Chapter 19

We finished the inventory and were sitting in the great room, waiting for Carl. The Weather Channel played in the background, but no one paid attention. We were all thinking about the duplicate books and their possible implication.

A little after eleven, there was a soft knock on the door. Kevin ran to let Carl in. Ah, youth! Carl looked fresh as a daisy, and we all looked like we'd been ridden hard and put up wet.

Despite his appearance, Carl was obviously tired and not into wasting time. "Where's the computer?" he asked. His own super-duper laptop and a few cables were stuffed under his arm. Kevin led him to the great room and pointed to the laptop computer on the coffee table.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Ruthie asked.

"A Pepsi would be great if you have one, but anything with caffeine will do. It's been a long day."

Before Ruthie returned with the drink, Carl had hooked his computer into Abby's and was scanning the file. Honestly, the guy was a genius. He took one sip of the soda and decoded the file. "I figured it was one of the standard algorithms. I've saved the decrypted folder on the hard drive as Folder Two." He took another swallow of Pepsi. "I'll leave it to you to review the files and figure out what they mean. I'm tired and need to go home."

"Carl," I said, following him out, "we're so grateful."

"No big deal. This is child's play."

Child's play! I knew I needed to hire a ten-year-old to teach me about the new technology.

Carl left, and we all stood around looking at the computer and the book with Willows' name in it. Thankfully, Penny Sue said what we were thinking. "I'm too tired to mess with this. Let's get together early tomorrow, say eight, and review it. Everyone nodded, though I noticed Kevin's eyes were glued to the computer.

When Ruthie, Penny Sue, and I arrived the next morning, Alice was in her velour robe and Kevin had already read the decrypted files. He'd apparently stayed up all night. Of course, he had the most to lose.

We brought a pot of coffee and tray of freshly baked sweet rolls with us--Ruthie's idea. As we served up the food, Kevin explained his findings.

"The major file was Willows' dissertation. The other files in the folder compared his work to The History of Enterprise and Orange County, Florida. I'll skip through a lot, but Willows plagiarized his dissertation. I remember now that Abby critiqued a draft of Willows' dissertation and apparently recognized some of his passages, after she found the old book in New Jersey. I discovered a letter in the folder to a boyfriend or colleague at Yale. Abby said she planned to meet Willows for dinner and confront him about the plagiarism. Knowing Abby, I suspect she threatened to expose Willows to force him to drop out of the chairmanship competition. He was really the strongest candidate, considering he'd already worked there. I'm speculating, but that's probably the reason for the argument she had with Willows at the library. She had his copy of the book with her, because it came out of the box that was returned by Woody." Kevin ran his hand across the stubble on his chin. "I know from experience that Abby would stop at nothing to get what she wanted.

"She also kept a diary on the computer, and there was an entry after she discovered Willows' book at the library. She wrote that it proved her theory and guaranteed that Willows would drop out of the competition. She also planned to blackmail Willows into raising questions about my credentials."

"So, Willows plagiarized his dissertation. Big deal," Penny Sue said.

Kevin gazed at her like she'd lost her mind. "Penny Sue, plagiarism would not only disqualify his dissertation, but his Ph.D. would have been rescinded! No Ph.D., no job, tenure, or chance for the chairmanship. Don't you see--the book with Willows' name was concrete proof that he cheated, and his career would be ruined."

"Oh."

As Kevin spoke, Ruthie paged through Willows' copy of the book. Suddenly she gasped, staring at the inside of the back cover. "Oh my God, look at this!" She pointed to a square patch, like a nicotine patch, that was riddled with pinpricks."

"Don't touch it," Penny Sue screamed. "There may be fingerprints."

"Right," Alice chimed in. "Remember the drawing of the marks on Abby's body? There was a square on her upper arm filled with dots. It said something about irregular concentrations of nicotine." She slapped her knee. "Darn, I wish we'd thought to make a copy of that report."

"I wonder if the pinpricks could have caused the irregular concentrations," Penny Sue mused. "Does anyone know a pharmacist?"

"I do, at Publix." I called my friend Beth, and asked her if pinpricks could compromise a nicotine patch.

"Are you kidding? Of course it would. Transdermal patches have a complex matrix designed to release the medicine in a constant dosage over time. Disrupt the matrix--like with pinpricks or cutting a patch in half--and the medicine would be delivered unevenly. Messing with a nicotine patch could easily cause too little or too much nicotine to get in a person's system."

"Could a big dose of nicotine cause a heart attack?" I asked.

"Absolutely. Leigh, you aren't trying to quit smoking, are you?"

"No, this isn't about me."

"Thank God. Whatever it's about, don't ever alter a transdermal patch, especially not one for blood pressure medicine, a painkiller, or nicotine. You could easily kill yourself."

"Kill yourself," I repeated. "Wow, I had no idea."

"If you know someone who's altered a patch, take it off, and get them to a hospital," Beth said seriously.

"No, you confirmed my suspicion and averted a disaster," I lied. "Thanks for your time. I'll see you soon." I hung up the phone and turned to face four gaping mouths. "An altered nicotine patch could cause a heart attack!"

"Especially if the person already had a patch on. Remember, the drawing indicated that Abby was wearing a patch on her shoulder blade," Kevin said.

"Why would she put on another patch?" Penny Sue asked.

"She didn't," Ruthie said excitedly. "Willows did it. He grabbed her arm when they argued in the library, remember? I'll bet he had the altered patch in the palm of his hand and just slapped it on her." Ruthie massaged her temples. "Let's see, how did it go?"

