Page 13 of Silent Past

"There was some tension recently. She'd discovered something—she wouldn't tell me what exactly, but she was excited about it. Said it would change our understanding of certain ceremonial practices. But she was waiting for approval from the tribal council before documenting it."

Sheila and Finn exchanged looks. "When was this?"

"Last week." Harrison adjusted his glasses. "She was supposed to meet with the council after she returned from Colorado."

Just then, a young man appeared in the doorway, a stack of books clutched to his chest. His eyes widened at the sight of the badges, and he spun around so quickly he nearly dropped his books before disappearing down the hallway.

"Was that James?" Harrison asked, frowning. "James Cooper, Dr. Mitchell's research assistant."

Sheila was already moving. "I don't know, but I think we need to talk to him."

Sheila and Finn followed the sound of hurried footsteps down the hall, past the elevator to the stairwell. The door was just swinging shut as they reached it. Sheila and Finn took the stairs two at a time.

They caught up with Cooper in the building's small library annex, a cramped room filled with floor-to-ceiling shelves of archaeological journals. He'd wedged himself into a corner study carrel, the books now spread out before him, trying to look absorbed in his work.

"Mr. Cooper," Sheila said, breathing heavily. "We'd like to speak with you."

His shoulders tensed. He was younger than Sheila had initially thought, probably a graduate student, with wire-rimmed glasses and rumpled clothes that suggested long hours in the library. A coffee cup from the campus shop sat empty beside his laptop.

"I... I have a lot of work to do," he said, not meeting their eyes.

"Why did you run?" Finn asked.

Cooper's hands fidgeted with a pencil. "I didn't run. I just remembered I had to... to check something."

"Something so urgent you nearly dropped your books?" Sheila pulled up a chair, positioning herself so she could watch his face. "Mr. Cooper, Dr. Mitchell is dead. If you know anything that might help us understand why..."

He looked up sharply. "Dead? Not just missing?"

"You knew she was missing?"

"I..." He slumped in his chair. "I should have said something sooner. When she didn't show up for our remote meeting on Tuesday, I knew something was wrong. Dr. Mitchell was never late. Never missed a meeting. But I thought maybe she was just having technical difficulties."

"Is that why you didn't report it?"

Cooper ran a hand through his disheveled hair. "That, and because she'd asked me not to tell anyone if something seemed off. She said she'd contact me if there was a real problem."

Sheila exchanged a look with Finn. "Why would she say that?"

"Because of the audiobook, I think. And the people following her."

"What audiobook?" Finn asked.

Cooper straightened slightly, seemingly relieved to move into more academic territory. "Dr. Mitchell was recording her lectures, her stories about the tribes she worked with. She was an oral historian—one of the last true ones. She could recall every detail, every story she'd ever been told. The tribes trusted her with histories that had never been written down."

"And someone was following her?" Sheila prompted.

"She mentioned it about two weeks ago. Said she kept seeing the same car in her rearview mirror, the same person in the campus coffee shop. But she wouldn't file a report. Said she couldn't risk drawing attention to her work until she'd secured permissions from the tribal council."

"What was so important about her work?" Finn asked.

Cooper's eyes lit up with academic enthusiasm despite his obvious nervousness. "You have to understand—Dr. Mitchell wasn't just recording facts. She was preserving the way these stories were meant to be told. The rhythm, the cadence, the subtle variations that never make it into written texts. She could tell you about burial rituals that hadn't been performed in a hundred years, describe ceremonial garments that only existed in tribal memory..."

"James," Sheila said, "how about you tell us why you really ran? And don't give us any more BS."

Cooper flushed. "I…" He paused, gathering his words. "Last Monday, Dr. Mitchell was working late, adding new material." He hesitated. "She seemed excited about something she'd discovered, but also... worried. She asked me to keep an eye on her office while she was gone, make sure nobody accessed her files."

"And did anyone try?"

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