Small Vices

"You don't want to do it," Hawk said.

"No."

"You don't want to as much as she do want to?" Hawk said.

"I think so."

"You told her that?"

"No."

"Well, that's a fucking mess, isn't it?" Hawk said.

"Couldn't have put it better myself," I said.

Chapter 8

THE DEAN OF Student Affairs at Pemberton College, whose name, according to her desk plate, was J. J. Glidden, said that President Evans was the only one who was authorized to discuss any aspect of the Melissa Henderson matter. So I went to see her. She would be in after lunch. I waited. Surprisingly enough, after lunch she was in.

The president was a big rangy woman with short sandy hair and humorous eyes. She was wearing high waisted black pants and a white blouse with a high collar when she met me at the door of her office and ushered me to a chair. There was a wide gold wedding band on her left hand. She looked to be about fifty-five. When she sat behind her desk the sunlight coming in the big Palladian window behind her showed up the gray in her hair. Her name was Deborah Evans.

"How may I help you, sir?"

"I'm looking into the Melissa Henderson murder," I said.

"Excuse me, but I thought that had been looked into."

"There's a feeling," I said, "that justice miscarried in this instance and I've been hired to see if that's true."

"You are a private detective?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"How does one get to be a private detective?" she said.

"I hesitate to generalize," I said. "I was a cop, found myself restless with the hierarchy, decided to go private. I was helped to that decision by getting fired."

"You speak rather well," she said.

"You too," I said.

She frowned for a moment and then her face widened into a smile.

"Good for you," she said. "I was patronizing, wasn't I."

"What I need is a list of the students who at the time of the murder were living in the dorm that overlooks where the body was found."

"Do you have some sort of, I don't know the proper terminology, some sort of legal empowerment that requires me to give it to you?"

"No."

"Then I will not."

"You academics are so evasive," I said.

She smiled. It was a nice smile, but firm.

"I'm sorry to be so blunt," she said. "But I am very clear on this, and I know the trustees will support me. The event was a severe hardship for all of us here and we do not wish it to be disinterred."

"Even if an i

"Do you know him to be i

"No."

"My memory is that the man convicted of the crime is a career criminal who preyed on women."

"So no harm putting him away," I said. "Even if he didn't do this one."

"That may be," she said. "One could make an argument for it, I think. But that is not my issue. My issue is this college and the young women past, present; and future for whose education, in the largest sense, we are responsible."

"Especially past," I said. "Gotta raise those funds."

"If we didn't raise funds," she said, "the college could not survive. But there is no argument here. Until I know that the freedom of an i

"Well," I said. "I guess I'll have to just ask around." President Evans didn't seem daunted.

"You are free to do that, obviously. But not on this campus. This campus is private property and I am reasonably certain that I can prohibit you from trespassing."

"How do you feel about justice?" I said.

"I am in favor of it, but I am not prepared to sacrifice this college and our young women to your definition of it."

I gri

"I hope I'm not intimidating you," I said.

The amusement that always seemed to linger around the corners of her eyes expanded into a full-face laugh.

"Not so badly that I can't breathe," she said.

"Good," I said. "I'm clear on your position. Now here's mine. I have no desire to damage this campus or its young women past, present, and future. But I am going to find out if Ellis Alves is where he should be; and if he isn't, I'm going to get him out."

"Since we are being frank," President Evans said, "I will tell you that the victim's mother is an alumna of this college, and the wife of the governor is an alumna of this college and our board of trustees includes two U.S. Senators. None of them, including the victim's mother, wants Melissa's death exploited."

"Two U.S. Senators," I said. "Yikes."

"Are you intimidated?".

"Not so I can't breathe," I said.

President Evans laughed.

"Well, I must say, as adversaries go, you are a lot of fun," she said. "A small dose of charm."

"I've found a small dose to be safer," I said. "The full wattage, all at once, and people are sometimes injured."

"Especially women, I imagine."

"They often hurt themselves in their frenzy to disrobe."

"I've been able to conquer the impulse," she said. "You and I remain adversaries, however congenial, and are likely to remain so. You don't seem like someone who will give up easily."

"Or ever," I said.

"You also don't seem like someone who would strike a woman," she said, "Which somewhat disarms you. I imagine that your size would intimidate a lot of men."

"The power of weakness," I said.

"Yes," she said. "The world is quite ironic, isn't it."

I nodded. We sat and looked at each other. I liked her. There was a calmness in her, a quality of settled self-confidence in the way she leaned back in her chair, the simplicity of her attire, the understatement of her makeup. She knew herself and was happy with what she knew. It made her formidable.

"Is there anything you would care to tell me about the murder of Melissa Henderson?" I said.

She smiled at me.

"You take whatever you can get, don't you?" she said.

"What can you tell me?"

"It was a nightmare for this college," she said. "In personal terms, it was heartbreaking to those who knew Melissa, and frightening to all of us who are women, to whom such a thing could be done, here, in our enclosure, so to speak. It was also a nightmare in terms of publicity, in terms of student recruitment, and in many cases, alumnae support."

"Did you know the victim?" I said.

"Yes. Her mother graduated from Pemberton as did her grandmother. I was a student here with her mother."

"What can you tell me about Melissa?"

"Nothing."

"Good student? Bad student?"

President Evans shook her head. "She have a boyfriend? Or a girlfriend?"

"How contemporary," President Evans said.

"Did she?"

"I don't know."

"Was she a girl who would be likely to have one?"

President Evans shrugged.

"I think I'll stop wasting our time," I said.

"Good," she said.

I stood. She stood. We shook hands.