Murder is Academic (19 page)

“Oh, dear. I’m sorry, Jimmy. Thanks for trying. Here’s your ten bucks.” I handed him two fives.

“No, I got them anyway.” He held out a manila envelope. “No one was at the number the lady called. She said she guessed the office was closed for the day, so she gave me the papers, said they were important and I should take them to Dr. Pruitt’s office and slide them under the door. I acted like I knew what she was saying and assured her I would.”

I took the papers from Jimmy, somewhat stunned our scheme worked after all.

“Say, your mother said you’d have done the work for five bucks.” I pinned him with my most serious adult-to-kid look.

“A deal’s a deal. Besides, I got at least ten phone calls on my cell saying there was no paper. You two really screwed up my route. I’ll be lucky if I get any bonus from my customers this week. The extra five will barely cover the shortfall.”

“Okay, Okay. Keep it.” Smart-ass kid, I thought, but conceded that we couldn’t have gotten the papers without his help.

“Do you need a ride?” asked Annie.

“Nah. I got lotsa time to get to Freddy’s house.”

I was eager to read what was in the envelope. We waved goodbye to Jimmy and sat down at Annie’s dining room table to examine what our scheme netted us.

I tore open the manila envelope and looked at the papers inside, going through them sheet by sheet.

“Well? What have we got?” Annie anxiously chewed her thumbnail.

I said nothing as I turned them over to her. She grabbed the papers, gave them a glance, then looked up at me.

“Blank sheets of paper?”

I laughed and rose from the table. “Bunny was one step ahead of us. She’s a lot smarter than those spit curls would lead one to believe. But now we know.”

“Know what?” Annie looked dejected.

“We know the papers exist and are important enough she doesn’t want anyone to see them. Except Rudolf. And that’s really interesting. They’re both covering up something. Much as I hate to do this, I’ll have to tell Der about our afternoon’s work. He’ll be mad, but he’ll have to concede I was on the right track with Rudolf and Bunny. Now, perhaps he’ll take my intuitions more seriously.”

Annie nodded her head in agreement although she drew her eyebrows together in a look that expressed misgivings about whether Der would share our view of Bunny and Rudolf.

“I’m late. I’ve got to get back to the lake and help Guy. And I’ll have to tell him about our scheme also. I don’t think he’ll like it any better than Der will.”

*

I gunned the engine of my feeble car down the road to the lake and into the driveway thinking I would find Guy’s motorcycle parked there, but no bike. On the table in the kitchen was a note that read, “Finished yard. Ran home to grab a shower and a change of clothing. Dress up. We’ll go someplace nice tonight.”

Oh boy, I thought. He’s planning for a special night, and I have to spoil it by confessing to more meddling in police affairs, something he warned me away from. This was not going to be a great night unless, of course, I put off telling him about the day’s events until after we had dinner and whatever might follow. The more I thought about procrastination, the more I liked it.

The phone rang just as soon as I got out of the shower. I picked up the extension in the bedroom. A muffled voice came over the line.

“You got nothing this afternoon, did you, Murphy? Better leave it that way. Or you could be sorry.”

“Bunny! Rudolf! Is that you?”

Whoever was on the other end had hung up. I was yelling into a dead line. I couldn’t tell whether it was a man or woman talking, the voice was so distorted. But I could only think of two people who would call me implying they or one of them outsmarted me on the papers.

Guy’s voice startled me. By the time I recovered my wits, he was standing next to me looking at me curiously.

“What’s the matter? You look like you just got bad news.” He took the receiver from my hand and held it up to his ear. Hearing only a dial tone, he placed it back in the cradle.

“I think I’m scared.”

Guy made me sit down on the bed, went downstairs and brought me a brandy. As I sipped the fiery liquid, I told him of Annie’s and my episode in the afternoon and then about the phone call. He listened without interrupting and then picked up the phone again.

“What are you doing?”

He rubbed my back and then spoke into the receiver. “Der, can you come out to Laura’s right away? She’s just had a threatening phone call, one you should know about.”

