The Valedictorian (Sword and Lead Book 3)

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The Valedictorian (Sword and Lead Book 3) Page 3

by Rhiley McCabe


  Jennifer’s parents received him. Mr. and Mrs. James sat at the dining table, away from the cluster of family members and other sympathizers. When he told them he was sorry for their loss he knew that he was indeed sorry because they had indeed suffered a loss in a manner unknown to others to whom he had offered the consolation. Jennifer’s family was close-knit, and her parents had held lots of hope and aspirations about her future. She had gone through High School on a scholarship, and when she finished she had scholarship offers from seven universities. But she had opted for NYU to be closer to her family.

  Mrs. James told Harry that Jennifer had been in a sour mood when she visited them the weekend before her murder. When her mother had pressed to know what was wrong, she told her mother that her studies were taking most of her time, and it had caused a strain in her relationship with her boyfriend. Harry had inquired about the boyfriend, to be sure it was the same one that Amanda had mentioned. And when Jennifer’s mother mentioned the boyfriend’s name, Harry crosschecked it with the name in his note pad and saw it was the same.

  He asked Jennifer’s parents if they knew anyone who would have wanted to harm Jennifer and they said they couldn’t think of anyone.

  “Jennifer was such a sweet and kind soul. She doesn’t get into trouble with anyone or with the authorities since she had been a kid.” Mrs. James said with conviction.

  Jennifer’s mother’s response was all too familiar. No one he had met so far could contemplate a reason for anyone to hurt one hair on Jennifer’s head. She was such a kind soul.

  As he drove out of the neighborhood, Harry imagined what the effect of Jennifer’s death would have on her family. She was supposed to be the hero who would save the family from a life at the bottom of the social ladder. When her assailant put a knife through her, he had also put a knife through the dreams of her family. Harry imagined the look on Jennifer’s mother’s face when an anonymous six-figure check appears at their door front., the wonder in her eyes when she sees a letter containing details of a trust fund for the college education of Jennifer’s brother. Harry smiled as he pictured Mrs. James shedding tears of joy as she opens the envelope signed: “From a friend of Jennifer; Never to be forgotten” written on it.

  Although Harry’s colleagues seemed fond of him, so much so that they nicknamed him ‘Super Harry’, most of them didn’t know anything about his family. They only knew he was a bachelor in his early thirties, with an excellent ability for solving crimes. What they didn’t know was that his father is a billionaire, and Harry and his twin sister the heirs to a multi-billion-dollar empire. He had decided to become a cop despite having a Harvard education, and even against his father’s vehement opposition. Harry occasionally used his family’s connections to call in favors when he needed to poke into some restricted areas to solve a case. More often, however, he used his fortune to help the less privileged. And as he approached the University, he made a mental note to talk to his banker to write an anonymous check for the James family.

  CHAPTER 8

  Detective Harry Rogers’ first stop at the University was the dean’s office. It was the third day since the murder and life was gradually returning to normal on the campus. The dean had been eagerly waiting to meet with Harry because he had something urgent to discuss. Harry was ushered into the dean’s office by the red haired secretary whose attention appeared to be perpetually engrossed in her phone.

  In spite of the unmistakable urgency in the dean’s face, he still offered Harry a cup of coffee, which he declined. The dean began by telling Harry that he had spoken with the police chief, who had told him that there was still no suspect. The dean didn’t mask the disappointment in his voice when he told Harry that the entire University was eagerly waiting for a result. The dean told Harry that he had information that some students were planning a protest tomorrow and it would have been helpful if he could tell them that there was a suspect in custody when he addressed the protesters.

  Harry wasn’t bothered about the protest, and he didn’t share the dean’s apprehension about addressing the protesters. What he was bothered about was the expectations of all those eagerly waiting for the killer to be uncovered and the disappointment they felt each day the killer remained on the loose. Harry gave the dean a professional account of his interview with Amanda. He put the details in such a way that the dean understood the importance of interviewing Jennifer’s academic advisor without him needing to ask. The dean wasn’t happy at the thought of one of the University’s high-ranking professors being a person of interest in the murder of the University’s top student. The dean told Harry he would speak with the professor to meet with him as soon as possible. Harry resisted the urge to tell the dean that if the professor failed to see him willingly, he may have to bring him in for questioning. If the dean thought a student protest was a scandal, he should wait till one of the University’s professors was handcuffed and taken into custody as a potential suspect in the murder of Miss James.

  Harry sat down on the hood of his car. He was parked alongside the building that housed the dean’s office. He brought out his note pad, flipped a few pages, and dialed the number he found. The phone rang for a few seconds, and then there was a click followed by a masculine voice.

  “Good afternoon, my name is Detective Harry Rogers, am I speaking with Mr. Franklin Michaels?” Harry put the note pad back into his pocket. “I’m the detective in charge of the investigation into Miss James’ murder. I’d like to ask you some questions about Miss James. When are you available?” He reached into the side pocket of his jacket and brought out a packet of cigarettes “It has to be today. 3 PM is fine. I’ll see you at dean’s office.”

