Read Online Snipped in the Bud by Kate Collins - Free Book Online

to go back for that flower or I couldn’t have lived with myself. My dignity was at stake.”
    “Did Reilly actually tell you you’re a suspect?”
    “Not in so many words.”
    “So you’re not a suspect.”
    “Officially—no. But he told me not to leave town. How would you read that?” I offered him popcorn again.
    That time he took a handful and chewed it, looking pensive. After a few moments he said, “I agree with Dave Hammond. Reilly’s interest in you probably isn’t anything more than a formality.”
    I perked up at that. “You think so?”
    “I think so. But to satisfy my own curiosity I’d like to nail down a few more details about what you saw. Go back to when you found Carson Reed’s body. The eraser half of a pencil was sticking out of his neck. Did it look like there’d been a struggle?”
    “No. More like he’d been taken by surprise.”
    Marco pursed his lips. “If someone had stabbed me, my first reaction would be to yank out the weapon. So something must have kept him from doing so. You didn’t notice a gash, or any blood running from his head, or anything binding his hands?”
    I forced myself to revisit the gruesome scene. “No on all counts.”
    “Okay. You said Professor Puffer came up to the second floor on the elevator, followed shortly by his wife Jocelyn. So both of them were in the building before the police arrived?”
    “Right. I didn’t see Puffer in the student commons area when I went in, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t in the law library. As for Jocelyn, I heard a cop ask her how she got inside, but I didn’t hear her answer. Why she was there at all is a puzzle. When I attended the school, she rarely set foot in the place, which wasn’t surprising given the way Puffer verbally abused her—and that was in public. I can’t imagine how he treats her in private.”
    “You mentioned that you saw her before noon, then not again until twelve fifty, leaving a gap of almost an hour.” Marco drummed his fingers on the table as he pondered the matter. “When she came off the elevator, how did she look and sound?”
    “Flustered, but I saw her for only a minute, then a cop took her away.”
    “Did she see Reed’s body?”
    “I don’t think so. There were too many people in the way.”
    “Did she seem upset to find cops in her husband’s office?”
    “She seemed more baffled than anything else.”
    Marco took a handful of popcorn. “What was Puffer’s reaction to Reed’s death?”
    “He didn’t seem upset, just angry because a cop was blocking his way. He kept insisting that he should be allowed inside because it was his office and he needed his lecture notes. Reilly had to threaten to take him to the police station to get him to back off.”
    Marco absorbed the information. “What about this student—Kenny Lipinski? What was his reaction?”
    “Like mine. Shock first, then sick to his stomach. Professor Reed was his adviser and had just secured a clerkship for him with a federal appellate judge. That probably doesn’t mean anything to you, but law students would kill for a shot at that position.”
    Marco lifted an eyebrow. “Interesting way of putting it. I suppose other students were vying for it?”
    “I see where you’re headed. Maybe one of them was upset over not getting that clerkship and took it out on Professor Reed.”
    “It’s one possibility. You said there were other offices on the second floor. Were any of the professors in them?”
    “The offices were dark and the doors were closed, so my guess would be no.”
    “The secretary—Beatrice Boyd—how did she get along with Reed?”
    “As I told Reilly, Bea gets along with everyone. She’s a sweetheart. All the students love her.” I reached for one of the napkins Lottie had left on the table and wiped my buttery fingers.
    “Do you know of any reason Professor Puffer might have wanted Reed out of the way?”
    “As much as I would love to turn the heat on Puffer, no, I don’t. But