Free Death by Hitchcock by Elissa D. Grodin Page A

stuff––it had all sorts of weird things in it. And I believe she also took a natural remedy for menstrual cramps.”
    “Professor Winner, I do need to ask you where you were from four-thirty p.m. until you sat down in your seat in Hexley Auditorium that night,” Will said.
    “Oh, for heaven’s sake!” the professor said with annoyance. “If you insist. I had a class from four to five-thirty. After that, I stopped to pick up a sandwich, and came back to my office to do some work.”
    “Can anyone vouch that you were here in the office between, say six o’clock and six-forty-five?” Will asked.
    “I don’t really know. I don’t remember seeing anybody. The Department secretary leaves at six.  You’ll have to ask around, I guess.”
    “Professor, you’ve told me that you and Bunny were romantically involved,” Will said. “What would have happened to the relationship after she graduated?”
    Chaz massaged his forehead, and sighed deeply.
    “Bunny and I were going to move to LA together. I have a job lined up at UCLA,” he replied sheepishly. “Although I don’t think I’ll be taking it, now.”
    “I’ll admit I was beginning to have a few second thoughts,” he continued. “Bunny was pressuring me to move out there. I wanted to please her, but it was all moving too fast for me. I have two young children, and I started thinking realistically about how often I would get to see them if I lived in LA.”
    Will listened.    
    “I feel like a fool,” Chaz Winner said. “I was bedazzled by Bunny. By her sexual aggression––by her drive and ambition––even by her family’s wealth.”
    Professor Winner looked at Will with a careworn smile.
    “I suppose part of me is relieved, as awful as that sounds,” he said.
    “How long had you been involved with her?” Will asked.
    “It started right after the beginning of term,” Chaz said. “Bunny came into my office one afternoon, at the end of my office hours. It seems preposterously corny, now, and I’m embarrassed to describe what happened.”
    Professor Winner leaned back farther in his chair until he was practically reclining, and addressed the rest of his story to the ceiling.
    “She locked the office door behind her, and sat down on my lap. She said something rather cliched, like, ‘We’ve both been wanting this’. I confess, I was overwhelmed by her.”
    “Are you divorced from your wife?” Will asked.
    “In the process of,” the professor replied.
    “Is that an amicable situation, sir?”
    “Far from it. And I can’t say I blame her. My wife, I mean––Susan. I’ve behaved very badly.”
    “When will the divorce be final?” Will said.
    “I don’t really know,” the professor replied. “As angry at me as she is, Susan doesn’t seem all that gung-ho to go through with the divorce. She hasn’t been very cooperative.”
    “Why do you think that is, Professor Winner?”
    “Damned if I know,” he replied wearily. 
    “My god,” Chaz blurted, “do you think she might take me back?”
    “I couldn’t say,” Will replied. “But there’s always hope.”

Chapter 20
     
    Edwina looked up from her desk distractedly.  Curiosity about Bunny’s murder kept creeping up on her. She wondered why she had heard nothing about the investigation from Will, lately.
    None of my beeswax, anyway, she thought.  Mustn’t waste time waiting around for crumbs of information!
    With that she refocused her attention on grading papers. She would just have to put the investigation out of her mind for the time being. There was work to be done, and she was being paid to do it. Edwina hunkered down, and concentrated on her students’ work.
    When she was finished marking papers, she approached the freestanding blackboard in the corner of her office. For the umpteenth time, with chalk in hand, she reviewed what was written there––a procession of long and complicated mathematical equations. Once again she scrutinized the long derivation