Three boxes that used to hold computer paper held what the police left behind. They just fit in the trunk of my car, once I consolidated junk that I didn’t need to be carting around in the first place. I considered what was I going to do with all that used to be Keith’s. I had hopes for the address book-I pictured an alphabetical list, in Keith’s own handwriting, with the heading “Likely suspects in the event of my murder.” I shuddered at the way my mind worked.
At the very least the book might open the investigation to suspects other than the residents of Ben Franklin Hall, who were some of my favorite people, even the stubborn little chem majors I’d just scrambled with.
I drove off campus, past Maureen in the security booth. I waved good-bye to her as if it were any other Saturday when all that was in my trunk was the emergency first aid kit Bruce had prepared for me and a down jacket leftover from the long ago cold winter days. I finally let out my breath when I reached Henley Boulevard and merged into a steady flow of local traffic.
My Bluetooth was busy on the way to the police station. First, Ariana called to thank me for letting her use my place for her class.
“I’m afraid we ate you out of house and home,” she said. “Let me bring dinner by tonight.”
I was so wired from the day already, I hardly even remembered that there had been beaders in my home. While I was packing up and ultimately absconding with a murder victim’s property, then entertaining three possible killers, notwithstanding the adorable outfits they wore, several Henley women had been sitting at my kitchen island making earrings and bracelets.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said to Ariana. “I can pick up something.”
“I want to come. You’ve been avoiding me since all this happened.”
“That was yesterday.”
“See you around six. I have some new organics that are just what you need.”
“Okay, thanks.” There was no use arguing with Ariana once she went into her incense mode. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she came ready to smudge my home and yard. “I have a meeting at three so I should definitely be home by six.”
“Who are you meeting with?” she asked.
“Huh? Oh, sorry, gotta go.” I clicked off with great relief. I’d rather tell Ariana after the fact about a successful session at police headquarters than risk potential confusion when she gave me advice on how to determine Archie’s aura. Which she would certainly do. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know Archie’s aura even if I had the skills to detect it. I did want to know his birthday, however.
Bruce was next. I told him how nice it was to see my photo on the dresser in his home away from home.
“How was it between Gil and Rachel?” he asked.
“What do you mean? Gil was very nice about showing us around and lending us her room, until the Bat Phone rang.”
“I heard about that. Glad you could see the crew in action. We don’t just watch movies, you know.”
Not so fast. “What’s this about Gil and Rachel?” I asked
“Nothing really.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “Bruce.” I tried to sound like a stern mother. Or dean.
“Okay. It’s just that Gil’s always had a thing about Rachel and Hal.”
This was news. “Rachel and Hal?”
“You know, whether they were an item.”
Not only news, but shocking news. “I can’t believe you never told me this.”
“Thought you knew.”
“Hal was Rachel’s freshman adviser and they’ve always been close. Well, not close close. You mean there was talk?”
“Just talk. I’m sorry I brought it up. I figured you knew but didn’t want the talk to grow. I was impressed at your integrity, but now I see you didn’t know.”
Bruce laughed; I didn’t.
“Where did you hear this talk?”
Bruce’s long breath told me he was sorry he mentioned it. Too bad. Too late. “Gil brought it up once or twice, but not lately I don’t think. Ernie told me she asked him for advice about it once. Ernie’s the nurse that’s on shift with her a lot. She asked him, should she confront her husband, that kind of thing. Then I think Sim got wind of it, too, and had a couple of talks with her.”
Who would have thought? The MAstar trailer was gossip central, as bad as the Clara Barton, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Paul Revere dorms.
“What other Henley gossip are you keeping from me?”
“Not a thing. What’s new with you?” he asked, sounding eager to move on.
“I’m just leaving campus.”
“I’d have thought the campus was still a crime scene.”
“Nah.”
“Where are you headed?”
“I’m going home, then I have a meeting with Virgil’s partner.”
“Archie? Watch out for him. He’s single and, you might say, hot. What’s he want with you?”
“We’re going to compare notes,” I said, checking my rearview mirror for a state trooper on lie patrol.
“You’re not getting into any trouble, are you?
“Pfft. Why would you think that?”
“Let’s see. No reason. Except”-I heard a snap of his fingers-“oh, yeah, there was the time you put together a petition to get rid of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees-”
“He was breaking labor laws by posting jobs he’d already wired for his friends.”
“I love how naïve you are about how things are done in the real world.”
“Well, if that’s reality, I’ll take… math.”
Bruce laughed but he wasn’t finished with me. “And then there was the week you went to Washington to track down the fraud issue, and the proposals you submit every month to get credit for interns in spite of all the precedents against it, and-”
“I get it. But this time is different,” I said, turning a corner. “I’m not sticking my neck out.”
The sound of heavy cartons thunking around in my trunk flooded my ears.
I’d decided not to leave my car with its special load parked in town, even though it would be in or near the police station lot. Actually, that was not a plus-I didn’t want my special load anywhere near the police.
Thoughts of Rachel and Hal together swirled around my head. How could I have missed that? If there was anything to miss. One thing I was sure of, I’d now be focusing on how Rachel and Hal acted when I was in the same room with them.
I pulled into my driveway and hit the garage door opener. Attaching a garage had been one of the best home improvement ideas my mother and I had come up with. We appreciated it in all seasons. Today it served as a dumping ground for my boxes. I pushed aside shopping bags of clothing destined for a charity drive and unloaded the cartons onto a long workbench that the construction foreman had told me would come in handy whether or not I was a tinkerer. He’d been right.
I ran into my house and changed into a clean shirt, wanting no dust mites from a former crime scene falling off my torso in the middle of a police interview. I hadn’t eaten since my candlelight breakfast with Bruce, so I spent ninety seconds putting together a peanut butter and rhubarb jam sandwich on whole wheat. I shoved the edge of the uncut sandwich between my teeth in a most lady-like manner, and ran out again to meet Archie.
Back in my car, I pressed the button on my opener and watched my garage door descend, locking in the boxes, inch by inch.
CHAPTER 10
The miserably hot day that began with my interview with Rachel in a trailer was to continue with one in Henley’s rundown old police building, in a part of town I seldom visited. My local travel was restricted to campus, MAstar now and then, and Ariana’s shop.
The town budget hadn’t allowed for an upgrade to the Henley PD parking lot, which was now full. Did all these vehicles belong to suspects in Keith’s murder? I didn’t recognize any of them as belonging to Franklin Hall faculty. Perhaps the criminal element I knew so little about was experiencing a surge in activity that caused an overflow in and around police headquarters.