One Coffee With

Which led to fertility symbols, Paleolithic cave paintings, Stonehenge, Toltec technology and present-day earthworks and "-so his uncle's in the business, and he can borrow a bulldozer whenever-"

"I'll be damned if I'll buy it. What kind of art is it if you've got to go up five miles in a frigging helicopter everytime you want to see the whole thing?"

"Ah, you're a reactionary-"

"-combines soft sculpture with collage and gets-"

"-so I told him where he could put holography, and she said-"

Nauman shook his head over so much simultaneous vociferous enthusiasm, but on the whole he approved. Some of his best paintings had been generated by freewheeling debate. He took a final gulp of the really unpalatable coffee and set the empty cup on the file cabinet between two of Sandy 's potted geraniums while he pulled out an elaborately carved meerschaum pipe.

As he lit it, he was cornered by Lemuel Vance, who began buttressing his demand for a new printing press for the graphics workshop with data from three different catalogs. He almost had to shout to be heard over the surrounding din.

In the midst of all the loud hilarity and noisy arguments Sandy noticed a girl hesitating by the mail rack. At Sandy 's gesture the girl, a student aide from Dean Ellis's office, edged her way over. Clearly such bedlam never occurred in the hushed sanctuaries below.

"The dean wants to know if Professor Qui

"All right?" repeated Sandy in a puzzled tone. The decibel level began dropping as others became aware of this new diversion and paused to eavesdrop.

The girl nodded. "Dean Ellis was speaking with Professor Qui

Sandy half rose. Nauman was closer to the door, but before he could move it was wrenched open and Riley Qui

"Help me!" he gasped hoarsely, retching at every word.

"Oh, my God, I'm dying!"

The ambulance responded in record time, but Qui

4

SIGRID HARALD was not a particularly fervent proponent of the Equal Rights Amendment. She waved no ba

"I'm not here to be the department's token female officer," she'd told Captain McKi

McKi

"You'll take what's assigned, and you'll work by the rules," he'd said. "My rules. The commissioner wished you on me, but I'm still ru

She'd nodded. She was a tall, slender woman. Slender almost to the point of ski

Nearly a year had gone by since then; and when the call came in from a local precinct station about a possible poisoning at Vanderlyn College, McKi

Lieutenant Harald was unaware that Captain McKi

On her way to Vanderlyn College, Lieutenant Harald stopped by the small hospital where Professor Qui

"Offhand I'd say ingestion of some sort of metallic irritant," he said, pulling back the sheet and pointing to the corrosive burns on the dead man's lips. "I'll know better after I open him up."

"How soon?" she asked, trying to match Cohen's dispassionate mood.

He shrugged. "There's a drowning and two suicides ahead of you today, but ladies first, I guess. I'll put yours at the head of the line. Nice threads," he added reflectively, gazing at the no longer immaculate fawn suit and the crumpled befouled paisley tie, which lay across the bottom of the stretcher. "Too bad they got puked on."

He dropped the sheet over Riley Qui

Vanderlyn College employed its own security perso

The officer gave her a dour nod and gestured toward a narrow service street to the left, which eventually brought her to the rear of Van Hoeen Hall where several other police vehicles were parked in a delivery zone. By the time she located the Art Department, it was nearly three-thirty. Perso