  Harry lit a cigarette and decided to walk to the café down the road to get a cup of coffee and some snacks.

  Harry sat in the same briefing room where he had interviewed Amanda yesterday. There were two cups of coffee on the table. His note pad was opened, and he was examining the chain of events that had led up to Jennifer’s murder. All the facts in front of him pointed to Jennifer’s academic advisor as the last person that had seen her alive. Both Amanda and Mrs. James had mentioned that Jennifer was having relationship issues with her boyfriend before she was murdered. Harry didn’t yet know enough about the nature of the relationship friction between Jennifer and her boyfriend to know if it was enough for him to have murdered her. But Franklin was surely a person of interest in the murder, and the interview would provide Harry with further information on Franklin’s possible culpability.

  Franklin walked into the briefing room ten minutes ahead of schedule. He wore a baseball shirt, ripped blue jeans, and a pair of Timberland boots. He appeared to be nervous as he took his seat. Harry pushed one of the coffee cups in Franklin’s direction. He declined, but Harry left the cup there.

  Harry closed the note pad and took a few seconds to take in the outline of Franklin’s face. “Good afternoon Franklin, you don’t mind if I call you that, do you?” Franklin nodded his approval and stretched his arms on the table. “What was your relationship with Miss James?” Harry asked before taking a sip of his coffee.

  “She was my girlfriend. We’ve been together for two years… before she was murdered.” The last sentence slurred out of his lips.

  “What was the nature of your relationship before she died? I have reason to believe you two were having some difficulties in your relationship before she was killed.” Harry looked him in the eyes to see if he would deny the claim.

  “We occasionally fought. Like every other couple,” Franklin replied defensively.

  “What was the cause the of friction in your relationship?”

  “Jennifer was too busy with some academic stuff and she was spending too much time with her professor. We hardly ever spent time together and she always came with excuses every time I confronted her.”

  “Do you know the professor she was spending time with?” Harry asked with disguised interest.

  “Yeah, her academic advisor.”

/>   Harry asked him when was the last time he saw Jennifer, and he said he had seen her the night before she was murdered. She had stopped by his room so they could talk. But she left just twenty minutes later after receiving a call from someone she was supposed to meet up with. Harry asked Franklin if he remembered what Jennifer was wearing, and he confirmed it to be the same clothes Amanda mentioned.

  He asked Franklin if he knew of anyone who might have any reason to harm Jennifer, and like everyone else he could think of nothing. Harry gave Franklin his card to call him if he remembered anything. He watched Franklin walk out of the briefing room with the cup of coffee still untouched.

  CHAPTER 9

  It took five days for Jennifer’s academic advisor to call Harry to set up a meeting. Harry had wanted to bring him in on the third day, and it took a lot of pleading by the dean and the vehement refusal of his chief to restrain him. When the professor eventually called on the fifth day to set up a meeting, Harry had told him he would meet him at 9 AM the next day and hung up the phone.

  Harry took a set of handcuffs with him to the meeting. If the professor was a minute late, Harry was ready to handcuff him and march him to the station. Harry was waiting in the briefing room of the dean’s office. The room had become his temporary office since he had started investigating the case. The professor walked into the room a few minutes past 9 AM with a weary look on his face. Professor Phil Smith was a Caucasian man with short blonde hair. Forty-seven years old, but his small glasses and brown corduroy suit made him look older. As soon as he sat down he started apologizing to Harry for the delay in setting up the meeting. He claimed to have been handling some family emergency that made him unavailable.

  Harry wasn’t interested in the explanation the professor was offering. He had been strongly displeased by the professor’s reluctance to meet with him, and the lone cup of coffee on the desk was a sign of his reservation.

  “What was your relationship with Miss James?” Harry asked as he opened his note pad.

  “I was her sociology professor, as well as her academic advisor.”

  “In the month that preceded her death, you and her had been meeting on a regular basis. What was the nature of this meeting?”

  “I was her academic advisor and she came to me for academic advice.”

  “So your relationship was strictly a professor and student relationship?”

  “Yes. She came to me for academic advice,” the professor replied carefully.

  “She was one of the University’s best students. It seems strange that she saw you so often for academic assistance,” Harry emphasized the last two words to drive home his point.

  “She had interests and ambitions that exceeded her colleagues. She came to me for assistance and guidance whenever she needed it.” The Professor was becoming uncomfortable with the line of questioning and spoke louder than he had intended.

  Harry had intended to rattle the Professor, and the angry tone with which he replied encouraged Harry to keep to the line of questioning.

  “You said she came to you for academic assistance? What was the recent help she sought from you before her death?” Harry took a slow sip of his coffee, intending to show the Professor that he was intentionally getting under his skin.

  “She needed help with a postgraduate scholarship essay she was writing,” Smith replied, slowly, in an attempt to calm his nerves.

  “What do you know about the postgraduate scholarship?”

  “She said the scholarship is given to the best female students in colleges across America by a multinational corporation. But I can’t remember the name of the corporation.”

  “When was the last time you saw Miss James?” Harry asked with the hope that the professor might lie.

