Murder is Academic

by Lesley A. Diehl

  Damn. The man was a lot more insightful than I gave him credit for, but I couldn’t agree to his terms.

  “I’ll call her.”

  Der shook his head, mumbling something about getting me involved in his murder investigation in the first place. He turned to find Guy standing in the doorway, offered a surly good morning to him, then left through the kitchen door still muttering to himself. I was about to offer Guy a cup of coffee when Der’s head appeared back in the doorway.

  “I don’t suppose you have any control whatsoever over your girlfriend here.” Der didn’t look hopeful of a positive reply. “I just told her to butt out of this case before she got hurt and I got mad. I don’t suppose that will do any good, do you think?”

  Before Guy could formulate an answer, Der was off again still shaking his head with an air of defeat about his shoulders.

  Guy gave me a good morning hug and kiss on the cheek.

  “Aren’t we being good!” I teased as I kissed him back on his cheek.

  “For now. I have to be at work in a few minutes so I thought it was reasonably safe to visit and have a quick cup of coffee. I also wondered if you’d like to take a ride with me this evening after work. We could take some food along and stop at the state park.” He gulped down the coffee I gave him.

  “Great idea. I have a long day ahead of me, so I’ll have lots to tell you tonight. I hope.”

  The smile faded from his lips. “You know, Der is worried about your involvement in this case. He knows he pulled you in on it, so he feels responsible for your safety. I’d never interfere with what you’re up to, you know that, but are you certain you’re being sensible?”

  “Why does everybody assume that I’m up to something? I just had a little talk with Bunny last night. No big deal.” My irritation at Guy’s solicitousness began to evolve into anger. He put down his cup and put up his hands as if to defend himself from what he knew would be an onslaught from me.

  “Okay, Okay. I’ll just back off. But be careful. You could use backup on these little excursions of yours, and, remember, I’m highly available.”

  An idea was beginning to form in the back of my head. “Good. On our ride tonight I’d like to stop off at the field station and have a little chat with Donald Hall. I think he knows more about this whole situation than he’s admitting. He’s no fan of Rudolf Pruitt so he may be willing to talk at length about his feelings about the man.”

  Guy groaned.

  “What? You offered to help. I thought you were serious.”

  “I know I did. And I was serious. I just didn’t think we’d get started on this so soon. I was looking forward to tonight being just for us, not wedged in between your murder investigations.”

  I looked at his face and saw real disappointment written there.

  “It can wait.” I reached up and touched his cheek. He bent his head and kissed me, on the lips this time. The kiss grew deeper, then ended suddenly.

  “Laura, I’ve got to get to work or I’ll lose my job. I’ve been gone too long for my boss to tolerate another day of absence.”

  We drew apart.

  “Tonight.” He strode toward the door pulling on his motorcycle helmet. “I’ll bring the blanket. You bring the food.”

  “How come I get the hard part?” I heard him laughing all the way to the driveway.

  *

  I’d promised Beth I would help her with her work for her dissertation. To do that I needed the cooperation of the Women’s Studies Program, and I was confident that the program would be deliriously happy with the plan I was proposing. It was flawlessly feminist in nature and politically as right as a liberal and intelligent proposition could be. I was right in my assessment. They loved it, especially when I volunteered to be the front woman with the dean.

  As we were finishing up the meeting, the secretary for the program stuck her head in the door and announced that an e-mail had gone out to all on the campus announcing Jim Evans’ appointment as Interim President. Thank goodness, I thought to myself. That’s one less hurdle for Beth to cross in her bid for permanent assignment to the field station for her research. Evans would be in a beneficent mood in his newly found station as president and more likely to look kindly upon Beth’s request.

  Beth and I met outside the door of the dean’s office. The Dean, Rachel Wagoneer, was new to the campus, having arrived from a college in the Midwest a year earlier. Of all the middle and upper management on the campus (that’s new business lingo for deans, directors, veeps and the prez), I liked Rachel the best. She was a lot of fun. At a petite five feet one with dark hair and eyes, she was definitely perky in both looks and personality. She liked to spend her free time in the halls of the building, schmoozing with everyone she ran into, stopping students to talk with them about their classes, laughing at the bad jokes told to her by other administrators and calling cheery greetings to faculty who were often less than cordial in their responses to her.

  I liked the idea of having a woman as dean.

  My plan to secure Beth’s position on this campus included not only a plea for her work at the field station, but a recommendation to Rachel that Beth be appointed in her husband’s place to take over the activities of the station while the interim president sorted through the issue of who would head the station in the future. And I had just obtained backing from the Women’s Studies Program.

  Rachel came out of her office to greet Beth and me and to offer us coffee and cookies before we began our meeting. We both said yes to the coffee and no to the cookies. As we settled ourselves around the conference table, Rachel jumped up and began to rummage around in her desk.

  “Voila.” She pulled a bag of chocolate candies out of her bottom desk drawer. “Much better than those dry, tasteless cookies. Try one of these.”

  I laughed. Beth looked at me curiously. This dean was not what she expected.

  “Rachel always has those cookies out there, but I never take one because I know she keeps the real goodies in here. I’ve never known her not to have something chocolate to offer.”

