Chapter 48
“Math Genius Dead in Mysterious Fire,” Darnell read off his phone.
“Dr. Steve Neely, professor of mathematics and statistics at Princeton University, co-winner of the Fields Medal, and a strong candidate for the Nobel Prize in mathematics, was found dead in the early hours of the morning. The medical examiner reports that Dr. Neely died from asphyxiation following a fire in his rural New Jersey home. Princeton Police are investigating. Dr. Neely’s partner, also a professor at Princeton, Dr. Eugene Reeves, suffered major injuries in the fire and his condition is listed as critical.
He is currently in the ICU at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center. More details to follow.”
Vaughn pictured Ivy’s father and that horrible face mask. The way he just stared blankly, even when Delaney had a gun trained on him, ordering him to put up his hands.
The lack of any semblance of a response or understanding.
“Do you have access to the police report?”
Darnell nodded, swiped his screen, then continued to read.
“On June 5, 2022, at approximately 01:34 a.m., PPD responded to a residential fire at 63 Windemere Road. Two bodies were recovered from the scene. One was DOA, the other unconscious. The body inside the building was later identified as Dr. Steve Neely. Official cause of death was asphyxiation. There was evidence of blunt force trauma to the skull consistent with a fall from loss of consciousness. Impossible to determine if there was the presence of defensive wounds due to extreme burns on over 90 percent of the victim’s body. ”
Darnell cleared his throat.
“Dr. Eugene Reeves was discovered by his daughter, who received a phone call from her father and was first on the scene—Ivy Reeves was also the one who placed the 911 call alerting PPD of the fire. Ivy dragged her father’s unconscious body from the house.
He had severe burns on his face. Ivy had minor burns and was treated at the scene.
Dr. Reeves was unconscious and taken to PMC.
He was admitted to the ICU at 2:46 a.m. A joint investigation between the fire marshal and the PPD revealed that the fire was electrical in nature.
No evidence of an accelerant was present.
PPD subsequently exercised a warrant on both parties’ cell phones and computers.
No computers were found at the scene or in either party’s place of work.
An escalating series of text messages between the two mathematicians was discovered (see accompanying notes).
These appeared to be work-related—Dr. Neely and Dr. Reeves were colleagues at Princeton.
The final message was written by Dr. Reeves and had a read receipt: Don’t you dare fucking do anything. This is my work.”
Darnell scrolled a little. Paused. His thick brow lowered.
“Ah, here we go: ‘Due to the lack of material witnesses and the origin of the fire being consistent with a faulty circuit breaker, the case is officially marked as suspicious. Dr. Reeves awoke from a coma seven days after being admitted to the hospital, an outcome that the doctors initially claimed was unlikely. Interview attempts with Dr. Reeves proved unsuccessful; degradation of the Broca’s area of the brain from oxygen deprivation was observed, which appears to have affected the victim’s ability to communicate verbally or in writing.
Interviews with the man’s wife and daughter did not reveal anything pertinent to the investigation.
They claimed to be unaware of any strife between the two men.
’” Darnell raised his eyes. “Now, you wanna put Eugene Reeves on the board?”
Vaughn frowned.
“He’s nonverbal. Can’t write.”
“Still ambulatory, though—according to you,” Darnell countered.
“I saw him in the field. The man is practically a vegetable.”
“Maybe that’s what Dr. Reeves is hiding. Maybe she’s covering for her dad, maybe he’s behind this.”
“Yeah right.” Vaughn paused. “Wait—You serious?”
“I’m serious.
“C’mon, Darnell. That’s ridiculous. Delaney had a gun on him, told him to put his hands up. He just stood there.”
“An unarmed old white dude in a field? With two witnesses? Not much risk of being shot.”
“Delaney was screaming at him, at all of them. Darnell—Hey, where are you going?”
Darnell flashed his phone.
“To visit the detective who investigated the fire. ‘Practically a vegetable’ isn’t good enough for me, Vaughn. Not by a long shot.” It looked as if Darnell was about to wink, but smartly decided not to. “And I’ve got a hunch.”