Death With Dostoevsky Read online

  ‘She hasn’t met Saul Goldstein yet. If you won’t tell me where to find her, I’ll figure it out for myself.’ He slammed out the door, and a minute later Emily could see him through the window marching toward Eliot Hall.

  Svetlana buried her face in her hands. ‘Oh, Professor—’

  ‘Emily, remember?’

  ‘Emily. I’m so afraid she’ll just take it out on Daniel. Why can’t he back off and let me live my own life?’

  ‘I hope I didn’t make things worse by telling him what she’s like. I was just trying to get him to let up on you a little.’

  Svetlana shook her head with a small smile. ‘Don’t worry about that. He was bound to find out sooner or later.’ She smoothed her hair with a deep sigh. ‘I’d better warn Daniel.’

  Emily glanced back toward the pickup counter and saw two cups that looked like her latte and Daniel’s black coffee. ‘I’ll walk with you.’

  As they left the building, Emily said, ‘I wouldn’t want to be actually in the room when your father confronts Taylor Curzon – it doesn’t sound very safe – but I wouldn’t mind watching it through a hidden camera. That could be a confrontation worthy of a Dostoevsky novel.’

  Svetlana sighed. ‘I wish I could be a million miles away. Though I couldn’t be sure the fallout wouldn’t reach that far. My father is a pit bull. Once he gets his teeth into something, he doesn’t let go until he’s torn it to shreds.’

  ‘I hate to say it, but that could be a godsend in this case. Someone’s got to bring Curzon down eventually. He just might be the man to do it.’ Emily gave a gallows chuckle. ‘Who knows, he could end up inadvertently saving Daniel from her clutches. That would be irony for you.’

  Svetlana burst out in a musical laugh that ended with a slightly hysterical edge. ‘Saving the man he’ll never let me marry. That might be enough to make him give up law for good.’

  They had nearly reached the library when Svetlana’s phone pinged. She glanced at it and stopped in her tracks.

  ‘Daniel’s gone to Curzon’s office.’ She shot a panicked look at Emily. ‘He’s bound to run into my father there.’

  Emily gave a sly smile. ‘I just remembered some urgent business with Professor Curzon. Would you care to join me or sit this one out?’

  Svetlana hesitated. ‘My being there might only make things worse, but I don’t think I can stand to stay away. I’ll wait in the hall in case I’m needed.’

  They changed course slightly toward Vollum College Center. The two coffees Emily was carrying seemed superfluous now, so she set them down on a concrete pillar before they entered – free caffeine for some needy student. She and Svetlana climbed to the third floor. As soon as they reached the top of the stairs, they could hear raised voices from the direction of Curzon’s office. The loudest among them, unsurprisingly, was Saul Goldstein’s.

  ‘Ha! Caught you in flagrante. I’d heard about your … proclivities, Professor Curzon, but I must admit I did not expect to walk in on you actually trying to force yourself on a student.’

  Emily and Svetlana raced down the hall and arrived breathless in the doorway. They peered over Goldstein’s hunched shoulders to see Curzon smoothing her jacket with a smug smile, while Daniel cowered purple-faced in a corner.

  ‘You mistake me, sir. Whoever you are. I was merely conferring with Daniel over a difficult passage in his paper.’ Curzon gestured toward the open laptop on her desk – the far side of the desk, facing toward her chair and away from where they all stood. The woman couldn’t even be bothered to come up with a credible explanation for her behavior. Outrage arose in Emily’s blood – along with something in her throat that threatened to gag her.

  Goldstein was clearly not taken in by this transparent ruse. He moved farther into the room and turned toward Daniel, so that Emily could see his face. ‘And you – you weren’t exactly fighting her off.’ Recognition dawned in his eyes. ‘Wait a minute – you’re that Daniel my Svetlana’s always going on about. Are you responsible for her getting a D?’

  Daniel opened his mouth to protest, but Curzon cut him off. ‘I assure you, Mr – Goldstein, I presume? – neither Daniel nor any other student has anything to do with my grading policy. “Your” Svetlana earned that D through consistently shoddy work in my class.’

  ‘That is outrageous and untrue!’ Goldstein shouted. ‘I demand to see her work!’

