Миранда Джеймс - File M For Murder

“I wish I could remember what actually happened when I went back to the office.” Laura rubbed her forehead, as if she could call up the memory, like a djinni from a magic lamp. “The next thing I remember is seeing you and Magda Johnston there with me.”

“Are you particularly friendly with her?” I hadn’t heard Laura talk about the woman that I could recall, so Magda’s presence on the scene made me suspicious.

“Not particularly, no.” Laura started to shake her head, winced, and stopped. “She’d sort of pop up two or three times a week, asking me questions about Hollywood. She claimed to be a huge fan of that sitcom I guested on a few times. Wanted to know all about stars. But somehow the conversation always ended up with Connor. I think she really had the hots for him.” Her expression indicated her distaste at the thought.

Given what I’d observed at that party, I wasn’t terribly surprised by Laura’s revelation. “Then I guess her presence in your office wasn’t suspicious.”

“I guess.” Laura thought for a moment. “But I almost didn’t recognize her this morning. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen her dressed that plainly, and with almost no makeup. Strange.”

“Yes, it was. I’ve never seen her like that either.” That bore some further thought. Was the woman in mourning for Connor Lawton? I wondered what her husband might think about that.

“You don’t think she’s the person who hit me, do you?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s certainly possible. I could have walked in not long after she struck you, but she wasn’t holding anything. Would she have had time to dispose of whatever weapon she used?” Surely the campus police, or even someone from the sheriff’s department, was working on that. “If we can answer another question first, however, it might help us to figure out who it was.”

“That question being, what was he looking for?” Laura gazed right into my eyes, her expression bland.

“Exactly. And I can think of one answer to that.” I waited to hear what she would say.

“Connor’s thumb drive.” She sighed. “The one I took from his apartment.”

“Did you have it with you this morning?”

“No, I left it at home.” Her eyes widened in alarm. “You don’t think he’ll break into the house, do you?”

This was a possibility that hadn’t yet occurred to me, and now I felt the first stirring of greater alarm. Then I forced myself to remain calm. “We don’t know for sure that’s what your attacker was after. First we’d have to know what’s on that drive in order to figure out why it might be important.” I paused as I regarded my daughter, whose expression had resumed its blandness. “Why did you take it in the first place? Do you know what’s on it?”

“I took it because Connor’s laptop was missing. The killer must have taken it.”

EIGHTEEN

Laura asked for water before I could follow up with a question about the missing laptop. I found a cooler with paper cups just down the short hall from her room in the ER. After she finished, she expressed her thanks.

“Would you like more?” I asked.

“No, that’s enough for now.”

I set the empty cup on a table nearby, then resumed my seat. “About the laptop. You’re sure it’s missing? You were in a very upsetting situation and you might have overlooked it.”

Laura shuddered and closed her eyes. “It was horrible. You just don’t expect to find a person like that. Not somebody young, like Connor.” Her eyes opened, and she continued as I clasped her hand. “I stood there for I don’t know how long once I realized he wasn’t simply drunk and sleeping it off.”

“I’m so sorry you had to be the one to find him,” I said.

Laura squeezed my hand. “Me, too. But I guess it was meant to be.” She paused for a moment. “Anyway, I found him. Then I got myself together enough to call you.

“Before I called 911, I started to take in other details. I glanced over to where he kept his laptop, and it was gone. That was strange, because it should have been there. I checked the other rooms very quickly, but there was no sign of it.”

“How long did that take?”

“Probably not much more than a minute. It’s a small one-bedroom apartment.” Laura shuddered. “I felt strange doing it, but I wanted to find the laptop if I could. Then I remembered what you told me about calling 911, and I did.”

“What about the thumb drive?”

“While I was talking to 911, it popped into my head. Connor was really compulsive about backing up his work. He also hid his thumb drive so no one would swipe it.”

That sounded more than a little paranoid to me but, for all I knew, most writers might be just as paranoid. “Where did he hide it? And how did you know?”

A faint smile touched Laura’s face and then was gone. “I suppose he thought I’d never try to steal it, because I was the one person—or so he said—that he trusted not to reveal his hiding place.” She sighed. “He had this urn he took with him wherever he went that’s supposed to have his parents’ ashes in it. It has a false bottom, and he hid his thumb drive in there.”

I couldn’t question her further, because the nurse returned, along with the staff who had come to fetch her for her CT scan. I wondered what that thumb drive contained that was so important that my daughter swiped it and didn’t tell the sheriff’s department or the police about it.

As they wheeled Laura out, the nurse said, “You can wait in here if you like, sir. Or you can go out to the waiting room, and someone will let you know when she’s back here.”

“Thank you.” I smiled. “I think I’ll go out to the waiting room so I can use my cell phone.”

The nurse nodded, and I followed him out of the room. He pointed the way to the waiting area, and I walked on through a set of double doors into the corridor and down a short hall.

Sean walked into the waiting area as I was about to sit down and call him. He came over and took the seat beside mine.

“I was about to call you.”

“How is she?” His expression betrayed his intense concern.

I recounted what Dr. Finch had said, concluding with “They just now took her to have the CT scan. If that’s clear, they’ll release her, and we can take her home.”

Sean relaxed. “I hope that scan comes out clear. I don’t want to think about any other possibility. Oh, before I forget, I called the library and talked to your friend Melba and explained that you probably wouldn’t be back today.”

“Thank you,” I said. “That totally slipped my mind.”

“And no wonder, given what’s been happening.” Sean shook his head. “Has she been able to tell you what the heck she was doing, going off like that this morning?”

I recounted to Sean what his sister told me about her morning. I had reached the point where Laura regained consciousness when I glanced toward the door and saw Kanesha Berry bearing down on us.

“Good afternoon, Deputy Berry.” I stood and extended a hand, and Sean did the same when he caught sight of her.

“Gentlemen.” Kanesha shook our hands in turn, her expression as cool and remote as usual. “How is your daughter?”

Once again I shared what Dr. Finch told me. “They’re doing the CT scan right now. I’m hoping to be able to take her home before long.”

“I hope they don’t find any internal injury.” Kanesha motioned to the seats Sean and I were occupying when she arrived. “Please sit. I’d like to talk to you.” She pulled a stand-alone chair over and placed it so that she faced us directly.