Guy turned to me. “Is Annie with Ron tonight?”

I nodded. Guy dialed Annie’s number and talked at some length with Ron. Guy filled him in on the phone call to me and asked Ron to spend the night with Annie.

Der came out to the lake immediately following Guy’s call, and we spent some time talking over the events of the day. As I predicted, he was furious at Annie’s and my ill-conceived and useless caper for getting papers from Bunny Talbot. Since I could not identify the voice on the phone, I couldn’t point the finger at any one individual, but it had to be Bunny or Rudolf. Der pointed out it may have felt like a real threat to me, but it was somewhat ambiguous in nature. He wanted to talk with Bunny and Rudolf anyway, just to let them know they couldn’t engage in such tactics.

He agreed with my interpretation of the day’s events. The papers did appear to be important if my attempt to obtain them resulted in Bunny’s unwillingness to let them out of her house and in the phone call to me.

For my safety, Der wanted me to stay out of the case, and I wanted to promise him I would, but I knew I would break my promise as soon as I felt better. And after a good night’s sleep I knew my snoopy nature would take over once again.

I’d never been to Guy’s apartment before. It really wasn’t much to look at, but I felt safer here than back at the lake. I wanted to get away from my house, usually a haven of security to me. Now I feared a ringing phone would bring another unidentifiable and threatening voice into my cocoon of safety.

I wish I could say I had a good night’s sleep or that lack of sleep was due to something other than a lumpy mattress, but, unfortunately, sleep eluded me as I tossed and turned in Guy’s tiny twin bed with its too thin mattress. Guy slept on the couch. Originally I felt he was making a supreme sacrifice by letting me have the bed. At about three am, I knew he got the better end of that deal.

Just as I was beginning to drop off, Guy woke me to announce it was six in the morning, and coffee was ready. I decided I needed to get back to the lake early so I could put finishing touches on the house for David’s visit today and Guy, who left his bike there, wanted to run some errands before he met David this afternoon. I also looked forward to a quick nap in my own bed.

On our way back, we stopped by Annie’s to see if she got through the night well. Her face was flushed when she answered the door. “Have you heard the terrible news?”

“What news?”

Annie knew something before I did? How could that be?

“There was a fire at Bunny Talbot’s last night. The entire house went up in flames!”

“Is Bunny alright?” I wondered if this catastrophe was in any way connected to yesterday.

“She wasn’t home,” Ron said, “a lucky thing for her. It appears to have been a very hot, fast fire of suspicious origins. I just got a call from Detective Pasquis, and he’s at the scene with the fire unit. They’re not going to be able to do much until things cool down a bit. But it sure looks like arson.”

“Let’s go.” I signaled to Guy assuming he would follow and headed for my car.

He remained on Annie’s door step.

“If you need a ride,” Annie said to Guy, “I’ll drive you out to the lake to pick up your bike.”

I looked at him. He shrugged and signaled me to go ahead. I put the car in gear and roared off toward Bunny’s house. I was still a little shook over last evening’s phone call, but even more unsettled by the fire. Although I couldn’t immediately see the connection between the two events, I knew there had to be one. Der wouldn’t be happy to see me at Bunny’s house, but I couldn’t help that. I needed to talk with Bunny or at least be there when he talked to Bunny. Bunny wouldn’t welcome my appearance, but it was a chance I had to take.

When I arrived at what was left of the house, I didn’t find either of them. One of the officers at the scene told me Der was back at police headquarters with Mrs. Talbot. I jumped back into my car. Bunny was just leaving the building when I pulled up.

“Bunny, so sorry about your house. It was a lucky thing you weren’t home. You must be out of your mind over this thing.”

Bunny looked at me, with red-rimmed eyes. “Haven’t you done enough, Dr. Murphy? Now you want to show up and gloat over my house burning down. I told Detective Pasquis I suspected you had a hand in this whole mess, and I told him of your little scheme to get some very important papers away from me yesterday. Just go away and leave me alone.”

