Desperate Measures

16

Jill finished a glass of orange juice and pointed toward the news report on CNN. “Nothing about what happened at the school.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“You think they didn’t link it to us?”

“No, I’m sure they did,” Pittman said.

“Then…?”

“I’m also sure that some very powerful people squashed the story. They don’t want any attention whatsoever directed toward that school.”

“Yes,” Jill said. “I see what you mean. All those Establishment parents, they don’t want anything to sully the reputation of the prep school their sons graduate from. For that matter, the alumni don’t want Grollier to be associated with break-ins and shooting, either. Far too vulgar.”

“Maybe more than that,” Pittman said. “Maybe what we’re trying to learn is serious enough to destroy the school.”

Jill turned quickly toward him, her gaze intense. “Yes, that would explain a lot.”

“Duncan Kline. One of the men who taught the grand counselors. And Derrick Meecham, the student who dropped his class with them.”

“Or got sick and had to leave school,” Jill said.

“But never came back to Grollier the following year, the year he would have graduated. I wonder, how do we find out about Duncan Kline and Derrick Meecham? I’m sure as hell not going back to Grollier.”

After a moment, Jill said, “I have an idea. A minute ago, we were talking about Grollier’s alumni.”

“Yes?”

“Grollier’s students are all targeted for Ivy League colleges. In particular, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. If we assume that Derrick Meecham finally graduated from a prep school similar to Grollier, then it’s also logical to assume that he went to one of the Ivy League colleges,” Jill said. “The registrar’s office for each school can tell us if Meecham went to any of them. But that won’t help us. What we really want to know is where Meecham is now.”

“The university organizations that keep track of the current addresses of graduates are the alumni foundations,” Pittman said.

“Exactly. The groups that are always asking graduates for big bucks to support their alma mater. My father graduated from Yale. He’s one of the biggest donators to its athletic program. The alumni foundation is on the phone to him all the time, sucking up to him, offering special tickets, inviting him to exclusive athletic banquets, wanting more money. Believe me, for his daughter, they’ll do whatever I want. And if Derrick Meecham didn’t go to Yale, I’ll ask them to contact the alumni foundations at the other Ivy League colleges.”