by Louise Clark
"I told you about Peiling and the funding issues around his program. Bradley Neale, the TA who usually covered for Brittany, seems to be a straight-up guy dedicated to his studies. He's career-focused and has virtually no social life. He was smitten with Brittany, though."
"Smitten?"
Christy's brow wrinkled into a frown that did nothing to minimize her gorgeous looks. Man, he had it bad if he thought a frown was enticing.
"Neale asked her out a few times, managed to get her to go to dinner with him once. Then she took up with Aaron DeBolt and Bradley was sweet out of luck."
"A good reason for him to go after Aaron, not Brittany."
"That's what I thought. The other male TA, Lorne Cossi, is not very well liked by the female undergrads he supervises, but I couldn't get anything specific. It seems to boil down to he's curt sometimes, charming others."
"So he's moody. Not an easy guy to work for or with."
The dog they'd heard earlier came barreling around a curve in the path at a full gallop. Its tongue was hanging out, big ears flapping. It skidded to a stop in front of them and barked. Christy crouched down to eye level and shoved out her hand for the big golden dog to sniff.
Quinn reached for her. He wanted to grab her and pull her back behind him out of harm's way, even though there was no evidence that the dog was unfriendly or dangerous.
The dog inspected her hand, barked again and wagged a long, hairy tail. Christy laughed.
Quinn redirected his reaching hand to pat the dog. Christy bestowed a bright, approving glance at him. He scratched behind the dog's ears, his hand close enough to grab the animal's collar.
Just in case.
The owner trotted around the curve, huffing as she attempted to catch up to her unruly dog. "Bruiser!"
The dog barked and its tail wagged harder, setting the animal's whole hindquarters in motion. He licked Christy's hand and she laughed again.
When the owner came level, she clicked a leash on the dog's collar and apologized profusely. "Most people are at work at this time of day and the kids are in school, so Bruiser and I usually have the path to ourselves. He loves to run and, well, he's too fast for me to keep up. He's harmless, though, as you can see."
Christy said, "He's beautiful." She stood up. "Good-bye Bruiser. Nice to meet you."
The dog woofed. His mistress tugged at the leash and headed off in one direction while Christy and Quinn went in the other.
Christy laughed softly. "You never know who you'll meet on the path. Or when you'll meet them."
It was acknowledgement that their earlier, unvoiced, decision to put distance between themselves was the right thing to do. So her mind was working on the same level as his.
Interesting.
Reassuring. He tightened his hold on her hand and she squeezed back. Something—not sexual, but deeply intimate, nonetheless—flooded through him. He looked down at her and smiled. The laughter in her face deepened into tenderness. His heart began to pound.
He wanted to kiss her.
Again.
And take her into the woods.
And that would be as bad a decision now as it was ten minutes ago.
He dragged his gaze away from hers and drew a deep shaky breath. "Rochelle Dasovic is by far the most interesting of the TAs."
"Why?" Christy asked. Her voice sounded husky, as if she was thinking about the woods too. Well she would be, wouldn't she, if they were both on the same wavelength?
"Rochelle Dasovic is a fraud."
Christy stopped. Now fully engaged in the conversation, she stared at Quinn. "In what way?"
"She plagiarized her way into Peiling's program."
"Whoa! Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I found some Twitter chatter between Rochelle and another woman. The woman claimed she and Rochelle roomed together at the University of Victoria and that they were in some of the same classes there. In their third year, they worked together on a project that became the basis for the woman's fourth-year research project. She took the idea and ran with it, while Rochelle stuck to an easier path. When it came time to apply to grad school, Rochelle took the woman's fourth-year paper and submitted it to EBU with her name on it. It was the other woman's work that got Rochelle her place with Peiling."
"Was Peiling aware of the Twitter controversy?"
Quinn shrugged. "I don't know. That's why I want to go out to the university and grill him."
