J.M.J.

Chapter VIII

Friday, April 30

"It's probably just as well we came. It looks like no one is too excited about Dr. Pearson's lecture." Callie looked around her at the mostly empty auditorium. Besides her and Frank, there were only about twenty people there.

The guest lecturer, Dr. Patricia Pearson, didn't seem bothered by the lack of people. She was already at the front of the room, setting up her PowerPoint. She looked up when she heard Frank and Callie enter the room and smiled, although for the briefest of moments, Frank thought her eyes widened.

"I don't think she was expecting too many people, either," he whispered to Callie. "She seems that we're here."

They took seats close to the front of the room. They were a few minutes early, and there wasn't to do besides people-watch. Being a detective, Frank was always interested in observing others, so he looked around at the few people he could see. They were about half faculty and half students. The faculty were grouped together in a couple of small groups and each of those were having a whispered conversation. The students looked like most of them had come by themselves, except for two girls who were sitting next to each other and talking in low voices. The rest were students who had come by themselves and who were completely absorbed in their phones.

Another faculty member was helping Dr. Pearson set up, and so Frank turned his attention to watching them for the moment. Dr. Pearson happened to glance in his direction and their eyes met. She smiled and nodded, and Frank nodded in return. Dr. Pearson was young, probably no older than thirty-five. She had her reddish-brown hair cut short; Frank thought with a small amount of amusement that Joe's hair was probably longer than hers at this point. She looked friendly enough, but Frank couldn't help getting the impression that she could be firm when the need arose. That wasn't a bad quality in a professor, but at the same time, Frank felt he was glad he wouldn't be taking any classes from her.

Finally, the faculty member assisting Dr. Pearson stood up. "All right," she said. "I think we're finally ready to begin. I'd like to introduce you all to Dr. Patricia Pearson. She obtained her doctorate in human genetics from the University of California, Berkeley. She has spent a lot of years researching and teaching on this topic, so we're very excited to have her here. She is currently teaching not too far away at Southport Community College. Thank you very much for being here, Dr. Pearson."

Frank raised an eyebrow at this introduction for two reasons. The first reason was that it seemed like an odd coincidence for Southport to come up again so quickly. The second was because it seemed even stranger that someone with Dr. Pearson's qualifications would be teaching at a community college in a town like Southport. He joined in the round of applause as Dr. Pearson stepped up to the podium.

She gave a large smile, glancing around the room at the small gathering. "I'm glad to be here. Genetics is, obviously, a topic that I'm always excited to talk about, and for my lecture tonight, I'm going to be talking about a particular branch of the field that really, really excites me and that you're going to be hearing more about as time goes on."

She started up her PowerPoint and began the lecture with some of the more basic concepts of human genetics. Callie settled down into her seat, prepared to be bored, but Frank was ready to hang on every word. That was probably why the lecture started making him squirm before Callie caught onto what was being said. However, it wasn't long before she realized that the lecture had taken a disturbing turn.

"So, you see," Dr. Pearson was saying, "we can apply these principles in a practical way through what's colloquially called 'designer babies.' I don't like that term for them, though, because it makes it sound like this is something that only rich people will be doing to ensure that their children are super models. The far more responsible way to use this technology will be to eliminate congenital disorders. This will significantly raise the quality of life for all children. In addition to physical disorders, it can also be used to eliminate mental and emotional disorders that are present, in some fashion from birth, as well as significantly lowering the chances of developing such disorders later in life. This could completely eliminate abusive and criminal behaviors. I fully expect that within the next twenty years, it will be mandated by law that this technology will be used in all conceptions."

By this time, Callie's face was as white and as set as the face of a goddess carved in marble. The lights weren't dimmed in the auditorium, so Frank noticed right away.

"Do you want to leave?" he whispered to her.

Callie nodded, and they stood up and left the auditorium, ignoring the looks that the other members of the audience were giving them. Once they were out in the hall with the door closed behind them, Callie took in a deep breath.

