Medieval Murders Read Online Free PDF

was rather bizarre, but I don’t think she was a depressive. That wasn’t part of her craziness.”
    “Would you tell us about her, to use your term, craziness?” asked Elkins.
    “I think much of it had to do with the tenure issue. Well, that’s not completely true, but let me start there because I think it all fits together. Sheila was an angry person, and after she didn’t get tenure, her anger intensified. She felt people in the department were out to get her.”
    “How do you know?” Elkins watched her eyes, watched the small wrinkles increase as she processed his question.
    “Well, it’s not that she said much to me, she probably thought I was in the enemy camp.” There was a long pause, and then she continued. “I guess most of it I overheard, phone conversations. And it’s not that I was trying to....”
    “Who was she talking to?”
    “I’m not sure.”
    “Her lawyer?”
    “No, I don’t think so. Remember, I was the enemy. She played to several audiences.” She glanced at Pascoe, then focused on Elkins.
    “Audiences?”
    “Yes. Different tones, different messages. When she was talking to one of her supporters, her followers, she could be quite inflammatory. She’d say lots of wild things, and her language was, well, rather crude. When she was talking to people who I think were her personal friends, she used a different tone, and the conversations seemed much more rational.”
    “Let me go back to an earlier comment. You said she felt people were out to get her, and you suggested that this was an inaccurate perception. Did she have enemies in the department?”
    “She didn’t have any friends in the department, but I don’t think she had real enemies, either. Her problems here were professional, and you know how tenure works,” she looked directly at Elkins. “Jobs are scarce, tenure’s hard to get. If you’re untenured, every time someone gets it, your chances diminish, or at least that’s how some people look at it. But Sheila’s reactions were a lot more paranoid. She hadn’t done any of the required things. She didn’t publish, and she refused to serve on department committees. The criterion for tenure is very specific. Sheila went out of her way not to meet it and then attacked us for not tenuring her. It’s like she wanted to fail. Does that make any sense?”
    “It’s illogically logical. I think we all know people who do that,” responded Elkins. “Can you speculate on why she....”
    “Well, I’m not one for amateur psychiatry, but I think her whole personality turned on being an outsider. She needed something to push against.”
    “You said she played to two audiences. Would you elaborate on that?” asked Pascoe.
    “Her first audience was young women, undergraduates for the most part, members of various feminist groups. You know the kind, long on rhetoric, short on action. The protest is more important than fixing the problem. It’s probably exciting and romantic to be out there pointing out what’s wrong with the world, especially when you never have to get your hands dirty working out the solutions. But that was Sheila, all theatre. A real Jean Brodie with her girls. That’s what makes the suicide rather surprising.”
    “I’m not following,” Elkins gave her a questioning look.
    “I’m surprised she didn’t get some of her followers to take the plunge. It would be more like Sheila to stand on the side and lecture on the meaning of their sacrifice.” She stopped, and Elkins noted that she looked embarrassed.
    “And the other audience?” he probed.
    “Given what I overheard, I think the people were either in other departments or from the community. Like her psychiatrist, she was always calling and changing or canceling appointments.”
    “Do you know the name of the doctor?”
    “The name is Margrave, that’s his last, don’t know his first name. And she did a lot of things with the Catholic Church on campus. She often called Father Bob. I assume