Read The Square Root of Murder (Professor Sophie Knowles) for Free Online Page B

hardened criminals give up their possessions on television crime dramas. I also didn’t know why it mattered. I was simply thrashing around trying to make sense of the last few minutes. I knew if Bruce were here, he’d recite the titles of a dozen movies where the star winds back time and redoes the past.
    “No, they didn’t take it,” Rachel said, but I’d lost track of the question.
    “I’m sorry, what?”
    “I still have my cell. But I didn’t want to use it. What if they’re bugging it or something? And I know once I get home, I won’t be able to call you. It will be awful. My mom is a wreck and all her sisters will be showing up.”
    “So you’re free and they haven’t charged you or anything?”
    “Yeah, I’m free, but they told me not to leave Henley.”
    I breathed more easily. “They must be questioning everyone, Rachel.”
    “They said they were but I don’t see anyone else from school around here. I’m sure they think I did it, Dr. Knowles. They think I poisoned Dr. Appleton.” Rachel’s voice faded away and then came back. “Dr. Knowles?”
    “Why in the world would they think you killed him?”
    “I don’t want to talk about it on the phone. Will you meet me somewhere tomorrow?”
    “Of course.”
    “The police interview room was stifling and I feel like I haven’t had a shower in a week.”
    I did a quick calculation of the timeline. It was now eight o’clock. If Woody called the police after four, by the time they arrived, questioned Woody, put things together, and decided to question Rachel, it would have been at least six. That meant the longest Rachel could have been at the station was a couple of hours. I had no trouble believing that two or three hours in adversarial interrogation by the police could seem like a week.
    “Just one thing, Rachel. Was Dr. Appleton okay when you went upstairs to give him the cake and drink from the party?”
    A long pause while I sat down and drummed my fingers on my knee.
    “I didn’t see him. I knocked, you know, lightly. He doesn’t like to be disturbed if his door is closed. That’s the code for all his students. If he doesn’t answer a light tap, tap, tap , we just go away.”
    I couldn’t recall Rachel’s coming back down to the lounge with the food and drink, but neither had I been tracking her movements. I wondered if she was a suspect simply because she tried to deliver a treat. Had Woody seen her, perhaps, and assumed she’d gone in and . . . I couldn’t imagine.
    “You should be home with your family,” I said. A pittance of advice but I wanted her out of what must have been a depressing environment, though I had no experience to confirm it. I imagined the police had one set of rooms for casual visitors and another, more dismal setup for suspects.
    “I guess I should get home. Can I call you tomorrow to set up a time to meet?”
    “Absolutely.”
    Once we hung up, I sat with the phone on my lap. I had so many questions. Did Rachel have a lawyer? Were there any other suspects? There should be. So many people had it in for Keith Appleton.
    But who hated him so much they would kill him? No one I could think of.
    Rachel’s thinly veiled plea for help rang in my head. I hadn’t a clue how to assist a murder suspect, but my faith in her innocence was unshaken. For all her whining and complaining about Keith, I couldn’t recall ever seeing her angry. Certainly not angry enough to hurt someone. When she was upset, as she’d been yesterday, she tended to cry or withdraw. Rachel would rather quit than fight.
    I thought I was ready for more sustenance. I headed for the cheese plate, but still couldn’t bring myself to eat. None of the food in my house had been at the party, but what was to say that the person who poisoned Keith hadn’t snuck into my home and injected the contents of my fridge with whatever substance killed him?
    The realization that this fear was irrational didn’t stop me from emptying my food into the sink.