Formula for Murder by JUDITH MEHL Read Free Book Online Page A

She hunched over, staring at the floor as if lost in thought, but listened avidly to the conversation between Abner and Robin while waiting for Nick.
    Kat didn’t know Abner well. He was good looking in a cerebral sort of way. His dark conservative clothes complemented an eternally apologetic expression and he was precisely groomed. His husky chuckle carried with it a basic sense of honesty that appealed to her. It led her to a neutral stance.
    She was intrigued to hear how Abner dealt with what appeared to be a very highly-strung and volatile student, from the sound of Robin’s rising voice. Was he angry? Or was that just apprehension overwhelming him? It quickly became apparent that Robin was a student who worked with Charlie on the research project. No wonder he was upset. His whole honors project died with Charlie. Or so he feared.
    She knew Robin slightly and could understand his concern with completing the project. She remained in the corridor and tried to look to anyone passing by like she wasn’t paying attention.
    “Dr. Prosnerian, you’re my only hope. Dr. Santora said you were the only one who could help me continue my project, even alter it if we had to, but please help me finish.”
    Abner spoke quietly and Kat had difficulty hearing.
    Robin’s response was louder, the tension strengthening his voice. “I need the experience, and the credits, and I was banking on a great honors project to get me into grad school.”
    Robin’s voice rose in volume and despair as he concluded, “I lose it all if you won’t help me finish!”
    Kat thought Abner showed amazing calm as he gently soothed Robin’s fears and worked out a plan where they could continue the work begun with Charlie. Maybe Abner was used to the volatile student mentality but she was impressed with the composed manner he exhibited while dealing with Robin. Could this man have really killed anyone?
    She didn’t have time to fill Nick in. He arrived as Robin left and they entered Abner’s office. As soon as they mentioned Charlie, Abner became irate and vented about the personal animosity between the two of them. It was Charlie’s fault, of course. Then he veered off into deploring Charlie’s archaic scientific methods.
    “Would you believe he made me fight my first six months to get consideration for a scientific instrumentation network? It would link all the science department computers to the instruments such as the nuclear magnetic resonance or gas chromatograph equipment. This setup would advance the science departments exponentially.”
    “What exactly are we talking about here? The university already installed a network for computers. Isn’t that enough?” Kat questioned.
    “No, this is beyond that. With this system, all of the science instruments would be linked to a computer. All the data collected would be stored in the computer. A great deal of time is spent analyzing that data once the actual information is collected.”
    “If I recall, that’s where all the late nights came in,” Nick commented.
    He was standing where the light brought out the fantastic blue of his eyes. Her mind wandered as she tried to pin down the color, somewhat like periwinkle flowers on a summer morning, she thought. She’d know that color anywhere.
    “Right!” Abner’s emphatic answer broke Kat’s reverie. He continued, “And that’s where the link becomes so helpful. It would provide students with easy access from anywhere in the science building to that data. So late at night when the labs are locked and instruments cannot be used, the student can still do their work from another computer. They have access to that data. His voice cracked as he added, “When someone is using an instrument like the gas chromatograph to determine data, another student could still be accessing their data that came from that instrument earlier.”
    Nick seemed impressed. “Sounds great. What’s the problem?”
    “I had to get his permission first before I