Christy looked thoughtful. They resumed their stroll, their feet making no sound on the layer of fallen leaves, already soggy with November rain. "If Peiling knew and didn't say anything, he could be in deep trouble. What if Brittany found out and the blackmailing she talked about was her blackmailing Peiling, not someone blackmailing her?"
"If Brittany threatened to expose him, his career could be on the line," Quinn said, agreeing. "It's a thread I think we need to pull."
"Absolutely," Christy said, nodding. "What time do you want to get out there?"
"I've got an appointment with him for mid-morning. Gives us time to get Noelle to school before we have to leave for EBU and time to have lunch together before Noelle has to be picked up."
Christy gave him a little bump with her hip that made him laugh, and said, "Sounds like a plan."
Chapter 19
Dr. Jacob Peiling was a worried man. He tried not to show it, but his shoulders hunched and he refused to make eye contact when he greeted Quinn and Christy. That sparked a number of questions in Christy's mind and from the light that leapt into Quinn's eyes, he'd had a similar reaction. As they settled into chairs in front of Peiling's desk, Christy was careful to choose the one off to the side. She'd let Quinn do the questioning while she observed the professor's reactions.
"Thank you for taking the time to see us, Dr. Peiling," Quinn said after they all sat down.
Peiling nodded. "You would like to discuss Brittany's death further."
"Yes," Quinn said. "I talked to her father. He's understandably distressed, but the conversation raised more questions than it supplied answers."
Peiling nodded again. Had the worried expression on his face deepened? Or was he just dismayed by a violent, unexpected death?
"I understand from Mr. Day that you and he were at university together." Quinn smiled in an encouraging way and his tone was pleasant. Christy knew he was springing a trap, but Peiling seemed quite happy to hop into it.
"Yes. We roomed together as freshmen and later shared an apartment."
"So you were close friends."
"And continued to be after we graduated. Where is this leading, Mr. Armstrong?"
Quinn's smile widened into a self-depreciating grin as he shrugged. "Context and color, Dr. Peiling. I tend to dig deeper than most other journalists, but use less of what I discover in my finished articles. I need to get people and their backgrounds sorted out in my mind, you see, or what I write won't be coherent."
Peiling looked dubious, but he said, "Okay."
"Mr. Day told me that his company funded your research." Peiling nodded. "Did that funding have any influence on your decision to accept Brittany as a student?"
Eyes narrowed, Peiling said, "I don't like what you are insinuating, Mr. Armstrong. You say you don't plan to use the information you're after, but I don't believe you. You're digging dirt for an exposé and I don't intend to help you." He pushed back his chair, a clear indication that he planned to end the interview.
Christy said, "I don't blame you for feeling uncomfortable, Dr. Peiling." She leaned toward Quinn and put her hand on his arm. "Lighten up, Quinn! Dr. Peiling has recently lost both a gifted student and a friend of the family."
Quinn responded by raising a brow. Christy resisted the urge to wink, but she did let a little mischief seep into her smile. When she turned to Peiling she was serious once more. "It's just that Mr. Day came up will all kinds of allegations when Quinn talked to him. Personally, I think he was sounding off, but some of what he said was, well, inflammatory."
P
eiling put his hands on his desk and leaned forward. "Like what?"
Christy smiled at him. She had intended to be more of an observer than an interviewer, but Peiling had taken her bait. It was up to her now to reel him in. "He said you've lost so much funding that your program is in jeopardy and you will have to cut some of your grad students. He also claimed that the grant made by his company is all that is keeping your program from being completely canceled."
"How dare he? That is not true!" Indignation added a snap to the professor's voice and he straightened.
Christy nodded encouragingly and smiled in a friendly way. "Then I suppose that you didn't agree to monitor Brittany while she was in Vancouver, both as a favor to him and to ensure he continued to fund the program?"
Peiling shifted uneasily, making his chair creak. "Roger did ask me to keep an eye on Brittany. Of course, I promised I would, but..." He hesitated, then said, "You have to understand, I'm a full professor. I have duties. Responsibilities to my faculty and to the university. I don't have time to shepherd a friend's daughter around. Or even to keep tabs on her. When Brittany came to Vancouver I took her on a tour of the city and told her what areas to avoid and where she shouldn't walk at night."
