The Theory of Death (14 page)

Decker shrugged back. “Give me a minute.”

“If you toss me your keys, I’ll warm up the car.”

“We’ll take Rina’s car. It’s in the driveway. Keys are in her purse.”

“Got it.” McAdams grabbed his winter jacket and braced himself for the cold night air. It wasn’t as arctic as he thought: the high twenties according to the car’s external thermometer. By the time Decker arrived, the car was spitting out warm air and the windshield had been cleared of powdered snow. McAdams had already moved into the passenger seat.

Decker shifted the car into drive, pulled it into the street, and took off slowly. It was cold enough to freeze water under the snow and that meant black ice. It was his second winter in upstate Greenbury and he was almost used to driving in inclement weather, but it did require more concentration.

Within five minutes, they had parked outside the café. Mallon came out before they reached the door to the place. She was bundled in a pea-colored, quilted coat, her head covered by a hood rimmed with fake fur. Jeans covered her legs and boots on her feet. “It’s probably easier to walk from here. I’m assuming you want to see my dorm room.”

She stormed off. They were going at a very fast clip. Decker had on solid shoes but it was still slippery underfoot. He said, “Did you call campus police yet?”

“I thought I’d leave that up to you.”

“What time did you notice your room was disturbed?” Decker asked.

“As soon as I came back. It was a little before three.”

“Where had you been?”

“Library.”

“It’s open all night?”

“Not Bennington. It closes at eleven. Pascal’s is open all night because it has the computer lab.” She was huffing and panting. “It’s a good place to work because it’s only open to upper division and it’s quiet.”

“When did you leave your dorm room to go to the library?”

“Around ten.”

“Did you notice anything unusual when you left?”

“No.”

“No one who looked like he or she didn’t belong?”

“No. But I’m not always aware of my surroundings.”

“And you were gone between ten and three.”

“Yes.”

“But you can’t narrow it down further than that.”

“No.”

“Maybe someone on the floor saw or heard something.”

“Maybe, but I didn’t stick around to ask questions.” She stopped by the door to her dorm building. Her breathing had quickened. Could have been the aerobic walk: more likely it was fear. She swiped her card and the three of them went up the stairs. With a gloved hand, Decker opened the door to her room.

The place was a mess even by college dorm standards. Drawers pulled out, mattress lifted and shoved off her bed, closet emptied with most of her clothes lying on the floor. Decker stuffed his gloved hands into his coat pocket. “Look around. See if anything of value was taken.”

“I don’t own anything valuable. I’m a starving student. The only valuable things I have are my phone, my laptop, and my research papers. And since Eli died, I keep everything with me at all times.”

“No jewelry, no loose cash, no—”

“Nothing!” She sat down on the floor and huddled into a corner, still swathed in her outerwear. Her eyes moistened but she didn’t say anything.

Decker continued to look around without touching anything. “So what do you think the person was looking for?”

“No idea.”

“Take a guess.”

“I can only surmise he was either looking for my research or for me, and both imply evil intent.”

“You think it’s a he?”

“He, she, I don’t know.”

“Whoever it was, this wasn’t methodical.”

“Meaning?”

Decker shrugged. “When I see a mess like this, I think that someone is looking for drug money. In a petty theft, the perpetrators don’t usually commit crimes with people milling around. I don’t think it was kids.”

“So who then?”

“Like you said, someone looking for something you have.” He paused. “Don’t get offended, but to my eye, it looks staged.”

Mallon glared at him. “You think
I
did it?” She turned to Tyler. “What about you?”

“I came when you called,” McAdams said.

“That doesn’t mean you believe me.”

Decker said, “I didn’t say you staged it, Mallon, I said it looked staged.” He took off his gloves and hat. It was warm inside the room. And quiet. Decker had never been in a dorm when it was almost silent. “Could be someone was trying to scare you.” He turned to her. “Who’d want to scare you?”

“I don’t know! Between Eli’s death and this mess, the asshole is doing a good job.”

Decker glanced at his watch. “Do you have a twenty-four-hour emergency line for campus police?”

Slowly, Mallon took her laptop out. Her hands were still gloved and were shaking. “I’ll look it up.” She recited the numbers. “Can you call … please?”

