“What’s it about?”
“Hang on, I think I need my teeth to finish opening this,” I said.
“You’ll break them if you aren’t careful,” he said.
I didn’t argue, partly because I was tired of arguing about the subject, and partly because I had a mouth full of packaging tape.
“It’s called Living Graciously in a Single Room,” I announced when I’d spat out the tape.
“At least she’s getting practical,” he said, chuckling. “Seriously, have you learned anything new since the last time we talked?”
“Only that Dr. Lorelei thinks we should use our enforced separation to reevaluate our relationship,” I said. I kicked off my shoes and collapsed on the couch with Mother’s book, so I could leaf through it as we talked.
“Lorelei Gruber? The radio shrink? How the hell did you run into her?”
“She’s one of the therapists we’re sharing space with,” I said. “You know her?”
“In a way, though I doubt she remembers me fondly. I was one of the people who blew the whistle on her.”
“Blew the whistle,” I repeated with glee. “What was she doing?”
“Ever heard that show of hers? The inaccurately named Lorelei Listens?”
“Just; caught the tail end of it a few minutes ago,” I said. “I can’t exactly say I’m rushing to note the broadcast times on my calendar.”
“That’s good, because with any luck they’ll be pulling the plug on her eventually. For using actors to call in with pre-rehearsed questions, instead of real callers.”
“How did you figure that out?”
“I recognized the voices of a lot of her callers as students of mine,” Michael said. “A couple of the other drama professors and I filed a complaint last fall. It dragged on forever, but someone told me that she was going off the air at the end of the summer.”
“Off the college station, anyway,” I said. “She’s going into national syndication.”
“Oh, good grief,” he said. “I wonder if whoever signed her knows about her credibility problems. Probably wouldn’t care if they did. She’ll probably move up to a TV talk show before we know it.”
“Michael, this is great,” I said.
“You obviously weren’t listening to that show of hers.”
“No, I mean it’s great, because we can use this to help Rob. One of the main reasons Chief Burke is so interested in Rob is that he thinks Ted was blackmailing him.”
“Because of the note, right.”
“So what if Ted were also trying to blackmail Dr. Lorelei? She obviously has a lot to be blackmailed about - which means she could have a really good motive for murder, not to mention the same means and opportunity Rob had.”
“Hmmm,” he said. “Maybe. How big was Ted?”
I thought. “A couple of inches taller than me,” I said. “Six feet - maybe as much as six-one.”
“Physically fit?”
“About average,” I said. “On the skinny side, but no one would call him lean and muscular. Still, he could hold his own in the hallway Frisbee matches. Why?”
“Given her size, it’s not impossible, but still - strangling sounds more like something a guy would do than a woman. Especially if the victim is a little above average height and not physically impaired in any way. Wouldn’t it take a lot of strength?”
“The chief mentioned something about the killer stunning him with a karate chop to the larynx before strangling him.”
“And he knows for certain it was a karate chop… how?”
I laughed. “Good point,” I said. “For all we know, the killer could have whacked him with some common desk object, like a phone receiver or a bookend or a three-hole punch. But I’m not entirely sure we want to discourage the chief if he thinks some martial arts expert was the killer.”
“You’re always quoting your teacher about how really good martial artists avoid violence. Why let the chief keep on looking for a martial arts expert?”
“Because right now, he thinks Rob is a martial arts expert,” I said. “As soon as he finds out Rob is a complete klutz, maybe he’ll release him and investigate someone else. Yeah, I know it’s ridiculous,” I continued, a little more loudly, so he could hear me over his hoots of laughter, “but he saw Rob doing the Crouching Buzzard kata in the hallway, and now he’s arrested him, because of the coincidence of the buzzard kata, purse fu, the shuriken, and the blackmail note. Which means it’s all my fault he’s arrested. Well, partly my fault; I didn’t have anything to do with the shuriken and the blackmail note.”