Page 37 of Shattered Truth (Off The Grid: FBI #15)

He hated the edge of defeat in her voice, not that he couldn't understand it. "It's different now. You know that. You needed to go back into the past, and I'm glad you brought me here. But now you need to return to the present. You're not helpless and alone, not this time."

She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. "You're right. I'm ready to go. Let's talk to Professor Harrington."

As they walked up the path, Matt noticed how isolated this area was. On a dark night, with music playing from the fraternity house, and hundreds of kids partying, no one would hear someone calling for help down here. The perfect place for murder disguised as an accident.

After returning to the car, he drove back through the main campus and up into the hills where faculty housing was located. The houses here were scattered among the trees, each one carefully positioned to maximize privacy while taking advantage of the dramatic Pacific coastline views.

Professor Harrington's address led them to a modern glass and steel house that seemed to float among the trees, its clean lines a stark contrast to the Spanish colonial architecture of the main campus below. The home was perched on a ridge with an unobstructed view of the ocean.

"They provide incredible housing for their faculty," he commented.

"One of the perks of teaching here. The university has very little in the way of faculty turnover because they take good care of their professors."

"That probably makes them extremely loyal."

"I know. I'm mentally preparing for Professor Harrington to plead ignorance and tell us nothing."

He nodded, unable to disagree. But he hoped they might catch a break.

According to the research he'd done last night, Professor Justin Harrington was in his late forties and had divorced his wife five years ago, the year after Landon's death.

Harrington was a popular professor with silver-threaded brown hair, blue eyes, and an apparently sexy scholarly look that had put him on the informal hottest professor list that circulated in social media from current and past Westbridge students.

Harrington taught advanced-level programming, data structures and algorithms, financial computing, and a basic economics class.

Landon had served as his TA in two of those classes.

He pulled into the circular driveway, right behind a car with an open trunk and several suitcases inside. "Looks like Harrington is taking a trip."

"Hopefully, he's still here," Haley said as they got out of the car and moved up the steps to the front door, which was ajar.

He knocked on the door and then stepped inside. Harrington, dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, came into the entry, carrying a large box, which he dropped in alarm when he saw them.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked.

"Agent Lawson, FBI," he said, showing his badge. "And this is Haley Kenton."

Harrington's jaw dropped, panic flaring in his eyes. His gaze darted past them, as if he was judging whether or not he could run.

"We need to talk to you, Professor," he added.

"I was just...I'm on my way to visit my sister in Portland. Family emergency."

"Are you taking your entire house with you?" Haley asked, waving her hand toward the stacked boxes visible in the living room behind Harrington.

"I'm taking a sabbatical," Harrington said. "To care for my sister. I can't miss my plane."

"I don't believe you're leaving because of your sister," he said. "You're scared. And you're on the run because Sabrina Lin was killed the day after she came to see you, and because you know we want to talk to you about Landon's death. You probably also know that Haley is Landon's sister."

"Yes. I remember you," Harrington said, his gaze moving to Haley. "I'm still very sorry about what happened to your brother."

"I don't need your compassion; I need answers," Haley said, shutting the front door behind her. "And you're not going anywhere until I get them."

"I can't imagine what I could tell you."

"Let's start with what you told Sabrina Lin," he said, drawing Harrington's attention. "You didn't act surprised when I said she was killed after seeing you."

"It was in the news. It was a terrible thing."

"Why did she come here to talk to you? And what did you discuss?"

"I taught a class in the law school on legal issues regarding cyber software. She was one of my students."

"But she didn't come here to talk to you about that class," Haley said. "She came to speak to you about my brother. She found out something that led her to believe Landon's death was not an accident. What was it?"

Harrington inclined his head. "She wanted to know about Landon's research, what he was working on that had to do with forecasting financial market fluctuations."

"What did you tell her?"

"That that subject matter was not part of the curriculum in my classes."

"But?" Haley pressed.

"But I knew Landon was working on something that would help investors with their strategies," he conceded. "Landon told me about his father losing all his money in a stock market crash and his subsequent suicide. He wanted to change the system."

