Student Body

by Susan Rogers Cooper

  Miranda cut her eyes at him. ‘Graham, honey, dearest, I have no idea what this Gretchen bitch looks like!’

  He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her so she would be facing the two women, his back to them. ‘See the short Asian woman with the glasses? The blonde she’s talking to is Gretchen. Do you know the other one?’

  ‘The Asian? Yeah, actually, to be specific she’s Vietnamese. Tina Ng. She’s a T.A. For Professor Winston.’

  ‘She’s too young to be a T.A. What is she, twelve?’

  ‘Actually, she’s like in her mid-twenties. She just looks young,’ Miranda said.

  ‘Can you tell what they’re talking about?’ he asked, whispering.

  ‘No,’ Miranda whispered back. ‘I don’t read lips.’

  ‘So get closer,’ Graham said. ‘I’ll step back inside the classroom so Gretchen won’t see me. Act like you’re reading an assignment or something.’

  Miranda shook her head. ‘Boy, you are just a load of laughs, aren’t you, Pugh?’

  ‘Please?’

  She grinned. ‘Nancy Drew at your service!’ she said and headed down the hall, past the two women to the bulletin board only a foot or so away from them, and began to peruse the notices.

  Graham snuck back into the classroom he’d just vacated. It was empty so he had no problem propping up a wall as he waited. In about five minutes he saw Gretchen Morley pass the classroom where he was hiding. A minute or two after that, Miranda was by his side.

  ‘Well?’ he asked.

  She shook her head. ‘Couldn’t really understand what they were talking about but I took notes, hoping you’d know.’

  ‘OK, let me see!’

  She pulled her notepad away from him. ‘It’s in my shorthand. No way you can read it. Or anybody, for that matter.’ She bent over it. ‘Let me see, now, I think, no, maybe it says—’

  ‘Anybody includes you?’ Graham asked.

  ‘Shush. OK. She – Ng – said, “Not tonight, it’s too soon,” then Gretchen said, “I can’t keep it,” then Ng said, “Just shut up and do what I tell you,” then Gretchen started to cry—’

  ‘Are you serious?’

  ‘Yes, I am. Big old fat tears falling out of her eyes. In my world, we call that crying.’

  ‘God, you’re a smartass.’

  She grinned. ‘And you like that,’ she said.

  Graham grinned back. ‘Actually, yeah, I kinda do.’ Then he shook himself. ‘OK, what happened after she started crying?’

  ‘Ng said, “Try to control yourself, you blithering idiot.”’

  ‘Blithering idiot? Really? I’ve heard my grandpa use that term but no one younger than their mid-seventies!’

  ‘I can’t help you with that. That’s what she said. I had to actually write down “blithering” because I couldn’t come up with a shorthand way of writing it.’

  ‘OK,’ Graham said, ‘so then what?’

  ‘Ng goes, “If you can’t handle this, Morley, I’ll find someone who can!” Real mean, like.’

  ‘What did Gretchen say?’

  ‘She calmed down rather quickly, I thought, and said, “Of course I can handle it! You can count on me!” I thought she was going to burst into song for a moment there,’ Miranda said.

  ‘Song?’ Graham asked.

  Miranda rolled her eyes. ‘You’ve never seen Toy Story? “You’ve Got A Friend In Me”?’

  ‘Oh, right, whatever. And then?’ Graham asked.

  Miranda shrugged. ‘She left – Gretchen did.’

  ‘I saw her go by the door,’ Graham said.

  ‘Yeah, well she came this way and Ng went the other way. And that was that.’

  Graham put his arm around Miranda and kissed her solidly on the lips. ‘Good job, Nancy,’ he said.

  ‘We’re really not going to play fantasy sex games, are we? Me Nancy, you Ned?’

  ‘Who’s Ned?’

  Miranda sighed. ‘Nancy Drew’s boyfriend, dumbass!’

  ‘How would I know?’ he answered, wounded. ‘Nancy Drew’s a girl’s book. I don’t read girl’s books.’

  Miranda shook her head as they left the classroom. ‘I’m going to have a talk with your mother,’ she said.

  ‘Oh, yeah, we need to tell her and Luna what you overheard,’ Graham said.

  ‘That too. But my main concern is your lack of feminist upbringing! Your mother has something to answer for!’

  ‘Oh, don’t!’ Graham said, almost begging. ‘Anything but that! Please!’

