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Wilkins lost his happy expression and for a moment there was a very cold, unpleasant look on his face. “Where did you hear that?”
he said.
I could see that Deborah was trying to push him off-balance just a bit, and since that is one of my specialties I chimed in. “Will you have to sell this place if you don’t get tenure?” I said.
His eyes snapped to mine, and there was nothing at all pleasant about the look he gave me. He kept his tongue in his mouth, too. “I should have known,” he said. “So this was Halpern’s jailhouse confession, was it? Wilkins did it.”
“So you didn’t have an affair with Tammy Connor?” Deborah said.
Wilkins looked back to her again and, with a visible effort, re-gained his relaxed smile. He shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t get used to you as the tough one. I guess that’s a pretty successful technique for you two, hmm?”
“Not so far,” I said. “You haven’t answered any of the questions.”
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173
He nodded. “All right,” he said. “And did Halpern tell you he broke into my office? I found him hiding under my desk. God knows what he was doing there.”
“Why do you think he broke into your office?” Deborah asked.
Wilkins shrugged. “He said I sabotaged his paper.”
“Did you?”
He looked at her
, and then over to me for an unpleasant mo -
ment, then back to Deborah. “Officer,” he said, “I am trying very hard to cooperate here. But you’ve accused me of so many different things I’m not sure which one I’m supposed to answer.”
“Is that why you haven’t answered any of them?” I asked.
Wilkins ignored me. “If you can tell me how Halpern’s paper and Tammy Connor fit together, I’ll be happy to help any way I can.
But otherwise, I’ve got to get going.”
Deborah looked at me, whether for advice or because she was tired of looking at Wilkins, I couldn’t tell, so I gave her my very best shrug, and she looked back at Wilkins. “Tammy Connor is dead,”
she said.
“Oh, my,” Wilkins said. “How did it happen?”
“The same way as Ariel Goldman,” Debs said.
“And you knew them both,” I added helpfully.
“I imagine that dozens of people knew them both. Including Jerry Halpern,” he said.
“Did Professor Halpern kill Tammy Connor, Professor Wilkins?” Deborah asked him. “From the detention center?”
He shrugged. “I’m only saying that he knew them, too.”
“And did he have an affair with her, too?” I asked.
Wilkins smirked. “Probably not. Not with Tammy, anyway.”
“What does that mean, Professor?” Deborah asked.
