Deadly Pasts (Agent Nora Wexler Mysteries)

by CR Wiley

  “I didn’t see it and she didn’t say what it was about. I begged her not to go. I even offered her a ride. But she was out the door before I could even catch up with her, telling me she was sorry and that I should stay home,” Seanie explained.

  “What time did she leave?”

  “It must’ve been a little after 1 a.m.,” he said.

  Nora nodded. It fit with how long it would take her to walk from Eunice Street to Delaware Street, for the attack to occur, and for Jasper Shorn to stumble on her later around 2 a.m. If someone was waiting for her. She started to wonder if Seanie was telling the truth, but something still didn’t make sense.

  “But if you didn’t do it and you knew that something happened to her, why didn’t you come forward? Maybe you could’ve helped us track down the killer.” She was getting emotional, and he was getting worked up as well. A light on the elevator panel lit up, but they both ignored it. This was too important.

  “I didn’t know something had happened until a week later, when she didn’t come to another internship meeting. I tried calling but her phone was disconnected. Then I found out what happened. For a while I kept expecting somebody to contact me about it, but I didn’t hear anything and figured they were chasing down whoever really did it. Disbelief was part of it too. Maybe I should’ve come forward, but the loss hit me so hard I didn’t know what to do,” he said, leaning against the elevator wall.

  Nora looked at him and thought about the bubble from her dream. She felt exhausted from the emotional strain of it, and he had something in his eyes that told her he was holding back an ocean of regret.

  “You loved her, didn’t you?” she asked. The question startled him and he averted his eyes.

  “Maybe. No. I don’t know. It was too early to tell. We’d only known each other for about a month through the internship process. Maybe with a little more time…‌She was beautiful, with a good head on her shoulders in all senses of the phrase, and I was sure I hadn’t seen the best of her.”

  Nora nodded. She could feel her heart echoing his words.

  “I’m sorry you lost her too. Maybe you would’ve been a good match,” she said. She was ready to let him off the hook completely, now that she understood they shared the same pain of grief over Maria. Seanie mustered a weak smile.

  “We should probably get out of here. The last time one of our elevators got stuck was because a couple of the interns were looking for a private place to have sex.”

  “All right then,” Nora said, reaching for the panel, but Seanie caught her hand. It looked like he was having trouble getting something out.

  “There is one thing I should tell you,” he said. “That night Maria said something in passing that seemed unimportant at the time, but it has been on my mind lately. She said she found something at work that really creeped her out. We’d talked about all kinds of things about her classes and dorms that annoyed her. At the time it seemed the same, but now it seems different.”

  Nora peered at his face, trying to process what it meant.

  “What else did she say about it? Do you know anything else about her job?” What could she possibly have come across in the Chemistry lab that could’ve led to her death? Was this a flippant observation or something more? Nora wondered if it had anything to do with those texts she got right before she left Seanie’s place.

  “That was all she said about it. No explanation. I didn’t even know she had a job,” he said.

  Nora put her hand on his shoulder and all of the sudden the two of them were sharing a hug. She thought it would’ve been strange hugging someone she thought was her friend’s killer just moments ago, but there was a sincerity to it, a real bond. The thought crossed her mind to invite him over to Caroline’s to hang out and clear the air with the entire group.

  When they let go, Seanie reactivated the elevator and waited for it to arrive at the third floor, where a middle-aged woman wearing too much makeup looked like she was dying of boredom while waiting to get on. Seanie told Nora to call him if she needed his help, then the middle-aged woman got on the elevator and the doors closed.

  Nora sighed and ran her hand through her hair. She wished he could’ve told her more, but at least now she had a couple of things to go on.

  The other woman in the elevator was checking Nora out with a look of disgust.

  “What? We didn’t do anything,” Nora said.

  “Then why is the back of your shirt sticking out?”

  Nora reached back to find she’d failed to fully tuck in her shirt after the drive over and nearly died of embarrassment.

