Saffron could hardly believe her luck as she walked into Dr. Henry’s office. It was furnished in much the same tastefully expensive way as the outer room, except with more maps and globes littered with pins. She followed Snyder to Dr. Henry’s desk, a monstrosity of polished mahogany, where he held up a little frame in which lay a small, unevenly cut square of silver.
She took it in her hands and gasped with false astonishment. “How amazing! Where did you say it was from? Perhaps you could show me?”
Snyder looked quite pleased with himself and turned to the map that spanned most of the wall, pointing to a pin in India in the map. “You see, we had just arrived in the Punjab, and we prepared to travel east …”
Saffron, with the occasional “Oh my” and “Indeed!” edged back toward the desk, silently sliding the stacks of paper on top of it so she could see who they were from and the first few lines of text. She found several notes that had gone back and forth with other professors in the history department, including a few mentioning Dr. Henry’s petition to get another branch of the history department instated. From the few lines of text here and there, Saffron thought he wanted to head up a new series of courses in “primitive cultures” and eventually create a new degree.
“Oh dear, my shoe has come unbuckled,” she murmured. She knelt down behind the desk. Quickly, she pulled at the two drawers in front of her, finding they were both unlocked. She stood up and took a few steps back to where Snyder stood, still reminiscing about the coin’s discovery.
“Mr. Snyder,” she interrupted, “could you perhaps fetch me a glass of water? All this talk of adventure is quite exhilarating. My heart is absolutely pounding!”
Snyder, eye on the hand which she had put to her throat, leapt to attention. “Most certainly. I won’t be a moment.”
He left the room. Saffron dashed back to the desk and knelt down again to the open drawers, quickly scanning the contents. Ideally she would find something about the equipment orders or missives from a murderous mistress. The first drawer contained a great deal of scrawled notes on a series of notepads. Nothing she read sounded promising. The second drawer had office supplies, but squashed in the back were some opened letters. She grabbed them, and slid the drawer closed just as Snyder returned to the room with a glass of water. Saffron smiled at him and shoved the envelopes into her bag when he gestured again to the map. He insisted she stand next to him to see the movement of the expedition team, so she stayed by his side, agreeing with him as she sipped her water, and feigned interest in another ten-minute-long tale. Just as he was about to launch into another story, she asked him the time.
“Nearly eleven o’clock? Oh dear! I was supposed to attend a meeting.” Saffron added in an undertone, “You know, to discuss what to do about Dr. Maxwell. He’s still under arrest. I can’t imagine what Dr. Berking will say,”
Snyder, with an expression of lofty disdain, said, “I’m surprised they haven’t given old Maxwell the sack yet. If anyone in our department was under such suspicion, Dr. Henry would have them tossed out immediately.”
“Really?” Saffron was tempted to tell Snyder that Dr. Henry was one of the suspects, but didn’t want to disrupt their rapport.
“Absolutely. We can’t have people sullying the name of the university like that,” he said importantly. His small eyes narrowed at Saffron. “Isn’t Dr. Maxwell your professor? You’re his assistant, aren’t you?”
“Oh yes,” Saffron said with an eager nod, “but I wouldn’t go against the police. If they say he’s guilty, I believe them. It is just such a baffling circumstance that someone would try to poison Mrs. Henry. Do you know her well?”
Snyder frowned. “I can’t say I do. Mrs. Henry doesn’t often visit the university. Although she did stop in last week.”
Saffron tamped down on her flare of excitement at that significant piece of information. Keeping her voice casual, she asked. “Did she really? She spoke to Dr. Henry here, in his office?”
“I suppose. I saw her walking into the Wilkins Building when I went to drop off paperwork for Dr. Henry. He’s forming his own department, you know.” Snyder drew himself up. “Forming his own degree program and everything. This expedition will go a long way toward proving he’s prepared for the responsibility.”
Brows arching, Saffron said, “It’s a pity he won’t able to lead it after all.” When Snyder frowned in confusion, she added, “Since Dr. Henry will have to stay behind with his wife.”
Snyder shook his head, his oversized teeth on display in a patronizing smile. “Oh no, Miss Everleigh. Dr. Henry is still leading the team, of course. Who else could do it? It was all his plan to begin with. As I said, it’s the way to convince the College Committee to form a new department. Anthropology, you know. It will be one of the first in Britain.”
Saffron nodded slowly, assimilating all this new information. Dr. Maxwell had mentioned Dr. Henry wanting to form a new department, but she was unclear how it related to this expedition. Circling back around to Mrs. Henry, she asked, “You mentioned Mrs. Henry was on campus not long ago. Did you happen to see Dr. Henry with her?”
“No, he wasn’t. But I wasn’t going to ask the man about her either. Dr. Henry rages quite enough without mentioning his wife.” Snyder let out a laugh that was immediately choked by a look of panic. “Oh no, I don’t mean—that is to say, Dr. Henry would never—”
“Oh, of course not.” Saffron extended a hand to him with a flirtatious smile. “I’m afraid I really must dash. Thank you so very much, Mr. Snyder.”
Mr. Snyder’s ears went pink, and he asked her to come back some time to hear about the ancient vase he had dug up. She would probably have to when she returned the letters.
Saffron nearly broke into a fit of giggles as she strode away from the history building. Was it truly that easy to flirt her way into obtaining information? Passing by the steps of Wilkins Building, she gave up holding back her amusement and actually did laugh aloud.
“Laughing at us studious scholars?” a voice said from behind her, making her jump.
She laughed again when she saw it was Alexander. “Oh yes, I always laugh when I see others working hard. Makes me feel much better about all my own hours of work ahead. You will absolutely never guess all the headway I’ve made on the investigation!”
“Tell me about it over lunch. I’ve been in there for hours,” Alexander said, indicating the library. “Besides, you can’t meddle in police business on an empty stomach.”
“So, you see, I actually have the letters,” Saffron finished.
Alexander nearly choked on a sip of tea. “You took them?”
“What did you expect me to do, read them and put them back with Snyder breathing all over me?”
“Snyder was breathing all over you?” Alexander’s dark eyes narrowed.
