Dead Soldiers

by Crider, Bill

  “Been mowing the lawn?“ Dr. Partridge said when she came to the door and got a look at Burns’s outfit.

  “Practicing for the big game,“ Burns said.

  “I’m sure the students are shaking in their boots,“ Partridge said, leading him into the den. “Sit down and tell me what’s so urgent that you have to meet me at home.“

  Burns sat on the couch and looked around at the cabinet where the toy soldiers should have been, the toy soldiers that were the cause of all the trouble.

  “You said something when we were talking about the people that came through this room,“ Burns told her. “I’ve been wondering about it today.“

  “I said quite a few things. Would you like something to drink before we go over them again?“

  Burns said he didn’t think so, and Dr. Partridge asked what specific thing she’d said that Burns was wondering about.

  “You told me that Steven Stilwell was above suspicion. You said he was an honest man and that you were sure of it, but you didn’t tell me why. I’d like to know.“

  “Why?“

  “I think Mary Mason lied to us about him. I don’t think she actually saw him alone in the room.“

  “I told you that she was capable of anything.“

  “And I believe it,“ Burns agreed, without going into his reasons. “But that doesn’t explain why you think Stilwell is innocent.“

  “But you just said yourself that Mary was lying about him. Why would she do that, by the way?“

  “That’s confidential information,“ Burns said. He’d tell Napier, but he didn’t see that Dr. Partridge needed to know. “And the fact that she was lying doesn’t have anything to do with why I’m asking about him. So what’s the deal?“

  “I’m sure most of the faculty members are aware that I’m a very sentimental person.“

  It was all Burns could do not to laugh. Most of the faculty considered Dean Partridge a real hardcase.

  “So you’re sentimental about Stilwell?“ he said.

  “That’s right. The man is a treasure, always giving his time to the college, always helping out when he can. And do you know why?“

  Burns had his suspicions, but he said that he had no idea.

  “Because he’s had a tragic life. He’s really very lonely. It’s a sad story, and I feel sorry for the man.“

  Burns thought that he might have guessed part of the story. Stilwell had been married at one time, but Burns had noticed that there were no photos of his family in his office.

  “I know his son didn’t do well here at the college,“ Burns said.

  “He had a bad semester. Steven told me all about it.“

  Burns knew about the bad semester. He’d checked the grades that evening in his office. Hart’s class hadn’t been the only one that young Taylor Stilwell had failed that semester. He’d also failed Mal Tomlin’s class, Don Elliott’s class, and Abner Swan’s class. An interesting series of names, and those had been the only classes he was taking.

  “Tell me what happened,“ Burns said.

  “I don’t see why this is important. Steven has had some bad things happen in his life, and he couldn’t possibly have killed anyone.“

  “I’m not so sure about that.“

  “Well, you should be. To accuse him of such a thing is simply outrageous.“

  “No, it’s not. Everyone’s a suspect. You know that.“

  Partridge had to think about that for a while. Burns waited patiently until she’d made up her mind.

  “You’re right, of course,“ she said. “I shouldn’t let sentiment interfere with logical thought. But I’d like to know why you suspect him.“

  “Because he knew something he shouldn’t have known,“ Burns said, and let it go at that.

  “I’d like for you to be more specific.“

  Burns sighed. “Mary Mason knew that there was a soldier found by Matthew Hart’s body. She knew because Mrs. Hart told her. But Mrs. Hart says she didn’t tell anyone else, and it wasn’t in the papers. Mrs. Hart couldn’t have told Stilwell, because he didn’t go by to offer his sympathies.“

  “That’s very thin evidence.“

  “I know. But Neal Bruce and the Balls went by to see Mrs. Hart, and they didn’t know about the soldiers. Stilwell did. I think he knew because he put it there.“

  “But he would have to have a reason. What R. M. would call a motive.“

  Burns thought about those four failing grades. And the fact that he could find no other records of Taylor Stilwell’s having enrolled at HGC. He knew that wasn’t reason enough for murder, but maybe there was more to the story.

