CHAPTER 14

 

The Head of Faculty sneered at Grose as if he’d just broken wind. “Dudley, I really don’t see what the problem is.”

Her name was Belinda Kellaway though she preferred to be called Linda. She was in her early thirties, overweight but dressed to hide it, favoring long shirts over long dresses and baggy jackets with the sleeves turned up. She wore little or no makeup and clear varnish on her nails. Behind her on the wall were her framed credentials and degrees. There were a lot of them.

“The problem is that Adrian Slater is threatening to kill a fellow student,” said Grose. “Haven’t I made that clear?”

“Mr Slater is a student on your creative writing course and he was reading from his work in progress, that’s what you said.”

“Yes, and he said that he was going to choose a victim from among the students on the course.” He sighed and shook his head. “I don’t think I can make myself any clearer.”

“But it’s a novel, you said.”

“No, I said it was supposed to be a novel. But he’s working on something called The Bestseller which he says involves him killing a fellow student and writing about it.”

Kellaway chuckled dryly. “Dudley, if he was really going to commit murder, he’d hardly stand up and announce the fact to the world.”

“Unless he’s a psychopath and doesn’t care.”

“Is that what you think? You’re not a psychiatrist, are you?”

“Of course I’m not a psychiatrist. But that’s not the point. The point is that he’s talking about killing a student and I’m not prepared to have him in my class. He’s off the course.”

Kellaway looked pained. “I’m not sure that we can do that, Dudley. We can’t go throwing students off courses just because their lecturer doesn’t agree with their views.”

“Views? Who said anything about views?” Grose wanted to stand up but he knew that she’d see that as aggression so he took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. “He stood up in front of the class and said he was going to kill to write a bestseller.”

“It’s an expression, Dudley. Probably every writer in the world has said that at one time or another.”

“Today he started talking about zebras and cheetahs and the jungle and then he said that he was thinking about targeting a student. A student, Linda. How do you think it’s going to look if a student dies and the Media finds out that we knew about this?”

“But that’s not going to happen,” she said. “Seriously, Dudley, what is your issue with this Adrian Slater? It can’t be just about the book. There has to be more to it than that.”

Grose threw up his hands in frustration. He wanted to snap at the stupid woman and tell her what he really thought of her, but he knew that would achieve nothing. Kellaway simply wasn’t listening to him.

“Dudley, I’m not sure that now is a good time for you to be picking fights with one of your students. Not with the way things are?”

“What do you mean?”

She flashed him a tight smile as if he was her cleaner and she’d just asked him to give the stove a going over. “There’s talk of revamping the course, and perhaps bringing in a younger teaching staff.”

“What? What do you mean there’s talk? Who’s talking?”

“I’m not in a position to say.”

“You’re the Head of Faculty, Linda. You must know.”

“I didn’t say that I didn’t know, Dudley. I said that I wasn’t in a position to say. But just be aware that there are those who’d like to go with a younger structure and that changes could be made to the curriculum to make it more modern.”

“Modern? In what way.” He leaned forward. “You’re talking about letting me go? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Of course not, Dudley. No one is even suggesting that, not at the moment anyway. But the world of publishing is changing and perhaps the courses we are offering need to change along with it. Perhaps we should be looking forward and not back.”

Grose frowned, not understanding what she was getting at.

Kellaway smiled at his confusion. “EBooks are the way forward, Dudley. EPublishing is the future. We should be teaching our students how to write eBooks, and how to market and promote them. We should be showing them how to get their work out into the marketplace and communicating directly with their readers.”

Grose’s eyes widened with horror. He felt as if he’d just been punched in the stomach. He knew exactly what the Head of Faculty was planning. A new industry, a new course, and if the existing lecturers weren’t up to the job, then a new teaching staff.

“You see what I mean, Dudley. Our courses are becoming more user-led, rather than dictating to our students we need to be more open to their needs and wants, we must start helping them develop their talents rather than pushing them to conform to what our idea of success is.”

Grose nodded despondently, then forced a smile. “Absolutely,” he said. “Amazing technology.” He stood up. “Well, thanks for your time anyway, Linda.”

“A pleasure, Dudley.” She was already looking at her computer screen. “My door is always open.”