Final Exam: A Legal Thriller (25 page)

“Perhaps he was different outside of law school,” Ben offered.

“I doubt it,” she responded.
 
“I simply don’t believe he was capable.”

“Obviously I heard stories back when I was a student and I’ve heard more stories in the last few days, but do you know any specifics that might help me?”

“Of course, I don’t know what you know or don’t know, but it’s pretty simple that he was having relationships with students for many years and somehow or another, he finally got caught.
 
I couldn’t give you and names or specifics because I am not privy to those or simply don’t recall them, but I would hope that it’s all a matter of record in his files and you should be able to obtain those at some point.”

Ben nodded in agreement.
 
“What about other teachers?
 
Do you know of any situations like this between Professor Greenfield and other professors?”

She took a deep breath and let it out very slowly.
 
Her body appeared to stiffen.
 
“Yes, well, there’ve been a number of circumstances that probably don’t add up to much.
 
You see, with men like Daniel Greenfield, the normal condescending attitude of a male chauvinist is more or less a given and must often be accepted as a matter of course.
 
So we’ll put that aside, because every woman who works in this building probably dealt with that at one time or another.
 
I’m sure what you’re referring to is something more significant that may have ultimately led to his very unpleasant demise.”

“Something
like
that,” Ben said.
 

“Well, I don’t think he hit on fellow professors nearly as often as he did his students.
 
There could be several reasons for that, I suppose.
 
First of all, most of us aren’t the young and nubile types that seem to attract men like Daniel Greenfield.
 
Second, the sheer number of female students and the willingness of a select few to improve their grades any way they can
made
them more willing targets.
 
Also, not very many women who are teaching law school would put up with that kind of thing, if for no other reason than we would be presumed to know how to protect ourselves legally.
 
I’m sure there are other reasons.
 
Having said that, it doesn’t mean that Professor Greenfield confined himself to young female students.
 
He was known to make inappropriate comments and suggestive proposals to certain professors as well.”

“Did he ever say anything like that to you?”

“To me?
 
No,” she said appearing almost relieved.
 
“There were some, but I’m not sure I really want to get into who they were and what I know.
 
Most of it is second and third-hand as you might expect.”

“Look,” Ben said, “I’m not here to gossip.
 
Somebody killed Daniel Greenfield and there are all sorts of possible motives as to why they did it.
 
I’ve got a broad area of possibilities here and I just want to figure out if there is somebody on the staff that disliked Professor Greenfield enough to kill him, whether it’s provoked or not.”

“I appreciate your predicament,” she said.
 
She looked down and fiddled with the corner of a law journal
laying
open on her desk.
 
Ben could see her calculating her options and trying to decide the right course.
 

Ben sought to put her at ease.
 
“I would never reveal your name and what you told me unless I couldn’t do it any other way.”

“I believe that,” she said.
 
She took another moment to collect her thoughts.
 
“As I said, I’m not sure there are many women in this building who shed any tears over Professor Greenfield’s passing,
myself
included.
 
I would even go so far as to say that many of the slights and insults and behavior that the women in this building suffered through at his hands over the years were probably not even directed personally at any of us.
 
He just didn’t know any better.
 
That was who he was and his chauvinistic attitude was just a part of his personality.
 
But I did know that he made several inappropriate comments to fellow professors, in particular, to one fellow professor, which resulted in quite a bit of animosity between the two of them.”

“Who was the professor?” Ben asked.

She paused.
 
“Angela Harper,” she said finally.
 
Ben sat back and raised his eyebrows.
 
That one surprised him.
 
Angela Harper did not seem at all Greenfield’s type.
 
“I can see you’re surprised.”

“You’re right, I am.”

“Nevertheless,” she said, “there were a couple of incidents between the two.
 
I believe the first may have appeared harmless, but then on subsequent occasions, Professor Greenfield was more insistent on his desire to have a more personal relationship with Professor Harper.
 
He even went so far as to make suggestive comments to her at a law school function at which Professor Harper’s husband was also present.
 
Eventually, there were some words between the two men.
 
Afterward, it was fairly clear that Professor Greenfield and Professor Harper were never going to be close friends, if you know what I mean.”

“Did you witness this yourself?

“I did and I’ve talked to Angela about it, although not recently.
 
I saw the incident at the party mostly from afar, but eventually voices were raised and you couldn’t help but witness it.”

“When did this take place?”

“Oh, maybe three or four years ago, I suppose.
 
I don’t remember exactly.”

Ben left Professor Berman’s office at ten minutes to twelve.
 
He thanked her for her time and her candor and she promised to keep in touch and let him know right away if she thought of anything that might prove helpful to his defense.
 
As Ben took the elevator back down to the third floor, his head whirled with possibilities.
 
He got off the elevator and walked straight into a crowd of students just getting out of class.
 
He joined the group and bumped his way along to the
Makrateria
, which was now filling with the lunchtime crowd.
 
