Phillip Margolin - Sleeping Beauty

“It’s Ashley, right?”

Ashley looked up. Joshua Maxfield was standing in front of her. He was dressed in a T-shirt and athletic shorts and looked like he’d just finished a workout.

“I hope I didn’t interrupt any great thoughts,” the teacher said. “You looked like you were in a trance.”

Ashley blushed. “It’s okay,” she mumbled.

“I’m Joshua Maxfield. I teach creative writing. We met when Dean Van Meter was showing you and your mother around the school.”

“I remember.”

Maxfield gave her a warm smile. “Your mother’s in my critique group. She says you’ve decided to come to the Academy in the fall.”

Ashley nodded.

“Well, that’s terrific. I hope you’ll think about taking my class. Your mother’s work is very good. Do you do any creative writing?”

“Not really. I mean, I had assignments in school but I don’t do any on my own. I’m pretty busy with soccer all year.”

“That’s right. You’re a counselor at the summer clinic. You must be pretty good. Our girls have a good team, don’t they?”

“Yeah. They won state’s the last two years.”

“Are you going to start?”

“I don’t know. I hope so.”

“I’m sure you will,” he said, smiling. “Well, I’m going to hit the shower. It’s nice seeing you again.”

Terri was shown into Casey Van Meter’s office a little after four. The dean was wearing an elegantly tailored black silk suit, and her hair and makeup were perfect.

“Sit down, Terri. I’m glad you dropped by. I’m getting glowing reports about Ashley.”

“Thank you. She’s having a great time. Living in the dorm with the other girls and working with the children has been a wonder cure.”

“I’m glad to hear that. So, what brings you here?”

“I wanted to talk to you about one of your teachers but I don’t want the teacher to know that I’ve been investigating.”

“Investigating? That sounds serious.”

“It is. But before I tell you anything more I want to make sure that you’ll treat the inquiry confidentially.”

“I’m not certain that I can do that without knowing why you’re asking. The welfare of our students is paramount.”

Terri wasn’t sure how to proceed. She had promised Detective Birch that she would keep his confidences but she needed to know more about Joshua Maxfield, and Dean Van Meter might have some of the information she needed.

“I’m in a funny position,” Terri explained. “I have suspicions about one of your faculty but I don’t want to tell you why, right now, because I don’t want to get this person in trouble if I’m wrong.”

“Whom are we talking about?”

“Joshua Maxfield. I’d like to know if there’s anything in his background that’s…suspicious.”

The dean sighed. She even looked a bit relieved. “You’d find out anyway with a little digging, and I don’t want you to think that the Academy is hiding anything. Joshua did not leave his teaching position at Eton College voluntarily. He was forced to resign.”

“What happened?”

“His first novel did very well but his second book was a failure both critically and financially. Then Joshua developed a terrible case of writer’s block. He’d been given an advance for another novel but he couldn’t write it. A conglomerate bought his original publisher. The new owners demanded that Joshua meet his deadline or return his advance. Unfortunately, he’d spent the money. He was desperate for a job. Eton College was looking for a creative writing teacher. He applied. Joshua’s name was still golden in academic circles but he didn’t know that so he made an unfortunate decision.”

“What did he do?”

“He doctored his résumé. It was totally unnecessary but Joshua wasn’t thinking clearly. He claimed that he had an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop when, in fact, he had attended for less than a semester.”

“How did the school find out?’

“Joshua was under tremendous pressure to repay the advance. The publisher was threatening a lawsuit. He started drinking and acting erratically. He was depressed, not writing, that sort of thing. He missed classes. Then there was an incident with a student…”

“What sort of incident?”

“She claimed he offered to give her an A if she slept with him. During the inquiry the school discovered the discrepancy on his résumé. He was given the choice of resigning or being fired.”

“Why did you hire him if you knew all this?”

“Joshua came to us more than a year or so after he left New England. He was completely open with us about his problems at Eton. He admitted propositioning the coed. He said he did it when he was drunk and depressed after getting another letter from a lawyer about the advance. We felt that it was worth the risk to have a writer of Joshua’s caliber on our faculty. To our knowledge, he has not betrayed our trust.”

“What I’m concerned about is a lot more serious than lying on a résumé.”

Casey looked confused. “Please be more specific.”

Terri hesitated. Her evidence was far from overwhelming.

“Will you promise to keep what I tell you between us?”

“All right, but I’m only agreeing because I need to know if there is any possibility that our students might be affected.”

“I’m taking Joshua’s writing class. We’re supposed to submit something we’re working on. Each week, he’s going to read our submissions, then the class critiques the work.”

“Yes?” Casey asked impatiently.

“He read a very disturbing piece at the first class. It was in the first person. It was about a serial killer and it went into detail about the rape and dismemberment of a girl Ashley’s age and her parents. It was horrible and very graphic.”

“I can see how that would be disturbing but…”

“Anyone who could write something like that has to be sick.”

“Joshua is a novelist, Terri. There’s a book featuring a serial killer on every bestseller list. Do you think those authors are murderers?”

“You don’t understand. Maxfield knew things that happened in my house when Ashley was attacked that the police never released to the public.”

Casey’s look was halfway between shock and amusement, as if she was unsure if she was the butt of a practical joke. Terri looked grim.

“You’re serious?” the dean said.

Terri told Casey Van Meter about the snack. The dean paid close attention. When Terri was through, Casey shook her head.

“I’m not convinced. How do you know that Joshua was reading something he’d written?”

“I know it wasn’t written by any of the other students. I talked to all of them. And he told me that he’s working on a new book.”

“Yes, but…” Casey stopped. She shook her head. “I find this very hard to believe. I know Joshua…”

“You think you know him. I’ve been reading about the pathology of serial killers. People assume that it would be easy to spot the type of person who could…could kill my husband and attack two helpless teenage girls but you can’t tell just by looking at them. Ann Rule worked side by side with Ted Bundy on the rape hotline in Seattle while she had a contract to write about the murders he was committing as soon as the case was solved. She never suspected that she was a friend of the man who would become the subject of her first bestseller. And think about the usual reaction of neighbors when they learn they’ve been living next door to someone like John Wayne Gacy. They can’t believe that the nice guy they’ve chatted with about mundane things like their lawn or a favorite TV show could be a monster.”

“That may be true, but I’m sure you’re wrong about Joshua.”