“Of course. But first I’d like to poke around your floor and see if someone heard or saw anything. It would be easier to do that before I called campus police down.”

Tears streamed down her cheek. “Whatever you think.”

“I don’t know how much I’m going to get out of a bunch of college kids who probably just fell asleep. I suppose the good news is that most of them are probably in their rooms.” He looked at McAdams. “I can probably do this by myself. You can go back to the house.”

“I’m too wired. How can I help?”

“If that’s the case, you scour the rooms to the left and I’ll go right. Ask if they saw or heard anything going on in Mallon’s room.”

“You’re leaving me
alone
?” Mallon asked.

“Leave your door open,” Decker said. “Nothing’s going to happen.” He picked up a corner of her mattress and slid it back onto the bed frame. “Lie down and try to rest even if you can’t sleep.” He offered her his hand to help her up.

From her corner, she stared upward. Then she clasped his hand and he pulled her to her feet. She bent down and picked up her covers. “I can’t stay here.”

Decker said, “We’ll work that out later. But I need you to stay here right now. I’m sorry, Mallon. This must be very frightening for you.”

More tears. “It would help if I knew who the bogeyman was.” She looked at McAdams. “Sorry for waking you up.”

“No, no. You did the right thing,” he said. “It’s not a problem.”

They walked out of the room. Decker took a survey of the hallway. Mallon’s room was smack in the middle, making it even a more unlikely candidate for a random break-in. There were eight to ten rooms on either side and twenty rooms on the other side of the hallway. The canvassing was compact and shouldn’t take that long. He said, “Did you bring a notepad, Tyler?”

“Uh, no, but I have my phone.”

Decker tore out several pages from his pad. He gave him a pencil. “It’s easier to write by hand than to type on a screen that small. Let’s start inward and work outward.”

Tyler dropped his voice. “You think she’s being straight?”

“She seems genuinely shaken.” Decker exhaled. “Let’s see what we can find out.”

THE FIRST ROOM
was occupied by a young man who returned to his dorm room at around one after a beer fest with his buddy in Goddard Hall. He didn’t see or hear anything.

Going down one room to the left: it was occupied by a woman. Again, no see ’um, no hear ’um. By the fourth room, the constant knocking was bringing people to their doors, asking questions. Most of them were shocked by the ransacking as well as clueless. But Decker did hear a couple of reports that proved to be interesting.

“The only person I saw going out of Mallon’s room was Mallon.” Decker was talking to Kelly Liu. She was twenty-one with short, clipped black hair and oval black eyes. She must have weighed around eighty pounds. She lived five doors down.

“When was this?”

“Around midnight.”

“You’re sure about the time?”

“No. It could have been later. I was coming back from a late study session and I saw her coming out of her room.”

“And you’re sure it was Mallon?”

She paused. “I think so.”

“Did you see her face?”

“Well, not really. I just assumed it was her because it was a woman.”

“So you’re sure it was a woman?”

“I think so.”

“Did you talk to her?”

“I don’t remember. I think I said hi. We didn’t have a conversation. She seemed like she was in a hurry.”

“At midnight?”

“She was walking fast. People are pretty wired right now. It’s the week before finals.”

“What was the woman wearing?”

“She had on a jacket. Jeans probably. I don’t remember her shoes.”

“What color was the jacket?”

“Dark.” A pause. “I think it was a hoodie. You can talk to Jayden. He was with me.”

“Where does he live?”

Kelly pointed to a door.

Decker nodded and handed her a card. “Call if you think of anything else.” He knocked on Jayden’s door. The young man who answered was dark-complexioned with a full dark beard and a turban. Jayden’s last name was Khalsa. He related the same story as Kelly Liu.

“But you’re not positive it was Mallon.”

“No, I am not.”

“Was it definitely a woman?”

“I would think. If it was a man, he was very slight. Mallon’s very slight. I assumed she was Mallon. But I didn’t see her directly.”

“What was she wearing?”

“A brown hoodie jacket. I thought that was odd … coming out of the room wearing the hood. A light jacket for the weather.”

“Kelly told me that she appeared in a hurry.”

