aleah knocked on the door.

“There’s a doorbell,” I pointed to the left side of the entryway. Aleah rolled her eyes and pressed a slender finger to the button; inside I could hear the sound of the bell ringing throughout. Moments later, Jerome, the Derringer’s butler opened the door and looked us over.

“Well Miss Gray,” He said with a hint of happiness permeating his tone. “You’ve returned, and brought friends!”

“Great to see you again,” I forced a smile. “Is Shawn around? I really need to talk to him.”

“You know he is,” Jerome nodded. “If you and your friends would like to take a seat downstairs in the waiting area, I can give him a call.”

“You know,” Aleah said in a voice just above a whisper as we followed Jerome into the house and into the waiting room caddy corner to the main stairs. “If you’re dating the guy you should be able to just…you know…walk in and find him.”

I blushed a little.

“I guess we’re not at that level yet,” I shrugged. Aleah shook her head and smiled a little. No sooner did we sit down in the waiting room than did Shawn appear, dressed in his blue polo and khakis – standard attire for skeet shooting around here but his shoes weren’t muddy. He hadn’t been outside. That was interesting.

“Hey guys,” Shawn greeted Aleah and I, then nodded to the others. “Tiffany, you don’t normally drop by on the weekends, to what do I owe the honor?”

“Your cousin,” I sighed, standing up. Shawn gave me a knowing grin and nodded a bit.

“Nothing that can’t be worked out,” He laughed. “I see your girl’s getting a bit out of hand. Like a rowdy teenager.”

“How much does he know about her?” Aleah shot me a sidelong glance.

“Enough,” I said quietly, quickly returning my attention to Shawn. “We’re worried that she might be in trouble and we also can’t figure out where she is.”

“You lost her again, then?” Shawn teased as he motioned for us to follow. Leina urged Kari to stand, and we followed Shawn deeper into the house, single file until we came to a large office. “This is where I do my homework, among other things.”

“How quaint,” I said, glancing around the room adorned with wooden paneling and a few bookshelves filled with volumes that I would never even want to touch, let alone read. Then again, I was never big on reading.

“Thanks love,” He laughed. “Okay, so first thing’s first-“

“What’s going to happen to her?” Leina demanded. Shawn gave her a long, hard glance.

“You must be Leina,” He nodded. “The sister.”

“You KNEW Audrey had a sister?” I glared at him.

“I did my research,” He shrugged and stated offhandedly. “It wasn’t exactly a small matter, I had to make sure that the Greek council wasn’t in danger. I’m still not convinced that it isn’t.”

“It’s a completely internal matter – what’s that?” My attention was suddenly drawn to a massive pistol sitting on Shawn’s desk, which we were huddled around. It was a revolver, chamber open, sitting flatly upon the glossy wooden surface.

“Oh, that,” Shawn laughed, as if everyone, ever, everywhere had a gun just sitting on their desk. “It was a gift from a family friend, Checkov. I’m actually about to hang it on the wall.”

“Well, have fun with that,” I shrugged. “So what about Audrey?”

“My nephew isn’t interested in pressing charges,” Shawn explained as he slid the revolver from the desk and moved it to a mounted display case. “Audrey will be fine, but I get the feeling that’s not why you’re looking for her.”

“We just…need to talk to her,” I explained. “Trouble at the house, you know.”

“If GAT is actually putting effort into something, then it must be some serious trouble,” Shawn pointed out. “IT would be of the Panhellenic variety would it?”

“Absolutely not,” Aleah lied. “We just…have some internal issues we need to take care of.”

“Audrey left the toilet seat up,” I interrupted, keeping my face as straight as humanly possible.

“Right,” Shawn rolled his eyes. “If I were you guys, I would check the theater.”

“Theater’s closed,” I objected.

“Doesn’t mean she can’t get in,” Shawn sighed. “Besides I know for a fact she’s in there because she ran into Melissa along the way, and I talk to Melissa pretty often. Maybe you guys should…I don’t know, find a way in there to get her? Unless it’s not urgent.”

“Um, how do we get into a locked building?” I demanded. “It’s not like we can break through plate glass.”

My eyes wandered again to the desk, this time toward an open file folder, its contents revealing the name ‘B. Parsons’. Shawn show me a wayward glance and closed the folder before I could see any more.

“I would suggest,” He said. “That you find someone with a key, and that would mean Melissa. You can usually find her in her dorm on weekends; she’s kind of a homebody.”

“Right,” I said to the group. “Find Melissa, get her to open the stupid auditorium, get Audrey, and go home. We’re pretty much home free already.”

God I wish it were that easy.