"Jim, I know why Dr. Stoddard was hurt."

  The sentinel blinked in surprise, taken off guard by Blair's words. "What'd you find out, Chief?"

  "Well, I think we were way off base with our smuggling theory." Quickly, Blair explained the facts regarding Susan's dissertation and the mining cooperative that had most likely paid her to falsify her findings. "All we have to do is check her bank account during that time period," he finished. "I'm sure we'll find some heavy deposits."

  Jim shook his head, amazed at what his partner had told him. "So there's no doubt in your mind that the thesis was falsified?"

  "No doubt whatsoever. You look at the reports Dr. Nahim sent and it's clear."

  "But why didn't Dr. Stoddard catch that in the first place? Why is this happening so many years after the thing was published?"

  "Jim, I doubt the professor ever even saw the thesis. Susan only worked with him for a year, then she came back to Cascade and published. Her advisor of record was changed upon her return, so her work could have easily slipped by."

  "Aren't there controls in place for this sort of thing?"

  "Normally, yes. But if a student can successfully defend his or her thesis material during orals, then it would be possible to pass off a falsified thesis, especially if no one on the committee had first-hand experience with the subject matter."

  A new thought struck Jim. "I don't suppose Chancellor Edwards was on her daughter's committee?"

  "No," Blair said without hesitation, "That would be collusion. But I have a feeling that even if anyone on the committee had doubts about Susan's thesis material, they were probably stopped from investigating it further simply because Susan's mom has such an influential position on campus."

  "Sounds pretty political."

  "Yeah I'd say that about describes it."

  Jim sat back in his chair and considered all he had just been told. "Sandburg, I understand the embarrassment Susan Edwards would feel if this were ever made public. But I just don't see it as motive enough to have Professor Stoddard run down."

  "Jim, this goes way beyond embarrassment," Blair explained. "If this gets out, Susan Edwards is finished in the academic world. People in my profession live and die by their reputation, and if it's proven that Susan Edwards falsified her dissertation, she'll never work again. No university or college will hire her. Everything she's ever worked for would be lost."

  Jim let out a low whistle of surprise. "I had no idea."

  "It's true, Jim. There is no recovering from something like this." Blair paused. "Makes for a good motive, don't you think?"

  "Yeah, Chief it does. Okay, then--I'm going to try and get a warrant to check Susan's bank account, see if we can confirm your suspicions about the payments."

  "Sounds good, Jim. I put a call in to Chancellor Edwards. I'm meeting with her in about an hour. I plan to lay this all out for her, warn her ahead of time before I go to Rainier's board with it tomorrow."

  Jim shook his head. "Sandburg, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but you don't owe that woman any favors after the way she's treated you."

  "I'm not going to sink to her level, man. She wants to act unprofessional, that's her choice. But I'm going to go out of my way to make sure I give her every courtesy and handle the whole thing through the proper channels."

  "All right, Chief." Jim sat up straight in his chair again and glanced at his watch, trying to decide how long it would take him to drive over to Rainier. "Do you want some moral support? I could head over there now and make your meeting..."

  "No, Jim, I'll be fine. I'm just going to talk to Edwards and then head over to the station and hook up with you. I'll even pick up some dinner on the way. Maybe by then, you'll have some news on those bank records. We may have nailed Susan at Rainier, but we still need to find the evidence to link her to Dr. Stoddard's accident."

  "Okay, I'll get started here. And Blair?" Jim said before his partner could hang up, "You did a good job on this one. You had a hunch about all of this from the very beginning and you didn't give up until you proved you were right. Nice work."

  There was a short pause on other end of the line. Then Blair spoke, his voice soft, appreciative: "Thanks, Jim. That means a lot to me."

  /

  /

  /

  Susan Edwards stood outside her mother's office, staring at the nameplate on the door. Chancellor. She gritted her teeth, anger pulsing through her. She'd been called down here as if she were just another member of the staff instead of Alicia Edwards' daughter. She knocked sharply before proceeding inside.

