Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
The sun was low in the sky as Natalie and Liam stood on the sidewalk outside the precinct after Pataki had said a very pointed thanks for coming by and goodbye.
“Ready to go home?” Liam asked.
“No,” she said honestly.
The breath Liam drew in formed a cloud of white vapor in the cold January air as he blew it out. “What do you want to do?”
“Clear Lionel’s name before the publisher hears about it and cancels the book deal. Before everyone in his field of study finds out. This gets out and we’ll never be able to get that Mudville article published in any professional journal or anywhere.”
Liam leaned against the fender of the Jeep.
“Let me ask you something. Do you believe him? Is there any chance at all he did use this kid’s paper, either accidentally or on purpose?
Maybe he read it, it stuck in the back of his mind, and when it came time to write the book it just popped out. I mean, it happens.”
Natalie shook her head. “No. As far as what he told me, Lionel published his article a decade before Peter turned in his paper on the same topic. Lionel said he recognized the writing style and knew it was stolen from his own work.”
“So there you go. It’s published, years before the kid’s paper. That’s proof.”
“But you said yourself just the accusation of plagiarism can cost someone their reputation. This murder story is going to blow up. A former student killing his professor? It’s not going to be just news in New Haven.
It’s going to be national. Lionel’s dead.
The only person’s side the public will hear is Peter shouting accusations. ”
“Accusations by an obviously disturbed individual who murdered someone,” Liam reminded.
“Still, even a whisper of suspected plagiarism is really bad for a professor. This is bad, Liam.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“Right now? I can’t believe I’m saying this but I could really use a beer.”
Liam smiled. “There’s my girl. To The Well?”
“To The Well,” she agreed.
The place hadn’t changed any, it was still too loud, too bright, too young, but Natalie’s mood had altered greatly since the last time they sat there. She felt defeated. Even Liam setting two beer mugs on the table didn’t cheer her.
“I tried something different. The bartender recommended it instead of what I usually order.”
“When the bartender knows what you usually order, it’s probably an indication you’ve been there too often.”
“It’s probably also the last time I’ll be here, if that makes you feel any better.” Liam shrugged, looking wistful.
“You’re right.” They had no reason to come back unless… “Do you think I should meet with the chair of Lionel’s department here? Explain how the accusation can’t possibly be true?”
“You’re going to tell the head of the history department at Yale you talked to the ghost of Lionel Graves and that’s how you know this Peter kid stole his work and not the other way around?”
“I don’t have to admit how I knew. Lionel could have easily mentioned the incident to me in passing when he was alive. The university can investigate it themselves. They’ll find Lionel’s published paper from all those years ago.”
“Nat, don’t stir up trouble by bringing this accusation to their attention. The university might never hear of it and even if they do, they could easily dismiss this Peter as the disturbed individual he is. Just leave it be.”
“Fine.” Scowling, she raised the mug to her lips and took a long swallow.
This brew was less bitter than the IPA they’d had last time. It was nice. Almost nutty and almost good enough to make her forget there was still threads to this mystery she couldn’t tie up.
Why did Peter so adamantly believe Lionel was the thief when clearly Peter was the one who’d taken Lionel’s work?
She went in for a second sip. It wouldn’t solve her problems, but it couldn’t hurt. She was just swallowing as someone approached the table.
“Excuse me. Did the gentleman say you can talk to ghosts?”
Natalie choked on the beer as the young woman’s hand passed right through her own. When she could breathe again, she wiped the tears from her eyes and got her first good look at the girl. Or rather ghost.
That was obvious from her dress. She was old. Not old in age. She had been very young when she’d died as far as Natalie could tell. Maybe eighteen. Twenty max. But she was old in vintage. Like eighteenth-century old.
“Um, hi,” she said, choosing to be polite since she’d been busted, thanks to Liam mentioning the G-word.
“Nat?” Liam asked with concern.
“It’s okay,” she said, before turning back to the ghost. “This is my boyfriend, Liam. My name is Natalie. And you are?”
