"Not as super as you, though," noted Jane Marie. "I talked to Rosemary and tried to get some more dirt from her, but she's not talking. She said that you were in her office when that detective found out about the ident.i.ty of the Coach's mistresses."

"I was," said Pamela. "We were playing the recording of the mistresses' voices for her when one of the members of the football team walked in and recognized the voice as his mother's!"

"His mother! Oh my G.o.d!" she said. "That must have been awful!"

"For the student," agreed Pamela, "yes. For the detective, a major break in the case. It showed us that the women we're searching for are apparently mothers of football team members."

"So, where do you stand now in your investigation?" asked Jane Marie.

"It's not my investigation, Jane Marie," noted Pamela, "but now with one of the three apparent mistresses dead, I'm sure Detective Shoop will be re-questioning the other two mistresses. I'm sure he'll be re-questioning everyone who has any involvement with the Coach. Two murders in just a few days. And obviously connected. "

"I'll let you get back to your investigation, Dr. Barnes. Oh, I know, I know. You're just helping. But we're so proud of you! You're the Department's very own Sherlock Holmes!" With a few pleasant good-byes and a fervent denial on Pamela's part that her involvement in the Coach Croft murder case was totally peripheral, the two women ended their phone conversation.

Pamela mused on her entanglement in the events of the last few days. She had managed to be right in the thick of things-especially being there when Ricky Terlinger recognized his mother's voice as one of the three women on the recording. How auspicious was that! Would they have ever tumbled to the fact that Croft was canoodling team mothers in the afternoon if the young man had not walked in just at that moment? She thought they probably would have, but it would have taken longer. And the recent murder of Skye Davis-obviously the third mistress and probably the one who was with the Coach in the motel room the day of the murder. Could she have killed him? And if she did, then who would have killed her? Or did some other person kill them both? And why? She didn't know, but she knew that she could possibly provide the police with information they didn't have if she could uncover some new information about the three mistresses. Yes, they now knew who the women were, so it wouldn't be a matter of identification or recognition. But she could continue her profiling as Shoop had originally requested. She could listen to the voices of the three women-even the dead woman-and see if she could determine any new traits that she might have missed. Willard had figured out that Abigail Prescott was from Boston. Maybe if she did some more intense a.n.a.lysis, she could find some little nugget that could a.s.sist them in tracking down this killer.

She popped open her acoustic a.n.a.lysis software and loaded the voices of the three mistresses. It sounded like a fairy tale-The Three Mistresses. But not funny-not funny at all, she thought. With her headphones in place, she played the voices over and over, listening each time for some tell-tale feature that might single that speaker out as unique. Could she detect any jealousy in any of the voices? That might certainly be a factor, although she wasn't exactly certain how jealousy would be displayed in a voice. All three women sounded excited and anxious in their messages-some more than others. After all, they were meeting a lover in a motel room. They would all probably sound anxious and excited. Some sounded scared; some didn't. None of them sounded deceptive, but then, she realized that it was very difficult to detect deception from vocal cues alone. It might, however, be possible to detect a speaker's genuine feelings if they were trying to mask those feelings with a false statement. Again, she couldn't detect that any of the three women were not genuinely anxious to meet Croft. What was she missing?

A young man dressed in business attire and an overcoat, pulling a rolling suitcase ambled past her doorway. He appeared lost as he looked in various open doorways, eventually stopping at hers.

"Excuse me," he said, tentatively, glancing at the nameplate on her open door, "Dr. Barnes, I'm Jack Bentley. I believe you might know my mother, Joan."

"Oh, my goodness, yes!" exclaimed Pamela, "You're Joan's son! I've heard so much about you!" She leaped from behind her desk and motioned the young man to enter and have a seat. "Your mother's in cla.s.s now, but she should be out in a half hour or so. You can wait here if you like."

"Don't think I'll have time," he responded, pulling back his coat sleeve to check his wrist.w.a.tch, "I've got a plane to catch in less than an hour and a taxi is waiting downstairs for me. I just wanted to say *good-bye' to Mom before I took off."

"Oh, my!" replied Pamela, "Does she know you're leaving? Should I try to get her out of cla.s.s?"

