Tunnel Vision (22 page)

She left Obregon grading papers and walked down the hall until she found Roth’s office. She didn’t knock on the door, but turned the doorknob and walked in. Daryll Chambers looked up from his computer keyboard and frowned.
The woman from the
bar. This couldn’t get any better.

“Need something?” he asked.

“I’m looking for Dr. Roth. He in?”

“Not unless you have an appointment. Dr. Roth doesn’t do walk-ins.”

She pulled her badge out again and showed it to the young man. “Maybe he’ll make an exception this time.”

He got up from his desk. “I’ll check, officer.” He knocked lightly on the door to Roth’s inner sanctum and then entered. A minute later he came out and held the door open for her. As she entered the office, she turned to Chambers. “You’re one of Dr. Brauner’s students, aren’t you?”

“Well, yes, I am. Why?”

“I’ll need to talk to you when I’m finished here. Don’t disappear.”

She closed the door to Roth’s office behind her and turned to face the professor.

“Dr. Roth, Lieutenant Brodie, Cedar Springs Police Department. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

Roth was standing behind his desk and motioned a thin white arm toward a chair facing his desk. She sat down and pulled her notebook from her jacket pocket.

“What can I do for you, Lieutenant Brodie?” he asked with a smile as he sat down.

“I’m investigating the death of Dr. Elliott Brauner. I understand the two of you were friends as well as colleagues.”

“My, God! Elliott’s dead?” he asked. He looked stunned as he tried to digest the news. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment.

“When?”

“I’m afraid I can’t give any details right now, Professor. Would you mind answering a few

questions?”

“Of course not. Poor Helen. How did she take the news?”

“As well as can be expected. When was the last time you saw Dr. Brauner?”

Roth rubbed his forehead before answering. “Must have been Wednesday afternoon sometime, but I don’t remember the exact time. After my last class so probably around four-thirty.”

“Did you discuss anything in particular or was it just a visit?”

“He sent me a note saying he needed to talk to me and asked me to meet him in his office after my class.”

“What did he want to talk about, Dr. Roth?”

“It was sort of a personal matter.”

“His or yours?”

“Actually, it’s a little embarrassing.”

“Considering the circumstances, I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific.”

Roth took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “Are you familiar with publish or perish, Lieutenant?”

“Vaguely.”

“Well, it means that every faculty member is expected to produce something, an article, a book, a research project, in their field every couple of years. Without publishing, even a tenured professor can lose their job. I hadn’t published anything for a while and am facing a deadline to get something written.”

When she didn’t say anything, he continued. “It’s a stupid policy and if you look at some of the crap that gets published, you’d have to laugh. Pure shit. Just anything to get in print and preserve their tenure. And nobody reads it. Not even others in the same field. They know it’s shit just to cover your ass.”

“And were you getting ready to publish?”

“Yeah, I was working on something. Somehow Elliott read a copy of it and that’s what he wanted to talk to me about.”

“Did he have a problem with it?”

Roth coughed nervously. “Look, Lieutenant, I’m a good teacher, but I don’t have time for some bullshit writing that no one but the higher-ups care about. I told Brauner that.”

“How about if you just cut to the chase and tell me what the problem was Dr. Roth?”

“Some of the material wasn’t mine. I sort of plagiarized from some old tract I found buried in the library archives. Brauner was probably the only person on the planet who had read the original except the moron who wrote it. He called me on it in his office.”

“Was he planning to report it?”

“He said he wasn’t, but he wanted me to take out the parts I’d lifted.”

“And did you agree to do that?”

“Well, I didn’t have much of a choice, now did I?”

“What would happen if Brauner had reported the plagiarism?”

“Adios amigo,” Roth said with a shrug.

“Would it be fair to say your academic career would be over?”

“That sums it up pretty well,” he said as he looked at her. “Sounds rather like a motive, doesn’t it?”

“Sure does, sir.”

