The Bitter Season (Kovac and Liska, #5)(26)

“We have cucumber water,” she said, gesturing gracefully to a glass pitcher on the table. “It’s very refreshing.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Taylor said, and poured glasses for all three of them.

Kovac took a long drink, hoping to wash the smoke out of his mouth.

“Professor Foster broke the news to me about Lucien and his wife, Sondra,” Ngoukani said. “Terrible. So terrible to imagine what they must have gone through. The more educated we are, the less we believe violence can touch our lives. But it can and it does. I saw Lucien on Monday, and now he’s gone.”

“What was his mood when you saw him?” Kovac asked.

“Ooooh,” she said, raising her pencil-thin eyebrows nearly to her hairline. “He was in a foul humor. So angry.”

“Did he say why?”

“No, and I didn’t ask. I’ve been trying to help him come to a calmer, more reasonable place in his mind. He would have none of that Monday.”

“Did you find that unusual?”

“No, to be honest. Lucien is a difficult man. If something doesn’t go his way, he throws a tantrum like a spoiled boy. This ongoing clash with his daughter has not gone well for him. His temper has been terrible.”

“His daughter was his student assistant,” Taylor said. “That seems like an unusual situation.”

“Highly. And a recipe for disaster from the start,” Ngoukani said. “Professor Foster told me he tried to discourage them, but the two of them seemed bent on it. Who can decipher the tangled motives of a parent-and-child relationship as complicated as that one? One might think Diana wanted her father’s acceptance and approval, and that Lucien wanted to support her effort to follow in his footsteps, yet they butted heads constantly.”

“So, how does this work?” Taylor asked. “The daughter filed a complaint. Could he have gotten fired?”

“No. Not at this point. The Office for Conflict Resolution is a neutral and independent office where the faculty and staff, including the student workers, can raise concerns,” she explained. “We advocate for neither management or nonmanagement. We facilitate discussions between the parties involved, consult with them individually, and offer coaching. We offer mediation in the hope of resolving the issue before it can escalate to the point of having to be reported to Human Resources or to the General Council for more serious consideration with the potential for career-impacting consequences.”

“But according to Forrest Foster this complaint was still going to create a problem for Professor Chamberlain with regard to his possible promotion,” Taylor said. “How does that work if this office is confidential?”

She gave him a look like he should have known better. “The university can be a very small and incestuous world, Detective. It was hardly a secret within the department that Lucien and Diana weren’t getting along. Diana came to this office with her complaints. Her father went to Forrest Foster with his outrage, trying to head his daughter off at the pass, so to speak, thinking if he could discredit her with his friend, the head of the department, that would be the end of it. But Forrest wasn’t willing to look the other way. He couldn’t. There’s too much at stake, and he is an honorable man. He encouraged Lucien to try to solve the issue through this office.”

“Did the daughter’s complaints hold water?” Kovac asked.

“Oh yes. Her father can be a tyrant. She’s not the first of his assistants we’ve heard from. Diana, of course, believed he was being particularly hard on her. If not for the fact that I am to remain neutral in these things, I would have to agree with her.

“Diana recorded several of their arguments on her cell phone. She played them for me.” She shook her head in disapproval. “Not to say Diana can’t dish it out, but Lucien doesn’t hesitate to make an argument personal, to go for the raw nerve.”

“And what did he have to say for himself?”

“That Diana was being vindictive and ridiculous. He felt a great deal of pressure because of the circumstances and the timing. A cornered narcissist is a cornered cobra. He will strike out at anyone, regardless of their intent.”

“He struck out at you?” Taylor asked.

She waved the suggestion off like a bothersome fly. “I manage conflict for a living, Detective. We were all working very hard to try to bring the situation to a calm conclusion. Professor Chamberlain wanted Diana to drop her complaint. She would not. However, Forrest had finally talked Lucien around to sitting down for mediation.”

“It doesn’t sound like he was in the mood for mediation on Monday.”

“No, but I don’t know why. Perhaps they’d had another fight.”

“Did you speak to the daughter?”

She shook her head. “I haven’t heard from her this week. We were supposed to meet later this afternoon—the three of us. Of course, that won’t be happening now,” she said sadly. “Have you spoken with Diana?”

“She’s our next stop,” Kovac said, rising.

“Please give her my condolences,” Ngoukani said, showing them to the door. “And please let her know I’m available for her. All she need do is call.”





10


Two years after the death of her husband, Ted, Barbie Duffy married his fraternal twin brother, Thomas “Big Duff” Duffy.