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"Yeah?" I a more than ever "What about the key? What about that?"

He still doesn’t look convinced

"I want you to know," he says, "that I’er , by the way, at which you seem to excel"

"You know, Coop," I say "I appreciate that vote of confidence I really do"

"I just don’t want you to lose your day job," he says "I can’t afford to give you health benefits on top of room and board"

"Thanks," I say snarkily "Thanks so much"

But it doesn’twalk up to Roberta Pace’s room at the sixteenth floor We can’t, of course, take the elevator, because they’ve been shut down The only sound I hear, e finally reach the long, e Mine, in particular, is heavy

Other than that, it’s quiet Dead quiet Then again, it’s before noon Most of the residents--the ones who hadn’t been awakened by the a off last night’s beer

I point the ith my set of keys and start toward 1622 Cooper followsstudents to go to Health Services if they’re concerned that they ht have contracted a sexually transht over at the student center

The RA on sixteen has this thing for Snoopy Cut-out Snoopys are everywhere There’s even this posterboard Snoopy holding a real little cardboard tray with an arrow pointing to it that says, "Free Condoe Health Services: Hey, for 40,000 a year, students should get so free!"

The tray is, of course, empty

On the door to 1622, there is a yellowwritten on it There’s also a Ziggy sticker

But soy a pierced nose and soy’s head, "Where Are My Pants?"

I raiseon the door, hard, with them

"Director’s Office," I call "Anybody there?"

There’s no response I call out once more, then slide the key into the lock and open the door

Inside, an electric fan on top of a chest of drawers hums noisily, in spite of the fact that the room, like all the roo Except for the fan, nothing elseto be in for quite a shock when she gets back frole room for the rest of the year

There’s only one , six feet across and another five feet or so high, with twin cranks to open the panes In the distance, past the garden rooftops and water towers, I can see the Hudson, flowing serenely along its way, the sun’s rays slanting off its raphs on one of the girls’ bedstands He says, "The dead girl What’s her name?"