‘Where would she have been likely to end up working after she’d finished?’
‘A government department? Or a consortium? Perhaps even one of the many private consulting firms.’ He smiled. ‘Who knows, she might even have ended up teaching somewhere like this. What she really wanted to do was to go to Africa and work in farming, energy and land use. She was very forward-looking. She always said there’s no practical reason at all for anyone in today’s world to be starving. And she’s right, of course.’
‘If it weren’t for politics,’ Winsome said.
‘Yes.’
‘Would you say Adrienne was a conscientious student?’
‘Yes, I’d say she was.’
‘What do you think went wrong? Was something eating away at her?’
Stoller shook his head slowly. ‘I can’t for the life of me think what it was. The newspaper seemed to imply that she was a drug-taker, which I found hard to believe, but you said on the phone that she committed suicide?’
‘I said it appeared that she took an overdose of sleeping pills. Had she been depressed lately, upset about anything?’
‘Not to my knowledge. Her work...’
‘Yes?’
‘Well, this year her work wasn’t quite up to the standards she set herself in her first year, but that’s not uncommon in second-year students. They all seem to hit a patch where other things seem more important than university work. I suppose it means they’ve finally settled in. Besides, it’s early days yet. Start-of-term struggle.’
‘What other things?’
‘Who knows? Almost anything can get in the way, really. Social life. Boyfriends. Shopping.’
‘Did Adrienne have a boyfriend?’
‘Not that I knew of. But then, I wouldn’t be in the best position to know. It’s not a good idea to discuss such private matters with students, as I’m sure you’re aware.’
Winsome nodded. ‘The times we live in. But was she still doing well enough academically?’
‘Oh, yes. So far. She just missed a few lectures, a couple of tutorials, was late with an essay once. Seemed distracted in lectures. That sort of thing. In most students you wouldn’t even notice, it’s par for the course, but with Adrienne... well, I suppose she’d set herself too high a standard last year.’
‘Do you think the course work was too hard for her? Did it lead to stress?’
‘There’s always a certain amount of stress involved if you want to do a good job, but I’d say Adrienne could handle it. I can’t imagine it being too hard for her.’
‘Do you know if she had something else on her mind, what it was that might have been distracting her?’
‘No. If she did have any serious problems, she didn’t tell me about them.’
‘Was she worried about anything? Anxious?’
‘On occasion, I thought so. Like I said, distracted, distant, as if her mind were elsewhere.’
‘But you’ve no idea about what? You’ve no idea where?’
‘No. Sorry. Maybe it was money. A lot of the students have money problems these days.’
‘What about the scholarship?’
Stoller frowned. ‘What scholarship?’
‘According to her parents, Adrienne was awarded a scholarship at the beginning of this year.’
‘First I’ve heard of it.’
‘Would you be likely to know?’
‘There are all kinds of scholarships around. I can’t say I always pay as much attention as I should to departmental memos and the like, even if they sent me one. I can’t say it surprises me though. As I said, she was a bright student.’ He paused. ‘But I like to think she would have told me about something like that. If she’d been her old self she would have been excited, and I’m sure she would have told me.’
‘Could being free of money worries have affected her work?’
‘In what way?’
‘I don’t know. Made her feel she had to give more in return? Or the opposite — feel that she could kick back and relax a bit. Have fun. She’d have more money to go drinking or clubbing, shopping, do other things. Things that might distract her from her studies.’
‘I suppose it’s a possibility. But, as I said, I know nothing of this scholarship, or what she did in her own time. You’ll have to check with the bursar’s office about the money.’
‘Do you know of anyone Adrienne might have confided in?’
‘Neela, perhaps. Neela Mitchell. They were very close. Best friends.’
It was one of the names Winsome had already picked up from the phone calls and emails. ‘Do you know her address?’
‘Yes. She was in the same tutorial group as Adrienne. I needed her details in case I had to get in touch.’ Stoller walked over to his filing cabinet and pulled out a folder. ‘Should I be giving you this information?’ he said. ‘I mean, isn’t there some sort of confidentiality rule?’
‘Professor Stoller,’ said Winsome, ‘a suspicious death usually trumps confidentiality, but if you insist, I can go and get a court order.’
‘No, no. I’m sorry. I wasn’t meaning to be difficult. I gave your colleague Adrienne’s address. I just don’t want to get into trouble.’
‘Believe me, you’d be in much more trouble if you didn’t tell me what I want to know. Besides, we have this Neela’s phone number and email address already. You’ll just be saving me a little time. If you wouldn’t mind, sir?’
‘You said “suspicious death”,’ Stoller said. ‘I thought she’d committed suicide? Are you saying now that you suspect foul play, that someone might have done this to her? Do you think Adrienne was murdered?’
‘I’m not suggesting anything of the kind, and I’d be very grateful if you wouldn’t go around repeating that to anyone else. Suspicious means there are unanswered questions, that’s all. We like to dot our i’s and cross our t’s, just like you academics.’
Stoller gave her Neela Mitchell’s address. ‘I don’t know if she’s still there, though,’ he said. ‘She was very upset when she heard the news about Adrienne. She came to see me, and I recommended counselling. We have an excellent centre here on campus. She may even have gone home to her parents.’
‘I’ll take it from here, sir, don’t worry. Thanks for the address.’
Stoller nodded, sat down again and rearranged the papers on his desk. At least he wasn’t playing the busy card, trying to get rid of her, Winsome noticed, the way a lot of professionals tend to do with the police. ‘Do you happen to know if Adrienne was on any prescription medication? Was she taking antidepressants, tranquillisers, sleeping pills, anything like that?’
‘Good Lord, I don’t think so. I doubt it. Not Adrienne.’
‘Drugs?’
‘I never saw any signs.’
‘Would you have recognised them if you had?’
‘We’ve had seminars on the problem of drugs on campus, so I know a few of the things to watch out for. I saw none of them in Adrienne’s case. At worst, she was sometimes overtired in a morning, but I just assumed she’d been up working late. Otherwise she always seemed perfectly normal to me.’
‘Did she go clubbing, that sort of thing?’
‘Again, I wouldn’t know. At a guess, I’d say she did about as much and no less than most of the girls, which wasn’t excessive. Dances, pub nights, that sort of thing. Young people need to have fun as well as work, DS Jackman.’
‘I know that, sir. It wasn’t so long ago.’
‘I... I... didn’t mean... Which university, if you don’t mind my asking?’
Winsome smiled. ‘Not at all. Birmingham. And I studied psychology and criminology. So you saw no signs of excessive clubbing, drug-taking or binge-drinking, just Adrienne being tired occasionally from a late night’s working?’