A Wrongful Drift (Seagrove 8)

by Leona Fox

  There were varying degrees of emotional distress in the faces around her. A couple of faces crumpled, but those girls were folded into hugs by their housemates and no one broke down.

  "I've been thinking," the young dark haired girl who currently was holding Mr. B spoke up. "There were a couple of girls who really made a fuss when they didn't make rush. And one was really obnoxious. She stood on the sidewalk and called us names for a couple of days until the cops came and told her she had to stop. I don't know her name, though."

  "Mandy?" A tall blonde asked.

  "No, not Mandy, Randy." The group was buzzing again.

  "Yes, that's right, Randy."

  "No, remember, we called her Randy Sandy. Her name was Sandy."

  "I don't think so. It was Andy, like in Toy Story, only a girl."

  "Can we agree it ended with Andy?" Sadie asked. The girls nodded.

  "Do you all remember what she looked like?" Sadie asked, but if she thought there would be agreement on that, she was wrong. The only agreement they came to was she was Caucasian and her hair wasn't pitch black or white blonde.

  "Sadie, I don't feel safe anymore." There was nodding all round.

  "What should we do?" one of the girls asked.

  "The same things you should always do. Don't go strange places by yourself. You keep an eye out for each other. Don't meet people you don't know well by yourself unless you are in a very public place. Be honest and compassionate and don't wield power over others. After that, you just have to roll with the punches. There are no guarantees in life, but you can improve your odds by being smart." Sadie stopped and caught her breath and Mr. Bradshaw chose that moment to give one of the girls a big kiss right on the mouth.

  There was squealing and laughing, and when they had calmed down the mood had changed and they were happy young women again. But as she went to leave, the girl who'd held Mr. B first caught Sadie’s arm.

  "You'll find who killed Syl, won't you?" she asked.

  "Of course, she will." The voice was familiar but Sadie couldn't place the name. "She's Seagrove's Sherlock, only a woman."

  "I'll do my best," Sadie said. "And I won't stop looking until the correct person is behind bars."

  "Wait. Do they have someone in jail?" said the tall blonde.

  "It's Professor Ives," the redhead chimed in. "My dad saw them come take him away."

  "I don't believe it, not Professor Ives." The mood in the room changed again and Sadie could feel the anxiety level rise again.

  "I don't believe Professor Ives killed anyone," Sadie said. "And I'm going to do whatever I can to get him released."

  "Should we go over and protest in front of the police station?"

  "Yes, let's stand up for Professor Ives!"

  "He's not in the Seagrove holding cells," Sadie said hastily. Zack would not be happy if a bunch of co-eds started picketing the station house.

  "They've got him over in the town where Sylvia was found. Don't get me into trouble by storming the Seagrove police department."

  "We won't."

  "We promise."

  Sadie left to a chorus of voices assuring her they wouldn't become a public nuisance, but she didn't believe it for a moment. She knew only too well what a group of sorority sisters could do when they put their efforts behind a cause. She almost felt sorry for Steve Ryan.

  The offices were closed when she drove past the college so she headed toward home. On the way she stopped at the pizzeria and picked up a couple of take-and-bake pizzas for dinner. The high school student behind the counter put two dog biscuits on the boxes for Mr. B, who was sitting quietly next to Sadie. She gave one to him to hold and he carried it proudly out to the sidewalk before snapping it down.

  Over pizza that night she broached the subject of Justin with Zack once again. He had a mouthful of pizza that he had to swallow before he could answer.

  “Sadie, babe,” he said, “you know I have no control over what Steve Ryan decides to do with Justin. You are going to have to be patient.”

  “But you could tell him you don’t think Justin killed Sylvia,” Sadie said. “He might listen to you.”

  “I can’t do that,” he said quietly. “I wish I could, for you, but I can’t.”

  “Because you don’t believe he’s innocent,” Sadie said sadly.

  “Because I have no idea if he’s innocent or not,” Zack said.

  “I’d love to believe that you and Mr. Bradshaw are right, Sadie, but there’s no evidence pointing to anyone else. And I can’t go looking for it because it’s not my case. I have my own work to do. I’m sorry.”

