that. But someone was trying to make it look like he did. Someone planted that information about hyacinths in his office. It wouldn’t make sense for him to have it printed up all nice and tidy for them to find, not that he’d need it anyway.
“I don’t like that look, Margaret,” her father said when he saw her. “You’re plotting mischief.”
Peggy recalled her grandmother saying that when she was a child. “Maybe. And I could use a partner. Are you in?”
He grinned. “As long as I don’t have to go to the mall, I’m in!”
12
Forget-me-not
PEGGY AND HER FATHER DROVE over to UNCC, the Charlotte campus of the University of North Carolina. Compared to Queens, it was a sprawling giant that sat neatly in a small corner of Charlotte. The large, modern buildings made the campus look more like a hospital complex than an educational facility. Created in 1946, it had none of the historic charm of its sister in Chapel Hill, but Peggy knew it was a good school. Paul graduated from there. Sam went there, too.
At one point, the north end of Charlotte had been growing as fast as the campus. Strip malls had brought traffic, and IBM had brought industry. The wealthier denizens of the city moved out to Ballontyne and Pineville, leaving behind their expensive homes. Now many of those buildings sat empty, victims of massive unemployment. As more and more jobs were shipped overseas, computer technicians joined the unemployment lines or looked for jobs at Taco Bell.
Inside the campus, Peggy and her dad found Harwood’s office.
“I’d like to see Professor Harwood.” Peggy told his assistant. “He’s expecting me.”
The pretty girl in the tight pink tank top and green short shorts smiled and whipped her long auburn hair back over her shoulder. “He was called to a meeting. He should be back soon. He quit, you know. That leaves me having to look for another summer job.”
“Really?” Peggy commiserated. “That’s too bad. It must be his work with Feed America.”
“Yeah,” the girl mourned. “They say he’s got some real money now, you know? But
Peggy looked around the foyer. There were no chairs. “Could we wait in his office?”
“Oh, sure. Go ahead. I don’t care.” The girl took out her nail polish again and started liberally applying poppy red polish to her toenails.
“Thanks.” Peggy smiled at the back of the girl’s head, then beckoned her father into Holles’s office. It was barely more than a closet. “No wonder he wanted to take over Feed America.”
“Not much here,” her father agreed, squeezing himself into a corner where a folding chair was open. “I take it Darmus has a bigger office?”
“Much bigger. I’m sure he could have had more, but he’s always been a sparse man. I have a feeling Holles won’t be the same.” Peggy didn’t sit down right away. Instead, she calmly started rifling through Holles’s desk.
“What are you looking for?” Her father watched her. “Should I stand outside the door and whistle if I see him coming?”
“That would be great, Dad. But we don’t want to look too suspicious.” She glanced at the closed door. “Just stand over there and hold the doorknob. That will give me a minute to sit down if we’re interrupted. Holles will think the door is stuck.”
But there was nothing incriminating on the desk—at least nothing she could find. If Holles was involved with what happened to Darmus and Luther, he didn’t leave any trace of it here, unlike the blatant information the police found on Darmus’s desk. There was also nothing here about Feed America.
Just then, Peggy saw something on the floor under the desk and stooped down to get it. It was a cottonseed. She heard Holles’s voice outside the door and rushed to sit down as she stuffed the seed in the pocket of her jeans. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t preserved. The police couldn’t use it anyway; this was an illegal search.
As they planned, Peggy’s father held the doorknob for a moment, and then finally opened the door with a big, hokey smile on his face. “Sorry about that. I was about to go look for the bathroom and didn’t realize you were on the other side of the door.”
Was it Peggy’s imagination, or did Holles scan the room carefully like he was checking to be sure nothing had been removed?
“That’s all right.” Holles clapped his hand on her father’s shoulder. “You’re Dr. Lee’s father, right?”
“That’s right, Ranson Hughes.” He shook Holles’s hand. “Up here from the Low Country for a couple of weeks.”
Holles’s eyes glittered at Peggy. He closed the door behind her father as he left the office. “Well! I’m pleased to see you here. I was hoping our little exchange the other day didn’t sour our relationship. What can I do for you?”
