Chapter 14 Chapter 12 Professor Halpan

Dr. Jerry Halpan's apartment was less than two miles from campus, in a two-story building that would have been respectable forty years ago.When Deborah knocked on the door, he answered right away.The sun hit his face and he blinked at us.He was about thirty-five or sixteen years old, thin and emaciated, and hadn't shaved for several days. "What's the matter?" he said, with the impatient tone of an eighty-year-old pedant.He cleared his throat and said again: "What's wrong?" Deborah flashed her badge and said, "Can we come in, please?" Halpan looked at the badge with wide eyes, looking a little discouraged. "I didn't, what, why did I come in?" he said.

"We want to ask you a few questions," Deborah said, "about Ariel Goldman." Halpan fainted. I don't usually get a chance to watch my sister act surprised - she's super controlling, so it's kind of fun to see her stare at Halpan on the floor with her mouth gaping open.I quickly put on an appropriate expression and bent down to test my pulse. "His heart is still beating," I said. "Get him inside," Deborah said.I drag him into the room. The apartment was bigger than it looked, but all four walls were filled with overflowing bookshelves, and a writing desk was piled high with paper and more books.On the little space left in the house is a mottled and ugly loveseat and an overstuffed chair, with a floor lamp behind it.I struggled to get Halpan onto the sofa, which immediately sank with a creaking sound.

I stood up and almost bumped into Deborah, who was bending over to look at Halpan. "You'd better wait until he wakes up before scaring him," I said. "The bastard must know something," she said, "how else would he break down all of a sudden?" "Malnutrition?" I said. "Wake him up," she said. I looked at her to make sure she wasn't joking, but she was serious as iron. "What do you mean?" I said. "I didn't bring any smelling salts." "We can't just wait like this," she said.She leaned in as if to shake him, or punch him on the nose.

Fortunately, Halpancha regained consciousness at that moment.His eyes blinked a few times, then opened, and he tensed up when he saw us. "What are you going to do?" he said. "You promised not to faint again?" I said.Deborah elbowed me aside. "Ariel Goldman," she said. "Oh my God," Halpan whimpered, "I knew this day would come." "You guessed it," I said. "You've got to trust me," he said, struggling to sit up, "I didn't do it." "Okay," Deborah said, "who did that?" "She did it herself," he said.

Deborah looked at me as if to ask how Halpan could be so clearly confused.Too bad I have nothing to say, so she turned to look at him again. "She did it herself?" she said, with the professional suspicion of a policeman in her voice. "Yes," he said, "she wanted to make it look like I did it so I could give her a good grade." "I hope you at least gave her B for everything she did," I said. Halpan stared at us with wide eyes, his mouth was open and trembling, as if trying to shut it but couldn't. "Why..." he said at last, "what are you talking about?"

"Ariel Goldman," Deborah said, "and her roommate, Jessica Ortega. Burned. Head cut off. Do you have anything to say, Jerry ?” Halpan twitched violently and was speechless for a while. "I, I—are they dead?" he whispered. "Jerry," Deborah said, "their heads were chopped off. What do you say?" With great interest, I saw that Halpan's face changed several expressions, and finally settled on the old picture of the mouth gaping with a jingle. "You, you think it's me, you can't—" "I'm afraid I can, Jerry," said Deborah, "unless you can tell me why I can't."

"But that is, I never would," he said. "Someone will," I said. "Yes, but, my God," he said. "Jerry," Deborah said, "what do you think we were going to ask?" "Well, rape," he said, "but I didn't rape her." There should be a perfect and logical world, but unfortunately we are not in it. "When did you not rape her?" Deborah said. "Well... yes... she wanted me to... ah..." he said. "She wants you to rape her?" I said. "She...she..." he said, beginning to blush. "She offered, um... offered me sex. For good grades," he said, looking at the floor, "I declined."

"And she wants you to rape her?" I said.Deborah elbowed me again. "And then she's, uh..." he said, "She said she wanted to get a good job, and it didn't have to be this or that. She just reached up and took off her shirt, and started yelling." He swallowed, but didn't look up. See us. "Go on," Deborah said. "Then she waved to me," he said, holding up his hand in a goodbye sign. "And then she rushed down the corridor." He finally looked up. "I want to get tenure this year," he said. "If word of that gets out, it's career over for me."

"I get it," Deborah said very empathetically, "so you killed her to save your career." "What? No!" He shouted anxiously, "I didn't kill her!" "Who killed that, Jerry?" Deborah asked. "I don't know!" he said, sounding annoyed, as if we were blaming him for taking the last cookie.Deborah stared at him, and he stared back, looking between her and me. "I didn't!" he insisted. "I want to trust you too, Jerry," Deborah said, "but it's really up to me." "What do you mean?" he said.

"I have to ask you to come with me," Deborah said. "You want to arrest me?" he said. "I have to take you to the bureau to ask a few questions. That's it," she reassured. "Oh my God," he said, "you've got me under arrest. Well, no, no." "Let's do it in a calm way, Professor," Deborah said. "We don't need handcuffs, do we?" He looked at her for a long moment, then jumped up suddenly and rushed out the door.But alas, to carry out his ingenious escape plan, he had to pass me, and Dexter was quick and quick.I put a foot out where the professor passed, and he fell face down, hitting his head on the floor.

"Oh," he said. I smile at Deborah. "I think you'll need handcuffs," I said.