A moment later, Mark trudged around the corner with another group of students.
 

“Any luck?”
 
Mark said as he approached Ben outside the entrance to the
Makrateria
.

“I don’t know, maybe, but we can’t talk about it here obviously.
 
Why don’t we go in and get a quick bite?”
 

After a quick lunch and a conversation devoted largely to football, Mark went back up to the library and Ben went looking for Angela Harper.
 
He found her leaving her office on the way to her next class.
 
A tall, thin African American woman in her early-forties, Angela Harper wore glasses and had her curly reddish hair pulled back behind her ears with barrettes.
 
She brushed past Ben as he introduced himself.
 

“I would like to talk to you about Professor Greenfield,” he called after her.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have anything to say about that subject.
 
Please don’t bother me again,” she said turning slightly.

“If you would rather speak to me in a crowded courtroom filled with reporters that would be fine too,” Ben called as she reached the corner of the hallway.
 
She turned again and glared at him, saying nothing.
 
Then she disappeared around the corner toward the elevators.
 
Ben laughed, taking her rejection in stride.
 
So that’s how it was going to be.
 
He would talk to her eventually.
 

Professor Harper taught Constitutional Law at the law school and always appeared to Ben to be more than a bit full of
herself
.
 
Although Ben had never taken any of her classes himself, he had heard numerous times through the student grapevine that Professor Harper spent much of her classes spouting liberal orthodoxy combined with a steady dose of shrill harangues against conservative Supreme Court Justices and Republican politicians generally.
 
Ben really didn’t know her, yet he didn’t like her at all.

Ben took the elevator back down to the 3
^rd
Floor, where he ran into Martin
Beileck
, the school Registrar.
 
“Excuse me,” Ben said as they collided.

“Counsel,”
Beileck
whispered as he grabbed Ben’s arm, “meet me in the library on the 10th floor in ten minutes.”
 
Then he walked away leaving Ben standing there puzzled.
   

Beileck
?
 
What could he want?
 
Ben thought.
 
He took a deep breath and forced himself to think.
 
Beileck
had not been someone that Ben even considered talking
to
previously.
 
But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that
Beileck
should have been at or near the top of his list.
 
As the School Registrar,
Beileck
had his fingers in almost everything that went on in the law school.
 
He was one of the few people to interact with the students, the staff and the faculty on a regular basis.
 
More than a bit of a nebbish, he overcompensated for his lack of stature with an affected, overly aggressive persona that made him the frequent butt of student jokes.
 
As Registrar,
Beileck
possessed all the thankless jobs that no one else wanted, yet needed to get done.
 

Ben entered the library through the main entrance on the 9th floor and walked up the stairs to the 10th floor.
 
The 10th floor of the library was a largely ceremonial space, with large cherry tables and bookshelves rising high near the top of the twenty-foot ceiling.
 
The north wall of the main room was devoted entirely to windows and a balcony overlooking the city.
 
Ben walked over to the window and looked out.
 
Only three students studied at the tables and not a sound could be heard.
 
The room felt more like a church than a law school.
 
Martin
Beileck
arrived exactly on cue.
 
As he approached Ben, he pointed to a door in the corner of the room.
 
Ben followed him into a small room which housed several rows of additional shelves containing library materials.
 
When
Beileck
closed the door behind them, they were alone.
 

“Good to see you again, Counsel,”
Beileck
said as he approached Ben and the two men shook hands. “I give you a lot of credit for what you’re doing here.
 
You’re starting to really stir the pot and I want you to know there are things here that are worth investigating.”
 
There was a small table against the near wall with two chairs and they sat down.
 
“We don’t have a lot of time,”
Beileck
said. “I don’t want people to know I’m cooperating with you.
 
It’ll make it easier for me to help you out.”

“Why do you want to help me out?”

“Because Daniel Greenfield was a friend of mine.
 
I know he had problems here and there, but he always treated me decently and I will never forget it.”
 

Ben nodded.
 
He could imagine that being treated decently by a school full of arrogant law professors didn’t happen very often, particularly to someone like Martin
Beileck
.
 
“Okay, I guess I understand.
 
What do you have for me?”

They spoke for a few minutes and Ben outlined what he had learned so far, which wasn’t much.
 
“I think you’re on the right track with Professor Harper,”
 
Beilick
said.
 
“It’s no secret that they haven’t gotten along for years.
 
There was a rumor circulating that they had a big argument shortly before Christmas and you may not know it, but she can be a real …
 
I mean, she can be very difficult.”

“I’ve always had that impression.
 
Are you telling me you wouldn’t be surprised if Professor Harper were involved somehow?”

“I’m telling you that nothing would surprise me about Angela Harper.”

“Do you know of anyone else with problems like this with Greenfield?”

“Well, I don’t think any of the female teachers or staff liked him very much.
 
You probably know his reputation.
 
But I don’t think anyone had the animosity for Daniel the way Professor Harper did.
 
I would definitely look into her very closely.”