  "Mother," she bit out, crossing to the large desk, "I don't appreciate being summoned to your office this way. It's embarrassing."

  Chancellor Edwards looked up, her eyes dark with anger. "And I don't appreciate spending the day listening to rumors about my own daughter."

  Susan sat in one of two chairs that flanked the oak desk. "There are always rumors, Mother. People are jealous, so they talk. It means nothing."

  The chancellor nodded, tapping her pen against her desktop. "Most days I would agree. Not today." She tossed her pen aside. "I've been told that Blair Sandburg has been asking a lot of questions about what happened to Professor Stoddard, and his questions seem to center around you. Now he's called me and wants to talk to me. What is going on, Susan? Did you have something to do with what happened to Eli?"

  "This is so ridiculous," Susan muttered, struggling even now to try and understand how things had gotten so out of control.

  "Susan, did you have anything to do with that accident?" her mother demanded.

  "Yes," she admitted. "But not in the way you think." Pushing up from the chair, she began pacing before her mother's desk. "Dr. Stoddard found out about my thesis. He was going to go to the board and expose me. I had to do something."

  "So you tried to kill him?"

  "No, of course not," Susan said, waving away the ludicrous statement. "I simply wanted to talk with him and--well, things got a bit out of hand."

  "Out of hand? Susan, the man is in a coma!"

  "It wasn't my fault, Mother." Susan stopped pacing and turned toward the desk again. "Jerry was just supposed to persuade Dr. Stoddard to get in the car. Then we would go somewhere and talk. Instead, the jerk hit him with his car."

  "Jerry? Jerry who?"

  Susan sighed impatiently. "Jerry Cutter. He's out on parole. I read about him in the paper a while back and approached him about all this. He-"

  "You're consorting with a man who's been in prison? What were you thinking? How can you even trust this man?"

  "You worry too much, Mother." Susan took her seat again. "I must admit that when I first realized that Jerry had actually hit Professor Stoddard, I was horrified. But now... well, it's all working out for the best. Dear old Eli is in a coma so there's no chance that he going to tell anyone about my thesis."

  "Except that Blair Sandburg seems to know everything," the chancellor insisted. "I just don't understand how you could do this. How can you just throw away everything you worked for here at Rainier?"

  "Rainier?" Susan ground out. "Oh, please! Do you think I planned to stay at this no-name college for the rest of my career? With what I've accomplished since Borneo, it was just a matter of time before I was getting offers from Harvard or Yale." She glared at her mother, then cast a scathing glance around the plush office. "Maybe you're content to spend your career in this damp dungeon, but not me."

  "Susan!"

  "Just stop it, Mother! This humble act doesn't suit you." Standing, she placed her hands flat against the desktop and leaned toward her mother. "And don't pretend for one minute that you didn't know about all of this from the very beginning. You knew I'd been talking with the mining cooperative before that trip to Borneo, setting them up. You knew why I wanted to go so badly. That's why you pressed Stoddard to take me with him and that's why you were so upset when Dr. Stoddard insisted on asking Blair over me."

  Alicia Edwards stared into her daughter's eyes, her mouth pulled into a tight line of anger, her hands clasped before her in a white-knuckled grip. "So how do you suggest I make this all go away?"

  Susan straightened and crossed her arms over her chest. "You and I both know the background Blair comes from." She shrugged one shoulder. "A few... monetary promises and I'm sure he'll be off my back for good."

  Chancellor Edwards stood, meeting Susan's defiant gaze with one of her own, she said quietly, "You'd better be right, Susan, because I'm not about to lose my job or my reputation over this."

  Susan smirked. "Neither am I," she promised darkly.

  /

  /

  /

  Blair stood in the corridor outside of Chancellor Edwards office, sorting through the files he had brought with him, making sure he had everything he needed in order to prove his case against her daughter. Satisfied, he took a deep breath and knocked on the chancellor's door.

  "Come in," Alicia Edwards called from inside.

  Blair opened the door and stepped through.

