Playing Dead_ A Novel of Suspense - Allison Brennan [67]
“So who’s the other number?”
“It matches Professor Collier’s home phone.” “Maddox called him three times, no answer, and then the prof calls him back.”
“Collier said in the missing person report that Maddox was calling to cancel their Monday meeting.”
“Why?” “Oliver allegedly didn’t say why.”
“Why a six-minute conversation? What’d they talk about? The weather?”
“Collier said it was class-related. The Davis cops didn’t know what Maddox was working on. Collier said it was his thesis.”
“A thesis seems innocuous. Who would kill over a college thesis?”
“Maybe it’s not even related. Could be he hadn’t been working on his thesis because of all the time he spent trying to clear O’Brien.”
“Now that makes sense.”
“So he has to cancel the meeting because he doesn’t have anything to show.”
“I follow you,” Steve said. “But one thing I can’t figure out. In all this, why didn’t Maddox go to the police? Or talk to someone? If he honestly believed that O’Brien was innocent—if he had found evidence to that effect—why wouldn’t Maddox have turned it over to the authorities?”
“I—” Mitch didn’t have an answer. “Maybe he didn’t have proof. Or he could have had unsubstantiated theories. Knowing something to be true in your heart and proving it to be fact are completely different.”
“Then perhaps his girlfriend or advisor will be able to shed some light on this.”
Steve pulled into a security-vehicle-only parking place at Davis and put his official FBI business placard in the window. Mitch dialed the last number Maddox called the night he died.
“The Rabbit Hole.”
“Where are you located?”
“Corner of 2nd and B Streets right off River Road. Can’t miss it. Gotta white rabbit on the sign.”
“Thanks.” Mitch hung up.
“Well?”
“Bar, from the sound of it. Want to make a stop?”
“Worth checking into, but it’s been nearly four months. If Maddox met someone there, the bartender may not remember.”
“It’s the only lead we got right now.”
They exited the car, walked into the administration building, and showed their badges. “We need to speak with Professor Don Collier regarding one of his students.”
“One moment.” The receptionist left the room and Mitch said to Steve, “Do you have Tammy Amunson’s contact information?”
“Yes, and her class schedule.” Steve glanced at his watch. “It’s 1:30. Her last class was over at noon today. I have a mobile number.”
“I’m sure as hell not looking forward to giving her the bad news.”
The receptionist returned. “I’m sorry, Professor Collier canceled all of his classes today.”
“Canceled?”
“Yes, sir. I can direct you to his teaching assistant, Shelley Burns. She has a desk in Professor Collier’s office at King Hall.” She handed a card over on which she’d already written the name and number.
“Where the hell is King Hall?” Steve muttered as they walked out.
Mitch handed Steve a map of the campus he’d pulled from the receptionist desk. “Now I know why they pay you the big bucks,” Steve said.
Shelley Burns’s office was more like an oversize closet, not much bigger than Claire’s home office, Mitch thought. She had a desk and a narrow wall of tall filing cabinets. Shelves on three walls were full of thick legal tomes. One shelf tilted precariously to one side. If anyone tried to remove a book on the left, Mitch was certain everything would slide off the right.
There was the desk chair and one more chair that the door hit when it opened. She gave a shrug when they walked in and stood shoulder to shoulder. “Sorry, I’d offer you the professor’s office, but he locked up and I don’t have a key.”
“We’re trying to reach Professor Collier about a student of his who has been missing.”
“Oliver.” Shelley frowned as she bobbed her head. “He was such a geek, but I liked him. I was shocked that the pressure got to him. I mean, he lived for this stuff.”
“What do you mean about the pressure getting to him?”
“Don—Professor Collier—said that Oliver’s thesis wasn’t going