“Lieutenant Brodie,” Roth said leaning forward on his desk. “I’ve done a lot of things in my life I’m not particularly proud of, mostly in my youth. But I have
never
harmed another person. An original card carrying member of the peace and love generation. Even if Elliott had waited until my piece was published and then exposed me as a plagiarist, I would have understood. Elliott Brauner is…was a pure scientist, a dedicated researcher and I admired him for those qualities. He wasn’t an outgoing man, but the fact that he offered me the chance to rectify my plagiarism showed he wasn’t the heartless ogre most people believed him to be. It was as close to a demonstration of friendship as he ever got.”

“Did you eliminate the plagiarized parts of your paper?”

“No,” Roth said as he brushed a string of hair out of his face. “I’ve abandoned that article and started a new one. This one is also shit, but it’s all my own shit.”

She smiled slightly, remembering how she had skirted the edges of plagiarism herself as a college student. She always figured the professors knew, but hadn’t gotten too worked up over beginner

undergraduate papers. In a way she sympathized with Roth’s situation. She wondered who would check his paper for plagiarism now that Brauner was dead. She closed her notebook and stood as she stuffed it back in her jacket pocket.

“I trust you’ll be around if I have any further questions, Dr. Roth.”

“Of course, Lieutenant. If I’m not here in my office, I’m in the book.”

“Not planning to get away for spring break?”

“I’d love to, but unfortunately the kiddies at home are still in school. And I do have that paper to write.”

“What’s your assistant’s name? Chambers?”

“Daryll Chambers. You need to talk to him, too?”

“We’re talking to all the graduate students in Dr. Brauner’s classes. See if any of them noticed anything unusual before his disappearance.”

“Frankly, Lieutenant, most of these students don’t notice much of anything except the clock and the opposite gender sitting next to them in class.”

“How long has Chambers been your assistant?”

“Oh, not too long, but it seems like an eternity. Personnel sent him to me right before the Christmas break. He seemed all right at the time.”

“Not working out for you?”

“Not working period. He’s a coaster. He’ll probably slide by and get hired by a mediocre little company to do mediocre work until he dies or finds some mediocre rich young thing willing to marry him.”

“What do you know about his social life?”

“As little as possible. I don’t mean to sound like a snob, but the sexual exploits and conquests of younger men tend to remind me of what I’ve lost with age, so I try to avoid finding out what I’m missing.”

“I understand completely, Professor,” she

chuckled. “I appreciate your cooperation.”

Roth walked around his desk and escorted her to the door of the office. “Please let me know if there’s anything I can do, Lieutenant.”

As she left Roth’s office, Daryll Chambers was on the phone and, from what she could overhear, she speculated he was arranging a date for the weekend. When he saw her, he made a quick apology to whoever was at the other end of the line and promised to call back. As he hung up the phone, he swiveled his chair around to face her.

“Do you have a few minutes, Mr. Chambers?” she asked.

“Sure. Please. Have a seat, ma’am.”

There was something in the way Chambers said

“ma’am” that suddenly made her feel old.

“You’ll be finding out soon anyway, so I’m going to tell you up front that Dr. Brauner is dead. Would you mind answering a few questions, Mr. Chambers?”

“Jesus, what happened?” he asked, surprise in his voice. “We’ve all been wondering where he was. The last exam we took didn’t seem quite right somehow.”

“In what way?” she asked, her interest suddenly piqued by the mention of the exam.

“Don’t get me wrong, it was still a difficult exam, but it didn’t seem like something he had written. You get used to the way a professor phrases his questions after a while. Know what I mean? Do you think it was foul play?”

She smiled at the question. It sounded as if he had watched too many bad police movies. Not murdered or killed. Foul play.

“That’s what we’re trying to determine. How well did you know Dr. Brauner?”

“I don’t know if anyone really knew him. Except his wife, of course. He is...was very highly regarded in his field. It’s an accomplishment for a student to say they studied under Elliott Brauner.”

“I’ve heard not many students manage to pass his courses.”

Chambers laughed lightly, “I said it was an accomplishment, Detective. Dr. Brauner had very high expectations for his students.”

“You’re a student in his graduate class, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And how’re you doing?”