  “I thought maybe you could help me with that,“ he said.

  “Not really,“ Partridge said. “What happened to Steven is a sad story, but that’s all it is.“

  “I’d like to hear it anyway,“ Burns said, and so Partridge told him.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  According to Dr. Partridge, Steven Stilwell, dealer in antiques and strong supporter of Hartley Gorman College, was a product of the 1960s, which of course didn’t end until well into the 1970s. Born in 1953, he had entered college during the Vietnam era and found a home in the anti-war movement, a movement with which Dr. Partridge had a great deal of sympathy, having been involved herself.

  “So you can see that Steven would never kill anyone,“ she said. “He was a pacifist.“

  Burns remembered his earlier theory that Hart’s killer might only have been trying to scare him. Tomlin and Elliott hadn’t been killed, though in Elliott’s case it had been a near thing.

  “Sometimes pacifists do funny things,“ Burns said, without being more specific about past events at HGC. He was sure Partridge would remember without his saying anything further. She had been involved in those events as much as he had. More, really. Murder had been only a part of the resulting mess, and things hadn’t turned out well for all concerned in spite of Burns’s helping Napier pin things down again.

  “Anyone might go wrong, I suppose,“ she said. “But not Steven. His son was killed, you know.“

  Burns hadn’t known, and he told her so.

  “Steven doesn’t talk about it much. I think he talked to me only because my own past had certain elements in common with his own. He told me that when it happened, he couldn’t believe it. He went deeply into denial. It took years for it to sink in. He wasn’t so closely involved with the college at the time. That came later, and I think he works so much with us now because his business doesn’t keep him fully occupied. He needs other activities to keep his mind off his troubles. His wife left him after their son was killed, and that didn’t help matters, I’m sure.“

  “Did his wife blame him for Taylor’s death?“

  “I believe so. Steven and his son were very close. Taylor was named for Steven’s best friend, who had moved to Italy to become some sort of antiques broker. In fact, he was in business there for a while, but then there was a huge scandal, something to do with the graffiti at Pompeii. Whatever he did, it was a serious offense, and he was tossed into an Italian prison. That was long ago, and I don’t believe he’s been released yet.“

  Burns was tempted to tell her, as he sometimes did his freshman writing students, that what she had said was interesting but off the subject. It had nothing to do with the topic under discussion. But he didn’t think Dr. Partridge wanted any lessons in organization at the moment.

  As if she knew what he was thinking, she said, “I know that’s not what you wanted to hear, but I wanted you to know at least one of the reasons Steven and his son were so close. The son took the place of the person who was gone, and they were great friends. But Steven set very high standards for his son, and he was quite disappointed when he didn’t make the grade here at HGC.“

  Burns wasn’t sure where all this was going. He didn’t see what it had to do with the son’s death or with Stilwell’s wife’s leaving him.

  “You haven’t told me how the son died,“ he said. “That might be relevant.�
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  “Oh, it is. But not in the way you think. It just proves that Steven couldn’t possibly be a killer.“

  “I’d still like to hear about it.“

  “Very well. Steven’s son was killed in the first Gulf War.“

  Burns mulled that over. “I didn’t think there were many American casualties in that one.“

  “There weren’t. But if your son is one of them, the small number doesn’t mean a thing.“

  That was easy to agree with. And while Burns didn’t yet see what the death of Taylor Stilwell had to do with anything, it did provide the missing military connection. So maybe there was more to the story than he’d yet heard.

  “I don’t see how Stilwell’s wife could blame him for their son’s death anyway,“ Burns said.

