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Dean Van Meter was showing you and your mother around the school.”
    â€œI 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.
    â€œWell, 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?”
    â€œNot 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.”
    â€œThat’s right. You’re a counselor at the summer clinic. You must be pretty good. Our girls have a good team, don’t they?”
    â€œYeah. They won state’s the last two years.”
    â€œAre you going to start?”
    â€œI don’t know. I hope so.”
    â€œI’m sure you will,” he said, smiling. “Well, I’m going to hit the shower. It’s nice seeing you again.”

Chapter Seven
    T erri 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.
    â€œSit down, Terri. I’m glad you dropped by. I’m getting glowing reports about Ashley.”
    â€œThank 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.”
    â€œI’m glad to hear that. So, what brings you here?”
    â€œI wanted to talk to you about one of your teachers but I don’t want the teacher to know that I’ve been investigating.”
    â€œInvestigating? That sounds serious.”
    â€œIt is. But before I tell you anything more I want to make sure that you’ll treat the inquiry confidentially.”
    â€œI’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.
    â€œI’m in a funny position,” Terri explained. “I have suspicions aboutone 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.”
    â€œWhom are we talking about?”
    â€œJoshua 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.”
    â€œWhat happened?”
    â€œHis 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.”
    â€œWhat did he do?”
    â€œHe 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.”
    â€œHow did the school find out?’
    â€œJoshua was under tremendous pressure to repay the advance. The publisher was threatening a lawsuit. He started drinking and acting erratically. He was