Chapter 12

"I won't be comfortable until they find David's killer," Shelley, a faculty member in the psychology department said as I joined them. I was making my rounds between groups.

"Me neither," another faculty member named Teresa said, and the third person standing there, Rob, who was from the math department, nodded as if he agreed with them.

"Do you really think we should be worried?" I asked. "Don't you think it was probably someone who just had it out for David?" I was hoping that might prompt them to share any thoughts they might have for why someone might have it out for David. If indeed anyone did. But unless it was random, someone clearly did.

"I agree with Olivia," Rob said. “I know it's creepy, and a little scary, to know that someone, one of our colleagues, was murdered, but I doubt something like that will happen again. It was an isolated incident."

"I guess you have a point,” Shelley said. "But still I can't help but be creeped out."

"It is hard to think that someone disliked David enough to kill him," I said, wanting to be diplomatic but when Teresa snorted, I thought maybe I didn’t need to be so careful.

"Now, Teresa, be nice. We shouldn't speak ill of the dead," Shelley chided her, apparently knowing more than I did about Teresa’s feelings for David.

"Well, I would say it to his face if he was still alive. Let's face it, David was an extremely hard person to get along with and he didn't seem to care how he treated people, so why should we care about him now?"

"But surely no one here disliked David enough to kill him?" I asked. There was clearly no love lost between Teresa and David.

"You have a point there," Teresa shrugged. “I couldn’t stand the guy, but I wouldn’t kill him and risk spending the rest of my life in jail.”

The enemies that David made here at the university were over things that were so petty I just couldn’t imagine any of the staff killing him.

"Have any of you ever heard rumors about David doing anything… I don't know… anything that might make someone mad enough to kill him?" I stumbled on my words trying to avoid actually asking if they had heard about him and a student.

"I did hear something once," Shelley said after a few moments of silence. "But I'm sure it's just a rumor, and I shouldn’t repeat rumors."

"Stop being such a goody two shoes, Shelley. He's dead. He's not going to know we’re spreading gossip about him."

I didn’t know Teresa that well so I didn't know if she was always this abrasive, or if it was the dynamic between her and Shelley, or she just didn't like David. It was kind of hard to tell but if it got Shelley to talk, then I was fine with it.

"I heard he was inflating grades for a certain group of students," Shelley said hesitantly, and I could tell she did really feel bad repeating a rumor, and frankly, it was one I had a hard time believing.

Apparently, Rob did too because he quickly exclaimed, "David? Just passing students who didn't deserve it? Are you kidding me? Are you sure we’re talking about the same by-the-book David March?"

I had to agree with what Rob said because David had a reputation for being extremely strict with his students. In fact, I even went to him on behalf of one of the students I was advising a couple of years ago because she had had a death in the family and wanted extra time to turn in her senior thesis and he said no. His reasoning was that she was an adult and needed to follow through on her commitments.

"I know it seems crazy. And that's why it's probably just something someone made up when he made them mad at some point," Shelley said.

"Who did you hear it from?" Teresa asked.

Shelley’s eyes darted around nervously and then she looked at the floor before lifting her eyes to meet our questioning looks.

"This was last spring, and I overheard Bert and Carter Spock talking. I was in the copy room, but getting paper out of the supply closet at the back, and they didn't know I was there.”

"What exactly did they say?" Teresa demanded.

"Not much. I just heard Carter tell Bert he had proof and that he was going to go to the Provost, and Bert told him not to, that he would handle it. I could tell Carter wasn't happy with that because they were arguing as they walked out of the copy room.”

I wondered what Bert meant by saying he would handle it.

"As much animosity as there was between Bert and David, I'm kind of surprised Bert didn't make a beeline to the Provost. That's an offense that could cause him to lose tenure and potentially be fired," Teresa said and I had to agree. Since there was no love lost between the two men, I would think that Bert would love the opportunity to get David in hot water. Glancing down at my watch, I realized I was going to be late if I didn’t leave.

"Oh, I’d better be going.” I said my goodbyes and started walking fast so I wouldn’t be that late to class. As I headed out, I felt a little disappointed that I hadn't had the courage to ask them if they had ever heard of David and the students he had relations with, but I did know someone whom I had the courage to ask. Maybe once I was done with class I could find him and see what he knew.