“I’m managing to keep my head above water so far. It’s tough though.”

“Separates the men from the boys, huh?” she asked with a smile.

“Yes, ma’am. It sure does.”

“What about the other students in the class?

How’re they doing?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I’d guess the majority are failing. Dr. Brauner has a very high failure rate.”

“Anyone particularly upset about that failure rate?”

“At this point anyone would be upset if they were failing the class. It’s required for the degree and there’s only two or three months left before the end of the semester. If this was one of their last classes and they failed it, they’d have to stick around next fall and take it again. After all the money most of us have invested in our educations, further delay just means more money and possibly the loss of a job offer at the end of the semester.”

“You got anything lined up yet?

“I’ve got a few feelers out and a couple look promising. In fact, I have an interview during spring break with a pharmaceutical company back East.”

“Well, good luck, if that’s what you want.”

“Yeah, I’d be happy if I could get something close to home.”

“You’re not from around here?”

“No, ma’am. My family lives in upstate New York.”

“And you came all the way to Cedar Springs for a graduate degree? I heard the universities back East were pretty good.”

He laughed again. “Yes, they are, but I did my undergraduate work and some graduate work back there. Got a little tired of the scenery. Plus, even if I have to pay out-of-state fees, it’s still cheaper to go to school down here.”

“Don’t tell the state legislature that or they’ll raise their fees.”

Chambers smiled and nodded at her. “Uh, can I get you a cup of coffee or something?”

“No, thanks. Have you ever had any

disagreements with Dr. Brauner as a result of his class?”

“No. I try to keep as low a profile as possible. If Brauner told me to get on my hands and knees and bark like a dog, I’d do it, just to get out of the class unscathed. It’s a game, but sooner or later, everyone has to learn to play it.”

“What game is that?”

“The academic survival game. Do whatever you have to do to survive and then move on to the next challenge.”

“Sounds like a plan. You told Detective Weston a couple of days ago that you overheard an argument between Dr. Brauner and his assistant. Is that correct?”

“I overheard what
sounded
like an argument to me. But they could have just been talking loudly.”

“Did Dr. Brauner have a hearing problem?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Could you hear what they were saying?”

“No. Just the sounds of their voices from inside Brauner’s office. I wasn’t eavesdropping. I just happened to be passing by when I heard them.”

“Why are you so sure it was Brauner and

Obregon? Couldn’t it have been Brauner and another person? Like Dr. Roth, for instance.”

“It couldn’t have been Dr. Roth, Lieutenant. He was in class at the time. And before I could even get to our office here, I heard a door slam and saw Tony come around the corner. He looked upset and was saying something about Dr. Brauner being a stupid old fucker. I guess I just drew the assumption that he was the one in Dr. Brauner’s office.”

“Sounds logical enough. What do you know about Obregon?”

“Not much there either. I’m afraid I’m not being very helpful.”

“That’s okay. Just tell me what you do know.”

“Actually, Tony’s a good graduate assistant for Dr. Brauner. Neither of them is very social. And Tony’s lucky to have an assistantship. He doesn’t have any money and probably wouldn’t be here without financial help.”

“He’d have to leave school if he didn’t have his job?”

“Probably, but I don’t know anything about his personal finances. He could have saved up enough to finish the semester, I suppose. But from the way he dresses and that hunk of junk van he drives, I seriously doubt it.”

“So you don’t socialize with the other graduate assistants?”

“I didn’t say that. I just don’t socialize with Tony. Most of the graduate assistants get along and try to help each other out. But Tony never wants anything to do with the rest of us. Never even attended any of the parties we throw periodically. A real loner. Might be some of that Hispanic macho bullshit I’ve heard about. He always acts like a tough guy. Kind of a bully.” Chambers leaned forward conspiratorially.

“I’ve heard he has a police record, but it’s only a rumor. If it’s true, he’ll have a hard time finding a good position once he graduates.”

“Maybe his academic record will help him

overcome that.”

Chambers shrugged, “Maybe, but he still needs to learn how to play the game, Lieutenant.”