  “She blamed him because of the pressure he put on Taylor to do well.“

  “How could that have caused his death?“

  “It was his grades,“ Partridge said. “When Taylor failed all his classes, Steven was very upset. He told Taylor that he couldn’t continue to pay for his education if Taylor was going to waste it. He told him that he would either have to redeem himself by going back to school and making all A’s or getting a job.“

  “Making all A’s is tough,“ Burns admitted. “And parents can be very demanding.“

  He remembered that over the years he’d had a number of students in his classes who’d become increasingly nervous about their grades as the semester went on because they were so afraid of disappointing the parents who were paying for their educations. He’d had enough of them in tears in his office to know how heartbreaking the pressure, whether real or imagined, could be.

  “Let me make a guess,“ he said.

  “Could I stop you?“

  “You’re the dean. You could tell me to get out of here and go home.“

  “But I’m not going to do that. Make your guess.“

  “All right. Here it is: Taylor Stilwell didn’t get a job after he flunked out. He joined the Army.“

  Burns could see the twisted logic of it. The son would spite the father by doing exactly the thing that would hurt the father most.

  “That’s right,“ Partridge said. “And he got sent to the Persian Gulf not long after he went through training. He never came home, and his mother blamed Steven. He didn’t even argue with her. After all, he blamed himself. So you can see that he couldn’t possibly have killed anyone.“

  Burns didn’t see it that way at all. What he saw was a man who had blamed himself for his son’s death for years and probably had become embittered by the guilt that, if it had lessened at all over the years, had been brought back in its full force by the new war in the Persian Gulf region. Hearing and reading the stories of the soldiers who had died during the conflict, and who were still dying in the peace, must have aroused powerful memories. If Stilwell had thought about it enough, and tried hard enough to come up with a new rationalization, he might have decided not only that he wasn’t to blame for what had happened but that others were. Taylor’s instructors, for example. And then he might have decided that they had to be punished.

  “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men,“ Burns said.

  Partridge gave him a puzzled look. She clearly didn’t know about The Shadow.

  “I beg your pardon?“ she said.

  “Just something I heard recently,“ Burns told her.

  He wondered now if Stilwell hadn’t been taunting him. Knowing that he was a suspect, he had been letting Burns know the truth in a roundabout way.

  And then Burns thought about the “accident“ of that afternoon. Mary Mason had been parked near Stilwell’s store. Had she gone by to apologize about having misled Burns and Partridge about Stilwell’s interest in the soldiers?

  Burns had thought that her lie had removed Stilwell from suspicion, but Stilwell would have seen things differently. Mason’s apology would have reminded him of his conversation with Burns, and he might even have realized that he’d slipped up by mentioning the soldier by Hart’s body.

  Those soldiers were the clincher for Burns. He was convinced that Stilwell had indeed taken them and that he’d planned all along to use them in his revenge scheme. It would be another example of his cleverness, leaving behind a clue that pointed to something buried in the past, something he didn’t think anyone would connect with him.

  Mason had known where Burns was going that afternoon. He hadn’t thought about her because he would have recognized her Cadillac under any circumstances. But he had no idea what kind of car Stilwell drove, but now he figured it was Stilwell who had showed up on Thrill Hill.

  Maybe Stilwell hadn’t planned to run him off the road. He might have been on his way to some vantage point where he could shoot Burns with the .22 when he came out of the Codys’ mansion. But Burns had left too soon, so Stilwell had taken a chance, the only chance he had, to get rid of Burns by forcing him off the road. Burns was glad it hadn’t worked out.

  “It was Stilwell all along,“ he said.

  Partridge said that she didn’t believe it. “And I won’t condone your going to the police with that idea.“

  “I’m sorry you won’t,“ Burns said, “because I’m going to do it anyway. I was hoping you’d see it the way I do.“

  “I can’t. I just can’t believe that Steven would do those things.“

  “I’m not asking you to believe it, but I’d like for you to accept the possibility. I’ll just tell Boss Napier what I suspect. He’s the one who has to make the final determination about an arrest, anyway. I’ll give him the information and let him decide. You can talk to him, too, and tell him your side of the story. If his investigation doesn’t turn anything up, then Stilwell isn’t harmed, and in fact, he’ll be relieved to know that he’s no longer under any suspicion.