“Yes. She was walking fast.”

“Anything else?”

He shook his head. “No.”

Again, Decker gave the young man his card. After an hour of talking to the kids, he met up with McAdams and compared notes. Tyler also had heard a similar story of someone noticing Mallon going in and out of her room between twelve and one in the morning. He said, “So what do you think?”

“The people I spoke to were pretty sure it was a woman because of the slight build.” Decker smoothed his mustache. “Mallon keeps insisting that she doesn’t have anything of value except her research. I don’t know why Mallon would stage a break-in, so I’m thinking maybe someone was after her research.”

“Maybe Mallon staged it for attention.”

“I don’t know, Tyler. Her reaction seemed real.” Decker turned to the kid. “You still should leave to go back to Boston. I’m going to call campus police now. Go back to her room. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“What specifically do I tell her?”

“Don’t tell her anything just yet.” When Decker had finished the call, he went back to Mallon’s room. “How are you feeling?” he asked her.

“A little numb.”

“I called campus police. Someone should be here soon. Are you comfortable staying in your room by yourself?”

“Uh … like no.”

“Okay. Do you have a place to stay other than your dorm room?” McAdams said.

“What do
you
think?”

“A friend?” Decker suggested.

“Do I seem like I have friends?” The room was silent. “Never mind. I’ll figure something out.”

Decker said to Tyler, “You can go home and get some rest. I’ll wait for campus police.”

McAdams crooked a finger and the two men went outside. He whispered. “I’m fine, Decker. You’ve got a job. I don’t. Go home and tell Rina what’s going on and switch cars with her. I’ll wait with Mallon. I’ll even help her clean up. She’s way more likely to talk to me than to you.”

“I’m sure you can, but I don’t want you alone with her. People who aren’t stable misinterpret everything.”

McAdams sighed. “If you think the ransacking was legitimate, boss, I don’t want to leave her alone.”

Decker thought for a long time. “You go back to the house. I’ll wait with her.”

“Then what?”

“Let me think.” After a minute, Decker said, “She can come crash at the station house until we can figure this out. We’ve got a bunk there. Beggars can’t be choosers. You go back to the house and rest.”

“Way too buzzed. What can I do?”

“You can study until it’s time for you to leave.”

“Decker—”

“I don’t need anything right now, Tyler. I’ll just wait with her until campus police makes their report. That’ll take some time. Then I’ll come home for breakfast and try to hunt down Aldo Ferraga.”

“Why?”

“If Mallon is telling the truth, someone ransacked her room. Maybe someone was looking for the pages we found. Maybe someone was looking for other research. Dr. Rosser hasn’t been forthcoming. Katrina Belfort seems too busy and Eli wasn’t her student. Maybe I can get something out of Ferraga.”

“Let me call him up in the morning,” McAdams said. “One less thing on your plate.”

“Yeah, fine. Thanks.” He fished out the keys to Rina’s car. “Take the Volvo back to the house. I can walk.”

“What about Mallon? She might be carrying a suitcase. You take the car. I’ll walk back.”

“I’m sure she’ll pack a small wheelie thing. I’m old but I betcha I can handle it. Go home and get some rest.”

“I’ll call you if I get hold of Ferraga.”

“Fine. I can see that you want to get involved. I hope it’s not because of the lady.”

McAdams stared at him. “What makes you say that?”

“She’s pretty. And how long has it been since you’ve had a date?”

“Could I punch you without being put up on insubordination charges?”

“Just making you aware, Tyler.”

“No need for that, Old Man. Believe me I’m
painfully
aware.”

I
T TOOK AN
hour for campus police to conduct and finish a break-in report. Once that was done, it took thirty minutes for Mallon to clean up her room, shower and dress, and then pack a small bag. It was a little after six in the morning when she and Decker walked out of the dorm. Outside was the kind of cold that turned noses red and fingers numb. As they walked to the station house, a glorious dawn began overhead, the skies bursting with reds, pinks, and oranges. Decker was wheeling a small carry-on bag for her while she walked with her head down and her eyes on the sidewalk. He asked her if she was hungry. Her answer was a shrug.

“When was the last time you’ve eaten?” he asked her.