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

attention. Nick reminisced with friends from his days on campus. They all converged on the food table frequently, to compare notes, share a drink or a laugh, and then went back to quiet moments with friends and acquaintances. It was difficult in this sparkling setting to believe murder occurred a few days before. Kat speculated on the patrons present and their possible connection to Charlie’s demise. It was impossible to imagine any of them involved.
    She chatted with the dean’s mother, Thelma, her sedate name and body hiding an invigorating mind. Thelma spoke with animation; her gnarled fingers, speckled with age and circled with diamonds, attempted to keep pace with her enthusiastic voice. She’d attended the university herself, many years before, and reminisced about the golden days.
    The glitter, the gold-draped tables, the black and white china and the sparkling crystal impressed Nick. Flowers adorned every corner and bloomed in centerpieces. Rubies and diamonds and dazzling clothes adorned the women. Nick preferred the classic simplicity of Kat’s dress; no sequins, no bangles, just fine lines that complimented her figure, and a little lace inset to hint at her breasts. His eyes reflected his appreciation as she approached.
    She smiled shyly in response. “I see you managed to entertain dozens of people as you made your rounds.”
    “Yeah, I remembered a few, met a few.”
    “Oh, there’s Gerald with Abner. Should we grill them?
    “Probably not appropriate behavior at a formal function. Could get bloody with your interrogation techniques. Quick, dance with me before you embarrass us!”
    They fit perfectly as they danced and when her eyes scanned the crowd with that speculative twinkle he gently touched her cheek to bring them back to him. “Do I need to become a suspect to gain your attention?”
    Kat toyed with him for a moment. “Well, you were late arriving in front of Main Hall. You could have been delayed by murder I suppose.”
    “Kat, you wound me! You really couldn’t believe that of me.” He hesitated, waiting for her response. “Could you?”
    “I don’t really know you.”
    Deciding she was just teasing, he settled back to the dance, softly brushing cheek-to-cheek, and whispered in her ear, “We could change that.”
    Feeling safe amidst the crowd, she asked, “What did you have in mind?”
    Pulling her a little closer he answered, “What I have in my mind right now better stay there. Maybe it’s safer to go grill Gerald and Abner. Where’d they go?”
    Happy to have an affect on him, but just as happy not to pursue it at the moment, Kat spied Gerald and twirled out of Nick’s arms.
    “Great, I love grilling people!”
    Nick wasn’t quite so eager to interrogate the learned professors. “Whoa, do you really think Gerald or Abner is the killer?”
    “I know Gerald isn’t. But he found the body. I thought he could tell us something.”
    “And how do you know he isn’t the killer?”
    “He’s a good friend!”
    “And that makes him innocent?”
    “I just know he wouldn’t do it.” Kat twirled a strand of hair between her fingertips, not so much nervous as anxious to support her friend. “His writing is well-balanced. His ‘t-bar’ points upward; he dots his ‘i’s’ directly above the stem. He is therefore, highly moral.”
    “He was there that night wasn’t he?”
    “Well, yes,” she admitted as she delicately plucked a puff pastry off one of the trays offered by students. “But that doesn’t make him guilty. I was there, too. I’m not guilty.”
    “Seeing the way you and Burrows spark off each other I suspect he more than likely didn’t want to hear the grief you’d dole out if he even looked at one of your friends for murder.”
    “Good point. So how do we clear Gerald?” she whispered as another pastry tray hovered nearby in the hands of a student with purple spiked hair. She snatched an hors d’oeuvre for each of them and looked up at him imploringly