  Miranda laughed and took his hand. Graham wasn’t sure what that meant.

  ELEVEN

  Lisa Garcia found Champion and his two female companions in his cubicle. ‘Didn’t have to do too much to find out who this guy is,’ she said, throwing down a poster. It was obviously the guy in the picture with Adrianne Alexander, being overly intimate. The poster she threw down contained another picture of the guy, with another woman and three kids. All holding up two fingers in a ‘V’ for victory sign. And under the picture was the legend ‘Vote for Al! Next US Senator from the State of Texas!’

  ‘Shit,’ Champion said. ‘It is Al Nelsley! Damn!’

  ‘He’s that Republican asshole running for senate!’ the Pugh woman said.

  ‘She’s a left-wing pinko liberal,’ Luna informed Champion with a grin.

  ‘Shit, that’s all I need,’ Champion said under his breath.

  ‘So, with his white-bread wife and his three blonde offspring right there, why is he canoodling with Bishop’s – excuse the expression – mother?’ Pugh asked.

  ‘Because he’s an asshole politician and they all screw around?’ Luna suggested.

  Pugh shrugged. ‘You have a point. But I thought Republicans were the ones who couldn’t keep their hands out of your pockets. Democrats are traditionally the ones that can’t keep their hands out of their own pants.’

  ‘I haven’t voted in twenty years,’ Champion said, ‘so this discussion is boring me. They’re all assholes. Let’s move on.’

  Both Luna and Pugh stared at him, speechless. Finally, Luna said, ‘Twenty years?’

  He shrugged. ‘Maybe longer.’ He looked up at Pugh and grinned. ‘When Reagan couldn’t run anymore, I quit voting.’

  ‘Oh my God!’ Pugh said and shuddered.

  ‘Right,’ Luna said. ‘OK. Let’s move on. So why would Bishop have a picture of his mother and the senator-wannabe canood-ling, as Pugh put it?’

  ‘Blackmail,’ Pugh said, and both Champion and Luna looked at her with raised eyebrows. ‘Seriously. From what Graham has told us,’ she said, indicating Luna, ‘Bishop was always calling her for money, even though she sent him nearly a thousand a month. So, say, during winter break, he finds this picture, knows who Nelsley is and decides that’s a good way of getting more cash.’

  Luna was nodding but Champion wasn’t about to give the mom that kind of satisfaction. ‘So you think she killed the kid for that picture? Why didn’t she just take it when she was in there stabbing her son? Which, in truth, I just don’t believe.’

  Pugh sank back in the chair. ‘Me neither, to be truthful. But maybe that’s just because I’m a mom and can’t fathom such things.’ She brightened. ‘But it happens!’ she added.

  ‘I’m not buying it,’ Luna said. ‘I think when she found out her son was dead, she was worried that someone would find the picture. That’s why she had Graham break in.’

  Pugh’s shoulders began to sag. ‘Maybe,’ she said grudgingly.

  ‘Which brings us back to your kid,’ Champion said.

  I don’t like to use that nasty four-letter word ‘hate,’ but at that moment I hated Nate Champion with every fiber of my being. He was seriously going after my kid – again! No one would believe the truth, that: 1. Graham didn’t have a real reason for killing Bishop, and 2. Graham didn’t have it in him to do such a thing. Neither was something Champion was going to buy. Unfortunately, my son had: a motive, such as it was; means – the cafeteria was full of knives; and the opportu
nity – he was in the room when Bishop was murdered. I was getting seriously scared.

  I’d been riding the coattails of both Champion and Luna this entire time, I thought. It was time I went out on my own, since I was the only one who believed Graham was truly innocent.

  I stood up from the rolling chair I’d been allocated and said, ‘Look, y’all, I have a splitting headache. I think I’ll head back to the hotel. It’s Advil time.’

  Luna stood, too. ‘I’ll drive you back.’

  ‘No, no,’ I said, pushing her lightly back in her seat. ‘You stay and try to figure this crap out. I’ll grab a cab.’

  ‘You sure?’ Luna said.

  ‘Leave the woman alone, Elena,’ Champion said.

  I still hated him but for once he was – unknowingly – on my side. I waved and headed out of the office. Once on the street, I used my cell phone to call Graham.

  ‘Where are you?’ I asked when he answered.

  ‘Ah, around,’ he said.

  ‘I need you to pick me up,’ I said.