Bunny’s face registered distress and fear, both directed at me. I couldn’t believe she thought I was involved in her house fire. I watched her get into the car and drive off with one of her friends.

When I entered the building, Der was at the front desk. His dark eyes looked stormier than usual.

“You might as well come on in to my office. I assume you’ll just hang around here until you pry something out of someone.”

“Well?” I sat and sipped a cup of his terrible coffee. “Oh, by the way, I saw Bunny on my way in. We had a few words. She thinks I’m somehow responsible for the fire.”

“Bunny’s not in good shape. She’s likely to say about anything. Good God, Laura. She’s lost a husband to a violent death and now her house burns down. Meanwhile she’s had to deal with your snooping and scheming on a regular basis. What do you want her to think?”

I thought about this and concluded he had a very good point. I was not one of Bunny’s favorite people at this moment.

Yet there was my side, too.

“Yeah, well, I’m a little shook too what with that phone call last night. Who other than Bunny or Rudolf knew about my attempt to get those papers? I’m not so crazy about her right now either.”

“I talked to Bunny about the phone call. She figured something wasn’t right when young Jimmy showed up on her doorstep for the papers, but, since she couldn’t reach Rudolf to confirm he sent someone to get the papers, she decided to err on the side of caution. She saw Rudolf later in the evening and he confirmed he never sent for the papers. She insists neither of them made the call to your house. I’m on my way to talk with Rudolf now.”

I slid forward in my chair and gripped the edge of his desk. “So she and Rudolf met later? Where?”

“At his office on campus.”

“Can I come with you when you talk with Rudolf?”

Der sighed. “Okay, but I want you to keep quiet. Remember when we’re there I’m talking with Rudolf to corroborate the time he and Bunny met, so I can get a fix on when she left the house. I need to check out the movements last night of a number of people, Bunny and Rudolf included. So this isn’t about you. It’s about the fire.”

I really hated it when he felt it necessary to lecture me on police procedure, as if I didn’t know he was investigating a potential arson connected with an earlier homicide. I was muttering some of this under my breath, when he interrupted me.

“I know you know, but sometimes you need to be reminded.”

We found Rudolf in his office. He looked unsurprised to see Detective Pasquis and annoyed at my presence.

“What’s she doing here? Hasn’t she caused enough trouble, snooping into everyone’s business and cooking up devious plans to get what isn’t hers? I think she should be arrested. In fact, I insist on it.” Rudolf balled his hands into fists and glared at Der and me.

I was about to say something, when Der put his arm on my shoulder. “I know Dr. Murphy is terribly sorry for all her meddling, but she’s here because she had her own scare last night. It may be connected in some way to the fire.”

I gave Der a look that said I was not sorry I meddled, only that I got caught. Rudolf acted as if I had, in fact, apologized and, in a showy gesture, ushered us into his office, even asking Nancy to get us coffee. I opened my mouth again to refuse the coffee, but Der beat me to it by accepting Rudolf’s offer. The coffee turned out to be rather good, and I accepted a second cup. Rudolf’s willingness to behave in a generous manner toward us was too suspicious for my taste, but I decided to go along with the charade until I found out what he was after.

Der asked Rudolf about the alleged meeting between Bunny and him the day before.

“Bunny called me and caught me at home just sitting down to dinner. She told me she suspected you had cooked up a little plot to get those papers and how she had substituted blank ones for the real documents. Pretty clever, huh? Who’d have thought Bunny Talbot was that smart.”

I rather thought the same thing, but was too embarrassed being outwitted by Bunny to voice my opinion at that point, so I sipped my coffee in silence.

“Anyway, I convinced Bunny we ought to meet and she should bring the papers with her. She said she didn’t want to carry them on her in case you were waiting to steal them from her person.”

I was offended Bunny would think me capable of theft, well, that kind of theft, anyway, but I kept my mouth shut, willing Rudolf to get on with the story.