“Don’t worry about it,” said Milo. “So you feel she deceived you.”
“Not—I can’t call it deliberate deception. Maybe I just heard what I wanted to because I was upset.”
“Sounds like you had good reason to be upset, Cindy,” I said. “Walking back to campus alone at night must have been scary.”
“Very. You hear all sorts of stories.”
“About crime?”
She nodded. “Weirdos stalking the hills—look what happened to Professor Devane!”
Milo said, “You think a weirdo killed her?”
“I don’t know, but a woman in my sorority works on the student paper and she was doing some research over at the campus police station. They told her there are lots of rapes and attempted rapes that never make the news. And there I was—it was pitch-black. I had to find my way back.”
“Not fun.”
“Not much.” Suddenly, she was crying, hands snapping across her face.
Milo shifted the bag from hand to hand several times, hefting it as if it were a ball.
Wiping her eyes with her fingers, she said, “Sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for,” he said.
“Believe me, I’m sorry about plenty. Maybe even about talking to you. ’Cause what’s the point? College is rough enough without this kind of shi—mess.” She wiped her eyes again. “Excuse my language. I just never thought I’d know anyone who was murdered.”
Milo pulled a small plastic-wrapped package from a pocket and gave her a tissue. Had he come prepared for tears?
She took it and dabbed, looked around the parking lot. “Can I go, please? I have a two-o’clock all the way on North Campus and my bike’s parked over on Gayley.”
“Sure, just a couple more questions. What’d you think of the other members of the committee?”
“What do you mean?”
“Were they inquisitional, too?”
“He was—the guy, the grad student—I forget his name.”
“Casey Locking.”
“I guess so. He had a real attitude. Clear agenda.”
“Which was?”
“Being Mr. Feminist—probably kissing up to Professor Devane. He impressed me as one of those guys who tries to prove how unsexist he is by dumping on other guys.”
She smiled.
“What, Cindy?”
“The funny thing is, when he and Kenny started sounding off against each other it was typical male stuff—no offense. Locking was trying to be Mr. Nonsexist but his style was still male—hostile, aggressive, competitive. Maybe some things are unchangeable. Maybe we should just learn to live with each other.”
“As long as the strong don’t pummel the weak,” said Milo.
“Yes, of course. No one should stand for being victimized.”
“Professor Devane was victimized.”
She stared at him. A moist streak remained under one eye. “I know. It’s terrible. But what can I do?”
“Just what you’re doing, Cindy. What about the other woman on the committee, Professor Steinberger?”
“She was okay. She really didn’t say much. It was clearly Professor Devane’s show. I got the feeling she had a personal stake in it.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because afterward, when I said I wanted to forget the whole thing, she told me I shouldn’t retreat from my position, she would support me all the way. And when I said no, she got a little chilly. Distant. As if I’d let her down. I felt rotten on so many levels, just wanted to get out of there and be by myself.”
“Did you and she have any contact after that?”
“She called me once at the Theta house. Nice again, just wanting to know how I was doing. She also offered to send me a reading list of books that might help me.”
“Feminist books?”
“I guess so, I wasn’t really listening. I kind of cut her off.”
“Because you didn’t trust her?”
“She was using all the right words but I’d had enough.”
“What about Kenny?”
“What about him?”
“Did she call him, too?”
“Not that I know. No, I’m sure she didn’t because he would have told me. He—” She stopped herself.
“He what, Cindy?”
“Nothing.”
“What were you going to say?”
“Nothing. Just that he didn’t mention her calling.”
“Were you going to say Kenny hated her?”
She looked away. “If you’ve read the transcripts, I guess that’s no big shock. No, he didn’t like her one bit. He said she was a—she was manipulative. And a radical feminist—Kenny’s kind of conservative politically. And I can’t blame him for feeling railroaded. He was already having a hard time at the U, thinking about transferring out. The committee was the final straw.”