The Square Root of Murder (Professor Sophie Knowles)
yesterday?” Rachel had given me a smaller window for Keith’s murder but I decided to stick to what the police were using.
Casey let out a little gasp. “I told you we should—” she began, addressing Pam.
Pam threw her arm out to Casey’s chest, interrupting her friend. “Casey,” she said, in a warning tone. “Like we told the police. We were at the party, like everybody else, then we went to the dorm.”
“We didn’t—” Liz began.
A look from Pam stopped her.
Very curious. “Have you all talked to the police?”
“They interviewed everyone last night,” Pam said.
“Remember when we called and told you?” Casey asked me.
Pam gave her a look of approval, mixed with “but not another word.”
I remembered the call last night, and now wished I’d taken advantage of the opportunity to quiz them, instead of virtually hanging up on them.
I wasn’t prepared for the girls’ behavior—suspicious, I thought, but given my state of mind, I could have been way off. As far as I knew Pam and Liz were doing all right academically, but Casey was on the edge of a passing grade in Keith’s organic chemistry class. To everyone’s surprise, he’d offered a makeup class this summer for the benefit of students like Casey. Their last shot.
I put the girls on my mental list of suspects, but only to add to the pool so Rachel wouldn’t be alone. A few stuttering remarks weren’t damning, but certainly called for a closer look. The idea of one or all them as killers seemed ludicrous at the moment, as they stood there, angelic and vulnerable in their crop tops and brightly painted toenails.
I needed a serious sit-down with them but not now. I couldn’t afford to be late to meet Archie.
“We need to discuss the statistics seminar,” I said. “I’ll be working with each student individually to determine how to test and grade.”
I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with that on the spot.
“Individually?” Pam asked.
“I think it’s the best way since it will be almost impossible to get all twelve of you together. At least four I can think of have gone back to their homes.”
“The three of us are in Paul Revere,” Pam said. I made a note: The leader.
“Maybe we could all meet together in our dorm room,” Liz said. I made a note: The follower.
Casey nodded vigorously. I made a note: The weak link.
I shook my head. “I don’t think that would be appropriate. I’m sure Huey’s will be closed tomorrow, but the library will be open.” Huey, who ran the campus coffee shop, took every opportunity to close up and go sailing. Who could blame him? “Let’s start at eleven with Pam. It shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes to a half hour. Then Liz, then Casey. That sound okay?”
Pam, taller than her friends by a few inches, chewed her lip mercilessly while trying to maintain her position of leadership. Liz and Casey looked to Pam for guidance.
“Okay,” Pam said, followed closely by nods from her subjects.
“Good,” I said. “Now can you please let me through?”
The girls split up and stepped back onto the grass, leaving the path clear.
I pulled the dolly past them. Too bad I didn’t have a recording device to plant on one of them. I’d have given anything to be in on their next conversation.
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
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