Stork Raving Mad(82)

“I’m not happy about it myself,” he said. “Blessed if I can explain why. Maybe because I see it’s going to be a long haul proving for sure she did it and an even longer one getting a conviction, with all these people running around confusing the case. Or maybe because she seems like a nice lady.”

“A nice lady who just happened to commit a murder?”

“A nice lady who should have known murder wouldn’t solve anyone’s problems.”

Except in this case maybe it had. There were probably other English professors who hated the drama department, but none who’d dared to persecute them as blatantly. Even Ramon’s and Bronwyn’s problems might have been solved by Dr. Wright’s death if they hadn’t tried to kill her themselves.

“You heading down to interrogate Kathy and Danny?” I asked.

The chief shook his head.

“Their attorneys will probably want us to wait till morning,” he said. “And that’s fine with me. Been a long day. Though I am going to stick around long enough to watch this rehearsal everyone’s so fired up about.”

“Are you really interested in watching the rehearsal or do you just want to keep an eye on the rest of your suspects?” I asked.

“A little of both,” he said. “I’m curious to see the play that’s caused such problems. And did I hear correctly that the college president is here to watch the rehearsal and make a decision about whether the show opens tomorrow night?”

“That’s the plan,” I said.

“Figure I’d better stick around, then,” he said. “I suspect neither Mr. Soto nor Ms. Jones will try to flee the jurisdiction with their play coming up, but if the president cancels it, I wouldn’t be surprised if one or both of them tried to pull a bunk. I think I should be here to see what he decides.”

“He won’t necessarily announce his decision tonight,” I said. “He’ll probably take the night to think it over. Or to consult with whoever actually makes decisions for him.”

“If they’re still in suspense, that’s fine,” he said. “Although I’m probably going to leave at least one deputy here to keep an eye on things, if you don’t mind.”

“Fine with me,” I said. “We still don’t know for sure one of them isn’t the killer, so the more deputies the better as far as I’m concerned.”

“See you at the rehearsal, then.”

“Actually, no,” I said. “I’m going to bed. This time for real. It’s been way too long a day for me already.”

“Smart decision,” he said. “Good night.”

He strolled out the back door.

I sat down and browsed through Danny’s finds. I started with Dr. Blanco’s information, since it consisted of only half a dozen sheets of paper. No surprises there. According to his CV, he’d graduated from a small Midwestern college that I’d never heard of. Apparently Danny hadn’t either—he included a page about it from a college ranking site. A small but respectable liberal arts college in a small town. Did Blanco grow up in the area? And if not, why had he gone so far from home to such a small college? It didn’t seem like a place where you’d find a lot of ethnic diversity, so in either case, maybe I was looking at the reason for Blanco’s lack of enthusiasm for Latino culture.

The packet wasn’t very informative, though. Neither was the larger wad about Dr. Wright. She, too, went to smaller schools, though in her case they were institutions I’d actually heard of. After a few years in an associate professor position at a large state institution, she’d come to Caerphilly twenty years ago, achieved tenure thirteen years ago, and made dean five years after that. None of which shed any kind of light on why she was murdered and who did it. I found myself yawning several times as I leafed through the file and was very close to giving up on the whole thing. Or perhaps saving it for some evening when I was suffering from acute insomnia.

And then the last few pages made the whole effort worthwhile. At first I was puzzled when I found a review of a college production of The Importance of Being Earnest. Not, according to the reviewer, a very able production. Of course he sounded like one of those reviewers who adored reviewing flawed shows, the better to show off his own wit and erudition.

I’d have given up after the first snide, gloating paragraph if I hadn’t been curious to find out why this was in Danny’s file of information on Dr. Wright.

Aha! “Possibly the worst performance came from Jean Wright, woefully miscast as Cecily Cardew.” The reviewer went on to eviscerate her performance for another lengthy paragraph. I found myself wondering if the reviewer was perhaps a jilted boyfriend.