  CHAPTER 19

  UC BOTANICAL GARDEN AT BERKELEY

  200 CENTENNIAL DRIVE

  BERKELEY, CA

  Nora, Stephanie, Caroline, and Lauren accompanied Linda and Brent Devonshire to the college’s botanical garden on Saturday. After the break-in, Lauren’s parents had taken her back with them to the hotel, and they weren’t going to let her out of their sight as long as they were in town.

  They walked through the Asian Collection and passed the rhododendrons. Nora checked her phone to see if there was anything from Angkor. Once again she needed him in order to find out what Maria’s last texts were about. It had been more than a day since she spoke with Angkor, and she was getting impatient. Considering that a trip to the Chemistry lab wasn’t going to happen until Monday, Nora felt resentful of this particular weekend for slowing her down now that she was finally making some progress.

  Still, there was one person she could talk to about what might’ve creeped Maria out at the lab.

  “Does anybody want anything from the snack bar?” Stephanie asked, already heading in that direction.

  “That’s a good idea. I’m buying,” Brent said. He was a tall, lanky guy who had his arm around Linda. She’d grown quite large over the years despite rigorously exercising and eating right. Caroline and Lauren couldn’t have had better parents.

  It looked like a few students worked the counter, which had a grill in the back and a soft-serve ice cream machine. Steph ordered a burger, Nora got a bottle of water, and Lauren got a large soda. When their order was ready, Nora was stunned to see Marvin, the TKE frat guy, behind the counter.

  He pushed the tray with Lauren’s soda over to her with such disdain he nearly knocked everything over.

  “Be careful not to drink too much,” he said. It brought tears to Lauren’s eyes in a snap.

  “That’s incredibly inappropriate,” Nora said, staring him down.

  Lauren nudged the drink back at him. “I don’t want this anymore,” she said.

  “What’s the problem?” her father asked, suddenly standing behind them.

  “I think you should get a refund for the drink,” Lauren said, managing to hold her composure.

  “Oh, come on!” Marvin said, throwing up his hands. “I just told her to be careful not to spill it.”

  “That’s not what he said. This is one of the frat guys who was there the night Lauren was attacked,” Nora said.

  “The only thing that attacked her was a profound lapse of judgment,” Marvin said. Nora could hear snickering in the back from other employees. She was astonished.

  “I’ll need a refund for all of this. And is there a manager around here? Somebody needs to know that the staff is harassing patrons,” Brent said. For some reason this brought a smile to Marvin’s face.

  “I’m incredibly sorry to inform you that we don’t do refunds. And I’m the manager. If you have anything you’d like to say you can go right ahead,” he said, tilting his head to position his ear forward.

  Brent Devonshire almost laughed at the boy’s gall.

  “I’ll take this up with the university then. Believe me, there are people there who are very concerned about Lauren’s peace of mind,” he said, grabbing the tray. Lauren plucked the soda as it passed by her, peered into it for a moment, and then threw it at Marvin. It splashed against his chest, soaking him.

  “Looks like I can return your spit bac
k to you just fine.”

  When they walked away, Linda Devonshire put her arm around Lauren and squeezed her close. “I’m really sorry about that, honey.”

  “It’s fine. I’m used to it,” Lauren said.

  Nora figured they wouldn’t mind a new conversation topic.

  “I met with Seanie Green again, the guy we saw Maria leave with the night she was murdered. I found it hard to believe, but it looks like he had nothing to do with the break in at Caroline’s house, or with Maria’s murder. But he did give me a couple of things to look into that might point me in the direction of her real killer,” Nora said.

  “Like what?” Steph asked. Nora was very glad Steph had decided to speak up.

  “Actually, you’re the person I want to talk to about this, because apparently Maria had told him that she’d discovered something really creepy at work, at the Chemistry lab. There might be a connection. Do you have any idea what she might have been doing that might have weirded her out?”