“Sally Lee.”
“Hi, Sally. Uh, how long have you been here?”
“For a very long time.” The young woman smiled. “My husband was one of the first professors right after the university was founded so we lived on campus. It was all quite an honor.”
“So that would have been what year?” Natalie asked.
“Seventeen hundred and one,” she answered proudly.
“Wow. That is a long time ago.”
“Indeed.” Sally nodded.
“So, how can I help you, Sally?”
“I believe it is I who can help you. You were speaking of the professor. I knew him. Well, knew him as far as I respected his work. I’d often sit in his office and read what he was working on.
So fascinating. Especially the research that involved the eighteenth century. Since that was my era, you know.”
“Understandable.” Natalie nodded.
“Students would come and go during office hours, so I know Peter as well. I was there when Peter and the professor argued about Peter’s final paper.
And I know why Peter believes so strongly that he was the originator of the idea, while the professor believes Peter copied from him.
Peter never admitted it to the professor, but I’m observant and I saw how Peter wrote his paper. And that is how I know the answer… AI.”
Those words, coming out of this eighteenth century woman’s mouth, were hard to make sense of.
“I see I’ve confused you. Let me explain,” Sally began.
“Women couldn’t attend this university back when I was alive.
But since my death, well, I’ve been sitting in on all of the classes.
You can imagine after all these years, I’ve taken just about every one there is to take.
But recently there has been a new course of study here at Yale. Artificial intelligence.”
Natalie nodded, impressed. “I dare say you know more about the subject of AI than I do.”
“You’ll learn. It’s the way of the future,” Sally said excitedly.
“I’m sure you’re right,” Natalie agreed in what was becoming one of the most surreal conversations of her life.
“I am sorry. I digressed. Anyway, as you may know many of today’s AI models were trained on existing published works, such as Professor Graves’s. So when Peter prompted the AI on his computer with an idea for a paper on one of the topics the professor had covered in class…”
“The AI pulled from Lionel’s paper. Lionel told me some of the phrasing was almost verbatim.”
Sally nodded. “Yes, and that’s why. You must remember that although today teachers are well aware of students using AI to write papers, back when Peter used it, the technology was still very new and much lesser known. I doubt the professor ever considered the possibility.”
Natalie nodded. Of course she was right. Two years was like a lifetime in terms of recent AI advancements.
“The tragedy is that the subject of Peter’s paper happened to be the subject of the book that, by coincidence, Professor Graves wrote and published a year after he read Peter’s paper.”
“Making Peter believe Lionel stole the idea for the book from the paper,” Natalie concluded in the tag team explanation.
“Yes. Unfortunately for Professor Graves, may he rest in peace.”
This amazing young woman had just wrapped up the final piece of the puzzle.
“Sally, I have to say, you might be the most interesting person I’ve ever spoken to. Living or other,” Natalie added softly.
“Thank you. You as well. It’s been so nice to speak with another woman.”
“There must be others here. Like you.”
Sally tipped her head. “Not like you, so thank you for the conversation. I’ve kept you for too long. I’ll let you get back to your handsome beau.”
“He is handsome, isn’t he?” Natalie grinned.
Sally returned her smile, then delivered what could only be called a curtsy before she said, “Have a lovely evening.”
Natalie blew out a breath and reached for the beer again. When she glanced up Liam was watching her.
“I’m sorry. I have a lot to catch you up on.”
“I think I got most of it. Basically AI killed Lionel?”
“AI in the hands of a boy with issues combined with one big horrible misunderstanding killed Lionel.” Natalie shook her head.
“The ghost of the wife of one of Yale’s founding professors from seventeen-oh-one, who is now an AI expert from sitting in on so many classes here, had the final piece of the puzzle.
Harper is going to lose her mind when I tell her. ”
“That is pretty mind-boggling,” Liam agreed. “But I think I’m ready to put New Haven in the rear-view mirror.”
So was she.