Page 23 of M for Murder

‘Meaning she slept around?’

‘I didn’t say that.’

Joel tapped his pen impatiently against the side of his notebook. ‘But you just said she had a lot of boyfriends.’

‘By which I meant she was a popular student.’ Parker narrowed his black eyes defensively. ‘She had a lot of friends of the opposite sex.’

‘But not any one in particular?’

‘I wouldn’t know.’

Joel studied the professor, almost certain that he was hiding something. Was it possible that he was somehow involved in Emma Keeley’s disappearance? But then, what about the secret boyfriend, and the person she had gone to meet on Thursday night? Were they one and the same? And was it possible that person was Lawrence Parker?

One thing was for certain; they needed to establish the identity of Emma Keeley’s boyfriend, and quick, because at the moment it seemed he was the only one who held any of the answers.

Joel had spent another half hour firing questions at Parker, hoping to push the right buttons and get him wound up. It hadn’t worked. Parker had remained calm and impassive and it had been Joel who ended up getting irritated.

Angell got the brunt of his temper when they later met up, Joel flicking through the notes she had made, barely looking at them before he handed the notebook back.

‘Is that all you got?’ he stormed. ‘Dammit, Angell, you were with her for over an hour. What the hell did you talk about? Your favourite shade of lipstick?’

Angell glared at him, her face red with fury.

‘I did exactly as you asked. I questioned Mindy and I made notes. I wrote down every damn thing she told me. What the hell did you want me to do? Make it up?’

Joel scowled. ‘I wanted you to do your goddamn job.’

‘And I did.’

‘You did not.’

Angell threw the notebook back at him. ‘You think you can do better, Special Agent Hickok? Well, be my guest.’

She started to walk away.

Joel watched her for a moment, a little taken aback by her reaction. Although very aware that he was the one in the wrong, he was too stubborn to admit it.

‘Hey, Angell? Where the hell do you think you’re going?’ he yelled after her.

She glared over her shoulder. ‘As far away from you as possible,’ she snapped.

‘Yeah? Well get back here. We’re not done yet.’

She paused, her back tensing, and Joel guessed she was debating whether or not to continue walking. He knew that he didn’t have to remind her of the delicate position she was in. The Jagger murder was now part of an FBI investigation, which meant that she was working under him. By not co-operating she would be putting her job in jeopardy and he knew that she didn’t want to do that.

He watched her as, realising this, she reluctantly turned and made her way back towards him.

You’re an asshole, Hickok.

Ignoring the voice, aware he was clearly in the wrong, he turned on his heel and walked away. Footsteps echoed behind him as Angell caught him up, but she refused to look at him, and together they walked down the hallway, a stony silence between them.

During the afternoon they spoke with Dean Edwards again, arranging to have the security on campus doubled, then they questioned Joanna Daly and a couple of other friends of Scott Jagger.

Joanna wasn’t able to help much. She and Scott had broken up a few days before he disappeared. It had been her idea, one which Scott hadn’t taken well, and he had made a couple of attempts to get her back that had resulted in fights. The last time she had seen him had been Thursday two weeks ago. A whole twenty-four hours before he vanished.

Jim Booker and Pete Harrison, who both lived on campus and had the rooms either side of Scott, were able to offer a little more information, though none that seemed of any use.

Scott, they said, had spent many nights drowning his sorrows down at The Coven following his breakup with Joanna. Could there have been a possible connection there with Emma Keeley, who, it seemed likely, had also been heading for the popular student club on the night she went missing?