  “I share my private stash only with those I particularly like and Laura’s one of my favorite people. Not eating chocolate today, Laura? Well, that only means more for me then.” She patted me on the knee.

  “So what’s up, gals?” Rachel unwrapped her second piece of chocolate candy, popped it into her mouth, and gave forth a moan. “Oooh, raspberry crème. Sorry. I got carried away. A rough morning here with all the changes in positions about to happen.”

  “Tell us, or can you?” I was excited at the prospect of knowing who the players would be in the reshuffling of administrative positions.

  “It’ll be public by noon, so I might as well let you know. With Evans bumped up to president, we’re going to need a vice president for academic affairs.” There was a twinkle in her eye. “And guess what? I’ve been asked by the Upstate College Board of Trustees to take that vice presidency while Evans serves as president.”

  “I hope you agreed,” I said.

  “Oh, sure. The experience will be good for me. We’ll be doing a national search for the position of president. I’m sure Evans will apply. If he gets the nod, then the vice president’s slot will open, and I might just consider applying for the permanent position, if nothing else comes my way.” Rachel slumped back in her chair, looking as if the reality of all these changes just hit her.

  “So, what’s up?” she asked.

  I let Beth take the lead showing Rachel the letters from Will outlining what was to be Beth’s research at the BFS. Beth concluded by saying, “I counted on Will to authorize my work there. Now that he’s gone, my situation is unclear. If Rudolf Pruitt takes control of the station, I don’t think I’ll be allowed to continue there, and I’ll have to find another water resource. That could take a lot of time, and I’d really like to get my research going. In addition, I’ve collected some preliminary data at the station in the last several weeks. I’d hate to see that go to waste.”

 
“We haven’t been able to meet yet to discuss the BFS, so I can’t say who will take up the leadership there, but I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t continue your work there for this year. I will need a formal proposal from you as to what you will be doing.”

  Rachel was about to continue on, when I interrupted. “I just ran an idea past the Women’s Studies Program, and they liked it. Who better to take over the duties Will performed at the BFS than Beth? ”

  Beth looked surprised at my unexpected proposal. Rachel sat back and tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair. “We need to be careful here. We’ll be stepping on some toes. Even though Rudolf Pruitt has no official claim on the station, he expects Evans to honor Talbot’s decision to place the BFS under his direction. In addition, Donald Hall will certainly not like having a newcomer as his boss.”

  I waited her out.

  “On the other hand,” Rachel’s logic turned in a new direction just as I hoped it might, “it would be good to have a woman with your experience in that position.” She turned to Beth. “I’ll give it some thought and get back to you tomorrow.”

  Rachel stood up signaling the end of our meeting. As we walked toward the door, she said, “Just a minute, Laura. I’d like a word with you.”

  Beth proceeded out the door signaling me that she’d wait in the outer office.

  “Your support and that of Women’s Studies aside, I’ll consider Beth only if she’s the best choice for the job.”

  “I understand. We don’t want to upset the boys. Perhaps the idea should come from the dean’s office. Why mention my name and those of a bunch of, uh, other women?”

  She got it. I could hear her laughter as Beth and I continued down the hall.

  Chapter 15

  “Rudolf will be livid, and you need to be very careful if you are given the position.” Beth and I were having lunch, and I thought I should share my suspicions about Rudolf with her. Even if she worked at the BFS and was not put in charge of operations there, I knew Rudolf would not be pleased at her presence. I now began to wonder if I did her a disservice by suggesting her appointment to Rachel. Was I placing Beth in harm’s way?

  She could see the mounting concern written on my face. She reached across the table and patted my hand.

  “I can take care of myself. Besides, even if Rudolf did do in Talbot, he’d hardly try anything with me. Rudolf isn’t that stupid. Also Donald Hall is always around. I’d rarely be alone there.”

  “And what about Donald?” I thought Donald might resent Beth’s presence at the Station.

  “I like Donald, and we’ve always gotten along well. I really can’t see any trouble coming from that direction. Donald is well aware he doesn’t have the credentials to work in other than a technical support position, and I’d certainly need him to do that. I think Donald will welcome my presence there in any capacity whatsoever, and I would certainly fight for maintaining his job as did Will.”

  It was clear Beth could handle herself, but to make things easier for her on campus, I left for the registrar’s office to check Rudolf’s summer teaching schedule. There was a nasty rumor circulating around campus that Beth was responsible for her husband’s death. The secretary of the Women’s Studies Program confided to me it had been started by Pruitt’s secretary. Why Nancy started it, I didn’t know. I wanted to make certain Pruitt was in class at the time I walked into her office to have a girls’ one-on-one chat.

  “Dr. Pruitt’s not in. Besides, you don’t have an appointment.” Nancy’s tone was dismissive.

  “That’s just fine with me, Nancy, because I thought you and I could have a little talk without Rudolf’s interference.” I settled myself on the corner of her desk.

  “About what?” She stood behind her desk, arms crossed in front of her ample chest. There was suspicion in her voice, and her body language told me she’d rather I weren’t here.

