“Who could have missed her? She left a path of crumbs Hansel and Gretel would have envied.”

Livingston remembered that Hansel and Gretel had been lost in the forest because the birds had eaten those crumbs. What bird or vulture had followed Penelope’s crumbs?

Livingston chose his next words carefully. Trying to sound offhand, he said, “Miss James, the other day you mentioned again that you thought Athena Popolous had a romantic interest in Professor Philip Whitcomb. Of course he vehemently denied it and I noticed the other young ladies didn’t seem to agree with you. What was the basis for your hunch?”

“It’s not just a hunch. When I was out bicyclin’ today I remembered bicyclin’ with Athena. Just the Sunday before she disappeared Athena and I went bicyclin’ and ended up ridin’ past Llewellyn Hall. As usual Philip was out messin’ around with his flowers. Even though he has his own apartment at school, everyone knew that weekends you could always find him there. Athena stopped by to say hello. When I teased her later that she went down that road on purpose she just turned all beet-red. I just had that feelin’ that somethin’ was goin’ on between those two, and thinkin’ back, he wasn’t surprised to see her.”

“Didn’t it occur to you to mention this ten years ago?”

“Heavens no. Everyone thought Athena had just taken off on her own and Philip certainly hadn’t. He was still here, workin’ away in the garden. But now that they found her body on the property next to Llewellyn Hall, it makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

It certainly does, Livingston thought as he called for the check. Despite her halfhearted protest, he paid for Claire’s lunch. He decided that she had certainly earned her cheese-and-tomato sandwich.

Chapter 24

AS HE APPROACHED Llewellyn Hall, Livingston drove slowly, envisioning Athena Popolous riding down this quiet country lane on her bicycle hoping to catch a glimpse of Philip Whitcomb. For the life of him, he could never fathom the taste of teenagers. In his wildest dreams he could not imagine his fifteen-year-old daughter Davina having a crush on the likes of Philip. “Gross me out,” she’d say, her lip curled. But, he admitted to himself, even Philip would be a vast improvement over the prehistoric-looking creatures, so-called rock stars, whose likenesses immortalized on posters graced every inch of wall space in Davina’s room.

Athena Popolous had been last seen in the Bull and Bear pub near the train station. No witness had been able to say whether she was on the train, which of course did not prove she hadn’t been on board. On Friday nights dozens of Oxford students leave for London. They now knew that even if she had intended to take the train, the probability was that something had happened between the pub and the station.