Stork Raving Mad by Donna Andrews

manner.
    Scary thought.
    “What did Rob tell you?” I asked Danny when the others were, if not out of earshot, at least not hanging over our shoulders.
    “Find anything in the college system to prove Ramon filed all his paperwork and got approval for his dissertation,” he said.
    “Correct,” I said. “And also, we’re looking for any dirt—um, information—on Dr. Wright from the English department and Dr. Blanco from admin. services.”
    Danny nodded and scribbled something on a Post-it note.
    “First names?” he asked.
    “I’m not on first-name terms with them and probably never will be,” I said. “I can try to find out if you like.”
    Danny scribbled. I heard keyboards rattling elsewhere in the room.
    “Jean Wright,” said one of the other interns.
    “Enrique Blanco,” Josh said.
    I had a feeling I’d just enlisted six hackers instead of one.
    “How . . . official do you want this?” Danny asked. Keyboard rattling abruptly stopped, as if everyone else had paused to listen for the answer.
    “Something we could take to court or to the police would be most useful,” I said. “But knowing that something would turn up if we got a subpoena would also be useful.”
    “Gotcha,” Danny said. “Want me to call you when I’ve got something?”
    “Please,” I said. I scribbled my cell phone number on another sticky note and affixed it to the wall behind his monitor.
    As I turned to head back up the stairs, I looked around. I no longer saw any castle-strewn fields.
    I felt strangely better. I had no idea if their searches would turn up any proof that Ramon had turned in his papers and gotten permission for his dissertation on Mendoza’s plays. Or, for that matter, any dirt on the prunes. But at least we were doing something.
    In the kitchen, small numbers of students were still talking together quietly. Actually, plotting might be the better choice of words. I overheard the words “petition” and “protest” several times. Yes, the home team was definitely at work. I nodded and waved to the ones who greeted me on my way to the bathroom.
    As I was leaving the lavatory I felt another brief, slight contraction and paused for long minutes, waiting to see if it repeated. Nothing. Braxton-Hicks again.
    Still, better to get off my feet. I’d been standing and walking more than usual today and my back hurt. I returned to my chair in the hall, opened my notebook, and began trying to think of something else we could do. Preferably something that I could do while sitting down.
    I couldn’t think of anything more, at least not until my hacker team reported in. And until Michael and his colleagues finished their meeting. And . . .
    I must have drifted off to sleep almost as soon as my body hit the chair.

Chapter 9
    “Mrs. Waterston? Are you all right?”
    I started, and almost fell off my chair. A thin, pale young woman student was leaning over me with a concerned face.
    “I’m fine,” I said. “I just dozed off. What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing,” the young woman said. “At least—well, nothing, except that I can’t seem to get Dr. Wright to answer the door.”
    I glanced at the front door for a moment, puzzled. Then my brain shifted into gear again.
    “The library door?”
    The student nodded.
    “I knocked and knocked, but she didn’t answer.”
    “Maybe she didn’t want to be bothered,” I suggested.
    “Yes, but Dr. Sass told me to go and ask her if she was ready for their meeting.”
    “And you told her that?”
    “I yelled it through the door.”
    “Did you stick your head in to see what she was doing?”
    “I didn’t want to annoy her,” the student said. “If she was busy, I mean.”
    “I’ll go get her,” I said. I waddled off toward the library.
    “She won’t like being disturbed,” the student called after me.
    “Then I’ll get all the more fun out of disturbing her,” I called back.
    The student giggled.
    Not a joking matter, I reminded myself. Dr. Wright had