Murder Misread by P.M. Carlson Read Free Book Online

little model types for
me,” he’d confided to Charlie early on, man to man. “I go for a
real woman. A huggable woman.” He’d tactfully stopped those
comments when Charlie had gotten engaged to slim Lorraine, a grad
student with big blue eyes and enormous ambitions that eventually
had drawn her away from Charlie to New York City. Lorraine had been
sweet and brainy and understanding, but definitely on the wispy
side by Tal’s standards.
    Back then Charlie had
thought she was just right. Well, that was over and done with.
Better luck next time.
    Anne Chandler was smoking
those smelly French cigarettes of hers, her hands moving jerkily to
her mouth. She was dressed in lightweight brown tweed. She and Tal
always looked like a British couple about to go out for a tramp on
the heath. Her hair was salt-and-pepper gray, cut short and ruffly
around that intelligent face. The Campus Security officer led her
straight to Hines. The big detective’s impassiveness had melted a
little. “Mrs. Chandler? Professor Talbott Chandler’s
wife?”
    “ Right.” A puff on the
cigarette. “He’s dead, isn’t he.”
    “ I’m afraid so, Mrs.
Chandler.”
    Her shoulders sagged at
the confirmation. “May I see him?”
    Hines squinted down the
trail. “We won’t be finished for a while yet. Do you want to sit
down?”
    “ Been sitting all morning.
You want to ask me questions?”
    “ Yes, but I don’t want to
cause you further distress. I can talk to you somewhere else,
later.” Hines’s voice was full of compassion. “Just let us have
your address, phone—”
    “ You’re saying you don’t
want me to see him now.” She lost interest in Hines. “Hello,
Nora.”
    Nora nodded
bleakly.
    Anne took a card from her
bag, handed it to Hines, took another puff and turned away. Her
gaze lit on Charlie. “Hello, Charlie.”
    “ Anne, I’m so sorry.” He
shoved his hands into his pockets awkwardly. What the hell did you
say? He felt as awkward as a nine-year-old, trying to tell Aunt
Babs he’d lost her fifty dollars.
    “ Thanks,” she said
brusquely.
    Hines looked at the card
she’d given him and nodded. “Thanks.” He turned back to
Nora.
    Anne marched over to
Charlie. “What happened?”
    He avoided her savvy dark
eyes. “Well, we were going to have lunch with him at
Plato’s.”
    She nodded. “Yes, Cindy
told me.”
    “ Well—” He felt
ridiculously relieved, as though she might have challenged his
statement. Heartened, he went on, “The rest of us had already
arrived at Plato’s.”
    “ Who’s the rest of
you?”
    “ I arrived with Maggie,
and—”
    “ Maggie?”
    “ Me,” said Maggie. Anne
turned to look her over. “I’m Maggie Ryan. Statistician for
Charlie’s project. I just met your husband this morning, Professor
Chandler. I’m so sorry—”
    “ Thank you.” Anne brushed
off her sympathy with a wave of her cigarette and inspected Maggie
clinically. “You’re not in the Education Department.”
    “ No. I’m just here for the
summer this time.”
    A cloud of smelly French
smoke billowed past Charlie’s nose. “Were you here before?” Anne
asked her with a little frown.
    “ Yes. Got my Ph.D. here
seven years ago.”
    Anne nodded curtly and
glanced back at Charlie. “So you two arrived at Plato’s
first.”
    “ Yes. We were a couple of
minutes early.” He cleared his throat. “Then Bart arrived, and
finally Nora.”
    “ Tal asked Cindy too,”
offered Maggie, “but she couldn’t come, because of another meeting
she had.”
    “ Mm.” Anne was looking
down the trail again.
    Maggie said, “Tal said you
had a meeting too.”
    “ Canceled it,” said Anne,
then looked sharply at Maggie. After a moment she said, “So
everyone was up there at Plato’s, except Tal.”
    “ And Cindy, and you, and
the rest of the campus.”
    “ Right.” Anne dropped her
cigarette stub onto the trail and ground it out with the toe of her
crepe-soled walking shoe. “What happened then?”
    “ We were