Free Death by Hitchcock by Elissa D. Grodin

the picnic sequence, the film had the ending it needed. Wallace was just about to review the sequence again, when he heard the door to the editing room open quietly. He turned and saw Susan Winner, wearing a long winter coat and fashionable boots. Her dark hair fell around her shoulders.
    “I just dropped the kids off at skating, and my neighbor is going to pick them up afterwards and bring them home. I have about an hour,” Mrs. Winner said, glancing at her watch.
    Wallace Duncan sat, transfixed, and stared at Mrs. Winner. He leapt from his chair and pinned her firmly against the wall. She laughed. 
    Young Wallace’s imminent delight in the discovery that Susan Winner was wearing nothing at all under her coat brought immeasurable pleasure to them both, until it was time for her to leave.

Chapter 19
     
    Will knocked on the door of Professor Winner’s second floor office in Hexley Hall.
    “Come in”.
    Chaz Winner was seated behind the desk at a computer. His wavy hair was brushed back from his face, and a pair of fashionable reading glasses sat at the end of his nose. On one wall of the large, corner office was an imposing poster showing a Russian sailor standing in front of an enormous battleship. The title, Battleship Potemkin, appeared in English at the top, and in the Cyrillic letters of the Russian alphabet at the bottom.
    “Please sit down, Detective Tenney,” the professor said.
    Upon closer inspection, Will saw that the professor was in a bad way. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken, and his face had a peculiar pallor.
    “Thank-you for seeing me today. I’m sure the shock of Bunny’s death has taken its toll on you,” Will said.
    Chaz Winner replied in a monotone voice.
    “How can I help you?”
    “It would be useful if I could hear your account of the night of her death,” Will said. 
    Chaz Winner removed his glasses and rested his elbows on the desk, pressing the palms of his hands over his eyes. 
    “I’ve had a splitting headache for the last four hours,” he groaned.
    “Sorry to hear that, sir. Can I get you something?” Will said.
    “No, thank-you. I’ve taken all kinds of stuff,” Chaz said, leaning back and closing his eyes.”
    “My account of that night,” Chaz repeated. “Very well.” He stretched his neck slowly to one side, grimacing in pain, then to the other, trying to release the muscle tension.
    “Bunny was supposed to meet me in the auditorium,” he said. “When she didn’t show up by the time the film started, I figured she was just running late, and would probably show up any second. But it was very unusual for her to be late for a movie, and five or ten minutes in, I started to wonder what on earth could be keeping her. I couldn’t concentrate on the film at all. I remember somebody tried to sit down in the seat I was saving for Bunny, and I told her she couldn’t sit there.”
    “Do you recall who that was?” Will asked.
    “A local eccentric,” Professor Winner replied. “An Englishwoman who comes to all our Film Society movies. She always sits right behind me for some reason. I’ve seen her around the department a few times, reading notices on the bulletin board.”
    “The next thing I remember was a scream coming from outside the auditorium, and then the film stopped. I remember thinking, how did the projectionist hear the screams from inside the projection room? But he must have, because the movie stopped two seconds after the scream.”
    Will glanced over the notes.
    “Professor Winner, did Bunny use homeopathic remedies for anything?”
    “What on earth difference would that make?” the professor said.
    “We’re just following up on something,” Will replied.
    “As a matter of fact, yes; she did. She started getting headaches recently, and she was taking some homeopathic stuff to get rid of them.”
    “Anything else?”
    “Hm. She had some special mixture of herbal tea she drank all the time,” he replied. “I couldn’t stand the