  Her smile turned derisive. ‘And you’re fluent in Russian, are you, so as to be able to understand a word of it?’

  He sputtered. Emily swallowed down whatever was choking her and came fully into the room. ‘Perhaps I could be of assistance as a mediator. I am fluent in Russian and could evaluate Svetlana’s work as a neutral party.’

  Curzon flared. ‘Since when is one professor’s grading policy open to scrutiny by another professor at this institution? Especially one who doesn’t officially work here anymore?’

  Emily had to admit she had a point. Disputes like this technically had to be resolved at a higher level. ‘I suggest we take this to the head of the division. This isn’t the first time a student has complained about your grading being unfair, Taylor. Mr Goldstein’s interference may be … inappropriate, however well meant, but that doesn’t mean his point is invalid. Svetlana would have complained herself if—’ At the last moment Emily decided it would be unwise to finish the sentence: if she weren’t afraid you’d retaliate against Daniel.

  Curzon crossed her arms and leaned back against her desk. ‘Fine. Will you call Richard or shall I?’

  Emily hesitated. She had momentarily forgotten that the head of her division was unlikely to take her side in any dispute, no matter how obviously in the right she might be. But at least she could present the case without Taylor having a chance to put her spin on it. ‘I will. I’ll let you know what he says.’ She turned to Goldstein. ‘And now I suggest you let your daughter give you a tour of the campus. There’s nothing more you can do here for the moment.’

  Svetlana moved forward into her father’s line of sight. He glowered, but capitulated for the moment. ‘Come on, Svetlana,’ he growled. ‘I need some air.’

  Emily turned to Daniel. ‘And I think you and Professor Curzon could discuss your paper at another time. Perhaps in a more public place.’

  Daniel shot her a look of pure gratitude and scurried out. Emily closed the door behind him and turned to face Taylor Curzon.

  ‘Taylor, this has got to stop.’

  ‘Parents interfering with my instructional methods? I fully agree.’

  ‘You know what I mean. You interfering with your male students. Don’t deny it – everyone on campus knows what you get up to. Only the students are too afraid to speak out, and the rest of us can’t do anything without proof. Well, I intend to put a stop to it one way or another. Starting with Daniel.’

  Curzon sneered. ‘Oh, so you want him for yourself, do you? Can’t say I blame you – so deliciously dark and disturbed, just like a character from your precious Dostoevsky.’ She gave Emily the once-over, making her acutely aware of every wrinkle and extra pound which Taylor herself did not possess. ‘But do you seriously think you’re in with a chance?’

  ‘I don’t want to be. I’m happily engaged to a wonderful man my own age. But if I did want to try, my chances would be exactly the same as yours – zero. Daniel’s heart is taken, and his integrity would never allow him to give in to you out of expediency. He’d rather flunk out of Bede completely.’

  ‘Oh, come now, Emily. No one’s as idealistic as that. What’s a little harmless fun compared to his entire future career? No, I think you’ll find Daniel will be quite amenable in the end. They always are.’

  ‘Not this time, Taylor. Mark my words. Not. This. Time.’

  SIX

  Once she’d closed Taylor’s office door behind her, the thing that had risen up to choke Emily when she first saw Taylor with Daniel came back in full force. She could hardly breathe. Still clueless as to what was causing this, she stumbled down the hall to Ma
rguerite’s office, seeking sanctuary.

  Marguerite opened to her knock, and immediately her delicate brows contracted in concern. ‘Chérie, qu’est-ce qui se passe? You look like death.’

  ‘I’m not sure. I need to sit down.’ Emily staggered past her and dropped onto her small sofa. ‘Water …’

  Marguerite filled a water glass and handed it to her. ‘You look as if you need a doctor.’

  ‘No, no, I’ll be all right. Just give me a minute.’

  ‘Perhaps some brandy, then?’

  ‘Yes, I will take that. Thanks.’

  Marguerite handed her a snifter, then sat beside her and took her free hand. ‘Your hand is like ice. If you are not ill, then something must have happened. Tell me.’