  "Hello, Blair. I've been expecting you." Edwards indicated the chairs before her desk. "Please. Take a seat."

  Blair crossed the plush carpeting and sat down. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice and so late in the day. What I have to discuss with you.... it's a bit awkward--"

  "Let me stop you right there." She held up a hand, halting his words. "I've already talked to Susan. She told me what this is about."

  "Then she admitted to you that she falsified her thesis?" Blair looked down at the evidence in his hands, the case he had built so carefully. "I have to tell you that I'm surprised. I didn't really expect her to admit it so readily."

  "Well, I don't think you really understand everything that happened," Edwards said simply. "It's all just been a horrible series of mistakes and misinterpretations."

  Blair shook his head and gestured toward the files in his lap. "I'm afraid we're talking about a lot more than a few mistakes and misinterpretations here, Chancellor. I have good, solid proof--"

  The chancellor waved her hand impatiently, halting Blair's speech. "Good solid proof of what, Mr. Sandburg? You're forgetting that anthropological research, even conducted under the most scientific of methods, is somewhat subjective in nature. If Susan's thesis fails to measure up to a few facts and figures, then I'm sure it is simply a case of her subjectivity clouding her theories."

  Blair stared at the chancellor, unable to believe she could pass Susan's work off as a subjective error in judgment or theory. He tapped the top file with the tips of his fingers. "If you'd look at the facts here, you'd see that no amount of subjectivity could possibly excuse--"

  "I don't intend to look at your facts, Mr. Sandburg," the chancellor spat out. "I'm not interested in them. What I am interested in is bringing this whole misunderstanding to closure."

  Blair narrowed his eyes, studying the chancellor, and waited. She stared back at him, her expression pleasant yet determined. "I'm sure that if we just discuss a way of bringing this to a successful closure, between the two of us we could come to some kind of understanding."

  Blair's brow furrowed in confusion. "Understanding? What kind of understanding?"

  She leaned forward and rested her clasped hands on her desk. "As you are no doubt aware, I have a great deal of influence at this school, Blair. A very great deal of influence." She shrugged slightly and the smallest hint of a smile touched her lips. "The right word from me and you could be set in your career. It's amazing what a good word here and there can do for a professor's career."

  Blair stared at her, unblinking, as her words and the meaning behind them settled over him. He'd always known that Chancellor Edwards played favorites, lacked understanding, even bullied people to get her way. But he'd never suspected that she was capable of something like this. "You're trying to bribe me," he said finally, his words merely a whisper. He blinked several times. "You actually think I would cover up academic fraud for some recommendation from you?"

  Chancellor Edwards' smile increased slightly, and her features took on a more predatory appearance. "I'm not asking you to cover anything up, Blair," she said smoothly. "I'm just asking you to let me handle this in my own way. Believe me, I can make it worth your while." The chancellor reached over and drew a manila folder in front of her. She opened the file and lay her hand on top of the small stack of papers it contained. Looking back up at Blair, she said sweetly, "I see here that you still have a rather substantial balance on your student loans. It's not unusual for a university to pay a part of their professors' student loans, though such action usually only comes about as a result of a recommendation from someone in a position of authority..."

  "Someone like a chancellor, perhaps?" Blair asked, his voice low with disgust.

  The chancellor's smile brightened even more. "Yes, Blair. Like a chancellor." She closed the folder and leaned back in her chair. "You see how easy it could be?"

  Sudden understanding pulsed through Blair. There was more at stake here than Susan Edward's career. "You knew about this," he said, the words coming out slowly as he pieced it all together in his own mind. "Didn't you? You knew what Susan was planning to do before she ever went to Borneo. That's the only reason you would be offering me money to keep quiet. You're worried that if this comes out, you'll be investigated right along with your daughter." He pushed to his feet. "I don't believe this. The position you're in... you represent the entire university. How could you do this?"

  Alicia Edwards stood with him, her hands raised in a placating manner, her smug smile gone. "Please, Blair, just stop and take a minute to think about what I'm offering. Think about what I could do for you. For your career."

