The Lesson of Her Death

problem, of course. But Jennie loved it. She lived for it.”
    “Gilchrist—”
    “Please. Let me finish. This spring she dropped me cold. She went back to that fucking roommate of hers. ‘Sorry, it’s over with.’ Well, that wasn’t good enough for me. No, sir. I wasn’t going to be discarded the way she tossed aside Sayles or Okun. ‘Sorry, it’s over with.’ Oh, no. I wouldn’t tolerate it, not even from a borderline personality. I called her up from San Francisco. She was too pusillanimous to break up—excuse me, Detective. She was too
cowardly
to do it in person. I was in a consuming rage for a full twenty-four hours. I calmed then I flew back.”
    “You bought a ticket under a different name. So you intended to kill her.”
    Gilchrist paused for a moment and seemed neither surprised nor alarmed that this was public knowledge. “There’s another part. Can you figure it out?”
    Corde was nodding. “You killed Susan Biagotti and Jennie found out about it.”
    The professor was, however, overtly disappointedthat Corde had made the deduction. Still he continued unemotionally. “Lying in bed with Jennie …” Gilchrist smiled at some memory. “Or lying in the bathtub with her or on the kitchen floor, I’d tell her things. You did that with her. She was disarming. Well, Susan and I had played some very serious games, I mentioned that one time to Jennie. Stupid of me but I did it.”
    “Why did you kill Susan?”
    “Accidental. We got carried away and I strangled her.”
    Corde winced, uncomprehending. He whispered, “She was somebody you must’ve cared about. Yet you hurt her so badly you killed her? Why? Was the sex that good?”
    “Not for her it wasn’t. Obviously.” He gave Corde a fast chill smile then added, “I used the hammer to cover up some of the marks and I made it look like a robbery.”
    “But you didn’t tell Jennie you’d killed her.”
    “Of course not.” Gilchrist grimaced at the foolishness of the question. “But she could link us together. When I called her from San Francisco on Sunday, when she told me she was breaking up with me, we argued. She said she was going back to Emily and if I didn’t leave her alone she’d tell the administration about the students I’d slept with. Well, our Virgin Dean has this
thing
—her professors can fuck students’ minds all they want but their bodies are off-limits. If Jennie blew the whistle Larraby would find out about Susan and me and I’d have problems. I flew back to New Lebanon and asked Jennie if I could see her. I told her I wanted us to end on a positive note. I said I had a book for her—in memory of our relationship. She agreed. We went for a walk. We ended up at the pond.”
    “And you killed her.”
    “And I killed her, yes.” Gilchrist seemed to be considering if there was anything else to say about Jennie Gebben and concluded there was not. He added, “And Ikilled Sayles and Okun because …” He brought his hands together in a concluding way. “… they were my enemies.”
    “That deputy in Lewisboro got himself shot too.”
    “I’m very pleased about that—that it wasn’t you, I mean. I was actually feeling somewhat bad thinking that you would be the first one through the door.” He nodded his head slightly.
    Corde said, “I’ll give you a one-hour start.”
    “Is there anybody outside the house?”
    “Just one deputy.”
    “So this is an unofficial visit, is it?” Gilchrist glanced at Corde with a certain level of respect. “Well, all right. Drop your car keys there.”
    “We walked. We didn’t drive.”
    “Humor me.”
    Corde tossed the keys into the middle of the floor. Gilchrist pocketed them.
    “She’s all right?”
    “Of course she’s all right. I’ve tied her hands and feet. That’s all. And gagged her.”
    People suffocate under gags. An FBI bulletin had just reported on this. Corde had noted the fact in boxy script on a three-by-five index card.
    Gilchrist picked up his suitcase. He said, “The basement.” He walked to the doorway and opened it. He stood at the top of the stairs and flicked a light switch on. Corde shouted, “Sarah! It’s Daddy.”
    There was no response. Gilchrist said impatiently, “The gag. I told you.”
    Corde took out his handcuffs and stepped toward Gilchrist. “Put one on your right wrist and the other on that radiator pipe there.”
    “No. We have a deal.”
    Corde said, “I give you my word you get an hour. But I get my daughter