PROF. DEVANE: Please stop, sir. Thank you. Are you all right, Tessa? Casey, get her a fresh tissue . . . thanks. As I was saying, Mr. Muscadine, the precise details may never be known because there were no witnesses. But Ms. Bowlby is clearly traumatized and she’s entitled to some kind of closure. Given your sexual history, she’d feel a lot better if you were tested and shown to be HIV-negative. And so would this committee.
MR. MUSCADINE: Is that true, Tessa? Tessa?
MS. BOWLBY: You just said you sleep around!
MR. MUSCADINE: Wow. From Kafka to Dracula—give up my body fluids. Okay, I have nothing to hide—do I have to pay for it?
PROF. DEVANE: The testing can be done at Student Health with no charge. I’ve got an authorization form, right here, that will release all results.
MR. MUSCADINE: Oh, boy—okay, fine, I’ve got nothing to hide—but she should get tested, as well.
MS. BOWLBY: I already did. Right after. So far I’m negative.
MR. MUSCADINE: You’ll stay negative. At least from me—listen, Tessa, I’m really sorry this whole thing has gotten to you, but I—forget it. Sure, fine. I’ll get tested, tomorrow. How’s that? If that’s all I have to do.
PROF. DEVANE: You should also give some serious thought to the issue of rape.
MR. MUSCADINE: I don’t need to.
PROF. DEVANE: Sometimes we’re not aware of—
MR. MUSCADINE: I’m telling you—okay, fine. I’ll think about it. Now can I go?
PROF. DEVANE: Sign these release forms, go to Student Health, and get tested within twenty-four hours.
MR. MUSCADINE: Fine, fine. What an experience—thank God I’m an actor.
PROF. DEVANE: Why’s that, sir?
MR. MUSCADINE: To an actor, everything’s material. Maybe I can put this to use someday.
PROF. DEVANE: I trust not, sir. As we told you at the outset, everything that goes on here is confidential.
MR. MUSCADINE: Oh . . . yes, sure. It had better be. For my sake, too.
PROF. DEVANE: What I’m saying is you’re enjoined against using it. That’s part of the agreement.
MR. MUSCADINE: I didn’t mean use it directly. I meant subconsciously. Never mind . . . bye, Tessa. Let’s keep our distance from each other. Let’s stay a planet away from each other.
CHAPTER
5
That night, as Milo and I drove over to visit Philip Seacrest, I said, “Kenneth Storm.”
“Thought you might like him. Ugly scene, huh?”
“Do you know if Storm actually transferred to the College of the Palms?”
“No, why?”
“What if they didn’t accept him? Or he enrolled and flunked out? He’d be left with nothing but bad memories and the committee to blame for it. That would put the other two committee members at risk, too. Although going for all the members might make the motive too obvious. If I needed one victim for satisfaction, it would be the leader.”
He nodded. “Which Hope sure was. And second-in-command was that grad student, Locking. He was really in step with her. The third one, Professor Steinberger, didn’t say much, and she wasn’t there for the third case.”
“Maybe she got disillusioned,” I said. “Casey Locking might not have had the luxury. He’s studying psychology and I wouldn’t be surprised if Hope was his supervisor or in some other position of power.”
“The third session was the only one where the girl actually claimed rape. What do you think of Hope asking that acting student—Muscadine—to take an AIDS test?”
“Maybe she was convinced he’d raped her, knew there was no evidence for criminal prosecution, and decided to do what she could for the victim. The girl—Tessa—got tested, too. So she was obviously worried.”
“Weird,” he said. “What a scene. And it never hit the papers.” He stopped at the red light at Sunset and surveyed the cross traffic.
“But you still like Seacrest better than Kenneth Storm.”
“I’m open-minded, but yeah. Half a million’s one hell of a motive. And Seacrest has the sophistication and the opportunity to set it up—the poisoned dog. Granted, of the three students, Storm’s our best bet, but he’s only nineteen and from his academic record, no genius. Does that orchestrated wound pattern seem like the work of a kid with a short fuse and a dirty mouth? Fifty wounds would fit that better. Or bashing her head in. Plus Storm went through channels to vent his spleen, got his revenge through Daddy’s lawyer.”