  Emily took a few deep breaths punctuated by sips of brandy. ‘I’m really not sure. I’ve just come from Taylor’s office. It’s a long story – other people were there – but we more or less walked in on Taylor making a move on Daniel. And it hit me like – I don’t know – not just the outrage you’d expect, but something more visceral. It hit me like a punch in the gut.’ She took another breath, battling the sensation that her chest was closing in.

  Marguerite frowned. ‘Perhaps it reminded you of what happened to Katie in the autumn?’

  A few months ago, Emily had been just in time to rescue Katie from being assaulted again by the man who had raped and impregnated her more than a year before. That had been traumatic, but her concern had all been directed outward, toward Katie. This was different.

  ‘I don’t think so. This feels – more personal. As if it reminded me of something that had happened to me. Only …’

  She was about to say, Only I’ve never been sexually assaulted. But was that true? Indistinct flashes of memory tugged at the corners of her mind. A blurry face, much too close to hers. A cloying smell. A wheedling voice that sickened her.

  A knock came at the office door. Emily started, but Marguerite steadied her. ‘Reste là. I will send them away.’

  Marguerite opened the door, and Emily heard Richard’s voice. She didn’t pick up his words, but the voice itself merged with her memory flashes and intensified them. Then, as Marguerite shut the door on Richard, a draft blew in, carrying a whiff of his aftershave. Suddenly all the flashes coalesced and she was sick.

  Marguerite grabbed the wastebasket just in time, then wet a cloth and gently wiped Emily’s face. ‘Ma pauvre petite,’ she crooned, rocking Emily and urging her to take another sip of brandy.

  At length Emily regained enough control over herself to speak. ‘It was something that happened to me. Right here at Bede. Over thirty years ago. And I’d blocked it out until now.’

  Her breath was still coming ragged. She willed it to steady as Marguerite stroked her hand. ‘Old Professor Jenkins. He was gone by the time you came. By the time I came back as an instructor.’

  She paused, and Marguerite put in, ‘And he had a reputation like Taylor’s?’

  Emily nodded. ‘I had him for Hum One Ten. He singled me out from the very first seminar, only I was too naive to realize what was going on. I thought he just appreciated my contributions to the discussions. I was used to being teacher’s pet, after all.’

  She took a breath and another sip of brandy. ‘Then I had my first paper conference with him. First time I’d been alone in a room with him. His office was in the old Faculty Office Building. That was gone by the time you came, too. Terrible place, crumbling at the edges. Never meant to be permanent.’

  Marguerite pressed her hand as if to recall her gently to the point. It was so much easier to talk about the derelict old building than about what had happened there.

  ‘We discussed the paper first. I was expecting a positive review, given how encouraging he’d been in class. But he picked it to pieces. My first paper at Bede, of course it wasn’t brilliant, but his criticism was harsh, unreasonable. I was in tears.’

  Emily’s hands began to shake as if the scene were being repeated here and now. ‘He told me he was going to have to give me a D – unless I was really nice to him.’ She snorted. ‘I was so stupid. Even then I thought, what, bring him coffee? Carry his briefcase from class to class? I just sat there gaping at him, trying to figure out what was really going on.’

  A shudder shook her from head to toe. Marguerite rubbed her back, murmuring unintelligibly in French. Emily forced herself to continue. ‘Then he got this smile that even a nun couldn’t misinterpret, and I got scared. He stood up, came around the desk, and pulled me to my feet. I tried to get away, but he was too strong. I started to yell, but he smashed his mouth down on mine. I thought I was going to suffocate. I struggled and kicked, trying to make enough noise to attract someone’s attention outside. But he backed me up against the door and shoved his hands down my jeans, up my sweater.’

  Marguerite gave a little cry, and Emily squeezed her hand. ‘Thank God, that’s as far as it went. Someone knocked on the door right then, and I kicked at it from my side so Jenkins had to let me go. He called out, “Just a minute!” and made signs at me to put myself right. Then he opened the door to whoever it was, and I hightailed it out of there. I didn’t stop running till I got to my room.’

  Marguerite gave her a minute, then said, ‘What happened after that? Did you report him?’

  ‘No. I was too ashamed. I felt I should have caught on so much sooner, never put myself in that position. For all I knew, that was how one got As at Bede. I didn’t have a close female friend at that point, so I never told a soul. Until now.’

  ‘And he never tried it again?’

