"I see." The missing girl didn't sound like the type to run off to have an affair. Lara turned to LaToya. "Has her family been contacted?"
"Yeah," LaToya said. "They have no idea where she is. They say she's never run off like this before."
"And the ex-boyfriend checked out?" Lara asked.
"Yeah. He has an alibi. And he's happily engaged to another girl. It's a dead end."
Lara focused back on Megan. "You have no idea where she could be?"
"Nope." Megan shoved more candy into her mouth. She filled her hand with more M&M'S.
"Did you go anywhere with Vanessa last night?" Lara asked.
Megan's hand went slack, and the M&M'S fell with a pattering sound back into the bowl. Her face went blank. "We were in our room, studying."
A chill crept up Lara's arms. Megan's face was expressionless, just the way Harvey's had been. The paramedics and the Trents had looked the same way. God, no. Don't let Jack be involved with this.
"I told you it was weird," LaToya whispered.
Lara cleared her throat. "Megan, it was Saturday night. Surely you went somewhere? Maybe to get something to eat?"
"We were in our room, studying," Megan repeated.
"And Vanessa never went out at all?"
"We were in our room, studying," Megan whispered.
"I understand." Lara stood and slipped Vanessa's photo into her jeans pocket. "Thank you for your time."
Megan blinked and looked surprised. "You're going?"
"Yes. I'll keep in touch." Lara headed for the door.
"Okay." Megan's eyes were once again eager. "I hope Vanessa will be okay. She... she's really nice to me, you know. She showed me the proper way to put on makeup."
LaToya led Lara down the dormitory hall. "You see what I mean by weird? Megan was acting normal, then she turned into a zombie."
"I know," Lara grumbled. "It looked like she'd been programmed."
"And we know only one person who's capable of doing that."
Lara winced. Not Jack, please. "There could be others with that ability." Hadn't he said something about protecting others? Others who could be like him? But if his friends were capable of kidnapping, what did that say about Jack?
LaToya knocked on door 124. "Vanessa's friends live here. Carmen and Ramya."
Lara talked to the two girls. They were both pretty brunettes. Carmen looked Hispanic and Ramya came from India. They were clearly worried about Vanessa and eager to help in any way they could. Until Lara asked if they'd gone out the night before.
Their faces went blank and their eyes shuttered. "We were in our room, studying," they answered in unison.
Gooseflesh slithered down Lara's arms. "Thank you." When the door shut, she turned to LaToya. "Don't say it. It can't be Jack."
LaToya grimaced, then headed toward the stairs. "There's someone else I want you to meet."
Lara followed her up to the second floor. "All three girls were programmed to say the same thing. They must have all gone out together. But why was Vanessa abducted, and the other girls sent back?"
"Maybe the perp can handle only one vie at a time." LaToya turned right, down the hall.
"I don't think so. With mind control, he could handle a room full of women. He wouldn't even need restraints. They would just obey him like sheep."
"Well, that's a good point." LaToya knocked on a door. "This is Roxanne's room."
A girl with dyed black hair, heavy black eyeliner, and a lip ring answered the door. "Yeah, what?"
"I'll tell you what," LaToya said. "Megan, Carmen, and Ramya all claim they were in their rooms last night, studying."
"Well, I can't swear under oath about Carmen and Ramya. I didn't go to their room. But I know Vanessa went out, so the other girls had to be with her. They follow her everywhere like puppy dogs. It's freaking pathetic."
"How do you know Vanessa went out?" Lara asked.
Roxanne rolled her eyes. "Look, I was really suffering from menstrual cramps, and Vanessa-she's like a freaking pharmacy down there. So I went to her room to score some Midol, and no one answered the door. It was locked, but I was really desperate, you know. So I jimmied the lock and went inside."
"What did you see?" Lara asked.
"A box of Midol in the top drawer of her dresser, so I took two pills. Left her fifty cents. I'm not a thief, you know." She slanted a worried look at LaToya. "You guys aren't going to arrest me, are you?"
"You're fine," Lara assured her. "But are you saying the room was empty? Vanessa wasn't there?"
"Duh. Vanessa and her chubby sidekick were gone."
"Any idea where they went?" Lara asked.
Roxanne snorted. "I don't know. Maybe she went shopping or to get her nails done. She really freaks out if her nails aren't perfect. Or her hair. She's got about fifty different tote bags for her books, so she can coordinate them with whatever she's wearing each day."
LaToya narrowed her eyes. "You don't like her much, do you?"
"Oh, brilliant detective work, Nancy Drew. But if you think I'd do anything to hurt Vanessa, you're crazy. She paid me three hundred bucks to type her papers this semester. I need her." Roxanne grimaced. "And the whole thing kinda freaks me out. The same thing happened last year to Brittney Beckford. She disappeared, and the cops never found her."
Lara exchanged a worried look with LaToya. Brittney had gone missing before they'd arrived in New York. How long had Jack been in New York? "Can you describe Brittney?"
"Typical spoiled rich preppie," Roxanne grumbled.
"English?" LaToya pulled out her notebook and pen.
Roxanne sighed. "Long hair, bleached strawberry blond. Fake tan. Blue eyes due to her contacts. Collagen lips. Fake friends who have forgotten her. The only thing real about Brittney was her low IQ."
"Thanks. You've been very helpful." LaToya stuffed her notebook back into her pocket and headed back to the stairs.
"Fascists," Roxanne muttered as she shut the door.
Lara and LaToya descended the stairs in silence, then strode down the hallway to the dormitory entrance.
"Vanessa seems to worry a lot about her appearance," Lara said.
"She and a million other girls," LaToya muttered.
"Yeah, it sounds like she and Brittney have a lot in common." Two missing girls with red or reddish blonde hair and blue eyes. Lara paused to look at the bulletin board. A pink paper drew her attention. "Look at this." She ripped it free.
LaToya read it out loud. "Do you want to stay young and beautiful forever? Free seminar. Room 4, Student Services Building. Saturday, nine p.m."
"That would be the kind of seminar Vanessa would go to." Lara studied the paper. "Let's check it out."
They located the room where the meeting had taken place, but it was empty except for a few plastic chairs and a dry-erase board. They talked to the building manager, and he checked the schedule.
"Room 4?" His face went blank. "There was no one in that room Saturday night."
Lara gulped. Whoever had run the seminar had erased his tracks. Much like Jack had erased all evidence of him and his friends at the Plaza hotel. Damn! She'd wanted so much to believe in Jack. She'd wanted to trust him.
Her gut churned as they walked across the campus. She couldn't believe he was involved. There had to be someone else with his abilities. "I need to talk to Jack."
"You're in luck." LaToya pulled out her notebook and flipped through the pages. "I have his address right here. That Lexus he was driving was registered to a Roman Draganesti. Upper East Side."
"Then let's go." Lara's heart squeezed in her chest. She'd wanted so badly to see Jack again. But now, she'd have to question him as a suspect.
"What did you learn about Jack in our apartment?" LaToya asked. "You didn't say much about it."
She hadn't wanted to talk about his kiss. It had been too glorious to cheapen with gossip. A vision flitted through her mind-Jack in his jeans and no shirt. His broad chest and strong shoulders. His warm brown eyes that glimmered with gold. Or glowed red when he was turned on.
She swallowed hard. "I'm not sure what he is."
LaToya shook her head. "It's looking bad for him."