Stork Raving Mad(29)

“Meg?”

Art, Abe, and Michael appeared at the other end of the hallway, with Sammy Wendell, one of Chief Burke’s officers, trailing behind them.

“Meg? Are you all right?” Art called.

The chief stuck his head out of the door.

“Chief Burke, thank goodness you’re here,” Abe said.

Michael just strode on ahead of them until he arrived at my side, then knelt down beside my chair and put his arms around me. I suddenly realized how shaky I felt, as if even sitting down I was in danger of keeling over.

“Should she be sitting here?” Art fretted. “Shouldn’t she be lying down?”

“May we inform the chairman of the English department?” Abe asked. “He should be told as soon as possible.”

“Maybe we should send someone out to the barn to check on Dr. Blanco,” Michael said, lifting his head. “After all, a lot of the people who have it in for Dr. Wright don’t like him very much either.”

“Oh my God,” I said. “You’re right! And he probably knows Dr. Wright better than any of us.”

“Sammy,” the chief said. “Go to the barn and fetch this Dr. Blanco person they’re so worried about. Put him in the kitchen with the rest.”

“Yes, sir,” Sammy said, and disappeared down the hallway.

“If you don’t mind,” the chief said to Michael and me, “I’d like to set up a work area here at your house for now. More convenient, until we finish processing the crime scene and interviewing all these witnesses.”

“No problem,” I said. “Would you like to use the nursery? With any luck, you’ll have solved the crime before Bonnie and Clyde arrive to occupy it. And meanwhile, I’m sure Mother would understand if she has to postpone her decorating for the time being.”

“No thank you,” the chief said. “I’m not getting between your mother and a decorating project. Besides, I’m too old to go traipsing up and down those stairs every five minutes.”

“Then what about my office?” Michael suggested. “It’s right here next to the library.”

“Maybe a little too close,” the chief said. “How can we be sure it’s not a part of the crime scene?”

“Because we’ve been keeping it locked up ever since the students moved in,” Michael said. “When we offered to let the students stay here, we realized it could create a security problem—we’d have dozens, maybe hundreds of people coming and going. Most of them perfectly honest of course, but it only takes one crook.”

“So we locked everything valuable or confidential in the closet in Michael’s office, and we keep the office itself locked,” I added. “There are French doors between the office and the library, but they’re locked from the office side.”

“Any chance someone could have made a key to the office door?” the chief asked.

“It’s a combination lock on a padlock,” I said. “So it’s unlikely.”

“Smart,” he said. “I’m having to keep my office locked up these days. Got twenty-seven criminal justice majors living in the jail wing until that damned heating plant is fixed. It’s as if we put the police station in the middle of a blasted dorm.”

“I know what you mean,” Abe said. “We have a house full, too. Rivka must have taken in the whole library science department. All through dinner last night they were planning a demonstration against library funding cuts.”

“We just took freshmen,” Art said. “They do get younger every year, don’t they? And none of them eat properly. It’s a wonder they’re not all deathly ill.”

We all sighed and shook our heads for a few moments.

“When you see Dr. Blanco, you can ask him about the heating plant,” I said.

“Why?” the chief said. “He’s in the English department, right? What do they have to do with the heating plant?”

“Dr. Wright, the victim, was in the English department,” I said. “Blanco’s in administrative services.”

“Then what was—never mind,” the chief said. “I’ll find out when I question him. Gentlemen, why don’t you wait for me in the kitchen? I understand Dr. Blake is gathering my potential witnesses there. You can help keep all those students in order. Ms. Langslow can let me into the office, and I’ll take a brief statement from her. If she shows any signs of tiring, Dr. Waterston, I’ll give you a call.”

Dr. Waterston. That was more like it. I beamed approvingly at the chief, which seemed to unnerve him so I schooled my face into the more serious look he would consider suitable for a participant in a murder investigation.