  “I couldn’t stop you in any case,“ Partridge said.

  “That’s right. If you don’t mind, I’ll use your phone to call Boss Napier.“

  “I mind,“ Partridge said, “but I won’t try to stop you. There’s a phone in the kitchen if you want privacy.“

  She pointed the way, and Burns went to make the call.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Boss Napier didn’t really believe it, either.

  “Sure, the guy’s a little sleazy.“ He paused. “Don’t tell Gwen I said that, all right?“

  “I promise,“ Burns said, but he had his fingers crossed.

  He was sitting at Dr. Partridge’s kitchen table, but Partridge was nowhere around. She hadn’t wanted to tell Napier her side of the story.

  “Anyway,“ Napier went on, “Stilwell’s a little sleazy, but he doesn’t come across like a killer.“

  Burns mentioned his theory that Stilwell hadn’t meant to kill anyone.

  “Maybe he’s just not a very good shot,“ Burns said.

  “Could be. If that’s so, then Don Elliott is one lucky guy.“

  “He’s not dead, so I’d say he was lucky whether Stilwell’s a good shot or not.“

  “We don’t know it was Stilwell. So don’t talk like he’s already convicted.“

  “I’m sure he’s the guilty party. The rest is up to you. You’ll have to get the proof. Find the rifle, find out that he was in the vicinity when Don was shot, find the rest of the soldiers. Whatever.“

  “Are you trying to tell me how to do my job?“

  “Not me,“ Burns said. “I’m just an English teacher, and from now on, I’m going to stick to teaching students the difference between iambic pentameter and anapestic hexameter.“

  “Are you talking dirty, Burns?“

  “Never mind. I think Stilwell’s guilty. You can either prove that he is or that he’s not.“

  “What does Gwen think?“

  It still wasn’t easy for Burns to think of Dean Partridge as Gwen. He said, “She thinks I’m crazy. She insists that Stilwell didn’t do it.“

  “I was afraid of that. She’s not going to like it if I prove that he’s guilty.“


  “Maybe he’s not. It’s your job to find out, one way or the other. She can’t blame you for doing your job.“

  “You don’t know much about women, do you, Burns.“

  Burns had to admit that Napier was right.

  “Well, I do. And I know that Gwen will be mad at me if I put Stilwell in jail. It won’t matter if he was responsible for everything from the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa to the collapse of Enron.“

  Burns had to smile at the idea of Boss Napier as an expert on women. But then who was he to judge?

  “You can’t let what she thinks keep you from doing what you’re paid and sworn to do.“

  “I know that better than you do, Burns. I’m just telling you what’s going to happen, and it’s all your fault.“

  Burns wanted to bang the phone on the table, but he restrained himself.

  “It’s not my fault,“ he said. “I didn’t even want to be involved, but you and Dr. Partridge insisted. It’s not my fault that things didn’t turn out the way you thought they would.“

  “Whatever you say, Burns.“

  “Don’t put it that way. Are you going to arrest Stilwell or not?“

  “I can’t arrest him on what you’ve given me. I’ll have to get a warrant and find that rifle. Or those soldiers. Isn’t that what you told me I needed to do?“

  “I give up. You’re hopeless.“

  Burns started to hang up, but then he thought of something.

  “You’d better have someone watching Abner Swan,“ he said. “He was the other instructor that Taylor Stilwell had when he flunked all his classes.“

  “And you think Stilwell might make a try for him?“

  “That’s right. Why wouldn’t he? It fits the pattern of what’s happened so far.“

  “The pattern you’ve worked out. But maybe that’s not the shooter’s pattern.“

  “Right. Whatever you say.“

  This time Burns did hang up. He looked around for a telephone book, but he didn’t see one, and he didn’t want to rummage through Dr. Partridge’s kitchen. He went back in the den and asked where the phone book was. Dr. Partridge went into the kitchen with him and got it out of a cabinet drawer.