“I’m not here to argue legal minutiae with you.”
“No, no, Jacob, you’re a big-picture guy, aren’t you?”
This was a waste of time. “I don’t really understand your reticence.”
“That surprises me, Jacob. You’re usually such a rules follower. The information you’re asking for is confidential. I’m protecting Mr. Sanderson’s privacy.”
“But again,” I said, “he’s dead.”
I did not want to sit here, on this lemonade porch where my beloved mentor spent so many wonderful hours, another moment. I rose and reached for my laptop. He did not hand it back to me. He started doing the chin rub again.
“Sit,” he said.
I did.
“Would you tell me why a case this old would have relevance to you now?”
“It would be very hard to explain,” I said.
“But it is clearly very important to you.”
“Yes.”
“How did Todd Sanderson die?”
“He was murdered.”
Eban closed his eyes as though that revelation made it all so much worse. “By whom?”
“The police don’t know yet.”
“Ironic,” he said.
“How so?”
“That he would die by violence. I remember the case. Todd Sanderson injured a fellow student in a violent altercation. Well, that’s not really an adequate way of stating it. In truth, Todd Sanderson nearly killed a fellow student.”
Eban Trainor looked off again and took a gulp of wine. I waited for him to say more. It took some time, but eventually he continued. “It happened at a Thursday night kegger at Chi Psi.”
Chi Psi sponsored a kegger every Thursday night for as long as anyone could remember. The powers that be tried to stop it twelve years ago, but a wealthy alum simply bought a house off campus specifically for their use. He could have donated the money to a worthy cause. Instead he bought a party house for his younger frat brothers to imbibe in. Go figure.
“Naturally both participants were drunk,” Eban said. “Words were exchanged, but there was little doubt that Todd Sanderson turned this verbal altercation into something horribly physical. When all is said, the other student—I’m sorry, I don’t remember his name, it may have been McCarthy or McCaffrey, something like that—had to be hospitalized. He had a broken nose and a crushed cheekbone. But that wasn’t the worst part.”
He stopped again. I picked up the hint.
“What was the worst part?” I asked.
“Todd Sanderson nearly choked the other student to death. It took five people to pull him off. The other student was unconscious. He had to be resuscitated.”
“Wow,” I said.
Eban Trainor shut his eyes for a moment. “I can’t see how this matters anymore. We should let him rest in peace.”
“I’m not asking out of some kind of prurient interest.”
The thin smile crossed his lips again. “Oh, I know, Jacob. You are, if nothing else, a righteous man. I’m sure your interest here is nothing but the healthiest and most well-meaning.”
I let that pass.
“So why was Sanderson let off?” I asked.
“You read my decision.”
“I did,” I said. “Something about ‘highly unusual extenuating circumstances.’”
“That’s correct.”
I waited again, figuring my follow-up question was obvious. When Trainor didn’t say anything, I gave the proper prompt: “What were the extenuating circumstances?”
“The other student—McCarthy. That was his name. I remember now.” Trainor took a deep breath. “Mr. McCarthy made derogatory comments about a certain incident. When Sanderson heard the comments, he more or less—yet understandably—lost control.” Eban held a hand up in my face as though I were about to object, which I wasn’t about to do at all. “Yes, Jacob, I know that we do not excuse violence under any circumstances. That would be your stand, I am certain. But we looked at this unusual case from every level. We heard from several Todd Sanderson supporters. One, in particular, defended him with great gusto.”
I met his eyes and saw something mocking in them. “Who would that be, Eban?”
“Hint: He used to own this house.”
That surprised me. “Professor Hume defended Todd Sanderson?”
“What’s the word attorneys always use?” He rubbed his chin again. “
I tried to put it together. Hume detested violence in all forms. He was one of those people who felt too much. Cruelty on any level made him cringe. If you hurt, he hurt.
“I confess,” Eban continued, “that I was surprised too, but your mentor has always understood extenuating circumstances, hasn’t he?”
We weren’t talking about Todd Sanderson anymore, so I brought the topic back to him.
“And what were the extenuating circumstances in this case?”
“Well, for one thing, Todd Sanderson had just come back from a long leave. He had missed the prior semester for personal reasons.”
I had just about had enough. “Eban?”
“Yes?”
“Could we stop dancing around here? What happened to Todd Sanderson? Why did he leave campus? What were the extenuating circumstances that would cause a man as anti-violence as Malcolm Hume to defend such an extreme assault?”
“It’s not in the file?”
“You know it’s not. Everything but the decision was kept off the record. So what happened to him?”