  While Nora and the others waited for an answer, Steph made a face like she was enduring a stomach cramp.

  “Something at the Chemistry lab? I really don’t know. I think they used to rent out some lab space to different companies or run trials for them or something. That’s the only thing other than class stuff that went on there,” Steph said, shrugging.

  “Didn’t you say something about data entry? Is there any way to know exactly what she was working on or what got logged into the computers on those days?” Nora asked, getting even more of an awkward look from Steph.

  “I wish I had something better to tell you, but the lab really wasn’t all that organized when I was there. Mostly stuff got shoved in plastic containers and thrown into closets,” she said.

  “I bet Professor Gupta would help you,” Lauren said, making both Nora and Stephanie jerk their heads. “He’s always so helpful. He probably isn’t at the office today but I think I have his cell phone number.”

  “Wait, you have a male professor’s cell phone number?” Brent said, looking like he was about to pass out. “What is going on at this school?”

  “It’s not all that uncommon,” Caroline said, admirably trying to defend their alma mater. “Some professors are really trying to be more accessible to students when they need help.”

  Lauren, Nora, Steph, and Caroline all forced the same uncomfortable smile. They knew Gupta hadn’t written his phone number on a blackboard for everyone to see or anything, but the last thing they needed was to have Brent blow it out of proportion.

  “Yeah, why don’t I get that from you and give him a call? If there’s anybody who would know what she might’ve been working on, it’d be him.”

  Nora waited until they returned to Caroline’s forlorn-looking house with the plastic-covered broken windows to give the professor a call. It went to voicemail. Nora grumbled to Lauren, who was making tea in the kitchen.

  “Looks like he’s not there.”

  “No, he has to be there. It’s his cell phone,” Lauren said.

  On a whim, Nora used Lauren’s phone to make the call. Gupta answered on the very first ring.

  “Lauren, what a pleasure to hear from you,” he said. “How may I be of service?”

  “Professor Gupta, hi, it’s actually Nora Wexler. I tried to call you just a second ago and no one answered,” she said.

  “Yes, Nora, my apologies. I was meditating in the solarium and by the time I realized the phone was ringing and got over to my desk it had ceased.”

  Nora smelled baloney but calling him out on it wasn’t going to do her any favors.

  “Right, well anyway, I’m sorry to disturb your afternoon but I got some new information about the circumstances surrounding Maria’s death. You see, I found the man she left with that night. And you were right, his fingerprints didn’t match,” she explained.

  A series of short, affirmative nasal grunts followed. “Astounding! To think that was the link to the killer and it was right under my nasal cavity the entire time. I’m going to agonize over that, believe me. But surely you weren’t fooled by this minor incongruity. He may not have acted alone.”

  “I thought of that as well. It’s a possibility, but he seemed very sincere,” she said, hearing chuckling over the line.

  “He very sincerely doesn’t want to get caught,” he said. True enough.

  “Sure, but he did mention something else he needed to follow up on. Apparently that night Maria said something about finding something at the chemistry lab that creeped her out. Any idea what that might’ve been? Could I find out exactly what she’d been working on that last Wednesday in April?” Nora asked, hoping for a break.

  Gupta paused and made some mouse-clicking sounds.

  “It’s unquestionable that you should follow up on every possible lead, but this sounds like a purely diversionary tactic by the perpetrator. This young man invented an unverifiable comment at the eleventh hour that set you off on a tangent. We don’t keep records of what was performed each day, but I can assure you it amounted to cleaning beakers and stocking shelves.”

  Nora gritted her teeth. There had to be more to it than that.

  “Stephanie mentioned there might’ve been data entry work as well,” Nora said. Gupta sighed over the line.

  “Perhaps she noticed a student logging results once and figured work-study consisted solely of that kind of activity. It’s extremely rare. I fear what gave poor Ms. Correa the creeps may have been nothing more than some oddly dyed tissue, a model cross-section of an eye, or some unpleasant-smelling sulfur reaction.”

