Love Can Be Murder

coming up when Tammy's friends were questioned."
    "But all of Tammy's friends were her sorority sisters. Angora quit the sorority because they gave her such a hard time."
    "The sorority mother told me that Angora was forced out."
    Angora did have a habit of adjusting the truth until it reflected well on her. Still, Roxann's head was spinning. "But...but there must not have been enough evidence to warrant an arrest."
    "No. There were no witnesses. But I watched the videotape of the police interviewing Angora, and it was clear to me that she had issues with the Paulen girl."
    "I heard the Paulen girl wasn't the nicest person."
    "I heard the same thing," Nell conceded. "And Tammy's friends admitted that she treated Angora badly. They said she had something on your cousin, was holding it over her head."
    "What?"
    "No one knew, although one girl said she thought it had something to do with a blond wig."
    Roxann went completely still. "A blond wig?" She managed a little laugh. "That's...strange."
    "You don't know what they might have been referring to?"
    She tried to speak, but could only shake her head.
    Nell shrugged her thin shoulders. "You know how girls are—maybe she found out that Angora wasn't a natural blonde, or something superficial like that."
    "Right," Roxann said, recovering. "No connection to the accident. Besides, I just can't see Angora being involved."
    "Roxann—" The professor looked down, sighed, then looked up. "Do you think you're a good judge of character?"
    She pulled back. "I'd like to believe so."
    "That came out wrong—I meant where your cousin is concerned."
    Words of defense gathered in her throat, then Roxann swallowed them. Hadn't Angora always been able to evoke her sympathy? To convince her to do things against her better judgment? Was it possible that instead of being a poor little rich girl, her cousin was a grand manipulator? After all, she had a master tutor in Dee.
    "Angora and I will get a hotel room tonight."
    "Don't be silly, you're staying with me."
    "I don't want you to feel uncomfortable about Angora sleeping under your roof."
    "I don't, and I didn't mean to upset you. Please don't leave." The woman looked a little desperate—she was indeed lonely.
    Roxann touched Nell's hand. "Thank you for telling me the truth. I'll keep an eye on Angora. By the way, I ran into Elise James on campus today."
    "I know that name, but I can't place her."
    "She went to grad school here, and she joined the Rescue program about a year ago. I thought you might know her."
    Nell sighed. "Unfortunately, the memory is the first thing to go. Is she nice?"
    "Nice and troubled. We were paired up to live together in Biloxi, but I don't think Elise ever had her heart in the work. She suffered some personal problems and a few weeks ago she just took off." No need to go too much into detail, lest Nell start to think she was some kind of lesbian siren.
    "This kind of volunteer work isn't for everyone. And if a person already has problems, the stress can sometimes exacerbate those problems."
    Roxann nodded. "I think she was on something when I saw her today. She was rambling, incoherent."
    Nell broke off a small piece of the flat bread. "What was she rambling about?"
    "Something about a college relationship that had screwed her up."
    "Sounds like whatever she’s on has her screwed up."
    Their food arrived, but Roxann's appetite had vanished, and nature was calling. She excused herself and went to the ladies' room, grateful for the moment alone. She hadn't been alone, not really, since leaving Baton Rouge. And now she had a sick, heavy feeling that returning to South Bend would simply reopen old wounds. Carl had drawn her back, but why on earth would Angora want to come back to a place where she had so many bad memories?
    Roxann stared in a mirror over the sink and let the revelation sink in. Carl. Angora had been drawn back to Carl, too. She had made light of the fact that sleeping with him was on her life list, when she'd probably been in love with him just as much as Roxann. Why hadn't she seen it?
    And Angora had probably been devastated earlier today when he'd recognized Roxann and not her. Roxann winced. No wonder Angora had acted so strangely the rest of the afternoon, and had bid so outrageously for his attention. On the heels of being jilted, her cousin was starved for validation.
    She leaned into the cold porcelain sink and tried to remember the last day her life had had any semblance of normalcy. As