Read Online Right to Die by Jeremiah Healy - Free Book Online Page B

know, that doesn’t sound real modest, but I got the highest grade in his family law course last quarter and was the best performer in class.”
    I didn’t say “as opposed to after class,” but I did picture the couch in Strock’s office. “All right, Ms. Russo. I understand the context. What can you tell me about the guy otherwise?”
    “Otherwise. Well, he’s pretty insecure.”
    “In what way?”
    “He’s not a very good teacher—not just my opinion, by the way. Student evaluations as well as anecdotal comments by the other kids. He tries to get by on his reputation, but I don’t think he’s been inside a courtroom in ten years. He takes the simple law school administrative stuff and kind of blows it out of proportion. Probably makes him feel like a big man.”
    Something clicked. “Strock ever shoot for the deanship himself?”
    “Yeah. At least that’s the rumor. But he didn’t get it. Don’t know why, but maybe that’s part of the insecurity.”
    “Sounds to me as though you shouldn’t feel too bad, not having to work closely with the guy.”
    “Give me a few days.”
    “How about Strock’s relationship with the rest of the faculty?”
    “Hard to say. They’re all kind of a blank to us about how they feel toward each other, unless one mentions another in class.”
    “Has Strock ever done that?”
    “Once in a while. The only one he seems to have it in for is a woman named Andrus.”
    No surprise so far. “Maisy Andrus?”
    “You’ve heard of her.”
    “Some.”
    “Well, she’s got this thing about the right to die, but she also makes her students stand when they participate in class, so Strock always refers to her as She-Who-Makes-You-Stand, like that’s the way he believes we think of them all.”
    “Of the faculty?”
    “Yeah. Like He-Who-Has-Dandruff, She-Who-Smokes, like that.” Russo drank some beer. “You know, you’re right. He really is a dork most ways.”
    “You said Strock does consulting work?”
    “I said maybe he does.”
    “You think that brings in much money?”
    “That’s what I meant by maybe.”
    “Go on.”
    “Well, just looking at his suits and car and all, I get the impression he might be hurting for cash. He’s supposed to have this great house over in Cambridge , but he’s sure around the school a lot more than the professors who consult in the corporate and tax areas. Also, I never really see people coming to see him, although I guess he could do a lot of that over the telephone.”
    “Anything else?”
    “About the money thing or Strock in general?”
    “Either.”
    Russo took a little more beer, then pushed it aside. “God, I hate to drink in the afternoon. Makes me worthless for the rest of the day.” She shifted around to me. “About the money, I guess all I know is that Professor Andrus is supposed to be really rich, and Strock’s jibes at her go beyond the usual joking. Makes you think he really resents something about her.”
    “What about Strock in general?”
    Russo closed her eyes, then opened them. “I don’t want you to think I’m fixated on this Kimberly thing.”
    “But?”
    “Well, if somebody like Strock has the eye now, it wouldn’t surprise me that he’s had it for a while.”
    “And not for just law students?”
    “There are a lot of stories you hear, about how... how well a divorce lawyer can do sexually with all the distraught people who come to him, or her, I suppose, as a client.”
    “And you figure Strock might have been like that?”
    “I don’t know. But if he was, and he’s not getting the opportunities from practice anymore, maybe there’ve been some other Kimberlys.”
    I thanked Nina Russo and gathered up my box of files. As I said good-bye to Bandy, the deejay promised his faithful listeners a program entitled “Throbbing Gristle, a Retrospective.”

    I was able to hail a taxi on Columbus Avenue , giving the driver the address for my condo because it was closer than my office. I made a ham