Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #4: Books 13-16 (A Dead Cold Box Set) by Blake Banner (best ereader for academics .txt) 📕

about the gun, what about the research, and what about Assistant DA Costas Varufakis?”

NINE

Instead of turning right toward the Bronx, I continued straight on through Queens and Brooklyn toward Manhattan. Dehan was saying, “The gun we already said might have any number of explanations. The research, she is just trying to fob us off because they are secretive about their products. It’s natural. As for the ADA, I don’t know, maybe he saw the same things we saw and thought it needed a deeper look than Gutierrez was giving it.”

I nodded like I was listening and agreeing, but I wasn’t. I said, “Call Hays, will you? Ask him if Am is there. Don’t tell him we’re on our way. Just ask.”

She put it on speaker. It rang a couple of times, then Hays’ voice said, “Yes?”

“Dr. Hays, this is Detective Dehan. You remember we spoke yesterday.”

“Well, of course I remember. I would have to have some kind of very serious condition…”

I interrupted him. “Dr. Hays, we are phoning to ask about one of your students, Am Nielsen. Is he there today?”

“Yes, he was in class today. He’s in all day.”

On an impulse I asked him, “What kind of student is he, Dr. Hays?”

“I have only had him a very short time, but I know Jose thought very highly of him, and from what I have seen of his work, I would say he is above average.”

“Would you describe him as eccentric?”

“No. Not any more than most science students at this level. You don’t have to be insane to be a scientist, Detective, but it helps.” There was an odd noise, as though he was suffocating, and I realized he was laughing.

“That’s funny, Dr. Hays. I’ll have to remember it.”

“I hope you do. Your recall expectations seem to be quite low, if your partner is anything to go by.”

“Dr. Hays, I have one more question before you go. Who has replaced Dr. Robles on the research program?”

“Nobody as yet.”

“Right, OK, thank you.”

We arrived at the university twenty minutes later. It was already getting dark. As we entered the lobby, I noticed a security guard. He was in his fifties, tall and wiry, and strongly built. He saw me looking at him and approached. He had a badge on his pocket with the legend VMS.

“Can I help you?”

I showed him my badge. “Detective Stone. We’re looking for Am Nielsen.”

He smiled. “There’re an awful lot of students here, Detective…”

“This guy is a joker, six three, athletic, imitates accents…”

He gave a lopsided smile and pointed toward the cafeteria. “That him?”

“That’s him. Thanks.”

He was sitting at a table with half a dozen other students. A couple of them were playing chess. There was a lot of talking and a lot of laughing, so they didn’t notice us approaching till we were almost upon them. But I did notice that Am was getting most of the laughs, poking fun at the guy whose move it was.

“Mate in six, dude! No! Are you crazy? Not the bishop! OK! Good move! If you want to lose your queen, do that!”

We stood, one on either side of him, and Dehan said, “Hello, Mr. Nielsen.”

He jumped and turned, then gaped, and for a long moment he seemed only to be able to blink at her. Then he turned and looked at me. Finally, he said, “Detectives…”

I turned to the rest of the table. They were frowning. “Mind if we borrow your joker for a bit?”

Dehan winked at him. “Let’s go for a walk. You feel me, dude?”

We walked him out to the lobby. The VMS guard had gone. We found a nest of chairs and sat. He drew breath but I raised a hand. “Let’s get the ground rules set first. Right now we are going to prosecute you for obstruction of justice. That will end your career as an engineer, and you will probably do time. Tell me another lie and you will be looking at accessory to murder.” He went pale. “Now, start talking and convince me not to prosecute you. Here’s a hint. Do that by telling me the truth.”

“About what?”

Dehan shook her head, squinting at him. “How about you start by explaining why the stupid act.”

He took a breath, then sighed and shrugged. “I’m a clown. It’s compulsive. I get with people and I start clowning. When you came to see me, I just got caught up in the act.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“No, man, it’s not.”

I sighed. “Come on, Am. You called me on the phone, remember? Why the hell did you call me? You have a university full of students you can clown with. You seriously expect us to believe that you called two cops on a homicide investigation just because you felt like clowning!”

“No, no, no, of course not. I called you because we’d all heard that Dr. Shine was a suspect in Dr. Robles’ murder. It was eating at me. We all knew he treated her like shit, but she’s a really sweet woman and there was no way she shot him. I was sure his death had something to do with his research. I can’t tell you why. It was just a hunch. I knew if I called and said, ‘I’m Dr. Robles’ student and I think he was murdered for his research, but I have no evidence,’ you’d laugh at me and send me on  my way.”

“So you came up with that! You couldn’t think of anything more elaborate?”

“No, man. I didn’t come up with it, I called and when you answered, all kind of, ‘Stone!’ I started playing a part and before I knew it…”

“So how much of it was true?”

“Pretty much all of it. It’s just, the way I told it was kind of elaborate.”

“Your dad