From Here to Paternity

including the two victims, were, to put it politely, ‘mature’ individuals. Most people of that age have their passions well under control. If they didn’t, they’d be in jail or a mental institution. Can you really imagine Mrs. Schmidtheiser and Bill Smith having a wild sexual affair? If so, you can cast Mrs. Smith in the role of suspect.“
    “Mel!“ Jane said, scandalized.
    “The other kind of passion is all sorts of things that fall under the heading of self-defense,“ he went on, ignoring her. “Defense in physical terms, of course, but often defense of a lifework. Let’s say you—wait, let me think of a good one. Okay, suppose you’d won an Olympic gold medal in something like speed skating, and in forty years your record still hadn’t been broken. You’ve spent those forty years teaching, pontificating, being a celebrity on the strength of it. Every four years when the Olympics roll around, the newspeople come and do nice, flattering film pieces on you. Then one day someone comes up to you and says he has proof that you had tiny little rockets attached to your skates when you won.“
    Jane smiled at the image.
    “It’s silly, but don’t you see? You’ve made that record your lifework. Your entire reputation rests on a cheat and here’s somebody threatening your life, in a sense.“
    Jane nodded. “Like Bill’s resort, which was his lifework, and Doris’s research, which was hers.“
    “But, Jane, the difference is, I’m talking about perpetrators—and they were the victims,“ Mel said.
    There was a moment’s thick silence before Jane said, “Hell! So what’s the point?“
    “Don’t get defensive,“ he said. “I’m just pointing out the reasons I think it has to come back to money. It’s the only thing that makes sense and provides a strong enough motive.“
    “And the only large amounts of money at stake here involve the resort,“ Shelley said.
    “If that’s true, how does Doris figure in?“ Jane asked. “It’s not as if she’d stand to profit if the resort was sold or wasn’t.“
    “Unless she knew something that would prevent the sale,“ Shelley said. “If either Pete or Tenny really thought they would profit from the sale and Doris knew—oh, maybe that Bill wasn’t really Gregory’s son and thus didn’t really own the land—wouldn’t that make it worthwhile to stop her from telling anyone?“
    “Jeez! That’s a bizarre thought,“ Jane said. “Everybody’s been concentrating on who Gregory really was, but nobody’s questioned who Bill really was. And Doris had spent years snooping around the family relationships.“
    “I’m afraid I was just giving an example, Jane,“ Shelley said. “And a bad one at that. You’re forgetting about that old photograph.“
    “Not entirely. That little boy looked a lot like the mother in the picture, but he was just a cute little boy who could have grown up to look like anybody. He might not have been the older man we knew as Bill Smith. Remember, Tenny told us that the mother died when Bill was very little, and Gregory pretty much left it to some of the tribal women to take care of him. Suppose, for some weird reason, one of them had substituted another child—“
    And even as Jane was speaking, she heard how stupid it sounded.
    “I’m sorry,“ she said. “My brain’s run amok.“
    “I’m so glad you were the one to say that,“ Mel muttered. “Everybody done? Let’s get back to see what that fleabag dog of yours has done.“
    After they’d gotten back on the road and were nearing the resort, Shelley said, “Jane, I think I’ve got a blister on my heel. I want to run in the gift shop and get a bandage for it. Will you come along and walk back with me?“
    “I’ll come with you, too,“ Mike said. “There’s something I need.“
    Mel took the rest of the kids back to the cabins and Jane sat in the lobby, waiting for Shelley and Mike to return. As she waited, Lucky passed through with an armload of notebooks and file folders. When he saw her sitting alone, he came and sat down. “Are you teaching a class?“ she asked.
    “No, just finished one. The last of the evening.“
    “Oh! I’m glad I ran into you,“ Jane said. She’d reached into her jacket pocket for a tissue and had felt something else. She pulled out the tooth. “I’ve been meaning to give you this. It’s HawkHunter’s tooth. I found it out by the front door. The snow had melted back there and it appeared. If you think it might