Murder Misread (23 page)

“
Mm.” Hines was writing
industriously, still lounging back in the chair. “Where did
Professor Peterson keep her gun?”

“
Well, that’s one of the
things that worried me. She kept it in her office. Desk drawer, I
think. She said she kept it locked but it still seems a bad idea to
me if you have young people around. The university students would
be bad enough, but around here there are younger kids too. They
come in for experiments, or for the regular preschool program. I
mean, you have to be extra careful if there are kids
around.”

“
That’s true. I’ve got
kids, and I use a gunlock at home,” Hines said. “Do you know if
Professor Peterson used one?”

“
She never said anything
about it,” Charlie said. “And I wouldn’t know one if I saw it
anyway.” Where were these questions leading?

“
Do you know what drawer
she kept it in?”

“
Look, what’s all this
about Nora’s gun? Was that the one—my God, was it Nora’s
gun?”

Hines didn’t move, just
sat poised patiently to write down Charlie’s answer. After a moment
Charlie remembered the question. “I don’t know which drawer she
kept it in. I’m not even sure she kept it in a drawer. But if she
did, and if she’s got a standard desk like mine, then the only
drawer that locks is the top middle.”

Hines noted it down,
stared at the page for a moment, then pulled in his feet and stood
up. He walked across to the window and looked down at the parking
lot for a moment. When he turned to Charlie again, backlit by the
window, Charlie couldn’t read the expression in his dark face.
Hines said, “I want you to think about Wednesday morning, Professor
Fielding.”

“
Wednesday
morning?”

“
Day before yesterday.”
Hines’s voice had changed subtly. It seemed harder, more brittle.
“Can you tell me what you did? Start with arriving at the building
here.”

Charlie’s mouth had gone
dry. What could this have to do with Tal’s murder? Or even with
Nora’s gun? He said, “There were several things I had to do
Wednesday. I was checking with my assistant about finishing the
third study. He’s the chief coder. And I wanted to get the material
ready for the statistician because she was arriving the next day.
Had to redo a couple of frequency graphs for her because I only had
preliminary ones. And I had to order some—”

Hines broke in. “What time
did you arrive Wednesday?”

“
About nine. As
usual.”

“
And what did you do
first?”

“
I unlocked my office. Is
that what you mean?”

“
Right. You went straight
to your office from the parking lot?”

“
Yes.” Charlie pushed his
glasses up on his nose. He had never thought of the sergeant as
friendly, but now he was brutally cold.

“
And then?” Hines’s words
were abrupt, jabbing.

“
Went into my office. Put
my things down. Checked next door to see if my assistant was in,
but he wasn’t. Came back to my office and started pulling things
together for the statistician. For Dr. Ryan.”

Hines was writing again.
“Good. What next?”

“
I started to work on the
graphs, and realized I needed a ruler because my assistant had
borrowed mine. I checked his office again but he still wasn’t
there. But down the hall I could see that Nora Peterson’s door was
open, so I went there and borrowed it. I finished the graphs
and—”

“
Just a minute, Professor
Fielding. Why did you go to Professor Peterson’s office to borrow a
ruler?”

“
I told you, the door was
open.”

“
Wouldn’t it be more usual
to go to the department office?”

“
Not really. It’s halfway
to the other end of the building. Nora’s office is much
closer.”

“
Professor Bickford’s
office is closer yet.”

“
But his door wasn’t
open!” Charlie adjusted his glasses. “He might not even have been
there. And even if he was he wouldn’t want to be bothered if his
door was closed. It’s sort of an unwritten rule. If we’re willing
to talk to people we leave the door partly open.”

“
Fine, Professor Fielding,
fine.” Hines was smiling but Charlie got no sense of warmth. The
big sergeant was still silhouetted against the glare of the window.
“Please go on. You went to Professor Peterson’s office.”

“
Uh, yes. I didn’t see her
at first so I knocked on the open door. You know the way you do.
She said, ‘Come on in,’ so I stepped in.”

“
Yes?”

“
She was standing on a
chair rearranging some books on the top shelf. She asked what I
wanted. I said I wanted to borrow her ruler for half an hour. She
said—” Damn. Oh, damn. Charlie rubbed a hand over his chin. He
wished the Coach was here to tell him what to do.

“
She said what?” Hines’s
cool voice was relentless.

“
She, uh, she said sure, I
could borrow it. She said it was in her center top desk drawer and
just to help myself.”

“
And did you?”

“
Yes. The drawer wasn’t
locked.”

Hines had stopped writing.
Charlie tried to see his expression against the brightness behind
him. He seemed to be thoughtful, studying Charlie in turn. Probably
looking for signs of guilt—cold sweat, trembling hands. At this
rate he’d find them too. Charlie added hoarsely, “I didn’t see a
gun.”

“
You didn’t? You mean it
wasn’t in the drawer?”

“
No. Maybe. I mean, I
didn’t see it if it was there. I pulled the drawer open maybe six
inches. The ruler was right at the front.” He demonstrated, pulling
his own drawer out. “I have no idea what might have been in the
back of the drawer.”

Hines began writing again
and Charlie pushed his drawer closed with shaky hands. It was
terrifying to see his most innocent actions take on evil shadows
from the spotlight of this policeman’s suspicion. And why was Hines
focused on him? Why not Nora herself? Why not Bart, or Cindy,
or—

He’d been talking to Cindy
just now. Maybe she’d said something. Or maybe he’d been asking her
questions too. Charlie hoped so.

Hines asked, “When did you
return the ruler?”

“
Return it? I haven’t
returned it yet.” He looked around the box on his desk and spotted
it near the front edge. “There it is. Usually I’d have it back by
now, but things have been so chaotic.”