"Uh, no . . . and no," responded the man, with a blush, pushing back a lock of golden brown hair in a manner that reminded Pamela so much of Joan that she was stunned. "Actually, it all happened so fast. I've been looking for work here. Nothing. I know Mom was beginning to wonder if I'd ever find a job . . . and so was I. But, I just heard from this buddy of mine back in Seattle. A new position opened up at my old firm quite unexpectedly. Not quite as much money as I was making before, but it looks good and they want me, which is the main thing."

"That's wonderful!" exclaimed Pamela. "I really could get your mother from cla.s.s, Jack. . ."

"No, no, please!" he said, holding up his hand as she started to rise. "It's not like I won't be back to visit. I'm not going to Siberia-just Seattle! I just have to leave today-now, actually!" He rose and bent over her desk to shake her hand. "It was nice to meet you, Dr. Barnes. Mom talks about you all the time. You're the detective, right?"

"Oh, not really," laughed Pamela. "I just dabble."

"Well, be careful," suggested the young man, grabbing the handle of his suitcase and heading for the door. "And, please tell Mom I'm sorry I missed her-and tell her I love her."

"I'll do that," agreed Pamela. Then running quickly to the doorway, she embraced the man with a tight hug. "This is from your Mom! Congratulations-and good luck!"

"Thanks!" he smiled, and headed jauntily down the hallway.

Chapter Twenty-Five.

She was pondering Joan's son and their brief meeting as she drove her little Civic home along Jackson, the main thoroughfare of Reardon. When Joan finally returned from cla.s.s, Pamela was just heading out and her explanation of the encounter was brief. Joan was understandably confused and delighted. She'd be getting her apartment back, but she'd be losing the companionship of her son that Pamela knew she was enjoying-a mixed blessing. She and Joan would have much to discuss, she thought as she drove past the fringes of campus and headed out along the long stretch of road that led towards her house. It would probably call for one of their outings to Who-Who's.

Nearing an intersection, she put her foot on her brake pedal and discovered to her dismay that her brakes were not responding. Strange. She gave the pedal a few short taps, trying to loosen what she figured must be a jammed pedal. No response. Looking ahead, she saw a white van stopped at the upcoming red light on Hilliard. If she couldn't get her brakes to function quickly she was going to ram right into the rear of that van. Slamming furiously hard on her brakes, she quickly pulled her steering wheel rapidly to the right. Her Civic jutted suddenly at a right angle and slammed head-on into a metal lamp post on the side of the road. She was only going about twenty miles an hour, but even so, the strength of the collision slapped her backwards and then forwards. Her airbag exploded with a pop and smacked her in the face. The noise of the crash and the airbag expulsion were followed by total silence.

The only thing she could hear for what seemed like hours was the sound of her own breathing. Then, from a distance, a man's voice called out: "Lady, are you okay? Hey! Lady, are you okay in there?"

She twisted her head to the left which caused her a horrible throbbing sensation in her forehead. A man's nose was pressed against her window, a look of alarm covering his face. She reached carefully to her left and pressed the unlock b.u.t.ton. The man quickly opened the door.

"Are you okay?" he continued to ask her. He touched her face, examining her carefully and looking into her eyes. From his pocket he retrieved a cell phone and dialed a few digits. "Hey, yeah, 911? Yeah, there's an accident at the corner of Jackson and Hilliard. Yeah. Yeah. No, just one vehicle. Slammed into a lamppost. No, just the driver. I'm here with her now. She appears to be conscious, but she's pretty banged up. Me? I'm Jeremy Potter. I'm a tech for MacMillan Air Conditioning. I was right in front of her. I think she swerved to avoid hitting me in the rear. Okay. Will do."

He slid the phone back into his pocket.

"Don't worry. There's an ambulance on the way . . ."

"No," moaned Pamela. "I'm fine. Just a little shook up." She put her hand to her forehead. She could feel a gash over her right eye. Liquid was dripping from the gash into her eye. She wiped it away and looked at her hand. It was red.

"You're not fine," declared the man. "Wait here a minute. I'm going to get my van out of traffic." He disappeared. As she cautiously glanced over her left shoulder-a move which all of a sudden was very painful-she could see that he had driven his white van into the parking lot of a strip mall on the right side of the road. Several other cars that had slowed to gawk were now continuing on their way, obviously convinced that there were no serious injuries. Jeremy, the air conditioning specialist, returned to her open door and knelt down beside her.

"Hey, how ya doin'?" he asked, with an encouraging smile. "Hang in there."

