Quokka Question

I gave her back my warmest smile. 'Crikey, you work hard,' I said admiringly. 'All that work organizing people for the Global Marsupial Symposium as well as keeping up with your own job-I don't know how you do it.'

Georgia looked gratified. 'Working for an eminent professor is demanding,' she agreed. 'But it's so rewarding.' She gestured toward the papers beside her computer. 'Truly, I feel I'm part of scientific history, setting down the words of the extraordinary keynote address Professor Yarrow will deliver to the symposium on Friday.'

'The one on quokkas that Dr. Braithwaite was going to do?'

A shadow crossed her well-fed face. 'Tragic death, of course, but almost like fate had stepped in to save Professor Yarrow from an unwarranted attack upon his reputation.' She lay a hand flat on the pile of papers. 'These contain the professor's groundbreaking and entirely original research. He's calling it 'The Quokka Question.''

My eyes were riveted on the pages under her hand. This had to be the only existing version of Oscar's work, stolen by Yarrow. No doubt he'd rewritten some of it, but the basic elements would be the same. If I could only get my hands on those pages…but then I had nothing to compare them with. Erin had told me she'd destroyed all copies Oscar had before she'd left for the States.

'And how is little Erin Fogarty?' Georgia inquired. 'Professor Yarrow is so worried about her emotional state.'

'Bearing up surprisingly well under the circumstances.' I'd decided no matter what state Erin was in, I'd give a positive report. I was working on the principle that Yarrow would not be inclined to fake a suicide, if that was his intention, while Erin appeared to be coping with the situation.

'Indeed?' said Georgia, rather surprised. 'I gathered she was, as the saying goes, falling to pieces.'

'She's rallied,' I said. 'I think Professor Yarrow taking an interest in her welfare has made her feel much better.'

'It's so typical of the man,' said Georgia, starry-eyed. I watched her stacking the pages I coveted and placing them in a folder. She closed the file on the computer, and turned it off. 'Academic meeting,' she said. 'The professor likes me by his side, taking notes on important points.'

She put the quokka folder in the bottom drawer of her desk, then locked with a key she took from the top drawer of her desk. This wasn't, I was pleased to observe, my idea of security.

Georgia picked up her notebook, pen, and purse; she ushered me out of her office and locked the door with a key she returned to her purse. Obviously, if I wanted a look at Yarrow's keynote address, it would have to be when the office door was open, perhaps sometime tomorrow.

I'd left plenty of time to get back to Kendall & Creeling for Pen's meeting with Ariana. For once, the traffic was flowing well, so I had twenty minutes to spare when I pulled into our parking area.

Fran was just about to clamber into her SUV. Naturally, it was one of those bulky, looming vehicles-would Fran have anything else?- so it was a struggle for someone as short as she was to make the driver's seat.

'Want a leg up?' I said.

Fran was preoccupied and didn't hear me. 'Something's wrong with Melodie,' she said.

'What sort of wrong?'

Fran gave me a puzzled scowl. 'She's being nice to me.'

' 'Strewth, that is a worry.'

'She actually said she was glad I was to play Lucy/Lucas. Can you believe it?'

I shook my head. 'Amazing.'

'Of course I asked Melodie why she'd had a change of heart. She said she'd had a psychic flash about the casting.' Fran made a derisive sound. 'Like, I believe that.'

I shook my head again. 'Strange things happen.'

With an effort, Fran got herself into the SUV's driver's seat. She put down the window and leaned out to say, 'Speaking of strange things, Quip told me what you two were talking about this morning.'

'Oh?' I said, wondering what story he'd come up with.

She tossed off a scornful laugh. 'Kylie, as if you could play Ethel/Ethelbert!'

'Quip told you I was aiming to audition for the part?'

'I had to drag it out of him, but yes.'

'Hell's bells,' I said, 'you've got to aim high in life, you know, Fran. Fortunately, Quip let me down gently, pointing out this was way too high. He's a bonzer bloke.'

Fran turned the ignition, and her behemoth roared to life. 'Quip's all mine,' she yelled above the noise. 'Don't you ever forget it.'

My smile faded as I ambled across the courtyard to the front door. In a few minutes I'd face Ariana, and I wasn't sure how I'd cope. She'd be chilly toward me; that was certain. I'd forced her to tell me something so deeply personal that each word must have hurt. Then I berated myself. What right did I have to whinge? Ariana was the one with tragedy in her life, not me. Perhaps she feared there'd be pity in my eyes. I was sure she would hate that as much as I would.

I opened the front door with unaccustomed reluctance, not knowing how I should behave when I went to Ariana's office. Perhaps I should wait until Pen arrived for the meeting. It would be much easier with someone else there, and we could all concentrate on the case.

Melodie, in place at the reception desk, leaped up when she saw me. Rushing over, she exclaimed, 'Kylie, you'll never guess what's happened!' She looked around with elaborate care. 'It's confidential. Are we alone?'

'Unless someone's crouched behind your desk, I reckon we are.'

'Fran must never know,' she whispered.

'Better not to tell me then. Fran's the sort who could get blood out of a stone, so extracting a secret from this little Aussie would be child's play for her.'

Clearly disappointed, Melodie said, 'But it's about LUL?

'OK, then, I'm all ears. Fran's already got the main part, so she won't care about anything else.'

'But that's it!' said Melodie, flashing wide green eyes at me. 'She only thinks she's got the main part.'

'How come?'

'Quip's real psychic, the same as me.' Melodie looked mysterious. 'I can't reveal the details, but like, Quip's had a vision from a crossover.'

'A pedestrian walkway?'

Melodie frowned at my less-than-serious attitude. 'Very funny, Kylie. A crossover is someone who's crossed over.'

'Seems logical.'

'Have you got it yet?' She was growing impatient. 'Dead and gone. Speaking from the other side.'

'I reckon I've got it. Pushing up daisies. Kicked the bucket. Carked it. Done a perish.'

Melodie sighed. 'Sometimes you're just so hard to get through to, Kylie.'

'Sorry. Must come from being an Aussie.'

'That must be it,' she agreed. 'Anyhow, as I was saying, Quip had this mystic moment, when he realized the major, pivotal character in LUL is Ethel/Ethelbert-the one who expresses the essence of the deep universal themes that permeate the play.'

'Fair dinkum?'

'Of course it's true,' she snapped. 'Why would I be telling you otherwise?'

'So who'll be playing Ethel/Ethelbert? Ashlee, maybe?' 'Ashlee? No way.' Melodie tapped herself on the chest. 'Me.' 'Blimey, I can see why you don't want Fran to know. She's convinced she's snaffled the main part.'

Melodie treated me to a view of her perfect dental equipment.

'Good, isn't it?' she said.

I chickened out and went to my own office. I told myself it was to check my e-mail, but I knew it was to avoid seeing Ariana by myself. E-mail checked and still no message back from Diana Niptucker, I was steeling myself to face Ariana when I heard the booming voice of Pen Braithwaite echoing down the hall. Saved by the bell.

I met her outside Ariana's black, brass-studded door. Impulsively, I gave Pen a hug, standing on tiptoes to achieve it. 'Pen, how are you?'

'Coping, Kylie, coping.' She seemed to have regained some of her former vitality, but her face was pale and her expression drawn. 'I'll feel better when the bastard who killed Oscar is behind bars. I'm hoping you're making progress.'