"I can't believe the college invited someone here to give a lecture in favor of eugenics!" she burst out finally. "I don't care if my professor would give me enough extra credit to get an A in the class; I'm not going back in there to listen to that."

"I totally agree," Frank said.

"Twenty years for eugenics to be enshrined in law!" Callie threw her hands in the air. "The woman needs her head examined. At least, I hope she does. Do you have any idea how terrible it would be if there was a law like that?"

"Yeah. But it wouldn't happen. Not that fast, anyway, and hopefully not at all. I think there's enough people left who realize you can go too far in trying to fix problems through science."

"You know what she's really saying?" Callie went on. "She's saying that anyone who doesn't fit in her idea of perfection doesn't deserve to even be born. Oh, sure, she might not use it to eliminate being short or having freckles or long noses, but she would use it to make sure that no one with disabilities of any kind would even be born. And her thing about mental disorders and eliminating crime. That obviously is going to lead to forced sterilization for people who were abused as children and anyone who's ever committed a crime. She's not fixing anything. What she's doing is playing God."

Frank took in a long breath. "I'm sure she's not thinking about it that way. She thinks this is a noble thing to do."

Callie shook her head. "It doesn't really matter what she thinks. Anyone with an ounce of a conscience should at least have a gut feeling that this is wrong." She shivered. "I feel dirty just having been in the room."

"Yeah. I feel the same way. Let's try to get our minds off it. Let's go get some dinner or something."

"It'll take more than that to get my mind off this. Maybe we could see if there's a movie playing or something."

"Sure. There might be one worth seeing. Let's go."

Frank took Callie's arm and started leading her away, but she cast one last look at the closed door of the auditorium.

"You know," she said, speaking a little more softly now, "people like that make me worried for Iola. If Iola had been born paralyzed, someone like that Dr. Pearson would say that she shouldn't have been born, but by that same logic…" Her voice trailed off. It was too ugly of an idea to even say aloud.

Frank squeezed her arm. "I know. That's what happens when you judge people by what they can't do rather than by what they can."

HBHBHBHBHB

It had been an uncomfortable last couple of days, to say the least. Sally had spread the word about Iola's attempts at horseback riding all over the school. None of the other kids saw anything wrong with it; for that matter, they were more impressed than otherwise. It didn't make a lot of difference either way, since they all talked so much about it that it felt like everyone in town knew about it by now. A newspaper in another town even reached out to try to write a story about it, although Iola had declined.

Naturally, Chester and Molly Morton had heard about it before Thursday was over and they had spent that evening giving both Chet and Iola a thorough talking to about what a reckless and foolish thing it was to try and that if Iola didn't give up on the whole thing, they would sell the horse and be done with it. Iola was, understandably, half furious and half heartbroken over it, and she mainly took it out on Chet, whose interest in Sally was largely responsible for the whole thing.

For his part, Chet was relieved that Iola's equestrian attempts had been brought to an end before Iola could be hurt physically, although he wished it could have happened in a way that she wouldn't have gotten hurt at all. He tried to apologize to her Friday afternoon, but it didn't do much good.

"Oh, just leave me alone," she moaned as soon as he started to talk. "You've got what you want. I'm forbidden from riding my own horse, and Sally finally realizes you're alive. What more do you want?"

Chet felt his cheeks grow red. "That's not…not fair," he stammered for lack of any better way of saying it.

"Oh, yes, it's so unfair for me to be hurt after you helped take something so important away from me," Iola replied coolly. "Just go on that date with Sally and forget the whole thing."

"About that date…" Chet tried to protest, but Iola turned her chair around and wheeled herself out of the room.

Chet sighed. He had been about to say that he had no intention of going on that date after all. He was going to call Sally up and break it off. He could see now that Iola had been right all those times she had accused Sally of being a mean, petty person and he didn't want anything to do with her now. If he'd had any idea what she was plotting, he never would have agreed to go with her in the first place.

