Free Shadows on the Ivy by Lea Wait

She wasn’t allowed any visitors.” Maggie thought of Sarah, and of Aura. “I’m going to see her daughter this morning, and then go over to the hospital.”
    “Would you like company? I don’t have a class until after lunch. I’d be glad to go with you.”
    Why this sudden interest in Sarah? Maybe he was just trying to be helpful. “Thanks, Paul, but that’s not necessary. You didn’t know her, did you?”
    “I’ve heard about her, of course; I’ve heard about all the Whitcomb House residents, from Dorothy and Oliver. But, no; I hadn’t seen her before last night. I just thought you might like someone with you. Visiting the ICU isn’t fun.”
    “No. But I’d rather do it myself.” Paul had worked with Oliver Whitcomb in New York, but last night was the first time he’d talked even a little about his relationship with the Whitcombs. Usually he only talked about his current job, and about the plays he still attended regularly in New York. He must be closer to Dorothy and Oliver than she’d realized if he’d heard about individual Whitcomb House residents. And yet—hadn’t Claudia said Oliver Whitcomb had called Paul this morning? That must have been how Paul knew Sarah was in intensive care.
    “Are you sure? I really wouldn’t mind going with you.”
    Maggie shook her head.
    In the past month Paul had asked her to join him for dinner twice, but she’d been busy both times. She’d assumed he was lonely; he’d just moved to the suburbs. Could he be having other thoughts about her? Maggie looked at him again. Paul wasn’t a bad-looking man, for sure. And he was intelligent and certainly knew how to dress. If it weren’t for Will…but she had no commitment to Will. They were friends. Close friends, perhaps, but just friends. In any case, with Sarah in the hospital this wasn’t the time to think of anything other than Sarah’s condition and prognosis. And about what to do for Aura.
    “I’d really rather go to see Aura and Sarah alone,” Maggie said. Her telephone rang. “You’ll excuse me?”
    Paul waved and left the doorway.
    “Professor, this is Kayla Martin. The police have been here at Whitcomb House all morning. They said Sarah’s been poisoned! They had a search warrant; they went through Sarah’s room and really messed it up, and then they went through the rest of the house. Most people were in class, so they haven’t spoken with the police. But I have. And—could I see you? I need to talk with someone.”
    She should have warned the students, Maggie thought. Police arriving first thing in the morning must have been frightening. She was older, with no small children around, and she hadn’t been too thrilled when they’d showed up at her house. “I’m going to see Aura at Wee Care and then I’ll stop,” she said. “Will you be there in”—Maggie checked her watch—“about half an hour? Maybe a little longer. And is Tiffany there?”
    “Tiffany left. I assume she’s on campus. She took her books and that fancy leather briefcase she always carries. But I’ll be here.”
    “I’ll come as soon as I can, Kayla.”
    Maggie stopped at Claudia’s desk on her way out. “If Tiffany Douglass calls again, see if she can stop by my office about four this afternoon. I checked for her at Whitcomb House but she’d already left for the day.”
    Claudia nodded. “Those poor kids. You just never know what will happen next, do you?” She carefully folded the wrappers from the two chocolate Kisses she had just put in her mouth and dropped them squarely in her wastebasket. “A person could die just from the fright of it all.”

Chapter 10
    Hawk Owl (found in northern Europe and North America). Hand-colored engraving from the Reverend F. O. Morris’s Natural History of British Birds, one of the most successful and most often reprinted of all illustrated bird books. It was issued in sections, monthly, from 1851 until 1857. 4.5 x 7.25 inches. Price: $60.
    The Somerset College Wee Care