  ‘I’m kinda busy, Mom.’

  ‘Doing what?’

  ‘Don’t listen to him, Mrs Pugh!’ came a female voice, obviously in Graham’s car.

  ‘Is that Miranda?’ I asked.

  ‘Maybe,’ he said.

  ‘We’re coming to get you!’ the female voice said.

  ‘Well, Miranda’s certainly more polite than you! Which isn’t saying much. I’m at the police station. On the sidewalk. Make it snappy,’ I said and hung up.

  ‘I’m glad she left,’ Champion said to Luna.

  ‘Don’t be,’ Luna said.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because she’s up to something. I know that woman like the back of my hand. She doesn’t do cabs and she doesn’t turn down a ride. So she’s up to something. And that’s never a good sign.’

  Champion stared at Luna for a moment, then said, ‘Should we go get her?’ It was obvious that this wasn’t his favorite plan.

  Luna shrugged. ‘Too late now, probably. She’s wiley. Like a coyote.’

  ‘Funny.’

  Luna noticed he wasn’t laughing, or even smiling for that matter.

  ‘So what do we do now?’ she asked him.

  ‘Arrest the Pugh kid,’ Champion answered.

  ‘No.’

  Champion sighed. ‘Look, I’ve got motive and opportunity. As far as means, that’s not a problem. The kid’s good for this, Elena.’

  ‘So’s Gretchen Morley. And Lexie Thurgood. And Bobby Dunston! Not to mention Gaylord Fuchs! I mean, the list of possibles is as long as your arm, for crying out loud!’

  ‘Yeah, but we have no proof that any of those people were there in the room when the kid was murdered. Pugh was!’

  ‘And he was unconscious! Which we would know if you’d done your due diligence and taken his blood the next morning!’

  ‘Hey, he was a smoking gun! There was no call to test his blood—’

  ‘Bullshit!’

  They both stopped talking and just looked at each for a long moment. Finally, Champion said, ‘I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.’

  Luna shook her head. ‘You’re railroading this kid, Nate, and I won’t stand for it. I’ll do what I have to do to prove you wrong.’ She stood up to leave.

  Champion stood to face her. ‘Don’t get in my way, Elena. This isn’t your jurisdiction. I’ve let you tag along out of respect for you as a colleague, but I won’t stand for your interference.’

  ‘Nice seeing you, Nate. Have a nice life,’ Luna said and headed out of the squad room.

  Graham picked me up on the sidewalk outside the police station. Miranda, who was in the front passenger seat, crawled into the back, letting me ride shotgun. I climbed in and turned to Miranda.

  ‘How’s he doing?’ I asked, pointing my head at my son, who was scowling behind the wheel.

  ‘Other than terrified of the two of us getting together? Pretty much OK,’ she said.

  I looked at Graham. I think I liked this girl. But I’d liked all the girls my son had become involved with, which said something about Graham’s good taste. How long would this one hang around? Once Graham got arrested for killing his roommate. Once he went on trial. Once he ended up in prison. I turned around and stared out the front window.

  ‘Mom?’ he said.

  ‘Um,’ I said.

  ‘What’s up?’

  ‘They don’t like Bishop’s mother for the kill,’ I said.

  ‘I’m still their best fit,’ he said. It wasn’t a question so I didn’t answer it.

  ‘That’s bullshit!’ Miranda said from the back seat. ‘Excuse my language, Mrs Pugh.’

  ‘Where do you think I learned to cuss like a sailor?’ Graham said.

  ‘From your father,’ I threw in, then turned to Miranda. ‘Call me E.J.,’ I said. ‘This is getting too dicey for formalities.’

  ‘Yeah, I guess so,’ she said, her voice dejected. ‘But you know he didn’t do it?’ she asked.

  ‘Of course I know that!’ I said, my voice rising. Who the hell did she think I was, anyway? Jeez.

  ‘Ah, I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘This is just weird.’

  ‘Look,’ Graham said, his eyes squarely on the road, ‘Miranda, I’m taking you back to your dorm. You don’t need to be involved in this—’

  ‘Try it and see how far you get!’ she said. ‘I’m in this for the long haul. If necessary, I’ll learn to bake so I can put a file in a cake to take to you in prison!’

  Graham and l looked at each other and began to laugh. I think we were both on the verge of hysterics, but I was able to stop myself before the tears began.