Quinn raised his eyebrows. "Wow. Shows a lot of caring." Evidently he had decided his role was to poke at Peiling until he lost his temper and admitted more than he planned. "You never told Day you weren't fulfilling your promise, did you?"
Peiling pursed his lips, but didn't reply. Quinn continued, mockery in his voice. "I don't think your casual definition of keeping on an eye on Brittany would have impressed her father. I bet he'd have pulled his funding if he found out. But then, you're a smart guy. You must have known that."
From the color in Peiling's cheeks it was clear that Quinn had touched a nerve. "You're wrong. Roger Day wouldn't have canceled the funding. He understands the importance of the work we're doing here. Besides, he's not the kind of man who would dodge his responsibilities just because I failed to monitor his daughter's social life."
"So you expect him to honor his promise, but you don't have to?"
Peiling set his jaw and didn't reply. Quinn curled his lip into a sneer and continued on. "Roger Day loved his daughter. Did you know that she wanted to drop out when school started in September?"
The shock on Peiling's face couldn't be manufactured. "No!"
Quinn nodded. "Yeah, her father talked her into continuing. He knew something was going on with her, but he trusted you. The end of the semester is coming up. Brittany would have headed home for Christmas and who knows, maybe when the winter semester started in January she wouldn't be back. Think her father would continue to fund your program then?"
His voice barely above a whisper, Peiling said, "That wouldn't happen."
"No? Think again, Dr. Peiling."
Peiling whitened.
"Do you know who introduced Brittany to Aaron DeBolt?" Christy asked, watching the professor carefully. She thought he might greet the question with relief after the grilling Quinn had given him, but he actually paled further.
"Aaron's father, Nathan DeBolt, is one of my most generous private donors. Nathan likes his company's name to be linked to science with a high public approval rating. The theories my program is working to prove squeak into his acceptable range, but the science is complex and difficult to explain to laymen. The media rarely features us for that reason, which is why the DeBolt funding is shaky." Peiling paused, then said with a rush, "I needed to give Nathan a good reason to continue to fund us this year."
"It was you who paired Brittany with Aaron?" Christy couldn't keep the disgusted amazement from her voice. "Did you know what kind of man Aaron is?"
Peiling was squirming now, shifting uneasily in his squeaky chair, his gaze resting anywhere but on Quinn or Christy. He cleared his throat. "Natalie DeBolt brought Aaron to one of the events I put on to allow the students to network with the donors and steering committee members. She asked for an introduction. What could I do?"
"Were you aware Aaron DeBolt supplied drugs to all of his girlfriends?"
"No." Peiling sounded defeated and his expression was bleak. "I swear I didn't. Look at it from my point of view! Natalie and Nathan DeBolt are reputable people. Why would I think that their son was not cut from the same cloth?"
Quinn eased the conversation into a new direction. "Did any of the other grad students in the program know that Brittany was the daughter of a man who both funded the program and was your personal friend?"
Coloring, Peiling snapped, "You make it sound as if I did something wrong."
Quinn leaned forward. "Somebody killed Brittany. On the surface, that somebody appears to be Ellen Jamieson. A simple, straightforward case, right? The more I learn about Brittany's life here in Vancouver, though, the less I like the straightforward answer." He stared at Peiling, his expression intense, and Christy could see that the professor's gaze was caught in Quinn's. For a minute they stared at each other, then Peiling looked away nervously.
Quinn continued as if the silent standoff had never happened. "I'm not judging you, Dr. Peiling. I'm trying to find answers and the more details we have about Brittany's life in Vancouver, the easier that will be."
Peiling cleared his throat. "Brittany was happy here. At least at first."
The words sounded stilted, as if he'd rehearsed them to be presented to anyone who would listen. Quinn nodded.
