Got Your Number

our jail."
    "No. I was arrested twice during protest rallies when I attended the university."
    Dee made an indignant noise in her throat. "I'm not a bit surprised."
    Mason swung his gaze in her direction. "They were peaceful protests."
    "Roxann has always been a troublemaker," Dee said, her head bobbing. "She's a bad influence on Angora." From the tone of her voice one might have thought Angora to be a six-year-old.
    The DA cleared his throat loudly, indicating he wanted silence, but Dee was never good at taking a hint.
    "My daughter would do something illegal or immoral only if Roxann talked her into it."
    Angora's attorney turned his slick head. "Mrs. Ryder, would you kindly shut your pie hole?"
    Roxann blinked, and her estimation of the greenhorn rose a couple of notches. Not only was he astute enough to realize that Dee wasn't doing Angora any favors, but he didn't mind telling her. Wow.
    Her own attorney, meanwhile, leaned over and puked something brown on the beige carpet. She was hustled to the ladies' room and the goop temporarily covered with an upended trash can. When Phyllis returned, apologetic and pastel, everyone reconvened at the opposite end of the table. Roxann was getting sick to her stomach, not because of the throw-up, but because this Troy woman was probably making ten times her salary.
    "Let's get right to it," the DA said. "Ms. Beadleman, Ms. Ryder, as you can imagine, this is a high-profile case with all the trappings of a scandal, which the university could do without. So we'd like to take care of this matter as expeditiously as possible." He paused and looked back and forth between them for effect. "Basically, we think you're both involved in the murder of Dr. Seger." He let the words sink in. "But whichever one of you talks first gets to walk."
    Roxann chanced a glance at Angora, who was chewing on her lower lip. Dee was massaging her hand and whispering low, with a pleading look on her face. Panic blipped through her—Angora wouldn't lie to save her own skin, would she? Her heart thudded. Of course she would.
    Since her own attorney was useless, Roxann leaned forward and clasped her hands on the table. "Face it, Mr. Mason. You have nothing but circumstantial evidence, or you wouldn't have arrested both of us. You need an eyewitness, which you don't have. But you and I know that if you put us both on trial, it'll be easy to generate doubt among the jurors. If that's not enough, we'll throw in the fact that I'm being stalked by a man who threatened to hurt people around me, and who, by the way, is still unaccounted for. If you think we're lying, then give us a lie detector test, but don't try to bribe us into making up something to incriminate the other just so you can dangle someone in front of the press and the public."
    He lifted an eyebrow. "Maybe you should have been a lawyer, Ms. Beadleman." Then his smile vanished. "But the way we see it, you two could have been in cahoots to get rid of the man. We found these lists that the two of you made where Dr. Seger seems to be the target of some kind of sexual fantasy."
    She set her jaw. "Those were harmless ramblings of youth."
    "We were smoking dope," Angora offered.
    Roxann closed her eyes, and Dee said, "See, see, I told you—Roxann is a bad influence."
    "Maybe," Mason said, "the two of you went over to his house for a threesome, and things got out of hand. The medical examiner's report said that the alcohol level in Dr. Seger's blood was near the legal limit. And he was already unconscious when he was strangled."
    "He had passed out?"
    "No—hit from behind with a blunt object on the base of the skull."
    Roxann digested this new bit of information. "But if we had hit him, then strangled him, why would we incriminate ourselves by leaving behind a very identifiable scarf?"
    Mason shrugged. "Some killers get a kick out of leaving a souvenir. It's not my job to look into your psyche, Ms. Beadleman. It's my job to prove that you have motive, means, and opportunity." He looked back and forth between them. "The offer is on the table for two more minutes, then you both can take your chances."
    "What about the other murder charge?" Mr. Brown asked and looked at his notes. "A student named Tammy Paulen?"
    Mason looked at his assistant, who offered Brown a flat smile. "We're willing to drop those charges if your client cooperates."
    Roxann's eyes bugged. If she cooperates? They might as well have said if she hands them Roxann’s head on a