The Perfect Coed (Oak Grove Mysteries Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

scary note.” But it’s a temptation to hide in my house and never come out .
    Jake shook his head. “I guess you can’t, but you can be careful. Besides, how do you think it will look for Assistant Professor Hogan to arrive on campus on a moped?”
    “It suits my style.” She kissed him lightly and roared off, books packed in a side compartment, huge sunglasses protecting her eyes, and her short hair flying in all directions.
    Jake shook his head as he watched.
    Susan was watchful on the fifteen-minute ride between Jake’s house and the campus. What was it self-protection classes taught? Always be aware of your surroundings? She was—and particularly of cars around her. But nothing alarmed her, and she reached her office with a feeling of relief.
    Susan was called to the English office before she even got her first cup of coffee from the lounge. Mildred called to say, “Dr. Scott wants to see you in his office right now.”
    Susan knew John Worthington Scott, as he signed his name, when he was just another faculty member, teaching mostly sophomore world lit classes because there wasn’t that much interest in Renaissance literature. No wonder both he and his pal Ernie Westin resented her. Ernie’s love was Greek literature, and his classes often didn’t make their enrollment quota. There was even less interest in Greek literature than Renaissance. Yet students flocked to Susan’s American lit and women’s lit classes.
    She entered the chair’s office. Like most offices in the older Baker Hall, it was small. Unlike most faculty offices, it was not filled with bookshelves so jammed in that books were piled every which way and papers were stacked high on the desk and even the floor. In John Scott’s office, everything was neat, every book aligned.
    “Ah, Dr. Hogan,” Dr. Scott said, staring at his hands and not looking at her. “I heard about the, ah, unfortunate incident last night. How did you get to school this morning?” Dr. Scott sat behind the protection of his desk, drumming his fingers on the large blotter that covered the center part of his desk’s immaculately clean surface. Two even stacks of books, an old-fashioned penholder, and a telephone were aligned on the desk. Susan wondered if he ever did any work. No pictures revealed that he had a family, but she knew he had a wife and two daughters.
    “I rode Jake Phillips’ moped,” Susan answered without hesitation. “You probably know that I don’t have my car.” Ernie Westin told him, she thought. It was just the kind of news Ernie couldn’t wait to share, because it would ingratiate him with Scott while running her further down.
    “Yes, yes. Unfortunate.” Scott stared off into space. “We need to talk about that, Dr. Hogan. But first let me say I hope you will find more suitable means of transportation.”
    Someone’s threatening me and the police think I’m a murderer, but you’re worried about appearances! She spoke more calmly than she had thought she could. “I can’t afford to rent a car, sir, and there’s no telling how long my car will be impounded. And then it has to be repaired.” She paused a moment and then said, “Dr. Frank in psychology drives a battered old Jeep. I can’t see that a moped is any worse.”
    He acted as though he hadn’t heard her. “We must talk,” he said again.
    “About what, sir?” Susan thought it was probably a good thing she’d worn rayon pants and her good loafers today instead of her usual jeans and running shoes.
    “The unfortunate matter of your car… and that coed. It, ah, reflects poorly on your record.” He seemed to like the word “unfortunate” this morning.
    Susan fought an urge to leap to her feet and scream at him that she’d had enough trouble in the last twenty-four hours without his adding to it and she knew he’d love to find a reason to fire her, but he wasn’t going to do it in this mess. Forcing herself to speak slowly, she said, “Are you referring to the