"She got along with everyone," Peiling continued. "I can't imagine that any of her colleagues here at the university would want to harm her."
Christy blinked. Who did Peiling think he was fooling? "The TAs Brittany shared an office with were pretty competitive when Quinn and I spoke to them. The only one who seemed to be at all friendly was Bradley Neale."
"Brad's a good fellow," Peiling said.
"Did you know he was filling in for Brittany at her lab classes?" Quinn asked.
"No!" Again, the surprise on Peiling's face looked real.
"He had a crush on her," Christy said. She leaned forward and smiled, turning the comment into friendly gossip, instead of a threatening revelation. "Unfortunately, Brittany wasn't in the least interested. I suppose that could have made him jealous."
Peiling drew a deep breath and said, "I have no idea. I don't interfere in my students' personal lives."
"Not even Brittany's?" Quinn said gently.
Peiling colored. "Look, I've had enough—"
"If you don't know about their personal lives, maybe you're better informed about their professional ones. Like the reason why Rochelle Dasovic passed off the research paper she used to get into your program as her own when it was written by someone else."
"Rochelle plagiarized?"
"You didn't know?" Quinn said the words, but they weren't really needed. The man's pale features were answer enough. Quinn's comment had caught him completely off guard.
Christy shook her head solemnly. "When I met the three TAs, I thought Bradley Neale and Rochelle were nicer than Lorne Cossi, so if they have secrets, Lorne must have some too. And I'll bet his are worse."
Peiling swallowed nervously. Christy had hit a nerve. "I'm not allowed to discuss my students with outsiders."
"Of course you're not. That's okay. I'll dig up the dirt on Lorne Cossi, just like I did on the other two," Quinn said cheerfully.
"Lorne is a sleazy sexual predator, but he's not a murderer!"
Quinn went very still. "Do you have proof?"
"Lorne has a... a need, I guess you'd say, to dominate women."
"Including Brittany?"
Peiling shrugged. "I don't know. But last year one of Lorne's female undergrad students accused him of forcing her to have sex with him. It was a difficult case, because the girl admitted to being attracted to Lorne, even though she said it was more of a fantasy crush than a real desire for a relationship. Other students testified that he made sexual remarks, but claimed he showed no interest in going any further than a light in-class flirtation. The o
ne who leveled the accusation claimed he had a dark side and that he invited her to his apartment, where he threatened her until she agreed to have sex with him. He denied the allegation."
"What happened?" Christy asked.
"The case was thrown out because it couldn't be proved. It was the girl's word against Lorne's."
"Let's put this all together," Quinn said. He ticked the items off on his fingers as he spoke. "You, Dr. Peiling, were supposed to keep Brittany safe. You failed to do that and I think you feel at least a little guilty about it. Without Brittany in the program there is the question of whether or not Roger Day will continue to support it, especially when he finds out that you introduced Brittany to Aaron DeBolt and his unhealthy lifestyle." He raised a second finger. "You have a funding shortfall that could lead to the loss of one or more student positions. Brittany's position was seen as secure because her father is one of your key funders. That leaves three students looking over their shoulders, wondering if their grad degree is in jeopardy. That's an excellent motive for wanting Brittany—the one person who didn't have to worry—out of the way. Plus each of the TAs have the kind of personality flaws that could make them willing to turn envy into action." He paused, smiled and nodded with satisfaction. "I think I could make a good case that the cops should be looking to EBU for Brittany's killer."
"Then you'd be wrong." Peiling's lips were pinched and white, his eyes angry. "I think it's time for you to go. I have nothing more to say." This time when he pushed his chair back and stood up, he didn't back down.
Christy stood when Quinn did and followed him out of the office. "What do you think?" she asked.
Quinn slipped his arm around her waist. "I think Brittany deserved better than what she got."
Christy leaned against him as they wandered down the hallway. "Yeah. Her life here seems so barren. You know, until we started digging into Brittany's past, it never occurred to me that Aaron's girlfriends were anything but an extension of him."