  “I saw her the night she was murdered. She came to my office at about 8 PM. She had printed out the final draft of her essay and she wanted me to review it.”

  “What time did she leave your office?”

  “She left my office by 9 PM.”

  “Can you remember what she was wearing?”

  “I can’t remember well, but she was wearing a yellow gown.”

  Harry went silent for a few seconds before calmly telling the professor they were done, and he was free to leave. Harry watched the professor walked out of the briefing room, and he knew that he had found his suspect.

  CHAPTER 10

  Professor Phil Smith was arrested at his residence three days after his interview with Detective Harry Rogers. Harry had elected not to arrest him within the University premises to avoid creating a scene. So, he decided to wait for him to leave the University. Harry drove behind the professor as he left the University, and as he was pulling into the parking lot in front of his house, Harry pulled up behind him. Professor Smith was shocked to a state of speechlessness when Harry told him he was under arrest as a suspect in the murder of Miss Jennifer James. He had been so stunned that he couldn’t hear a single word when Harry read him his rights before he handcuffed him and put him in the back seat.

  Professor Smith had been Harry’s primary suspect in the murder even before he interviewed him. Harry had been instantly suspicious of the type of relationship that existed between Jennifer and Professor Smith. He questioned the type of academic assistance that would make a valedictorian visit her forty-seven-year old professor as much as three times a week. The fact that many of these meetings had taken place at night made it more suspicious. The professor’s reluctance to set up a meeting was the final factor Harry required to make him a suspect.

  After his interview with the professor, Harry started to examine the chain of events the night before Jennifer’s death and the facts pointed at the professor’s culpability. Amanda and Franklin, both of whom saw Jennifer hours before she was murdered, said she wore a jacket and jeans. But when Jennifer was murdered, she was wearing a yellow floral gown, and this matched the clothes Professor Smith said she was wearing when he last saw her. This meant he was probably the last person to have seen her alive.

  Harry knew that Professor Smith’s knowledge of the clothes Jennifer was wearing at the time of her murder wasn’t sufficient evidence to make him a suspect. For him to be a suspect, Harry had to make sure that he was within the crime scene shortly before or after the murder. The day after his meeting with Professor Smith, Harry visited the campus security office and requested to view the tape recording of the security camera at the entrance of Jennifer’s hostel. Harry spent hours examining the tape, and when the recording got to a few minutes before 10 PM, he saw the unmistakable figure of Professor Smith walking into the hostel. When Harry interviewed the professor he had claimed to have last seen Jennifer around 9 PM in his office. But the footage from the security camera showed him entering her hostel around 10 PM and leaving five minutes later.

  Harry also noted that Amanda had said Jennifer left the room around 7 PM. In his interview, Franklin had claimed Jennifer came to his place a little past 7 PM, and she had left a few minutes later after receiving a phone call. The evidence of the security footage was enough to get a judge to grant Harry access to Professor Smith’s phone record. And the record showed that he had called Jennifer at the same period Franklin said she had received the call.

  Detective Harry Rogers sat opposite Professor Smith in the interrogation room. Although all the facts pointed to him as the likely killer, a motive had yet to be found. In cases like this, involving an older male in authority and a younger female subordinate, it’s not uncommon that both parties had been engaged in an illicit love affair. And often, one of the parties would be desperate to keep the affair a secret, usually the older man. And when the young woman female decides to reveal the secret for one reason or another, the male in authority suddenly needs to find a way to shut her up. Sometimes he might go as far as making sure she never speaks again. The relationship between the Professor and Jennifer fit perfectly into this box, and it’s for that reason he had been arrested as the primary suspect. There were the frequent meetings
at odd hours, which no one seemed to know the nature or subject of. According to Jennifer’s boyfriend and her mother, she had been too engrossed in her studies.

  “You said you last saw Jennifer at your office. But there’s a CCTV footage of you going into her hostel a few minutes before 10 PM. Why did you lie to me?”

  The question sent a wave of shock through the professor’s body. He had completely omitted to mention that he had stopped by Jennifer’s hostel on his way home. He knew that this was an oversight that may prove costly. “It slipped my mind. I’m sorry.” He knew the apology wasn’t necessary, nor would it change how things looked, but he was sorry. Sorry for Jennifer and for himself.

  “What took you to her hostel?”

  “She forgot an article she was supposed to use for her postgraduate essay. So I decided to take it to her.”

  “Why couldn’t you wait till the next day to give it to her?”

  “Her essay was due for submission early the following morning. I thought it would be easier for me to give it to her on my way home.”

  “Your phone records show that you called her the night before she was murdered. What was the call about?”

  “I had told her I would call her to let her know if I would be available to meet with her that night.”

  “What did she say when you called her?”

  “She said she was meeting with someone and that she would be in my office soon.”

  Harry spent two hours grilling the professor, throwing question after question at the depleted man, whose answers seemed so simple that they appeared rehearsed. The police chief and prosecutors from the Justice Department watched from the other side of the mirrored window as Harry drained all resistance out of Professor Smith.

 

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