Ask Not For Whom The Panther Prowls (2 page)

Even though he was one of the more alert ones,
with 50, well now of 49 students I hadn't learned his name yet.

“
Dr.
Sharpe?”

“
Hi, I'm
sorry, I don't quite remember your name, but thank you for helping
yesterday. It's a shame it didn't work.”

“
Steve
Jordan, well,” he paused, “we did our best. When I took CPR they
warned us it didn't usually work.”

“
Steve, I'm
sure you've seen my TA and graduate student Tom.”

“
Yo.”

“
Anyway, the
student who collapsed, did you know him?”

“
Same scout
troop. We were buddies.”

“
I'm sorry.
Did he have health problems?”

“
No, we just
did Philmont last summer. 100 miles in a week and a half at 8000
feet. Couldn't have gone if he had a weak heart.”

“
He wasn't
doing any drugs? Cocaine will sometimes do things like
this.”

“
Sam, no. He
was a straight arrow. Wouldn't even drink a beer.”

“
So nothing
unusual?”

“
Nah, he was
even earning extra money by tutoring foreign students with their
English. Great guy.”

“
I'm
sorry.”

“
He'll be
missed.”

The deaths
of so many students was cause for consternation to the upper
echelons of university administration. The president, Dr. Andrew
Pace, the one faculty member whose salary approached that of the
football coach, called a private emergency meeting with the
provost, Dr. Alice James, the deans and the university legal
counsel, Mr. David Wilcox. They met on the third floor of Dahlberg
hall in a conference room off of the main corridor. A long reddish
mahogany table ran from one end of the room to the other. It was
surrounded by comfortable leather office chairs, and was the room
routinely used for policy discussions and faculty senate committee
meetings.

Carefully coiffed with an expensive haircut and
a sharp Italian suit to match, the president firmly shut and locked
the two doors to the room.

“
Gentleman”
He began, “are your cell phones off? There will be no record of
this meeting.”

He waited
while his audience checked their cells, put them on the table in
front of them, and then continued.

“
Too many of
our students are dying for unknown reasons. If this gets out into
the press, especially after that lurid series of murders last year,
'Tech and UGA will see that we're shut down. Both
Georgia Southern
and Kennesaw are gunning to replace us as a research university.
Gentlemen, and Dr. Pace, our collective asses are on the
line.”

Dr. Pace said, “What are we going to do about
it?”

After a few minutes discussion, the president said, “There
is this detective agency I've used. They're very discreet. Keep
their mouth firmly shut.”

2

Arthur Ellis gave me a call. “Will, are you
busy?”

“
I could make some time.” Anything to avoid grading
papers.

“
Great, I
need you to go to someplace at GSU as Argus's
representative.”

“
Sounds like
fun, where?”

“
330
Dahlberg Hall? Know where that is?”

“
I can find
it. What's the problem?”

“
I don't
know. I'd go myself, but I'm over past Panola Mountain on a
stakeout and it would be impossible to get to GSU this afternoon.
Traffic's bad. The thing sound's a bit fishy since the man I talked
to wouldn't give me his name or any details over the phone. He said
we'd met in the past. Had his secretary call me first, so he's
pretty high up in the administration.”

“
I guess
someone in administration has been stepping out lately and needs
some help.”

“
Probably.
It wouldn't be the first time. Oh, and Will?”

“
Yes?”

“
Make sure
you take your recorder along. We'll need a record of the
meeting.”

“
Especially
if it's supposed to be off the record.”

“
Yup. Let me
know what's up when it's over.”

I found my way to 330 Dahlberg. It didn't
exactly strain my powers of detection as I'd been there before. The
door was locked, but when I knocked it opened. The dean of the
college of arts and sciences looked out. I bowed and said.

“
Argus
Detective agency at your service.”

“
Where?”

“
Here.”

“
You?”

“
I'm the
vice president of the company.”

The dean
reluctantly opened the door and let me in. If I hadn't already
developed a second career option I'd have been seriously troubled
to see the president, the provost and several deans staring at me.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. As it
was I produced my detectives license and business card.

“
Aren't you
Dr. Sharpe from physics?”

“
Yes.”

Dr. Pace
frowned at the dean of my college. “He's one of yours, isn't he.
Can we trust him?”

“
I suppose
so.”

“
But still
using a professor. One of ours. Couldn't we at least get someone
from 'Tech. Someone good?”

“
It could
have its advantages.”

“
Should we
tell him?”

I
interjected, “Look folks, I'm here as a representative of Argus
detectives. I've filed my conflict of interest paperwork about it
with the university. It was approved. Please don't waste my
time.”

This brought them to a decision.

“
It's just
we've been losing students. I mean, they've been dying. It's
affecting our recruiting.”

“
I know, one
of the students was in my class. I gave him CPR. Is there any
reason to believe the deaths are related, or the result of criminal
activity?”

“
No.”

“
Then what
do you want Argus to do?”

My dean
answered, “Make sure it stays that way.”

“
Are you
sure you understand what you're saying? We can find evidence,
that's all. We turn it over to the police or the courts. We don't
hide things. It could cost us our license even if we didn't end up
in jail.”

Dr. Pace
hastily replied, “No, that's not what we want. We need you to give
us a heads up, a warning if it is criminal.”

“
We can do
that. What do you know so far?”

