should take the confusion as a compliment, but it was most definitely a hindrance when I tried to exude authority.
The girls ba red their teeth at me. Never fear, ladies. I’m so not interested, I thought.
“ Uh, no. I’m not a student. I’m a librarian here.”
“ The library is on the other side of campus.”
I tried hard not to sigh again. “I know that. I’m also helping out with the festival, and I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“ We aren’t bothering anyone,” a girl piped up.
“ Actually, you are. You’re scaring people away from the festival.”
“ Are you India Hayes?”
I nodded.
“Your parents rock,” Dreads said. “I met them at a rally a couple weeks ago. They are awesome even though they’re so old. They gave me a lot of pointers about having my voice heard.”
Carmen would be so thrilled to learn we had our parents to thank for the uproar.
“They’ll be glad to hear it. It would be a big help to us—to my parents even—if you could move this . . . disagreement to another part of campus.”
“ But this is where the community is hanging. We are spreading the word.”
“ That’s admirable, of course,” I said, placating.
One of the girls stepped forward. She was a petite Indian student with heavy eye makeup. “I heard you’re going to find out who killed that woman on Thursday.”
My head snapped around. “Who told you that?”
She shrugged. “Everyone’s talking about it.”
“ Yeah,” another agreed. “It’s huge. This is the first big thing to happen on campus all year.”
This wa s all said by people who weren’t related to the victim, who didn’t know her, who didn’t find her body and crushed skull. I could blame their interest on violent television, video games, or just plain media altogether, but I suspected people had been morbidly interested in these things before the media was ever involved. It always came back to the chicken or the egg.
The Indian girl spoke up. “It totally creeped me out to think I was nearby when the murder might have been going down.”
“ Nearby? What do you mean?”
“ I was riding my bike back to the dorm after a late class and heard some people fighting on the practice field as I rode by.”
“ When was that?”
She thought. “Class got out at seven-fifteen, so probably seven-thirty.”
And I discovered Tess’s body at eight -thirty. What the girl said fit in with both Doc’s and my timetables. She probably did hear the killer.
“ What did the voices sound like? Male? Female?”
“ It was hard to tell. I didn’t hang around to listen. I wanted to get out of there. One was definitely female. I could tell she was upset.”
“ You didn’t call security?” There was an accusatory tone in my voice.
The girl winced. “I just thought it was some couple fighting. You hear that all the time on campus. I didn’t think it was serious.”
I smiled at her. “It’s okay,” I said, even though it wasn’t. A quick cell phone call could have saved Tess’s life. I didn’t say that. I didn’t want to put the weight of Tess’s death on her thin shoulders. Truthfully, I didn’t know if I wouldn’t have done the same thing.
“ What’s your name?”
“ Raka.”
“ Did you tell the police what you saw?”
“ They never asked me.”
“ That’s because they didn’t know you were there. You need to talk to them. Your information narrows down the time of death. It will make it easier to find who is responsible.”
“ I don’t know if I want to get involved. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Dre ads swung an arm over Raka’s shoulder. “You have to, babe. You’re cracking the case. You’ll be a hero. You’ll be protecting people just like we protect the otters.”
The crowd of disheveled students agreed. “You’re a hero, Raka,” one said.
Raka glowed with the cause. I’d seen the same expression on my parents too many times to count.
“I can take you to talk to an officer
The girls ba red their teeth at me. Never fear, ladies. I’m so not interested, I thought.
“ Uh, no. I’m not a student. I’m a librarian here.”
“ The library is on the other side of campus.”
I tried hard not to sigh again. “I know that. I’m also helping out with the festival, and I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“ We aren’t bothering anyone,” a girl piped up.
“ Actually, you are. You’re scaring people away from the festival.”
“ Are you India Hayes?”
I nodded.
“Your parents rock,” Dreads said. “I met them at a rally a couple weeks ago. They are awesome even though they’re so old. They gave me a lot of pointers about having my voice heard.”
Carmen would be so thrilled to learn we had our parents to thank for the uproar.
“They’ll be glad to hear it. It would be a big help to us—to my parents even—if you could move this . . . disagreement to another part of campus.”
“ But this is where the community is hanging. We are spreading the word.”
“ That’s admirable, of course,” I said, placating.
One of the girls stepped forward. She was a petite Indian student with heavy eye makeup. “I heard you’re going to find out who killed that woman on Thursday.”
My head snapped around. “Who told you that?”
She shrugged. “Everyone’s talking about it.”
“ Yeah,” another agreed. “It’s huge. This is the first big thing to happen on campus all year.”
This wa s all said by people who weren’t related to the victim, who didn’t know her, who didn’t find her body and crushed skull. I could blame their interest on violent television, video games, or just plain media altogether, but I suspected people had been morbidly interested in these things before the media was ever involved. It always came back to the chicken or the egg.
The Indian girl spoke up. “It totally creeped me out to think I was nearby when the murder might have been going down.”
“ Nearby? What do you mean?”
“ I was riding my bike back to the dorm after a late class and heard some people fighting on the practice field as I rode by.”
“ When was that?”
She thought. “Class got out at seven-fifteen, so probably seven-thirty.”
And I discovered Tess’s body at eight -thirty. What the girl said fit in with both Doc’s and my timetables. She probably did hear the killer.
“ What did the voices sound like? Male? Female?”
“ It was hard to tell. I didn’t hang around to listen. I wanted to get out of there. One was definitely female. I could tell she was upset.”
“ You didn’t call security?” There was an accusatory tone in my voice.
The girl winced. “I just thought it was some couple fighting. You hear that all the time on campus. I didn’t think it was serious.”
I smiled at her. “It’s okay,” I said, even though it wasn’t. A quick cell phone call could have saved Tess’s life. I didn’t say that. I didn’t want to put the weight of Tess’s death on her thin shoulders. Truthfully, I didn’t know if I wouldn’t have done the same thing.
“ What’s your name?”
“ Raka.”
“ Did you tell the police what you saw?”
“ They never asked me.”
“ That’s because they didn’t know you were there. You need to talk to them. Your information narrows down the time of death. It will make it easier to find who is responsible.”
“ I don’t know if I want to get involved. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Dre ads swung an arm over Raka’s shoulder. “You have to, babe. You’re cracking the case. You’ll be a hero. You’ll be protecting people just like we protect the otters.”
The crowd of disheveled students agreed. “You’re a hero, Raka,” one said.
Raka glowed with the cause. I’d seen the same expression on my parents too many times to count.
“I can take you to talk to an officer
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