"He told you about our father's suicide?" Haley said with surprise. "He never talked about that."

"It slipped out one night. We were working late. He was tired. But he was driven. He thought he was on to something that could be useful in preventing others from going through what his father and his family had gone through."

"After he told you about it, who did you tell?" Matt asked.

"No one," Harrington replied.

"You're lying," he said, noting the way Harrington's gaze averted with his answer. "You can't look at me or Haley now, because you're not telling the truth."

"I'm sorry your brother is gone, but you can't bring him back. You need to let this go. Look at what happened to Sabrina," the professor said. "She asked questions, and she's dead."

"Is that why you're running?" Haley asked. "You're afraid you're next? Why?"

"I can't say any more. I owe…too much."

"Money?" he asked sharply.

"Loyalty," Harrington said, meeting his gaze. "I was bailed out of a sticky situation by some powerful people, and if I were to talk, that situation would be revealed, and that would be the end of my career. That's what I told Sabrina when she asked."

"It looks like you're already at the end of your career," he said bluntly. "You're not taking a sabbatical, you're done here. It's over. Why?"

Before Harrington could answer, Haley said, "Would the career-ending issue be about changing grades for the guys in Landon's fraternity?"

Harrington's face tightened. "You know about that?"

"My brother didn't want to do it, so you did it for him. You overrode him, right?"

"I had to. Like I said, I owed a debt that had to be paid. I couldn't risk losing my job over raising a few grades for a couple of kids."

"Landon was angry with you. Was he going to turn you in?" Haley asked. "Did you kill him before he could do that?"

Matt wasn't surprised at Haley's direct question, because he'd been one second away from asking the same thing.

"No! God, no!" Harrington said forcefully. "I could never kill anyone. Never. I actually felt deeply ashamed in the face of Landon's strong ethical stance. He was barely out of his teens, but he knew what was right and what was wrong."

"He did know right from wrong. You, apparently, did not," Haley said harshly.

"What were they holding over you?" he asked Harrington.

Harrington hesitated, then said, "I had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student.

It was a setup, but I didn't know that at the time.

Once they had me, they had me. I couldn't lose my job.

I made a bad decision; I never thought it would lead me here.

And I swear I don't know what happened to Landon. "

Matt thought about that as Haley's questioning gaze met his. He turned back to Harrington. "You said you don't know what happened, but you were suspicious, weren't you?"

Harrington tipped his head in acknowledgment.

"The story didn't ring true, and it occurred to me that one of Landon's frat brothers might have found out about his work and wanted to get access to it.

There are many Westbridge families with ties to the financial industry, including several in Landon's fraternity, Trent Adler and Drew Sanderson, to name two of them. "

"Were they the ones blackmailing you?"

"I don't know. My tormentor was disguised, but the girl in question was very good friends with Henry Adler, so I suspect he was involved."

"Henry did the same thing to Landon," Haley said. "He sent a woman to him, someone who would flirt and pretend to like him so she could get her hands on his work."

"You're talking about Brooke Mercer?"

"Yes."

"Brooke was struggling in my economics class. She was one of the ones whose grades I changed. I believe she was in trouble in other classes as well, but this one grade would keep her from getting kicked out of school."

"But Henry is a lawyer," Matt said. "He's not in the financial industry. What was his stake?"

"He could still get rich off of whatever Landon had, especially if his friends knew how to use it," Harrington said.

"Who would have known or foreseen how valuable Landon's work might be?" he asked.

Harrington thought for a moment. "I don't know. Any one of them. They all come from wealthy families with significantly large portfolios. Some work in the financial industry, others don't, but that doesn't mean they couldn't benefit from stock manipulation."

"How did the algorithm work?" he asked. "Was it a software program?"

"Landon was going to show me when it was finished. He didn't want to get into it before then, so I don't know the details."

"Was it finished when he died?"

"I'm not sure. By then, we were not in accord. He was unhappy with the grade situation, and we were barely speaking."

"What exactly did you tell Sabrina?" Haley asked.

"What I just told you."