Power of Suggestion Read Free Page B

already sorting through the situation in her mind, and she didn’t like what she was coming up with. If Parker had been alone in the room with Wayne, then he was sure to be the prime suspect in the killing.
    â€œHey, there’s a gun!” Ned’s voice broke into her thoughts. Looking to where he was pointing,Nancy saw a revolver lying on the carpet at the foot of the recliner.
    â€œDon’t touch it!” she advised him. “In fact, don’t touch anything. We don’t want to disturb any evidence. Is there a phone around? We should call the police and an ambulance right away.”
    Ned nodded. “There’s a phone booth down the hall.”
    After he left the room, Nancy turned back to examine the scene of the crime. The small, windowless room wasn’t like any laboratory or classroom she’d seen before. It was softly lit by track lights along the ceiling and was painted a comforting shade of pale blue. The plush carpeting was a slightly deeper shade of blue, marred now by the dark stain where Wayne’s body lay.
    Against one wall was a solid oak library table with several cushioned, armless chairs. The study group probably worked around the table, Nancy guessed. Parker’s leather bomber jacket hung over the back of one of the chairs. The centerpiece of the room was the luxurious recliner Nancy had noticed when she first entered. A set of stereo headphones was hooked over the back of the chair. Set against a side wall was what looked like a control panel, with an assortment of lights and switches.
    Nancy walked over to the recliner and held her ear next to the headphones, but there was no sound coming from them. If something had beenplaying before the shot was fired, it had been turned off.
    Next, she went over to the door next to the mirrored wall. It was slightly ajar, so she pushed it open and stepped in.
    She found herself in a very small room that was less than seven feet deep. From here she saw that the mirror was really two-way glass, allowing an observer to watch the person sitting in the recliner while remaining unseen himself. There was a console against the mirrored wall, with two desk chairs. Built into the console were a computer terminal, a pair of cassette decks, and a microphone. Several file cabinets stood against the back wall.
    Nancy couldn’t help wondering what all this equipment was for. And what, if anything, did it have to do with Wayne Perkins’s murder?
    Hearing the approach of sirens, she quickly returned to the room with the reclining chair and made certain her brief examination had disturbed nothing. Soon after, Ned came back, accompanied by a woman in an Emerson campus security uniform and a trim, balding man who looked to be in his early thirties.
    â€œAn ambulance is on the way,” Ned said, hurrying over to Nancy and squeezing her hand. The two of them watched while the security officer and the other man knelt beside the body. The balding man felt Wayne Perkins’s wrist and neck, then looked soberly up at Nancy and Ned.
    â€œHe’s dead, all right,” he confirmed. He rose and shook Nancy’s hand. “I’m Dr. Paul Cohen, from the campus infirmary,” he said. He indicated the security officer. “Gina here spotted me walking across campus on my way home and asked me to come along. Are you all right?” he asked, looking into Nancy’s eyes. “Finding a dead body can be very disturbing.”
    â€œI’m fine,” Nancy assured him. “I’ve seen this sort of thing before.”
    Dr. Cohen looked at her with curiosity. “You have?”
    â€œI’m a detective,” she explained. “But our friend Parker seemed really dazed. Maybe you could take a look at him.”
    She and Ned led the doctor out of the lab. The security officer, who was speaking into a walkie-talkie, turned to them. “You kids stay close by,” she said. “I’m going to need statements