“You can call me Lieutenant, Dean Royce.”
He flushed and took a deep breath. “Lieutenant. Vanderbilt University holds its students and faculty to the highest standards of conduct. Dating a student here isn’t simply frowned upon, it is grounds for dismissal. So to answer your little insinuation, no. Gabriel was not involved with any of his students. It simply wouldn’t be allowed.”
Baldwin smiled. “You’ve never seen anyone break the rules, Dean? I mean, really, in this day and age? A bright young professor, whom we’ve heard was quite handsome, wouldn’t have any social contact with any of his female students?”
“No, Mr. Baldwin, he wouldn’t. Especially not in the past months.”
“Oh? Why’s that?”
“Because Gabriel is ill. Very ill. He’s taken the semester to...recuperate.”
67
Taylor stood and went to his window. “Dean Royce, we talked with two of your professors, Edward Lear and Barry James, from the classics department. They weren’t aware Professor Lucas had any physical problems. They were under the impression that he was taking a sabbatical to work on a book.”
“No, they wouldn’t know the whole story. Gabriel and I decided to keep it from as many people as we could. It was such a shattering blow to him, and he wanted time to sort things out. Such a shame. Incredibly bright man. Though he was starting to act a little erratic. He’d had a revelation, he said. Kept talking about the revelation that was changing his life. Wouldn’t tell me what it was, though. I told him to write it down. You know how it is, publish or perish,” he chortled. “That’s why we decided it was best for him to simply take a sabbatical. Didn’t want the students to see him that way, see him acting different, if you know what I mean.”
Baldwin was getting a little fed up by the dean’s dance. “Dean, what exactly is the nature of Professor Lucas’s illness?”
“Really, officers, you can’t think that Gabriel is involved in these crimes in any way.” He started to get out of his chair, but Taylor snapped at him.
“Sit down. Of course we can. We know that Jill Gates, Jordan Blake, and Shelby Kincaid all took his classes. We know that Mary Margaret de Rossi audited two of his classes. That’s four of our victims that Professor Lucas was at the very least familiar with. That’s a lot for us to go on right there. So I suggest you start cooperating before I haul your ass into the station and charge you with obstruction of justice. Now, what is wrong with Lucas?”
“Fine. He has cancer. Brain cancer. A tumor of some sort. He took the semester off to have it treated. Are you happy now? I’ve broken the confidence of a man who begged me to make sure no one at the school found out about his condition. Thank you for forcing me to compromise my morals. I’ve told you all I can. Now, I think you should leave.”
Taylor ignored him. “Have you spoken with him lately?”
The dean was red in the face and looked close to blowing a gasket. “No, I haven’t spoken with him in about a month. He came to the monthly community breakfast. He told me he would be out of touch for a while, and was talking about having a new experience. I just assumed it was a medical advancement that he couldn’t receive here in town and he was seeking treatment elsewhere. We only spoke for a few minutes. The speaker started moments after we greeted each other, and after the presentation he was gone.”
“Would that speaker have been Father Francis Xavier from St. Catherine’s Church?”
The dean’s face crumpled. He put his face in his hands, and all the defensiveness left his body. “Oh my God. It can’t be. He couldn’t have done any of this. It has to be a coincidence.”
Baldwin spoke quietly. “There are no coincidences, Dean Royce. We need to speak with Professor Lucas. Can you get us his address and phone number?”
“Janet!” he bellowed. The diminutive woman came scurrying into the office. “Janet, I need you to give the detectives Professor Lucas’s address.”
Janet was obviously a little afraid of her boss and squeaked her answer like a mouse. “I’m sure I have it around here somewhere. I think he moved recently. I’ll probably have to call down to records, and Melinda is out sick today, so there’s only a student working the desk. It may take a little while.”
“Ma’am, go on down to records yourself and pull the address for me.” Taylor scribbled her number on the back of a card and handed it to her. “The minute you have it, I want you to call me on my cell phone. Do you understand?”
The woman nodded and started to bustle away. Taylor grabbed her arm. “Hold on a second. Do you have any pictures of Professor Lucas?”