On the third Sunday in August, the Emerick College Quakers football and soccer teams moved en masse back into the dormitories, signaling the end of summer. Ali and Cliff, along with the rest of their colleagues, drifted back to campus, trading shorts and flip flops for classroom attire, poolside novels for syllabi and textbooks, and re-set their clock radios… Ruthalice Michels parked her two-door, lemon-yellow Focus in the spot reserved for the Campus Minister, slid out of the front seat, and stretched. There was nothing that morning to suggest that Ruthalice was about to become the common denominator in five unfortunate events: a John-Doe drowning, the troublesome catch by two young fishermen, a prescient nightmare, a disconcerting encounter with a mysterious birder, and the appearance of an intimidating stalker on campus.