  Sadie nodded. He was right, he couldn’t interfere without some kind of proof. She could, though. She should go check on Justin and see if he needed anything. She felt guilty that she hadn’t been already, but she’d been trying to find the real killer.

  “It’s okay,” she said and smiled at Zack. “Of course, you have to do your job. I’m going to see Justin tomorrow. I’ll tell Officer Ryan he’s got the wrong guy. Not that it’ll make a difference, but, at least, I’ll feel like I tried.”

  “I don’t know if they’ll let you see him, but they might. And it doesn’t hurt to try.” Zack leaned across the table and wiped something off her face with his thumb and then wiped his thumb on a napkin.

  “Pizza sauce?” Sadie asked.

  “And a tiny piece of olive. This is good pizza, where did you get it? The Pizzeria?” He put the remains of a piece in his mouth and sighed.

  “The only other place to get take and bake is the grocery, and you know that doesn’t compare. I always get my take and bake from the Pizzeria. In fact, I got a second one to put in the freezer for emergencies.”

  She licked the sauce from her fingers. “Yum.”

  “You have pizza emergencies?” Zack cocked an eyebrow at her.

  “Don’t you? I thought everyone had pizza emergencies,” Sadie said.

  “I just call for delivery when I need a pizza, and I wouldn’t call it an emergency. Sometimes I’m just hungry for pizza,” he said. He palmed a piece of crust and dropped it on the floor.

  “I saw that,” she said. “You know Mr. B isn’t allowed to eat human food. It’s not good for him.”

  She wagged her finger at him. “He’ll get fat.”

  “I’ve never seen a less fat dog,” he said. “One tiny piece of crust won’t hurt him once in a while. It’s not like he gets it every day.”

  “Humph,” she snorted.

  “Says you.” But she didn’t reach under the table to take the crust from Mr. B. You had to know when to make a big deal of something, she thought, and this wasn’t it.

  “So what’s your plan for tomorrow?” he asked. “Sleuthing, or planning for your trip to Europe?”

  “Sleuthing. I’m on a crumb trail.” She wiped her face with a napkin and tossed it into the compost bin.

  “First I’m going to see Justin, and tell Steve Ryan he’s wrong. Then I’m going to the college to see if I can find Sandy, Randy or Mandy. Maybe it’s just plain Andy, I don’t know.”

  “Andy?” Zack looked puzzled.

  “Apparently a pledge who didn’t make it in and who was mad about the hazing. Not that I blame her, but I draw the line at murder. Anyway, her name was something like Randy or Sandy. The girls couldn’t remember for sure. She made a big stink when she didn’t make the cut. She protested out on the sidewalk until the cops made her stop.”

  “Sounds promising,” Zack said. “If you can find her. There could be an awful lot of girls whose names end with Andy. It’s a big school.”

  “We’ll see.” Sadie shrugged. “What are you up to tomorrow?”

  “More of the same, mostly,” he said. “I’m going out to the art co-op in the morning. I’d ask you to come along, but it sounds like you are busy.”

  “I’d love to come another time,” she said. “But for now, I have to make Justin my priority.”

  “You are a good friend, Sadie Barnett,” he said, reaching out and
holding her hand. “He’s lucky to have you.”

  “I feel more like a parent than a friend. Or some kind of guardian of justice. Professor Ives is like a child who needs to be protected from himself. Just when I thought he was pulling himself together, this happens. I realize he’s not much older than his students, but you’d think he’d have more sense.”

  “It’s hard to keep your wits about you when faced with a pretty girl,” Zack said. “I should know.”

  “Flatterer,” she said, but she couldn’t keep the smile from her face.

  “Not at all, I just speak the truth. I’ve broken all kinds of rules because I like having you near me.” He squeezed her hand and let go. “But now I’d better go home. Otherwise, I’ll find myself sleeping on your couch.”

  “You won’t stay for a movie?” she asked, but she knew it was late for him. He got to the station house at an ungodly hour in the mornings.

  He shook his head and kissed her on the top of the head before patting Mr. Bradshaw and heading down the staircase.

