“Maybe she divorced some rich guy and got the house in the settlement?”

“No, she bought it outright eighteen months ago,” Jack said. He pointed out the place on the screen where I could see for myself. “Of course, it could still be loot from divorcing the rich guy if she got a cash settlement and decided to sock it away in real estate.”

“Yes, but eighteen months ago,” I mused. “That’s very soon after the college fired Jasper Walker, possibly without taking a careful look at the code he left behind. Look, tell me if this sounds like wishful thinking because Karen’s my friend—but if Karen’s involved in the embezzling scheme, where’s her share of the loot? She’s living in the College Arms and driving a fifteen-year-old beater—does that sound like an embezzler’s lifestyle? And here’s Nadine in a two-million-dollar mansion. Which one of them looks more like an embezzler?”

“Nadine, no question,” he said. “Ashok’s rumor just said that Walker had an in with some woman in Financial Administration—it didn’t specify who the woman was. Could have been Nadine as easily as Karen.”

“Yes, and since Nadine runs the whole office, it would be a lot easier for her to cover something up for two years,” I said. “Of course, there’s still the whole question of why Karen ran away, and who she’s running from. From Jasper, or Nadine, or the police or what. I need to find her. Preferably before the police do. Even if she didn’t before, by now she really needs a lawyer.”

“Anything else I can look up for you?”

“Not that I can think of,” I said. “But I’ll let you know. Thanks a lot for the info. I’ll take Timmy off your hands now; I’m going to go out and see if I can find Jasper’s uncle’s house.”

Fifteen

Timmy wasn’t too happy to leave the tractors and the fish behind—in fact, he pitched a fit that probably registered about 7.5 on the Richter scale over at the college’s geology department and earned him a time-out. At least I assume making him stand in a corner and be quiet was something like what parents did when they talked about giving their kids time-outs. Between that and a promise that we’d come back soon if he behaved, I finally managed to maneuver him out to the car—where he promptly fell asleep as soon as I started the engine. His instruction manual didn’t mention the possibility of a second afternoon nap—was this a sign that he was getting ill? Or only that we’d have a hard time getting him to settle down at bedtime? Time would tell.

Of course, his instruction manual also hadn’t mentioned the concept of time-outs, or any other hints on what kind of discipline he was used to. Did Karen simply let him run wild? Or did she assume that was one of the things everyone already knew? I made a mental note to skim one of Rose Noire’s childcare manuals when I got home, to make sure time-outs hadn’t been redefined as cruel and unusual punishments since my nieces and nephews had outgrown them.