maybe things weren’t as quiet around here as everyone liked to pretend, now that she thought about it.
She opened the door and leaned out of the car. “Don’t touch anything inside the back of my car. I’ve got soil samples, water samples and a bag full of possibly contaminated gear in there.”
Jake looked at her. “From Saturday?”
“Yeah. Dan Digby, from the state, should be here any minute to pick it up.”
“He might have to wait a few,” Sarah said. Holding a camera, she started taking pictures.
“I’m sure it’s just a prank,” Ben Herbert said. “We get all kinds of pranks here.”
“Pretty expensive prank,” Jake remarked. He looked at Sarah. “You want to dust or you want me to?”
She shrugged. “I’m voting baseball bat and not one fingerprint.”
“You’re probably right.”
Which meant, Allison thought, they’d never figure out who did it. Oh, well.
Just then they were joined by Jerrod Marquette. Allison heard his step and turned to see who it was. She felt startled that he’d followed her here, but was glad to see him, more so because she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of him yesterday. Of course, she had told him she would be grading papers on Sunday, so apparently he was respectful of her time. Nice.
“Hi,” he said. He clearly had already taken in the scene. “I came to buy you lunch. Looks like that’ll have to wait. What happened?”
“Baseball bat? Nobody knows. They didn’t try to get into the car, though.”
“Lucky for them if that stuff in there is toxic.”
“I just warned everyone.”
He squatted down beside her. “I’m sorry this happened.”
“Me, too. But at least they didn’t break the windshield completely. I can probably tape it and wait until the auto repair shop gets a new one in.”
“Probably.”
She glanced at him and realized his gaze was fixed on her. Immediately, her insides sparked in response. Boy, she was getting it bad. Not good.
“Why don’t you scoot in and close the door so you can keep warm,” he suggested quietly.
“I’m waiting for Dan Digby from the state.”
“Do you know him?” He barely waited for her nod. “Then you’ll recognize him as soon as he gets out of his car.”
He had a point. “But what about you?”
“I’m fine. I ran over here. It warmed me up nicely. If I get cold, I’ll run around the parking lot.”
So she pulled her legs in and let him close the door for her. Then he went over and shook hands with Jake Madison, and was clearly introduced to Sarah and Ben. She wondered briefly if they’d be suspicious of him because he was a newcomer, but body language belied that. Finally impatient because she couldn’t hear what was going on, she climbed back out into the cold.
They were beginning to collect a small crowd of gawking students as Jake dutifully covered the back end of her car with black fingerprint dust. She figured the students wouldn’t be here long. The wind seemed to be growing more bitter by the second.
“Well?” she asked as she approached the knot of cops.
Jake looked at her with amusement. “You want a complete forensic analysis in ten minutes?”
“No, but a short one would do.”
“Blunt object. And Ben’s probably right about it being a bad prank, or some kind of hazing. Unless you gave someone a failing grade recently?”
He was serious, she realized. “Not recently. Whether they like the subject or not, no one is taking chemistry who doesn’t need it for a reason. Almost everyone works hard. It’s been a couple of semesters since I last failed someone.”
Jake nodded and looked at Sarah. “It doesn’t look angry.”
She agreed. “Angry would have involved more than one heavy swing. I’d expect your entire tailgate and maybe other parts of the car to be involved.”
“Unless,” said Jerrod, “they got scared away by something.”
Allison looked at him. “What’s that mean?”
“Probably nothing at all.”
But Jake and Sarah didn’t take it that way. “That’s a possibility. It happened since you got here this morning, right?”
“Some time in the past three hours.”
Just then a car pulled into the lot. It bore the state emblem on the side and parked close before Dan Digby climbed out. A balding, slightly portly man of about fifty, he quickly pulled on a fur hat and looked around. “What the hell?”
“Vandalism,” Ben Herbert said, stepping forward. He’d been quick enough to call the police, but apparently he wasn’t going to relinquish all authority here. Allison felt a flutter of amusement run through her, despite her anger about her rear window. Watching men could sometimes be downright amusing.
Dan ignored Ben and came hurrying over. “Are you all right, Allison?”
“Of course. I wasn’t here when it happened. And it really does look like somebody’s bad idea of a prank.”
“Hazing,” Ben said knowingly.
Digby glanced at him and nodded. “Just so long as everyone’s okay. But I suppose my samples are in there.”
“Yes, they are,” Allison answered. “You’d suggested that. Are you in a hurry?”
He flashed a surprisingly charming smile. “Only to get out of this cold.”
“It’ll only be a few more minutes,” Jake told him. “We’re almost done. Why don’t you keep warm in your vehicle?”
“Because this is more interesting,” Digby answered frankly. He pulled down the earflaps on his hat, then snapped the strap under his chin.
“Allison?” Sarah said. “Walk around your car and make sure nothing else appears damaged.”
She did as asked, but didn’t see one ding or scratch that she didn’t recognize.
Jake shook his head. “Protocol says we should dust the entire car in case someone tried to enter it, especially the driver’s side. But who’d be out here without gloves?”
“Skip it,” Allison said. “Only a lunatic would pull his gloves off to try a car door latch. Not today. Can we get Dan’s samples now?”
“Before we all
