through the other door. I grabbed the puffy beige afghan off the love seat and used it to block the front of my pants as I pretended to admire it. Natalie gave me a strange look, but it was nothingcompared to the one I got from Dinah. She looked as if her eyes were about to pop out of her head.
'So, how many squares do we have?' I said in my best nothing-is-going-on voice.
CHAPTER 9
'Your friend dinah called,' rayaad said when she found me reading in one of the big overstuffed chairs in the back of the bookstore. 'She said she had some bad news, and she'd be in her office after two.'
'Bad news? Did she say what it was?' I put down the book and sat up.
Rayaad shook her head. 'She didn't give any details, sorry.'
I had told Rayaad to take messages so that I could read some of Will Hunter's book. It was surprisingly poetic as he described growing up in Texas. I still found it hard to believe he'd written it, but at the same time I thought a ghostwriter would have had a more matter-of-fact style. I'd just gotten to the part in which a tornado was headed for their town, and Will and his brother had played hooky from school and were wandering out in an open field.
So far it had been a quiet day, and the event area sat empty. Yesterday's meeting at the Sheridans' house had turned out to be a disappointment. Ellen had left far fewer finished squares than we'd expected.
And, taking Lawrence's orders seriously, Natalie had practically stood guard over us for the remainder of the visit, so I'd had no chance to go back and look for the date book.
I stuck a bookmark in Will's book and checked my watch. Blondie needed to be picked up from the groomer, and I decided I might as well meet Dinah and hear the bad news in person. I'd even bring lunch. I told Rayaad I was leaving for an hour or so. Since Mrs. Shedd knew I was more likely to work extra time than leave early, she let me keep my own hours.
Dinah worked at Walter Beasley Community College, which was set on four hundred acres of land draped over soft hills. It featured a whole area devoted to agriculture. There was an equestrian area, a dairy barn and fields of crops. Black steers grazed on the golden hills on the outskirtsof the campus, right next to a new apartment complex.I guessed the people who lived there wouldn't be opening their windows to let in the fresh air.
I parked at a metered spot that was a healthy walk from Dinah's office. After my difficulty climbing out of the windowat the Sheridans' house, I was determined to get more exercise. Blondie thought longer was better when it came to walks, anyway. Her strawberry blond terrier fur was all fluffed out as she trotted along beside me, and she seemed to have a dog smile.
The clock in the tower had just finished striking two when we walked up the stairs to Dinah's office. She was at her desk, talking to a student wearing a sideways baseball cap. Her three office mates were busy at their desks. Dinah saw us and pointed to a chair against the wall. The office was too small for privacy, and I heard her whole interchangewith the student.
'So, I'm here,' the boy announced, rocking his head with attitude. 'What did you wanna see me about?' He slumped on his elbow and leaned on her desk. He was obviouslyone of the new freshmen Dinah talked about with so much consternation.
'Jason, I could tell you all about good manners and how it's rude to wear a hat inside and lean all over my desk, but I'm just going to get to the point.'
Jason's baggy jeans were supposed to be some kind of fashion statement. Really, he looked like some cartoon characterwith weird proportions. I truly wished I could look over his shoulder when he was, say, my age, and showed his kids a photo of him in his college days. I'm guessing they would laugh their pants off.
'C'on, Ms. Lyons, nobody takes their hat off. It's the look.'
Dinah held up her hand. 'Beasley lets everybody in, but not everybody gets past their first semester. When it comes to my classroom, I am the queen. My rules, with no arguments.You wear the hat, you have to leave. You aren't in class, you flunk. Got it?'
Jason groaned. 'Like, what do I need English for, anyway?' He unslouched himself, got up and left, mumbling about the unfairness of it all as he shuffled out.
Dinah shook her head in exasperation. Her eyes brightenedwhen I held up the bag of sub sandwiches.
'Okay. What's the bad news?' I said before I reached her desk. Suddenly three pairs of eyes looked up from their work and focused on me.
Dinah patted Blondie and smiled at me. 'I think it's time to take a walk.'
Once we got outside, Dinah gestured back toward the low building that housed her office. 'Too many ears in there.' Due to the chronic lack of funds, her building, like most of Beasley, was old and looked a little frayed along the edges. Despite my urging her to spill the news now that we were outside, she refused. Nobody could say Dinah didn't know how to build up suspense. It made her a great teacher, and if Jason ever got past his love affair with his hat, he'd realize that.
We took our picnic to the horticulture department. It was a beautiful area full of plants and flowers. There was something iridescent about the light, and it was favored by photographers. Even now, as we settled on a bench near a bamboo forest, a professional type was taking photos of a family along with their dog. Blondie did her berserk dog dance from behind my legs.
'What's with her?' Dinah asked. Dinah was a cat personand liked independent pets, and wasn't into being tied down to walks and tummy rubs. I didn't want to go into Blondie's background again. What was the point of repeatingthe story about how I'd gotten her from a shelter after she had been returned twice due to her unusual personality?She was unpredictable, except she loved to go for walks and eat cheese, and if she saw another dog, she alwayswent nuts.
Peter had voted that I take her back, but I'd nixed it. I relatedto her. We were both confused and abandoned.
'Forget about the dog, and tell me the bad stuff.' I couldn't believe I was actually begging to hear bad news.
Dinah looked around. There was nobody even close. 'Detective Heather stopped by my office this morning. She made some excuse that she was thinking of taking some English class, but then she made an awkward segue to havingsome questions about my statement at the murder scene.'
'Like what?' I asked.
'Like, nothing. She really wanted to ask me about you, and specifically about your financial situation. She wonderedif you were hard up for money because of being pushed out of the business by Ellen. She knew you went to see Natalie Shaw and thought you were trying to become the Pink in the company name.'
'You mean the P,' I said, reminding her that it was now PSS PR.
'This is no time for jokes, Molly. She is seriously lookingfor a motive she can stick on you.'
'I wouldn't even know how to strangle anyone,' I said. In a moment of weakness, Barry had told me he'd found out that had been the cause of death, even though the medicalexaminer wasn't sure how it had been done, since there weren't any bruises or marks on her neck. Apparently they could tell by the internal damage to her neck and these red marks that showed up in her eyes that she'd been strangled. She'd been hit on the head with the poker after she was alreadydead. But, like the ransacking, it was just a cover-up.
'There are so many other suspects; she ought to be checking them out. Like Lawrence Sheridan--he probably got a big insurance payout and his freedom without a messy divorce.'
'You know I'm with you on that one, but there's more bad news,' Dinah said. 'Detective Gilmore talked to him. You won't believe what she said. She said he was charming and helpful.'
'Hard to believe she talked to the same guy who looked right through you at his front door,' I said, incredulous.
Dinah shrugged. 'That's life. I think when you're in your early thirties and you have hot blond hair and enough curves for a roller coaster, you get a different response.'
'I guess that means we can count him out as far as she's concerned. I wonder if she knows he collects dog fur.'
'Huh?' Dinah said with a chuckle.
'It turns out he goes to the same groomer I do. When I picked up Blondie this morning, the groomer showed me a bag of black fur. She said she always saves Felix's clippings, but Lawrence had forgotten to take them the last time.'