"I'm fine," repeated Pamela, now looking around tenuously. She had to get out of her car, she thought. She tried to unbuckle her seat belt but couldn't. Suddenly, a wave of nausea overwhelmed her and she froze. Maybe not.

"Now, lady," said Jeremy, steadying her. "Let's not try anything foolish. You just wait here until the paramedics check you out. I'd feel a lot better."

Pamela obeyed the young man. Soon, she could hear sirens and almost immediately thereafter, a rotund, middle-aged police officer poked his head in and asked how she was doing. She rea.s.sured him. He collected her personal information and was on his intercom with his superiors when two paramedics appeared and nuzzled in front of him. One began examining her, looking in her eyes with a small light, feeling her neck, and listening to her heart with his stethoscope. a.s.sured that her vitals were sound, the two medics carefully removed her seat belt and slid her out of the car and onto a waiting gurney.

"Really," exclaimed Pamela, "I'm fine."

"Lady," said one of the men, "you might have a concussion. You should be checked out at the hospital."

"I don't have a concussion," she declared. "I never blacked out. I just have a b.u.mp on my head. I'll be fine."

"If you refuse medical treatment," he continued, "you'll have to sign a release form."

"Not a good idea, Dr. Barnes," said a voice that she recognized from behind her. She turned abruptly-and waves of pain shot through her head. Shoop was standing behind the paramedics, arms folded, a look of disdain on his already scornful face. "I'd suggest you get yourself checked out by a physician-just like these gentlemen suggest."

"What do they suggest?" asked another familiar voice. Behind Shoop she recognized-although he was disturbingly fuzzy-Rocky. "Pamela, honey, are you all right?" Her husband pushed in front of the men surrounding her and collected her in his arms.

"Rocky," she asked, squinting. Why does everyone look so blurry? "Rocky, what are you doing here?"

"Your Detective Shoop called me," he said.

"Yes, Dr. Barnes," explained the tall detective, his overcoat hanging open by his sides. "I heard the call about the accident and when the officer called in your name and license number, I figured you might be up to something-and I called your husband."

"Thankfully," said Rocky to Shoop with a nod. "Just what did happen, Pamela?"

"I don't know," she said weakly. "I tried to stop at the intersection, but my brakes wouldn't work. I pumped them hard. I tried everything, but nothing happened. So, I figured it would be better to pull to the right than to ram into a car ahead of me."

"Unfortunately," noted Shoop, "pulling to the right included a lamppost. Luckily you hit one of those new breakaway hollow aluminum poles. If it'd been an old steel job, you'd have been toast."

"Thanks," she said, cringing in remembrance.

"My G.o.d, Pamela," said Rocky, now closer to his wife. "You're bleeding!"

"I'll be fine, Rocky," she a.s.sured him, not all that certain. "It's just a cut."

"The medics say she should be checked out at the hospital," said Shoop.

"I'll take her," he responded to the detective.

"Good," agreed Shoop. "She's in no condition to drive. Besides, no one's going to be able to drive this thing for a while anyway."

Pamela glanced cautiously back at her tiny blue car, now mangled and torn. It was her baby and it looked as if someone had taken a baseball bat to its face. How in the world had this happened?

"Detective," said Pamela to Shoop, as they both stared at her car. "I've never had brake problems with my Civic before. I was just driving along and all of a sudden my brakes just disappeared."

"Yeah," he grimaced, "I see. This isn't a good sign, Dr. Barnes. Actually, I'm going to have your car impounded and have our technicians go over your brakes." He gestured to one of the officers.

"You think someone cut her brakes?" asked Rocky.

"It's a possibility," said Shoop, as he strode slowly around the little car, looking underneath and popping the hood. "Just where has this car been today, Dr. Barnes?"

"Just sitting in the Blake Hall parking lot," she replied.

"Where lots of other cars are parked," he said, "Anyone could easily slip underneath a vehicle parked in one of those small campus lots and cut a brake line. If anyone saw the culprit, the person could always say they lost something under their car, or some other innocuous excuse."

"Yeah," said Rocky, "Pammie, you've gotten yourself into another mess with all this investigating. And now look what's happened! When will you learn?"

She knew she was being chastised by her husband and she knew Shoop was trying to explain something about cars and brakes, but it all seemed so far in the distance-and getting farther and farther with each pa.s.sing moment. Shoop was getting quieter and farther away. Rocky's loud voice was softer and he was fading away into the distance too-far into the distance. Eventually they all went black.