  “About the rumor you’ve been spreading that Will Stanford’s death was murder, not suicide, and Beth was responsible for his death. The police find that very interesting because they think he committed suicide. Since you know something they don’t, Detective Pasquis thought I might pay you a visit.” Okay, so I lied, but most of what I said was the truth.

  Nancy swiped her tongue over her lips, her gaze darting around the room as if looking for someplace she could hide.

  “Actually, I really don’t know anything the police don’t.”

  “So you’ve just been spreading a lot of rumors. Is that it?”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean to, but Rudolf said it was possible Will was murdered and a note planted to make it look like a suicide.” Nancy clapped her hand over her mouth as if realizing that her words implicated Rudolf in something she hadn’t meant to.

  “Very interesting. I didn’t know Rudolf was a private detective, among his other talents. Which brings me to my second question. The police may have been satisfied with your serving as an alibi for Rudolf for the time of Talbot’s death, but now there’s some question about that.” That really wasn’t a complete lie, either. I paused. “Just what were you and Rudolf doing here at the office, and how long were you here?”

  “As for what we were doing, that’s none of your business, but, if you must know, we were working, of course.”

  “What work were you doing, do you remember?”

  Relieved I seemed to believe she and Rudolf were in the office that day, Nancy explained they were looking for an adjunct to fill in for a faculty member who was having heart surgery and would be gone for the fall semester.

  “Can I see the paperwork?” I got up from the desk and held out my hand. I could tell I was pushing Nancy about as far as I could.

  “Not on your life. It’s none of your business.”

  “But it is police business.” I nudged a bit harder, hoping the implied threat might produce the paperwork.

  “Bothering my secretary again, I see.” Rudolf walked into the office and stood close behind me. “If I say we were working in the office together the afternoon of Talbot’s death that should be sufficient for you and for your friends in the police. Now, clear out.”

  I turned to face him. “One question before I go. I know you’ve been hassling Bunny about anything she might know regarding a change in the leadership at the BFS. It looks as if you have some doubt about your claim Talbot was going to put you in charge. I wonder, is that all you’ve been bothering Bunny about? Wasn’t there something to do with the condos that you also wanted to know?” It was somewhat of a shot in the dark, but I thought it might pay off.

  “I’m on the condo board, if you must know, and so was Bunny at one point. I thought perhaps she retained some papers from her term on the board. I was merely trying to get her to turn them over to me as I begin my work. With the state getting involved with the environmental work for the study of the commercial boat launch, I wanted to make certain all the paperwork was in order so that the board wouldn’t run into trouble with the state authorities.”

  It sounded so reasonable. And so wrong.

  “I don’t’ understand why getting the paperwork in order is your worry as a new board member.”

  He straightened his tie, a sure sign what I was about to hear was more Rudolf aggrandizement.

  “The individual serving as board chair was taken ill and decided to step down. The board felt I was the most likely person to fill in because of my education, stature in the community and knowledge of water resources. As I checked through our records, I found some early paperwork missing that I thought perhaps Bunny might know about. She sold those condos at the beginning of the project, you know.”

  “Yes, I did know. Just what kind of paperwork were you looking for?” I was pushing again.

  “You know I’ve really been more than patient with you and told you more than you have any right to know. I think it’s time you left. And if you don’t stop bothering me and my secretary,” at this point he placed a protective arm around Nancy, “I’ll be forced to take action.”
/>   “What action did you have in mind?” I was curious, but not really threatened by Rudolf.

  “I’ll talk to Jim Evans, and we’ll ask the campus police to take the matter in hand.”

  “Oooh, how scary.”

  Rudolf walked so close to me I could smell garlic on his breath. “Your time will come. Just wait.”

  This pronouncement was threatening enough for me take a step backwards. Pruitt smiled and turned back to Nancy. “Just let me know if she bothers you again, dear, and I’ll take care of it.”

  I took this as my cue to leave. Nancy closed the office door after me, and I paused outside in the hall. I heard Rudolf warn Nancy, “Don’t talk to that woman any more. I’ll take care of her myself.”

  Okay, so Rudolf frightened me a little. Maybe I should steer clear of him and Nancy for a while. He told me some things I found interesting, things that said I should visit Bunny again, soon. Right now I was curious to catch up on the campus gossip.

  *

  At the student center I found Ivan Dewar holding court with some of his cronies. I got myself a cup of coffee and pulled up a chair.

  “What’s shaking?” I knew my slang would annoy Dewar.

  “What is shaking, as you so inadequately put it, are the foundations of this fine old college. Are you aware that we now have a woman as our vice president, a gender disruption that you, Murphy, probably find tolerable. I, for one, am considering resigning as chair of my department as a form of protest.”

  “Don’t you think that’s kind of dumb? If you resign, I doubt that Rachel will step down as vice president, but I’m certain she will appoint someone else in your place, someone like Marie Hollander. She’s tenured, an Associate Professor, and has numerous contacts in the community. I think she’d be a great choice for chair.”

  My pronouncement seemed to unsettle some of the group. There was some shuffling of feet, stroking of mustaches and slurping of near empty coffee cups.