Chapter 33
“Hell’s bells.”
-Flint
Anna-Kate Gautier didn’t look a day over 50, with her blonde hair cut into a severe bob that framed her birdlike face. She didn’t look like she ate much more than a bird, but her handshake gave away her secret. She was strong. And she had that haughty air about her that a lot of women in the Deep South developed. It usually arrived with their monogrammed towels and beer koozies.
“Mr. Mendota, Ms. Saber, a pleasure to meet you. Please, come call me Anna-Kate,” the Dean of Students waved us into her office.
There were only a few people in the building today, being the weekend. Anna-Kate made an exception to meet us when we told her about tracking down a fugitive.
“So, you came to talk about Echo Engelhorn,” Anna-Kate sat behind her gigantic antique desk, leaned back in her leather chair, and folded her hands on her lap. “Is she truly a murder suspect?”
“You remember Echo?” Celia tilted her head. “It’s been almost a decade since she left.”
Anna-Kate raised her eyebrows. “Yes. We matriculated thousands of students during that time, but someone like Ms. Engelhorn is… memorable.”
“How so?” I asked.
“You’ve met Ms. Engelhorn?” Anna-Kate smirked.
Celia nodded. “She is now Mrs. Cruz. Before that, she was Mrs. Maxfield.”
“Ah yes, that sordid affair with Stringer.”
“You knew Stringer Maxfield?” Celia’s eyebrows went up.
Anna-Kate nodded. “Everyone knew him around the campus. He was one of our most famous graduates. Every year, he’d spend time with the golf prodigies, which is how he met Echo. It was - how do the kids say these days?Cringey.”
I agreed with that. Stringer Maxfield was almost 60 when he married 22-year-old Echo. “What else can you tell us about her time here?”
Anna-Kate took a deep breath. “It was memorable. To say the least.”
“In what way?” Celia leaned forward.
“People fell all over themselves to be part of her orbit,” Anna-Kate shook her head. “Even those who had no earthly business being there in the first place.”
“Like Stringer Maxfield?” Celia pressed.
“Sure, him. But also Professor Kimbrough.”
“She had an affair with a professor?” I frowned. This was a new one, but not surprising.
“No one knows for sure. There was certainly enough gossip around campus,” Anna-Kate shrugged. “Garrett and I were both English professors at that time. I knew the minute he laid eyes on her. She was going to be a problem. She flirted with everyone who crossed her path. Within a few days of her joining Garrett’s class, the rumor mill kicked into overdrive. It didn’t help that she was getting straight As in his class, but no one ever saw her turn in homework or study, for that matter.”
“Seems like those rumors might have been enough to open an internal investigation,” I prodded.
Anna-Kate nodded. “Absolutely. There were times in the past where allegations of this sort would have been swept under the rug. But the times were changing. Women weren’t going to put up with these chauvinistic power plays anymore. It was Echo herself who brought the behavior to the attention of the review board.”
“Echo? Why would she turn in a professor who was giving her special favors?” Celia puzzled.
“She claimed nothing happened between them. She said Professor Kimbrough gave her unwanted attention. Echo requested a transfer to a different class and filed a formal complaint against him.”
“Wow,” Celia breathed out. “What happened at the review board?”
“Nothing,” Anna-Kate smirked. “It never made it to the review board.”
I scowled. “I thought you said Ole Miss was trying to stop this shit in its tracks?”