Chapter Twenty-Six.

It was just a mild concussion the doctors said. Even so, they had held her overnight and she was now bundled in her bed with orders to stay home from work for the day. Rocky was scurrying around like a dervish bringing her goodies for her nightstand so that she wouldn't have to fix herself anything to eat while he was teaching his cla.s.ses. He had suggested that he stay home from work-it wasn't as if the man ever called in sick-but she wouldn't have any of it. It was nice to be waited on, but truly she just wanted to rest-and think-and Rocky would never allow that with all his fussing.

"I fixed up your thermos, as usual," he was droning on, as he placed the container on her nightstand. "It will keep your tea hot so you won't have to traipse into the kitchen to fix yourself more."

"I can make tea," she argued, leaning back on the two extra pillows Rocky had placed behind her. He had arranged a plate of cookies and small appetizers (easier to eat) within arm's length. "They checked me out at the hospital, Rocky. They said I'd be fine."

"They also said to rest," he snapped, broaching no disagreement. "I don't want you out of bed except to go to the bathroom. Is that clear?"

"Yes, mother."

"I swear," he said softly, sitting gently on the bed beside her, "Pamela, how do you manage to get yourself into these fixes?"

"My brakes went out!" she cried in self-defense.

"They were probably cut by some maniac. I shouldn't even be leaving you at home," he said. "It's too dangerous."

"You're overprotective," she replied. "Shoop said even if someone did cut my brake line, they were probably just trying to warn me. "

"Right," he noted, shaking a finger in her direction, "because you need warning-a warning to stay out of this murder investigation."

"Please," she whined, holding her palm to her temple. "Please don't shout. It hurts."

"Sorry, Babe," he whispered, bending towards her and tucking the covers around her neck.

"I'm not cold," she said in slight annoyance. Then she regretted her peevishness and stuck out her lower lip in her most beguiling manner. "Forgive me; I'm grouchy because I'm sore."

"Of course, I forgive you. Can I get you something? Some aspirin?" She shook her head. "And besides, there's nothing to forgive. You've been through a terrible experience and you just need to relax and take it easy for a while."

"Rocky," she began, "if someone did cut my brakes, it must be because I know something-or the killer thinks I know something about the murder. Don't you think?"

"Not necessarily," replied her husband. "Look here, Pammie. You've been involved in this investigation since the beginning. Good Lord, you've been sitting in on Shoop's interrogations of most of the suspects. I don't know what these people know about you-or think they know about you-or what Shoop has told them, but even if they know nothing, you have a reputation on campus. I mean, you were involved in those other investigations and were instrumental in solving them, because of your expertise. A lot of people know that-particularly people on campus-or people who know people on campus-such as anyone who knew Coach Croft. If any of the people who are being interviewed by Shoop see you there and know who you are-and connect you to those other investigations-who knows what they'll think you're doing now-or what you know-or will eventually figure out about this case too."

"I get it," she sighed. "My reputation precedes me."

"Yeah," he said. "That's what you get for being a famous crime fighter."

"But, even if the killer thinks I know something crucial," she argued, "I don't know what it is."

"It just may be that the killer resents your snooping around."

"The police are snooping around."

"Yeah, but it's not so easy to cut the brakes on a Police cruiser," he suggested, "and if the killer did, what good would it do? There are more official vehicles where that one came from."

"I'm an easy target, is what you're saying," she hinted, stretching back on her pillows. Rocky looked at the wall clock and stood up. The movement evidently awakened the couple's dog and Candide appeared from under the bed.

"Here's my little watchdog," announced Pamela. Candide responded by leaping up on the big bed and snuggling under her arm. A small black nose peeked out from under her arm. "You'll protect me, won't you Candide?"

"I'm going to have to get going or I'll miss my first cla.s.s," Rocky said to her. "I'll only be gone a few hours, now. I'll cancel my office hours today and come straight home. You're sure you wouldn't like me to have Angie come over and stay with you while I'm gone?"

"Of course not," she sniffed. "I'm not going to have her miss a cla.s.s her last semester."

"All right," he agreed. "And your cla.s.ses?"

"I'll call Jane Marie right now," she told him. "Can you hand me the phone?" Rocky picked up the white landline unit and placed it on the bed next to his wife.

"I'll be back before you know it," he whispered, bending over and kissing her forehead.