The Campus Murders Read Online Free PDF Page A

I’m glad you’re here, Mr. McCall. It’s been days, and she’s still missing. I can’t see that the police are doing a thing. Katie will fill you in on whatever you want to know about Laura’s record and activities here, and perhaps you’d better check with Floyd Gunther, our dean of men. That was Dean Gunther who just left my office. He’s pretty upset by all this.”
    â€œThank you, Dean.” McCall rose. “I won’t keep you.”
    â€œRubbish. Sit down. It isn’t often I get to talk to a man of your age who’s as attractive as you are.” Ina Vance lit a fresh cigarette from the ember of her last, scratched her wild black head, leaned back, and smiled like a cherub. “Stick around, Mr. McCall, and you’ll get to know the lot of them as Katie and I do.”
    â€œThe student body?”
    â€œOur student body, yes. Oh, Christ, I shouldn’t carry on like this! We have plenty of good students, kids as conventional as bathwater, who are here for instruction as well as fun and games. But we have the new breed, too—the troublemakers. The ones with murder in their hot little hearts.”
    â€œI’ll see Dean Gunther.” McCall rose again.
    â€œSome escapade is my guess,” Dean Vance said. “She’ll turn up. Does that satisfy you, Mr. McCall?”
    â€œNo.”
    She smiled at him. He smiled back.
    â€œI like you,” she said. “Come see me again.”
    â€œThank you, Dean Vance.”
    In the outer office Katie Cohan took off her heavy glasses. From being merely adorable she immediately became bewitching again. “Would you like me to show you where Dean Gunther’s office is, Mr. McCall?”
    â€œDoes little Timmy Duck run after Mama Duck?”
    â€œMr. McCall! That doesn’t sound much like a gubernatorial troubleshooter.” Her cheeks were flaming. “It’s just down the hall, really. But I can use the exercise.”
    â€œYou,” said McCall devoutly, “can’t use a thing. You’re perfect.”
    â€œIs McCall Scottish or Irish?”
    â€œWhich do you think?”
    â€œIrish. No Scotsman would be so blatantly romantic.”
    They swung down the hall side by side without further conversation. McCall was beautifully at peace. If not for the girl’s disappearance, this would be a pleasure.
    Katie touched his arm. “Good luck.”
    He was very conscious of her as he went into Dean Gunther’s outer office.
    It was empty, and he crossed to the door marked PRIVATE and knocked.
    â€œCome in, Mr. McCall.”
    McCall went in. The well-built, good-looking man with the thinning hair was leaning back in his chair, big hands folded over his abdomen. He was looking quizzical.
    â€œBeen expecting you,” he said.
    â€œI didn’t think you noticed me back there in Dean Vance’s outer office.”
    â€œNoticing people without seeming to do so is the essence of my profession,” Dean Gunther said. “I should be surprised if it weren’t yours, too. Well, sit down, Mr. McCall. It isn’t every day Governor Holland sends his bloodhound to our campus.”
    For all the raillery Gunther was nervous. He had a harried look, as if hunters were after him. He was the bow-tie type—in a previous generation he would have parted his hair in the mathematical middle. He rose from his chair behind the leather-topped desk and leaned across it to shake hands. He had a good handshake. He waved McCall to a chair, and they both sat down.
    â€œNow maybe we’ll get some action. I’ve heard you’re here not only about the student trouble but also about Laura Thornton. Forgive me for sounding like an old fogy, but I don’t know what our colleges are coming to. It’s all anyone can do to exercise some control over these people. If you can call it control.” He scowled. “Something drastic has got to be done, Mr. McCall.