Christmas Stalkings Read Online Free

to,” said Peter. “Who brought in the latest batch of cowpats?”
    The girl stared at the pile on the counter, her two workmates stared at her. Peter looked at all three. Balaclava was not a large college. Faculty and students got to know each other pretty quickly; if not by name, at least by sight.
    The chap in the stovepipe hat was one of Peter’s own seniors. He came from Maine, lived in the dorms, and worked in the greenhouses when he wasn’t in class or peddling cowpats. The other young woman, also a senior, was majoring in botany. She also lived in the dorms, her botanical notebooks were works of art. She was possessed of a comfortable trust fund and she was engaged to the chap in the stovepipe hat According to Mrs. Mouzouka of culinary arts, she was congenitally unable to boil water. She must be here because she’d wanted to stay with her fiancé or because she didn’t want to go home, or both. She might have done the drawing of Dr. Svenson. She could easily have supplied the plant material. She could never in God’s world have baked the cowpats.
    All Peter knew about the girl with the big round eyes was that she was a freshman, she was studying culinary arts, and she didn’t live in the dorms. Since there were very few rental apartments around town, and those few all grabbed up by faculty, she must either be living with her own family or boarding with somebody else’s. Peter’s face grew as stern as he could make it with one of the Enderbles’ half-grown kittens crawling up his pant leg.
    “All right, you three, come clean. Whose idea was it to bake those cowpats?”
    “C-cowpats?” stammered the freshman. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “This critter does.” Peter set the young cat on the counter; it headed straight for the oversized compote that held the cowpats. “You might as well give him one. You can’t sell them, you know.”
    The male senior reached for one of the cowpats, smelled it and took a gingerly nibble. “It does taste—
    Kathy, this isn’t funny! You could get us all pinched and the Illumination shut down.”
    “Gerry, what are you talking about?” snapped his fiancée. She grabbed the cowpat, nibbled, made a face, and burst into laughter. “You idiot, don’t you know cannabis from catnip? Clarice, have you any thoughts on the matter?”
    Clarice had no thought but burst into tears. Peter reached over and touched her arm.
    “I think you’d better come along with me, Miss— er —
    “S-s-s- sissler . Am I under arrest?”
    “Not at all. I have no authority to arrest anybody, we just need to talk. Miss Bunce”—he’d finally remembered the senior woman’s name—”perhaps you’d be good enough to come with us. Can you manage alone for a few minutes, Pascoe?”
    “I guess so, Professor,” the male member of the group replied. “If you wouldn’t mind impounding the evidence, maybe those cats would go away. I think this kitten’s about to throw up on the counter.”
    “An excellent suggestion, Pascoe. I assume you have something to put the cowpats in. Come on, kitty, I’d better take you home. Are you ladies ready to go?”
    “K- kathy doesn’t need to c-come,” sniffled the wretched Miss Sissler. “ Sh -she didn’t do anything.”
    “That’s all right, Clarice,” said Miss Bunce. “I don’t mind.”
    “Well, I d-do.”
    “All right then, if that’s how you feel.”
    With a toss of her mobcap, Miss Bunce began rearranging the counter. Followed by a number of disappointed cats, Peter delivered the kitten to Mrs. Enderble, then led his weeping semi-captive away to the nearest dumpster and thence to the faculty dining room. He wasn’t about to take a young female student into his own house now that she’d refused a chaperone, not with Helen gone. He’d assumed the dining room would be all but deserted at this hour, and it was. Nobody was around, except a student waiter who came somewhat reluctantly out to take their order.
    “Now