Even so, Iola's refusal to even let him apologize stung and for a few moments he thought about going through with the date anyway, just to get even. As soon as he thought it, he knew it was a bad idea. It was just as petty as Sally had been. On the other hand, he was beginning to see that Sally didn't have much interest in impressing him or sparing his feelings or anything that someone with a crush would do. Maybe she really was up to something underhanded, but what could that possibly be? Chet decided then and there that he would just go on that date and see for himself what Sally had up her sleeve.

HBHBHBHBHB

"Are you sure about this? Why isn't Joe coming with us?" Biff looked around him uneasily as he helped Iola get into the passenger seat of his car.

"I'm positive. And Joe's not here because he doesn't know anything about it," Iola replied.

Biff closed the door and went around to get into his side of the car. Instead of turning the key right away, he just sat there for a few moments. "I don't know. I know we're friends in our own right from way back, but I don't know that I like the idea of hanging out with one of my best friends' girlfriend without him knowing anything about while we spy on one of my other best friends on a date. The whole thing just feels kind of…well…"

"I know," Iola admitted. "I'm starting to have second thoughts myself."

Biff perked up at that. "Really? Because it's not too late to call the whole thing off."

Iola sighed and looked out the window, even though it was dark and she couldn't see anything. "Look, Biff, I just need something I can do. I'm so tired of feeling helpless. I was close. You know, I've been riding every evening this past week. I could even get around the paddock without falling off, as long as I didn't try to go faster than a walk. And that's just in a week. If I could have kept it up…But then Sally took that away from me before I had a chance to make it happen. I might feel better about it if I can prove that Sally has some ulterior motive for all this."

"Well, considering where that's gotten you so far, I'd be surprised." Biff frowned thoughtfully. "But why ask me to help with this? Joe would be much better."

"He's…busy, like he said."

"I doubt he's too busy to help you out."

Iola bit her lip. She was glad it was dark in the car. That way Biff wouldn't be able to see the tears forming in her eyes. "Yeah, but his case is important. Missing people and who knows what else. I can't help him with anything like that anymore, so I at least don't want to hold him back."

Biff was starting to get way out of his comfort zone, talking about emotions and relationships and all that. He would have liked to immediately get out of the car and get out of there, or at least change the subject, but he had the maturity to realize that he shouldn't do either. "Hold on. I might be reading stuff into that that isn't there, but I don't think Joe sees you as holding him back."

"You don't?" Iola pursed her lips. "You don't sometimes think he's only dating me because he feels sorry for me and maybe a little bit guilty about what happened?"

Biff let out a long breath. "Uh, wow. Um…Yeah…Well, the short answer to that is, no. That thought has literally never crossed my mind, probably because nobody would need an excuse to date a girl like you."

"That's sweet, but I'm being serious."

"So am I. So, is that the reason you didn't ask Joe to come along? Because you're what? Trying to prove yourself to him or something?"

"No! I mean, not really. Could we just go? I'm furious at Chet right now, but I don't want that fiend Sally to hurt him if I can help it. At least, not too much."

"Okay, sure." Biff turned the car on and headed out. He didn't like relationship drama at the best of times, and getting in the middle of somebody else's drama was way out of his comfort zone, so he was willing enough to drop the subject if that was what Iola wanted. Right now, all he wished was that he'd never agreed to spy on Chet and Sally during their date. He didn't approve of Sally, either, but as far as he could see, if Chet wanted to date her, it was his problem. He had only agreed to come because Sally had begged him. "This is the last time I do a favor for a friend," he muttered under his breath.

"Huh?" Iola asked. She hadn't heard exactly what he had said.

"Nothing," he replied aloud.

There wasn't much more said between them until they reached the restaurant where the infamous date was to take place. They saw Chet's old yellow car, the Queen, parked in front. Biff pulled his own car into a spot where he could see Chet's in his rearview mirror.

"What now?" he asked. "I mean, we can't really go inside. They'll both recognize us immediately."

