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figure out why I would do that, when she was so obviously irritated, right?”
    Maxie nodded. “Right. What happened wasn’t your fault. She couldn’t have blamed you for that mess on the shelves.”
    Erica stopped sweeping. She leaned against the counter. The expression on her square, attractive face was serious as she addressed Maxie in a low voice. “I know you think my mother is a shrew,” she said. “Everyone does.”
    Before Maxie could protest, Erica added quickly, “But she wasn’t always like that. Like you saw her today, I mean. She used to be tons of fun, happy and laughing, like Candie’s mother. I know she was really popular in college, and that always made sense to me, because she was so …so fun.” The blue eyes were full of regret as Erica added, “But when my dad died, she changed. Became overprotective. Because I’m all she’s got left, I guess. Calls me all the time, writes constantly, nagging me about dressing properly and taking vitamins, that kind of stuff. So,” Erica resumed sweeping again, her movements careless and absentminded, “if she knew that something had been taken from my room, and then returned, if she knew about the mess in the frig, she’d yank me out of this house, yank me out of college, probably. Make me come home and live with her, where I’d be ‘safe.’ ” Erica’s shoulders moved in a shudder. “I couldn’t stand that.”
    Maxie ran a hand through her dark curls. Her mind fought against Erica’s words. “You don’t think this house is safe?” Jenna had implied the same thing. But Erica … Erica was Omega Phi’s president . If she didn’t believe they were safe …
    Erica stopped sweeping again to glance at Maxie. “Someone,” she said slowly, carefully, “has been in this house twice in the past week. Someone who had no business being here. Someone who was up to no good. Does that sound safe to you, Maxie?”

Chapter 5
    A S SHE RETURNED TO her room, Maxie thought about what Erica had said. She was overreacting, wasn’t she? It wasn’t as if anyone had been hurt. No poison in their cucumber sandwiches, no knife-wielding maniac running up and down the halls, no one had been thrown down the wide, curving stairs with the thick wooden railing.
    Maxie jumped when the phone shrilled. Then, shaking herself sternly, she picked up the receiver.
    It was Brendan.
    “Where are you?” she asked abruptly.
    “I’m at Vinnie’s. I thought you might like to meet me for pizza.”
    “Is Jenna with you?” Maxie had to ask.
    “Jenna? No. She had a paper to write, so she headed for the library. Why?”
    Their canoe ride hadn’t led to anything else. Good. “No reason. I just wondered.” She was suddenly starving. She hadn’t eaten much at the tea.
    Maxie took the local shuttle bus to Vinnie’s, a favorite pizza hangout, which was only a few minutes from campus. Brendan was sitting alone in a booth at the back when Maxie walked in. When they had ordered, she told him about the strange things that had been happening at Omega house.
    When their pizza arrived, hot and gooey, Brendan was still trying to make sense of it. “I don’t get it,” he said, carefully picking up a slice of tomatoey crust. “Someone stole something but gave it back? Someone filled your frig with garbage?”
    Maxie nodded.
    “Maybe it’s that creepy gardener of yours,” Brendan suggested. “Sounds like the kind of stunt he’d pull to rattle your cages. Did anyone check him out before they hired him?”
    “Tom Tuttle? Mildred probably did. Or the university. Anyway, he’s creepy, but I haven’t seen him inside the house, and if Erica had, she’d have told me. And why would Tom Tuttle take something from one of the rooms and then send it back by messenger?”
    Brendan shrugged and wiped tomato sauce from his mouth with a paper napkin. “Why would anyone? Just to let you know they’d been in the house, I guess. Like I said, to rattle your cage.”
    “That’s mean. I don’t