  “I guess it’s just you and me for the movie, Mr. B,” she said.

  Mr. B barked once and joined her on the couch, but she had fallen asleep before the title credits had finished running and only woke up when the movie ended.

  “Well, that was a waste,” Sadie said. “Come on Mr. B, it’s time for bed.”

  When Sadie and Mr. B walked into the police station in Hillside, she was looking a lot more confident that she felt. She would have much preferred that Zack make her case with Officer Ryan, but she understood why he wouldn’t and she respected him for it. Still, she was quaking in her boots on the inside.

  She walked up to the desk sergeant and told him she wanted to see Justin Ives and speak to Officer Ryan. The desk sergeant wrote it all down and asked her to have a seat. She sat on a bench against one wall and Mr. Bradshaw jumped up and curled up on her lap and they waited. And waited. And waited some more. Sadie was beginning to despair of ever seeing Justin when a door opened.

  "Ms. Barnett, please come this way," the female officer said and turned and walked away.

  Sadie scurried to the door, afraid it might lock if it closed and she'd be reduced to either banging on it or sitting down and waiting again. She caught the door just before it slammed shut and pulled it open so she and Mr. B could slide through. The officer was waiting at the end of the hallway, not impatient, but just standing there as if it was a daily occurrence; waiting for the slow civilian to catch up.

  Sadie followed the officer down the hall to the left and was let into a room. Justin was sitting at the table waiting and his face lit up when he saw her. He looked awful; unshaven, sleep deprived and disheveled. He'd clearly appeared to be out of his element while wearing one of those oversized jumpsuits.

  "Justin," she said, "how are you doing?"

  "You've got to get me out of here, Ms. Barnett. I swear I didn't kill her. I loved her. I still love her." He was about to descend into hysterics.

  "Easy," Sadie said. "It will be okay. Have you called a lawyer?"

  He shook his head. "No. Who would I call? And don't they automatically think you are guilty if you call a lawyer? Innocent people shouldn't need a lawyer, right?"

  "Justin, where were you when Oxford was sure I'd murdered Curtis? Yes you need a lawyer. A lawyer would have gotten you out of here the very first day."

  He hung his head. "I can't pay for a lawyer."

  "You can't afford not to pay for a lawyer. How many days have you been out of work? What about your reputation? College professors can't afford to languish in jail, especially junior ones." He looked as if he might start crying.

  "What can I bring you?" she asked quickly to divert his attention. Not that she minded men crying, it was just she thought he'd be embarrassed if he cried in front of her.

  "Do you have the name of a lawyer?" he asked, straightening his back.

  Sadie took a piece of paper and pen from her bag and wrote the name and number of the lawyer who helped her when she was threatened with arrest.

  "This," she said as she slid the paper across from him, "is the name of a really good lawyer. Tell her I sent you. Do you need anything else?"

  "Thank you," he said. "Will you come visit me again? I'm lonely."

  “If you’re not out of here tomorrow I’ll come back and see you. But if you call that number I gave you I guarantee you’ll be out of here.” Sadie skewered him with her eyeballs.

  “Call her.”

  “I will, I’ll call as soon as you’re gone.”

  “I’m going now then because that phone call is the most important thing you can do this year.” She stood up and patted him on the shoulder.

  “Do it now and everything will be okay.” Sadie felt like a fraud as she went back to the station desk. She didn’t really know everything would be okay, but what was she supposed to say to him?

  “You’re going to rot in this hellhole unless I can find the person who killed your girlfriend?” She grimaced to herself as she waited for the desk sergeant to tell Officer Ryan she was waiting.

  Officer Ryan was cordial when Sadie finally was let into his office. “Ms. Barnett,” he said offering her a chair, “have you thought of something you forgot to tell me?”

  “Not so much, no. I came to tell you that you’ve got the wrong man in custody.” She sat gingerly on one of his chairs and held Mister Bradshaw in her lap.

  “What makes you think that?” he asked, his eyebrows raised.

  “Because I know Justin Ives, and he could not have killed Sylvia Jones.” She tried to keep her voice level and unemotional but she wasn’t entirely successful and there was a hint of a quaver when she said Sylvia’s name.

