Arsenic And Old Books

Kanesha nodded. “That’s the only answer that really makes any sense. With those pages, she had political dynamite. If she was as drunk that night as the mayor claims, she might have called and offered the pages to him.”

I frowned. “That would defeat her purpose, wouldn’t it? Singletary wouldn’t have the pull to get her tenure, not the way Mrs. Long would, through her connection with Professor Newkirk.”

“True,” Kanesha said. “That’s the sticking point in this scenario.”

“There’s another point that has to be considered,” I said. “The return of the diaries to this office. Doesn’t it seem reasonable to assume that the murderer returned them?”

“I believe so,” Kanesha said. “I can’t see another person getting into the middle of this, finding the diaries at Dr. Steverton’s home, and then returning them. We’re trying to determine exactly when they were returned, but it’s difficult. There are no security cameras in this building, and the two doors in and out of the building have locks that are very easy to bypass.” She shook her head. “Chief Ford is going to take this up with the president, but it’s too late to help us in this investigation.”

“Campus security didn’t see anything suspicious during their rounds?” I asked.

“No,” Kanesha replied. “As I said, we have nothing really to go on for the timing of the return. We know that they were taken while you and Ms. Gilley were both out of the building for lunch, but that’s all.”

“What about Kelly Grimes?” I asked. “Are you considering her as a possibility?”

Kanesha shot me a repressive look. “Of course. Her car doesn’t have any damage, either. Neither does Singletary’s nor those of any of his campaign staff.”

“Could the damage have been repaired before you got around to all of the vehicles?” I asked.

“No, because I made sure that was done the first day of the investigation.”

“Surely by now the car will have been repaired,” I said.

“It could have been,” Kanesha said, “but if it was a rental, there will at least be a record of it. With that and paint residue, we should be able to make an identification and go from there.”

“Frustrating,” I said.

“Yes, but not unusual,” Kanesha replied. “We’ll get there; it’s just a matter of time and persistence. We’ll identify the car, and then we’ll know the killer.”

Another point occurred to me. “Singletary’s car wasn’t used, nor those of any of his staff. Kelly Grimes’s car wasn’t used. What about alibis for them?”

Kanesha smiled briefly. “Neither Mr. Singletary nor Ms. Grimes has one after midnight. They left Athena together around six thirty p.m. and attended a fund-raiser in Charleston and another in Enid that evening. Mr. Singletary dropped Ms. Grimes at her place around midnight, then immediately went to his home. The timing is about right, because we know approximately when they left Enid. Both of them say they went to bed right away, but neither one has an alibi for the rest of the night.”

“There’s at least a possibility,” I said. “Surely it has to be one of them.”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure it is. One more piece of information, and then I have to go. Kelly Grimes lives in a duplex. Her neighbor has a car, but the neighbor is out of town. Ms. Grimes said he left on Tuesday but doesn’t know where he went. I want to verify that he left on Tuesday and not early on Wednesday. We’re trying to trace him and his vehicle.”

“You think she could have borrowed her neighbor’s car?” I asked.

“Yes, as long as he didn’t leave until Wednesday,” Kanesha said. “We’re checking with neighbors to see if anyone remembers seeing his car in the driveway on Tuesday and how late. Nothing so far, but we’ll keep digging.” She stood. “Thanks again for your help. Now it’s going to be down to routine investigative work.”

“Good luck,” I said. “I hope this gets resolved soon.”

She nodded and raised a hand in farewell.

I turned to the cat. “Come on, Diesel, let’s go home. And this time we’re going to get there.”

He perked up right away. I glanced at the wall clock and wasn’t surprised to see it was already a few minutes past five. Definitely quitting time. This had been a strange day, not to mention emotionally and mentally exhausting.

On the walk home through the oppressive early evening heat, I tried my best to think of other things. Kanesha was right. Routine police work would achieve a solution to this.

The harder I tried to think about another subject, the more my mind stubbornly refused to cooperate. I was thinking about Kelly Grimes as the murderer when I unlocked the front door. I kept thinking about her in the kitchen while I was pouring myself a glass of iced tea.

I sat at the table and slowly sipped at the tea. Diesel disappeared and then reappeared to settle near my feet. He dozed while I continued to think about the various things I knew about Kelly Grimes and the events of the past few days. I began to piece together what I thought, in the end, was a plausible scenario for what happened.