  Whether it was the initial refusal to answer the phone or the long-winded yet completely unhelpful answers, something in the back of Nora’s mind suggested he was hiding something. He wasn’t going to tell her anything useful, and it was possible that he knew exactly what Maria had found. But did Maria’s discovery actually lead to her death?

  “I’m sure you’re right, professor. It was probably nothing but I just needed to follow up on it,” she said.

  “I may be wrong as well. I’ve told you about my work on certainties,” he said. It was clever of him to use his theories as a screen for his ignorance, but that gave Nora another idea.

  The call ended. She turned to Lauren and decided to voice the suspicion that had been growing in her gut.

  “I don’t know how to say this, but I think Professor Gupta might have had something to do with Maria’s death,” she said. Lauren gasped and nearly spilled some hot water.

  “You can’t be serious. He’s a pillar of the college,” Lauren said.

  “He knows something and was trying to talk me in circles. I know when somebody is trying to push me away from the truth,” Nora said. “The truth about what is the question though.”

  Lauren looked disturbed by the suggestion about her professor. Nora knew he was one of the few people on campus she felt she could trust. Now there was a chance that he had a devastating secret locked away that would ruin that relationship.

  “So what are you going to do?” Lauren asked. Nora spied Lauren’s laptop on the kitchen table.

  “Do you mind if I log onto the campus network under your name? I want to do some research and see what the Chemistry department might’ve been doing back in 2010 that Maria might’ve rubbed up against.”

  “Sure,” Lauren said, typing her password and shifting the laptop to Nora.

  Nora started by searching the campus academic blogs and news feeds for anything notable during that time. After finding nothing, she moved on to a more routine search of local and national news websites to see if there were mentions of any big discoveries. Nothing there either. Her next stop was sure to bring up something. She searched only the databases for academic journals through the library website in order to see if any of the professors had published papers that year.

  There were about a dozen results from Chemistry faculty, a few of which were published in the first half of the year and were unlikely to be relevant. Nora zeroed in a paper from
Professor Gupta published in the fourth quarter of 2010. He could’ve been working on it while Maria was assisting in the lab.

  “What did you find?” Lauren asked. Absorbed in her search and unaware someone was behind her, Nora almost jumped.

  “Take a look at this. Later that year Gupta published a paper called Theoretical Anomalies: Canines, Cancer, and Chemotherapy,” Nora said, opening up the paper and scanning through the abstract. “He developed a computer-generated system to make predictions about how a dog’s skin tissue would react to the uranium used in chemotherapy.”

  “Oh yeah,” Lauren said. “He’s mentioned that in class a few times. Apparently it’s had a big impact on how animals are treated for diseases. You don’t think Maria found out something related to this paper and that’s what got her killed, do you?”

  Nora stared hard at the words on the screen, wishing they would give her the answer. She had a guess but wasn’t sure it was right.

  “I don’t know. If you were a big-shot professor beloved by everyone at one of the most prestigious universities in the country, and you were about to be thrown out in disgrace after your landmark paper was revealed as fraud, how far would you go to keep that secret?”

  The thought tickled her mind, but for now there was nothing solid to indicate that Gupta even had a secret.

  CHAPTER 20

  18 CHAPMAN DRIVE

  ALBANY, NY

  Travis had decided to lay low on Saturday and recover some perspective on the hacking case. But his work came to him in the form of a sudden knock on the door in the middle of the afternoon. Opening the door, he found his boss standing there ready to blow a gasket.

  “No, I’m not coming in,” Boffman said, stuffing his hands in his dark brown jacket pockets. “You come out here.”

  Something was wrong. It remained to be seen which problem Boffman had his sights on. At best he’d caught wind of the computer training sessions with Francis and didn’t think that was a good use of time. Not bothering to put his shoes on, Travis stepped out onto the cold cement floor.