  Champion was pissed. How dare Luna talk to him like that? This was his case and he could arrest whomever he wanted to arrest! She needed to get her ass back to Hicksville, USA, where she came from and leave him alone. But, deep down, he wondered about a couple of things: like why there was no blood on the kid the next morning, on or around him. And why in the hell didn’t he, Champion, test the kid’s blood? Yeah, it wasn’t exactly protocol but it wasn’t unheard of either. The kid could have been on drugs – like PCP. That shit has caused more than one college student to go berserk.

  And did he believe what the Morley girl had said about the kid sitting up in the middle of the night and staring at the vic? She could be lying about that for reasons of her own. Or the vic could have lied to her – for reasons of his own. But why? OK, he thought. The vic might have been trying to impress Morley in some weird way. Hey, look at me! I’m so cool my roommate wants to kill me. Or, more likely – maybe – Morley wanted to take any heat off her and put it on the Pugh kid. He was pretty sure she lied about keying the vic’s car and the Ex-Lax brownies. But would she need more revenge than that for the end of a three-week affair? Who knew, he thought. Women were weird. You never knew what was going to set one off. He had first-hand knowledge of that: hence, the divorce.

  She said he forgot their anniversary three years in a row; she said he left his underwear everywhere but the hamper; she said he wasn’t romantic. Romantic, for God’s sake! After twenty-eight years of marriage, what was there to be romantic about? Were those actual reasons to file for divorce? He didn’t think so. He wondered how long this new guy was going to be romantic. Give him a month and that would be that. Guys only got romantic to get in a woman’s drawers, Champion figured, and once they got in, what was the point? It was like dancing. You danced with a woman so you could hold her body close, maybe put your hand on her ass. Once you got her into bed, what would be the reason to go dancing? But they always wanted to go dancing!

  Enough, he told himself. The case. The goddamn case. Put your mind on that. Shit, just go get that Pugh kid and lock him up. He got up from his desk and headed to his car.

  ‘So we need to work this thing on our own,’ I told Graham. And Miranda, I guess. I mean, she was there.

  ‘I like that Morley bitch,’ Miranda said. ‘Graham, did you tell your mom what I overheard?’
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  ‘No—’ he started, but I interrupted.

  ‘What? Now!’

  And so they told me about seeing her with the same young Asian woman Graham and I had seen her with at Threadgills. And the conversation.

  ‘That doesn’t sound good,’ I said. ‘As in they were up to something, which is good. But that something was probably no good—’

  ‘Right,’ Graham said. ‘We got it. It’s good and not good.’

  ‘Graham! Don’t talk to your mother like that!’

  OK, I wasn’t thrilled about this girl – excuse me, woman – defending me from my son. I’ve had plenty of practice doing that myself. Ignoring her, I said, ‘No, it’s not good. But what is it?’

  ‘Morley has something she doesn’t want to keep,’ Miranda said. ‘But that Ng woman wants her to keep it and sort of threatened her. Then Morley backed down.’

  ‘So what is it Ng wanted Morley to keep?’ Graham asked.

  Miranda shrugged, but only I could see her. I said, ‘I’d like to find that out. Let’s go see little Miss Gretchen.’

  ‘Without Luna?’ my son asked.

  ‘Definitely without Luna,’ I said.

  We caught Gretchen Morley coming out of her sorority house, a book satchel over her shoulder. Seeing us, she veered away, heading in the opposite direction. We hurried to catch up and she moved faster. We moved faster. She began to run. That’s when I decided I really did like Miranda Wisher. She took off like a Dallas Cowboy and tackled Morley, book bag and all.

  Graham and I rushed up to the two prone young women. ‘What the hell?’ Gretchen yelled, trying to untangle herself from Miranda’s arms and legs. ‘Who are you? And what the hell are you doing?’

  Graham extended an arm to Morley and pulled her up. I helped Miranda up, who was grinning from ear to ear. I couldn’t help but grin back.

  Morley shook off Graham’s hand and bent down to grab her satchel, hugging it close to her body. I had the somewhat insane idea that whatever Gretchen Morley had been told by the Ng woman to keep was in that satchel. I turned and whispered to Miranda, ‘It’s in the satchel.’

  Miranda grabbed at it while Gretchen tugged back. I was afraid a full-scale tug of war would garner more attention than we needed, so I grabbed the satchel, too, and between us Miranda and I were able to retrieve it from Morley.