"Yeah, I guess so." Iola knit her eyebrows. She hadn't thought about this, and now the reality of the situation was dawning on her. She had dragged Biff out here late at night just to sit in the car and watch Chet and Sally like some kind of stalkers. They wouldn't learn a thing. She let out a sigh. "Okay, I give up. You were right. Let's just go home."

Biff reached for the ignition key to turn the car on again but then he stopped. "Well, I don't know. We came all the way out here anyway, so we might as well see if we can learn anything, I guess. Maybe we could sneak around to the window and listen."

"They won't have the windows open. It's only about forty degrees out here."

"Right. Well…" Biff stopped because just then there was an interruption.

Sally came running out of the restaurant and made a beeline for Chet's car. Chet wasn't far behind her. He was a faster runner than one might suppose from his size, but he wasn't fast enough to stop Sally before she jumped in his car and peeled out of the parking lot. At least, as much as the Queen could "peel out" of anywhere. Even the car seemed to be squealing in protest.

"Hey!" Chet shouted, waving his arms. "What's the big idea?"

Biff glanced at Iola and then pulled up next to Chet. He rolled the window down and asked, "Need a lift?"

"What are you doing here?" Chet asked, but he didn't wait for an answer before he jumped into the back seat. "Follow her! I think she just stole my car!"

"Why would she do that?" Iola asked.

"I take it the date didn't go so well," Biff said with a smirk as he took off in pursuit of the Queen.

"It was going just fine until she realized I was onto her." Chet paused. "Say, you two followed us, didn't you? What's the big idea?"

Everyone was much too excited for anyone to give or understand a coherent account of the evening's events. Iola made an attempt at explaining, but Chet cut her off to shout at Biff that Sally was making a turn. The car chase lasted until they reached the street where Sally lived. They were only a few blocks from her house when the Queen gave a loud groan and died in the middle of the street.

Biff and Chet jumped out, intending to try to surround the other car and stop Sally from escaping, but she had already realized that the Queen wasn't going to take her any farther. She piled out herself and started running down the street, shouting behind her, "Leave me alone, you creeps!"

Iola watched as well as she could in the glare of the headlights, wishing she could take part in the chase, as well. As it was, she couldn't even get out of the car. Her wheelchair was in the trunk and she couldn't possibly get it out herself.

Sally and the boys were out of reach of the headlights before the boys had caught up to her, and Iola couldn't hear anything. She slumped back in her seat with a sigh and waited for them to come back. That was when someone came up behind her and opened the door to the car.

She let out a squeal of surprise which quickly turned to fear as she saw that the person was dressed all in black with a ski mask over his face. All she could see were his eyes and his lips which had curled into a smile.

"Hey, there, beautiful," he said. "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"

Iola tried to grab the door and slam it shut, but the stranger held it open. Then he grabbed her arm. Iola tried to scream, but he clapped a hand over her mouth.

"We can't have any of that," he whispered right in her ear. "Your friends might come back, and then I'd have to deal with them. I'm sure you wouldn't want that, especially when you and I are going to have so much fun together."

Author's note: So now we know which friend the killer is going to pick on. Things are really going to pick up from here on out, now that there's no possible way Fenton is going to keep Frank and Joe—especially Joe—from being involved. Thank you for continuing to read, even though it's been kind of a slow start to this story. Thank you especially to everyone who has reviewed! I really appreciate that. As for what Sally's been up to, we'll find out in the next chapter. After that, she'll be so busy trying to straighten out the mess she's made that we won't see too much of her from here on out—in this story anyway. I hope you all have a great rest of your week and thanks again! God bless!

P.S. I meant to post this chapter this morning, before I went to work. I had it all ready to go and I thought I had posted it. Then I saw that there were no reviews and I was just about to get sad that no one is reading the story...until I realized that I hadn't posted it after all. Phew! Sorry to make you wait longer again; it's been long enough waiting for this chapter. My work schedule is a little bit more normal now, so I'm hoping I'll be able to post more frequently, but I'll have to wait and see.