“
Mm.” Hines came away from
the window, inspected the ruler without touching it, and then sat
down in the chair again. “Tell me, Professor Fielding, what is your
relationship with Professor Peterson?”

“
Relationship? We’re
colleagues, that’s all.”

“
Do you ever see her
outside the office?”

“
Well, there are parties,
of course. Departmental picnics. Committee lunches. The usual
things. All connected with the department.”

“
Nothing else?”

Charlie closed his eyes a
moment. Clearly someone—Cindy?—had been talking too much. He said
wearily, “Nothing. Really. At the Halloween party Professor
Peterson had a little too much to drink and there was a
misunderstanding. But that’s all.”

“
Tell me about the
misunderstanding.” Hines hadn’t softened any. Charlie could see him
better now, but his expression was as hard and unyielding as he’d
imagined.

“
Wasn’t much.” Charlie
licked his lips. “We’d both dressed as early film stars and she was
kidding around. Insisted on leaving with me. Probably just as well;
she wasn’t really in shape to drive. I took her to her door and
that was that.”

“
You didn’t go in with
her?”

“
No. That’s where it
became clear there had been a misunderstanding. But I just didn’t
want—I mean, Nora’s nice but she’s not my type at all.”

Hines looked at him
shrewdly, as though weighing something, then asked, “Do you think
she might hold a grudge?”

“
A grudge?” My God, had
Nora been the one to tell? No, surely she wouldn’t have mentioned
this embarrassing incident. He said, “All I know is that we’ve been
able to work as colleagues with no reference to that night. I
thought we’d all agreed to forget about it.”

“
Mm.” Hines made a note,
flipped back through the book, then said, “Well, that’s all for
now, Professor Fielding. Tell me if you think of anything more
about Professor Peterson or her gun.”

“
Okay, I will,” Charlie
promised, standing up as the big policeman exited.

Nora’s gun. What the hell
could that mean?

From the hall Sergeant
Hines’s voice said, “Ah, Dr. Ryan. I have a question for
you!”

“
Sure. Fire
away.”

“
How long were you away
from Professor Fielding while you mailed your letter
yesterday?”

“
Three minutes. Maybe
five. Not long.”

“
It’s an important
point.”

“
Yes, Sergeant Hines. I
know that.” Maggie’s voice was grim.

“
Think it over. Be sure,”
he advised.

“
Okay. What’s happened? Is
there a new development?”

“
There are always
developments. We’re working on all of them. Have a good day, now.”
Hines’s footsteps receded.

Maggie’s curly black head
popped around the door frame. “Hi, Charlie. What’s going on? May I
come in?”

“
Yeah. He’s after me,
isn’t he?”

“
You mean the question
about how long we were out of sight of each other? I doubt if it’s
personal.” She swung into the office, her shirt sizzling red
against the bland office background. She sat in the chair Hines had
vacated and put her briefcase on the floor. “Probably he’s found
some new information and has to double-check some of the
old.”

“
Maybe so.” Charlie stared
at her glumly. A vivid, bony woman, at home in the world, in
charge. He wished he felt in charge.

“
What was he asking about?
Why are you so down?”

“
Well, it shouldn’t make
any difference. I was with you. But he seems to have the idea I
took Nora’s gun from her desk drawer.”

“
Nora’s gun? You mean
Nora’s gun shot Tal?”

“
Must have. He just spent
half an hour grilling me about what I knew about guns, where Nora
kept hers, how I could have taken it from her drawer. Et cetera.”
Charlie shuddered. “I don’t know a thing about the damn gun, but
when I answered him it sounded suspicious anyway!”

“
Yeah. A crime
investigation is no lark. Why did he think you could have taken her
gun?”

“
I don’t know what put the
idea into his head. But it turned out that Wednesday I went in to
borrow a ruler, and she told me to get it out of her drawer. The
drawer was unlocked.”

“
Was the gun in
it?”

“
I have no idea! The ruler
was in the front so I just grabbed it. I didn’t even open the
drawer far enough to see what else was there.”

“
Well, then,” said Maggie
comfortingly, “it could have been anyone else who went in to see
her Wednesday. Or other times, if she left the drawer
unlocked.”

“
That’s true. But does
Hines know it?”

“
Oh, I’m sure he knows.
He’ll be talking to everyone.”

“
Maybe so.” But the memory
of the big black sergeant bearing down with his pointed questions
was too fresh to dismiss easily.

“
Speaking of Nora,” Maggie
said, “I saw that young campus cop in her office today. Did he talk
to you too?”

“
No. A young
one?”

“
He was with us in the
gorge, even before Captain Walensky arrived.”

“
Oh, yeah, I remember. He
looked familiar. You’re right, I did see him in the building
earlier today.”

“
But I can’t find anyone
he spoke to this afternoon except Nora. So it’s not that Walensky
sent him to talk to us, just to Nora.”

“
Yeah.” Charlie remembered
the young cop, pictured him talking to Nora. And somewhere in the
back of his mind an old image began unreeling: Nora at her desk,
cringing, an angry, stringy-haired student pounding on it, Charlie
himself hurrying in with Tal to see what the shouting was all
about. Charlie grunted, “No!”

“
No what?”

“
I don’t see how this
could be. But I’d almost swear that cop is the student who was
threatening Nora last year.”

“
What?”

“
Oh, I must be wrong.
They’re completely different types.”

“
He and Nora didn’t seem
to know each other yesterday in the gorge,” Maggie said
thoughtfully.

“
Yeah. I must be wrong.
Have you had any other thoughts about all this?”

She was gazing out at the
sky, but in a moment she answered, “Nothing earth-shaking. In fact,
I’ve been working on our project. When I got back to campus a few
minutes ago your printouts were waiting. Want to take a
look?”