The provost replied, “Nothing.” This was not a
helpful answer. He continued, “and as you're a GSU employee, we
expect you will work for your normal salary as part of your normal
duties.”

“
Argus does
not do
pro
bono
work.”
This was not strictly true, we occasionally would help out a poor
client who was stuck in a bad situation, but never with something
that was likely to be shady, and this already seemed mired deep in
the shadows.
Pro bono
was absolutely out of the question when the client had deep
pockets and could easily pay. My statement caused more than a
little consternation. I continued, “I'll inform my boss, Mr. Ellis,
of your interest, and see what he has to say.”

They quickly decided that would not be necessary, and told
me to forget what I'd heard. I mumbled something that they could
take as an assent, if they wanted to.

Once I was outside on Courtland street, I immediately
emailed my recording to Arthur. Insurance was always a good idea,
especially with such slippery characters.

I wondered
what to do. Clearly the administration was worried there was
criminal activity involved. Why else would they want Argus to
investigate it? I wondered what they knew and weren't telling me.
It wouldn't surprise me if impeding the investigation or conspiring
to cover it up wasn't criminal in itself. But I had no dog in that
fight and the costs might be severe. Cross one of the deans and you
could find your laboratory shut down until another suitable space
for it could be found. It wasn't as if they'd hurry to find it. As
entrancing as private detection was, I still sort of liked teaching
and research.

The sound of
sirens as another ambulance from Grady rushed to campus made my
decision for me. As much of a nuisance as teaching undergrads could
be, there was no excuse for killing them. Laura, was scheduled to
be in court this afternoon, so I knew I couldn't get in touch with
her. I reached for my cell and called my friend Alvin Morrison, a
detective at the APD. He'd know who I should talk to.

“
Detective
Morrison here.”

“
Alvin, it's
me Will Sharpe.”

“
Will, it's
been a while, thought we'd be seeing you and Ms. Brown in a few
weeks at your party. What's up or is this business?”

“
Business,
sort of. Did you know that there have been a lot of students dying
at GSU lately?”

“
No. I guess
the AJC hasn't paid much attention to you.”

“
What else
is new? But it's probably for the best. I had one die in my class
day before yesterday.”

“
Damn, Will.
What did they die from?”

“
I don't
know. A student helped with the CPR, but it didn't help. There was
at least one more at the same time because the AED was gone when I
went for it.”

“
Gone?”

“
Gone and
active. The alarm was going off.”

“
Nineteen,
twenty year olds don't have heart attacks very often, do
they?”

“
No they
don't, and the EMT's said that there had been about ten of them in
the last couple of weeks. Even discounting their natural story
telling, there are many more deaths than there should be. There was
one just a few minutes ago. I saw the ambulance.”

“
So what do
you want me to do?”

“
Could you
ask the medical examiner to take a look?”

Morrison paused. “Will, you aren't freelancing
again, are you?”

“
Sort of.
The university president almost asked Argus to investigate, then
backed away. There's something going on.”

“
Talk to
Laura. If she asks me I'll do it. You can't get involved without a
client.”

I walked back to my office. The sixth floor of
25 park place wasn't that far away, but it seemed to take forever.
I felt distressed, something was going on at GSU, and 'by the
pricking of my thumbs' it was something evil.

About mid-afternoon Laura called.

“
Will, the
court has a brief recess. I'm going to be late. Can you pick up
Danny?”

“
Sure, no
problem. I need to talk with you about getting some death records
looked at.”

“
What? Will
you're not freelancing again, are you?”

“
Not
yet.”

“
Don't. Talk
with Arthur.”

“
I will, but
something is going one here.”

“
This isn't
related to that student who died in your class is it?”

“
It is. He
wasn't the first one nor was he that last. There are something like
ten of them.”

“
Oh. I see.
We'll talk this evening, the judge is coming back. Love
you.”

While Laura loved me, her son Danny's feelings
were less favorable.

3

Danny's
school had an after-school program for the youngest children. Since
Danny's friends were there, we enrolled him in it. Danny was not
pleased to see me, and wanted to continue playing for a bit. There
was a student teacher supervising them, and I took advantage of a
chance to learn a bit about child psychology from her.

“
Are you Ms.
Jane? Danny mentioned you a couple of days ago.”

“
Yes, I
suppose you're Will, the evil stepfather?”

“
Not quite
the stepfather yet, but yes that's me, and no I'm not evil. I've
heard you're a student teacher.”

“
Yes, at
GSU.”

“
Can I ask
you for pointers about young children? I'm not exactly an old hand
at being a parent, and Danny's had a hard time.”

We discussed
things, but mostly it was a matter of patience and remembering who
was the adult. Danny was still happily playing with his friends, so
we continued to talk and inevitably GSU came up. She finished with
“Danny will be fine, Dr. Sharpe, he's healthy and healthy children
are tough. Just be patient.”

She was
starting to tell me how excited she was about her courses and
tutoring when she suddenly said, “I don't feel well.” She started
to rise, then sat back and seemed to lose consciousness. I
immediately called 911, and felt her pulse. It was there, but
feeble. Fortunately schools are required to have an AED, and by the
time I retrieved it from the main office it was needed. The
children she was watching were standing, perplexed at what was
wrong with Ms. Jane.

Ripping her
shirt open and sliding her bra strap off of her shoulder, I applied
the pads, on in the upper left and one lower right of her
chest.