  "My career?" he bit out. "You think you can offer me money or a better position and I'll just go away and pretend this never happened?" He shook his head in disgust. "You don't get it at all, do you? Your daughter put a man I admire--a man I care about--in the hospital because he found out about her dirty little secret and was probably threatening to expose her." He stepped closer to the desk and pointed a finger at the chancellor. "Well, you know what, lady? I'll be damned if I'm going to let you or anyone else stop me from finishing what he started."

  "Mr. Sandburg--"

  "Don't say anything else, Chancellor," he warned, "Because your words just might come back to haunt you." He leaned forward across the desk. "You think this all stops at the academic level, but you're wrong. I don't intend for one minute to stop at the censures the university can bring against your daughter for academic fraud. I plan to push until Susan is in prison for what she did to Dr. Stoddard." He straightened and readjusted the files within his arms. Looking back at the chancellor, he added coolly, "So hang on to your bribe money, Dr. Edwards, because before this is all over, I think you're going to need it to bail your daughter out of jail."

  Part Five

  Blair gripped the wheel of the Volvo firmly as he steered through the darkening streets of Cascade, his headlights cutting through the early evening dusk. Anger still pulsed through him as his mind continuously replayed his discussion with Chancellor Edwards. He had expected anger, outrage, even denial--but never in his wildest dreams could he have suspected that the woman would try to bribe him in order to keep him quiet.

  "Jim's gonna love this," he muttered to himself, shaking his head at the strange turn of events. He just hoped his partner had been able to get that search warrant because he was more determined than ever to nail Susan's--and now Chancellor Edwards'--hides to the wall.

  Flipping on his blinker, he turned left on Trundle, using the residential street as a cut-through. He'd told Jim he would bring dinner to the station and there was a new Chinese restaurant just a few miles away that they'd both been wanting to try. But before he had traveled even a mile more, police lights came on behind him.

  Blair frowned, unsure of why he was being pulled over. He glanced down at his speedometer, but it showed he was only traveling at 30 miles per hour. Had he been speeding? As he steered his car over next to the curb, he was certain he wasn't. Maybe he had a taillight out or something.

  He turned the engine off and rolled down his window, waiting for the officer to walk up beside his car.

  "I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the car, sir," the policeman's deep voice reached him.

  Blair pulled off his glasses as he looked up at the uniformed officer who stood outside his door. He didn't recognize him. "Is there a problem, Officer?"

  "Please, just step out of the car."

  Sighing heavily, not in the mood to be hassled or detained any longer than necessary, Blair pushed out his door. May as well get this over with. "Listen, just give me the ticket--"

  His words were cut off abruptly as the man grabbed him by the arm, spun him around and slammed him up against the side of his car. Blair let out a grunt of surprise and pain. Before he knew what was happening, his arms were wrenched behind his back, his wrists locked securely in handcuffs.

  "Hey, man," he said as he was turned around again and slammed once more against his car. "What the hell is the charge here?"

  "No charges, sport," the officer said, his voice low, menacing. "But if you keep your mouth shut and do what I say, maybe I won't hurt you."

  Blair's heart slammed against his ribs as the man's words settled over him. His gaze darted to the car behind his. Fear twisted his stomach as he realized the car was not a police cruiser after all, but a dark sedan with a police light sitting on the dashboard and one broken headlight.

  "Surprise!" the man said as Blair turned his attention back to him.

  Blair licked his lips, his mind racing, trying to come up with something that would make this man let him go. "Listen, man, just take the car. My wallet is inside. There's even a cell phone and a laptop computer."

  The man laughed. "You don't seem to understand, sport." He leaned forward, positioning his face only inches from Blair's. "I'm not robbing you, I'm abducting you!" The man grabbed his arm and began leading him back to the waiting car.

  Blair struggled against the hand on his arm. "Abducting me? I don't even know you. I-" His words died off abruptly as he realized who had to be behind this. The dark sedan, the broken headlight--all of a sudden it made perfect sense. And it all pointed to Susan Edwards.