‘Poppy? I doubt it. She might look rogue but she’s a good egg. She spends most of her days arguing that Mary Lincoln was the real hero of the story. A feminist of course.’
‘Well is there anyone else?’ Jamison asked.
‘Not that I can think of, but I have a pile of dissertation plans on my table, which I’ve yet to mark. You are more than welcome to browse through them and see if any grab your attention.’
The detectives followed the professor, who led them out of the theatre. As they walked through the corridors, whitewashed walls became more tumbledown as they moved further away from the entrance. There was a lot less love for the areas which didn’t offer easy access to visitors. At the end of the corridor, a room no bigger than a restroom welcomed them. On the door Professor King’s name was stamped on a glass pane. Inside, his multiple degrees lined the walls and a small desk took the centre with reams of papers scattered across it.
‘It’s organised chaos, I assure you.’ Barry laughed as he welcomed the detectives to take a seat before his desk. He pulled the papers together and tapped the bottoms to align the edges into one tidy pile. ‘So, in the second year of their studies, I ask the students to plan ahead for their dissertation focus so we can ensure they’re fully prepared for when they begin researching and I can make sure that they’re on the right track. We can also pair them up with a mentor with relevant knowledge or experience in that field who can offer them the best advice for their chosen subject.’
‘I have a question for you, professor,’ Vanessa asked. He nodded and looked up, holding out his hand to give her the floor. ‘Have you come across the theories we’ve discussed with you today before? We’ve only heard positive things about Lincoln in the past but this journey has certainly flipped our assumptions about Lincoln. But you’re an intelligent man and know the Lincoln story inside out, have you ever heard that Lincoln’s views towards the slaves weren’t as warm as history makes out?’
‘Oh I have indeed.’ Barry chuckled, growing red at Vanessa’s compliment towards his intellect. He waved his hand almost dismissively towards the secrecy of such a theory regarding Lincoln’s ethics. ‘These theories raise their heads now and again. We get the odd student look into it too but it never goes much further than that.’
‘So it’s all just hearsay then?’
‘I wouldn’t say that, Detective Jamison. There is evidence to support the theory.’
‘Why are there no books or research pieces on it then?’ Darnell asked with folded arms and raised eyebrows, sceptical of the claims.
‘Well you can find them if you look in the right places. You see, detectives, academic research is paid for by grants. In history it’s usually paid for by the government or tourism. Well the government sure as hell aren’t going to pay for research to dig up dirt on the greatest ever president, especially when he’s responsible for promoting a centralised government, which is the very essence of what we stand by in this country today. And culturally? Why would we tamper with the greatest part of our history? Lincoln exonerated us from our past and people like to hold on to this country standing for something good. And as for tourism? Well this town lives on the admiration for Lincoln. As do many other historic sites across America. They certainly aren’t going to pay for a grant to dig up anything unsavoury on him, are they?’
‘But what about you as an academic? Wouldn’t you want to get to the truth?’
‘Well research takes time and money, something academics don’t typically have an excess of. Besides it’d be career suicide. So I leave it up to my students to do it for me in their dissertations. It’s just a shame the world won’t see the light of day on any of these.’ He lifted the papers and threw them back onto his desk.
‘Can we take a look through these?’ Vanessa placed her hand on top of the pile and offered a pleading glance towards the lecturer.
‘Yes of course. I don’t know what they’ll offer you for your case but by all means have a browse through. I’ll give you some space to review them,’ Barry said before departing his office.
The detectives lifted the dissertation proposals. They were no more than five pages each, highlighting a synopsis and the direction of their research plan. On the front page, the student’s name and the title of their research topic was highlighted in bold. The themes ranged from the ‘Colliding Recollections of the American Civil War’, to ‘John Wilkes Booth’s Impact on Domestic Terrorism’.
Poppy Shipman’s name caught Darnell’s eye. He had been disgruntled by her earlier suggestion that Lincoln was gay. She reminded him of the activists seen on the news fighting in the Stonewall Riots in ’69. He didn’t like them back then and he wasn’t a fan now. They were thugs in his eyes, causing havoc and destruction. Poppy was exactly the type of person who would be caught up in exposing a national hero for her own personal pleasure.
Poppy’s thesis was focused on the political inspiration which Abraham Lincoln brought upon modern leadership. He browsed through her plan and spotted her claims that he had inspired the German dictator, Adolf Hitler. The paper suggested that Hitler used Lincoln’s inaugural address to make his case against state sovereignty.
‘We have our culprit.’ Darnell smiled and passed the paper to his colleague, who browsed through the thesis.
‘That’s interesting but I don’t think we should come to conclusions so quickly. You clearly have something against this Poppy girl just because she outed your hero. Let’s