"Abby started to stomp away from Willows, but he snatched her arm and swung her around to face him. That's when he noticed we were watching them, so he walked away. Abby started to follow, but tripped, dropping her books. That's it! I know what happened. That's why she stayed in the bathroom so long," I shouted.

"What? What?" Penny Sue demanded.

I was so excited I couldn't stand still. "She faked the fall so she could hide the book in the stacks. Willows probably threatened her, and she was afraid he might try to steal the book. So, she waited until we left and went back to get it. Don't you remember that her right hand was clenched as if she'd been holding something? But, by that time, there was so much nicotine in her system that her heart gave out, and her hand relaxed enough for Willows' book to fall to the floor along with everything else."

"Yes, but how did the patch get inside the book?" Alice asked.

Penny Sue answered. "Abby was sweating like a pig. I'll bet she wiped perspiration from her arm, and she discovered the patch, or it came off in her hand. Abby realized that Willows slapped it on her, so she held on to it to prove he tried to kill her. It was probably in her hand when she pulled the book off the shelf. In fact, she may have put it in the book for safekeeping. Only her heart gave out!"

I reached in my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. "I'm calling Woody. That patch is the murder weapon, and the book proves Willows did it."

Woody said he'd send someone over for the book and Abby's computer. He also told me he'd put out an All Points Bulletin (APB) to have Willows picked up by the police. Alice brought out her gun to protect the evidence, and Penny Sue wrapped the book in plastic wrap with the patch still stuck inside. Kevin nervously channel surfed, Ruthie loaded the dishwasher, and I sat in stunned silence. Plagiarism and a nicotine patch. Who would have thought?

After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only about forty minutes, there was a knock on the door. We all bounced up to answer it, but Penny Sue beat us to the punch, followed by Kevin. It was Deputy Heather Brooks.

"I hear you people had an eventful morning," she said. "Woody sent me to make a pick up."

Kevin handed over the book and computer.

Heather grinned. "I've had a busy morning, too." She canted her head toward the patrol car. Her partner, Tommy, was riding shotgun, and there were two men in the backseat. "Guess who I found on the way over?"

By this time we'd all gathered in the hallway. "Willows?" Penny Sue exclaimed. "But who's the other guy?"

"Peter O'Brien. They claim they were on their way to survey some real estate."

"Peter?!"

"Yep, the men were right in front of us, in the drive-thru lane of Dunkin' Donuts, when I got a call from Woody and the APB came though. Poor guys. Their coffee cost a bundle, in more ways than one. Just as the coffee was passed over to them, I turned on my lights and gave the siren a couple of whoops. Both men were so startled they dumped the steaming coffee in their laps and jumped out of the car. By then Tommy and I were standing beside them and merely had to slap on the cuffs."

"Oh, my Lord!" Penny Sue was laughing so hard tears were streaming down her face. "What happened then?"

"Tommy put them in the backseat of our car and drove Willows' Honda to a parking spot. I pulled up and got our coffees." Heather suppressed a grin. "I didn't want to hold up the line, you know."

"That's unbelievable," Kevin said, cracking a smile.

Heather grinned widely. "Yeah, but it's not so clear cut anymore. Willows claims that O'Brien killed Abby with the nicotine patch over a real estate deal."

My hand went to my throat, as I recalled the scene of O'Brien and Abby entering the library for the debate. O'Brien did have his arm around Abby to shield her from the crowd. It was her left arm, the one with the square patch, and not a round one like all of the others. My gosh, we were right about how, but might be wrong about who. "I saw O'Brien with his hand on Abby's arm at the library. Willows may be telling the truth. Is that why you're taking O'Brien in?"

"For now, he's under arrest for assaulting an officer. The old guy kneed Tommy in the crotch for trying to cuff him. That's excuse enough to get fingerprints and confirm Willows' story one way or another, assuming there are fingerprints on this patch. Don't worry," Heather said, shifting the computer to her other hand. "I'm sure Woody will report back to you. After all, you guys probably saved the county a ton of money. In fact, Woody's probably so happy that he might even be pleasant for a few days."

"One quick question," Penny Sue said. "Do you think the Marzanos will do time?"

"Probably not. I heard the two boys sang like birds on the drug/burglary operation. Your break-in had nothing to do with drugs, though Papa convinced Andy to give that up in a deal to avoid jail. It seems Andy and his friend were Willows' students that he hired to help him move into a new condo in New Smyrna Beach. The dumbbells accidentally switched the boxes of books intended for donation with the ones headed for Willows' condo. They donated the valuable books to the library and took the rejects to Willows' place. He didn't realize anything was wrong, until Abby confronted him with the fact that she'd purchased his copy of the book from the library, and that it proved he'd plagiarized his dissertation. According to Andy Marzano, Willows threatened everything short of murder if the boys didn't get the book back. That's why they kept trying to break into your condo."

"What about Susan?" Penny Sue asked.

"Momma Marzano claimed she was only following her son to see what he was up to. But the c-notes found in her possession were marked by the Drug Task Force, so she could be charged. It's iffy. I doubt they'll pursue it if they nab the ringleaders of the drug gang. I give her credit, though. The lady played it smart. If not for your sting and the marked bills, there's no way Susan could have been tied to the drugs."

Heather left, and we dragged ourselves back to the living room still laughing at the thought of Willows' and O'Brien's steaming crouches. We had barely snuggled into our usual seats when there was another knock on the door.

"Dammit, you know it's Guthrie!" Penny Sue said as she stomped down the hall. "He saw the police car and just had to find out what happened." She jerked the door open and shrieked.

Then a deep male voice said, "Long time no see, Honey Bunny. How about lunch at the Riverview?"