  “How do you know Professor Ives could not have killed Sylvia Jones?” He asked. “Can you give him an alibi?”

  “No, I can’t give him an alibi, I just know that he couldn’t have done it.” She knew it sounded ridiculous even if it was the truth. No wonder Zack hadn’t been willing to speak to him.

  “My dog, Mr. Bradshaw,” she nodded down at the K-9 in her arms, “likes him. Mr. Bradshaw knows the difference between murderers and non-murderers. I know it sounds ridiculous but it’s true. He knows.”

  “Ms. Barnett, I don’t doubt the ability of your dog to judge human character. However, I cannot release a man based on a dog’s good opinion. I’d be laughed out of my job. And what if Mr. Bradshaw is wrong in Mr. Ives kills again? Could you live with yourself because I couldn’t,” he said.

  “The longer you keep Justin in jail, the more you damage his reputation. He’s a college professor. This stay in jail could cost him his job. He might never work in education again.”

  She felt like she should get angry, jump up and down, make Officer Ryan listen. But she didn’t think it would make any difference. And if she was honest with herself, she’d have known it wouldn’t. But she had to try. She sighed.

  “Clearly Mr. Bradshaw and I are not going to change your mind, but later on, when Mr. Bradshaw is proven to be correct, I want you to remember that I did warn you that you have the wrong man. In fact, I don’t think it was a man at all. I’m pretty sure the sorority pledge that didn’t make the cut killed Sylvia Jones. A girl, not a man at all.” She got up out of the chair.

  “Thank you for your time,” she said and left the room.

  It took her a couple of minutes to find her way out of the maze of hallways to the front door of the police station. She walked sedately to her car, put Mr. Bradshaw in the front seat and got in. She looked around to see that no one was watching her, and when she was certain she was alone, she let out her frustration by pounding on the steering wheel and yelling “Argh!” at the top of her voice.

  Then she took a deep breath, started the engine and drove sedately away. Like a good citizen. It wasn’t just that she knew she looked foolish, it was the inability to do anything that really would help. Life is just so frustrating sometimes.

  “Back again, Ms. Barnett?” The woman behi
nd the desk at the college registrar’s office recognized her immediately.

  “What can I help you with now?” She wasn’t exactly friendly, but at least she wasn’t openly hostile or refusing Sadie’s requests. That was an improvement.

  “This is going to seem like a pretty odd question,” Sadie said. The clerk raised her eyebrows.

  “I’m looking for a woman, an underclassman - most likely a freshman. I have no idea what her last name is but her first name ends with A-N-D-Y. Or maybe an I instead of the Y. You know like Randy, Mandy or Sandy. It could even be Andy.”

  “I can’t say I’ve ever had that request before,” the clerk said.

  “Give me a minute.” She went back over to her desk, clicked her mouse and tapped a few times on a keyboard.

  Sadie leaned on the counter and waited while Mr. Bradshaw sniffed around her feet. There had to be a lot of good smells down there, she thought.

  The clerk clicked a couple of more keys and the printer spit out a piece of paper, which she brought over to Sadie. “Here you go,” she said.

  “Good luck with what you’re doing. I have no idea what it is, but I know the Dean of Students thinks it’s important. What the Dean of Students is behind, I’m behind.”

  “Thanks,” Sadie said and took the paper. “I hope it turns out to be important or all I’m doing is just wasting my time and yours.”

  Sadie took the paper out to the car and looked at it. There were three names: Mandy Wills, Tandy Smith, and Candy Foster. Their phone numbers and addresses also were listed, along with their year in school. Mandy and Candy were freshmen. Tandy was a sophomore.

  “Better call Zack before we go,” Sadie said to Mr. Bradshaw. “I think the crumb trail might be coming to an end, and someone should know where we are in case we disappear.”

  Mr. Bradshaw tilted his head and whined in a way that Sadie took to mean, “Why are we going then?”

  “Because someone has to make sure Professor Ives doesn’t go to jail for a crime he didn’t commit, and that Sylvia Jones gets justice, that’s why.” She picked up the phone and dialed Zack.