  ‘I didn’t give him a chance. I transferred out of his section and never took another class with him, so I never had to be alone with him after that.’

  ‘And all these years you did not remember this?’

  Emily shook her head. ‘I know it’s common for people to block out traumatic experiences. But you’d think what happened with Katie would have brought it back, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Perhaps you needed to be in the same place – at least on the same campus – to trigger the memory.’

  ‘I suppose. And Richard helped as well, when he came to the door just now.’ Emily blinked in sudden understanding. ‘Now I know why Richard bothers me so much. His voice is like Jenkins’s. And he wears the same aftershave, too.’

  ‘And has the same lustful tendencies. Though, as far as I know, he has never assaulted a student.’

  Emily snorted. ‘His one redeeming feature. Although I’m sure that’s only because he would fear losing his job if he did.’

  ‘Sans doute. You may feel your emotions have been accusing Richard unjustly, mon amie, but I would not let him off the hook because he is not Jenkins. He is Richard, and that is bad enough.’

  After the stress of her revelations, Marguerite insisted on getting Emily something to eat. Since returning immediately to work was out of the question in her emotional state, Emily allowed herself to be led back to the Paradox and plied with a croissant and more coffee.

  ‘Now that I’m thinking straight again,’ she said after a few bites had dispelled her shakiness, ‘I never told you about the whole scene in Taylor’s office. What I was doing there in the first place.’

  ‘Non, you did not,’ Marguerite replied placidly. ‘And I am burning with curiosity. But for your sake I restrain myself.’

  ‘Daniel came into the library alone this morning and told me Svetlana’s father was on campus. You know Svetlana? Daniel’s girlfriend?’

  ‘The dancer?’ Marguerite sketched a chignon. ‘Oui, she is hard to miss.’

  ‘That’s the one. But if her father had his way, she’d never dance – or see Daniel – again. He’s set on her going to law school, and he came to bully Taylor into replacing the D she gave Svetlana last semester with the A she probably deserves.’

  ‘Bully Taylor? That I would like to see.’

  ‘It would take a different kind of man from Saul Goldstein to pull it off, if it could be done. But Svetlana and
I followed him to Taylor’s office once we heard Daniel was already there. That’s when – well, I told you about that bit.’

  Emily took a restorative sip of latte and went on. ‘Anyway, trying to defuse the situation with regard to Svetlana, at least, I promised I’d talk to Richard about getting a review of her work for Taylor’s class. If we could prove unfair bias there, it would help Svetlana directly and might give us the beginnings of a sexual misconduct case against Taylor.’

  Again the aftermath of her flashback shuddered through her. ‘But honestly, I don’t think I can face Richard at this point; even though I know it isn’t really about him, the memories he’s connected to are too raw. I was hoping you might take care of it for me. Are you making any progress with him?’

  ‘Comme ci, comme ça. He enjoyed your dinner party, though one would not have known it at the time. He is perhaps slightly, how would you say, softened up toward you and your concerns.’

  ‘I suppose it would be pushing it to try to sway him in two directions at once. Getting rid of Taylor and promoting Oscar.’

  ‘It would be easier if Taylor’s position were one Oscar could move into. Then it would be two sides of one coin.’

  ‘Yeah. Too bad Oscar’s not qualified to teach Russian.’ Emily licked the last flakes of croissant from her fingers. ‘Would Richard have any natural sympathy with our cause against Taylor?’

  ‘It is possible. I believe he fancies her, which would work against us, but as she has undoubtedly spurned him for her younger men, his resentment could outweigh his lust. I am to dine with him this evening. I will do some subtle probing.’

  ‘Thanks, Margot. I’m going to owe you big-time after all this.’

  ‘Certainement. Merely spending time in Richard’s company, let alone buttering him up, is a sacrifice worthy of great reward. But do not worry, I will take it in the form of frequent visits to Windy Corner.’

  ‘That’s no sacrifice at all on my part. Win-win for me.’

  ‘Which of course you do not at all deserve, since all of these efforts on your part are entirely for your own personal ends.’ With a lift of a perfect eyebrow, Marguerite reached across the table and pressed her hand. ‘We are friends, not bookkeepers. There is no need to balance the accounts.’