Ask Not For Whom The Panther Prowls

By Astor James Monroe

In this sequel to "Murder on G-Deck" Dr. Sharpe has returned to teaching and research. Swearing to “go straight” and stick to academic pursuits, he is dragged into a series of polite poisonings after a student in his 'Physics for Poets' class dies of an apparent heart attack. When his son-to-be stepson's favorite kindergarten teacher, a student teacher from the university nearly suffers the same fate, he is forced to investigate. Someone is slowly knocking off the undergraduates. The only common feature of the victims seems to be their involvement in an on-line English course, but the truth is more complex

• Language: English
• Publisher: Astor James Monroe
• Release date: Nov 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310380013

Astor James Monroe

Dour, gritty and secretive, Astor Monroe is something of an enigma. This is, of course, a disadvantage in the cut-throat world of publishing where visibility is king and advertising rules the world.On the other hand, it gives him the plausible deniability he needs to write freely and satirically about life in modern Atlanta.

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Ask Not for Whom the Panther Prowls

a crime novella

Astor James Monroe

Disclaimer.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s deranged imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously. The mention of products, organizations, or software in the story is to move the drama along and add verisimilitude to the story. Mention of a product, organization or software should not be construed either as an endorsement or as a criticism of the products, organizations or software.

Copyright © 2014 by Astor James Monroe

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review.

Smashwords Edition

This novella is the sequel to Murder on G-Deck

Table of Contents

Prolog.

1. Put Your Hand Up before You Die.

2. Presidential Action.

3. Argus Gets a Client.

4. Gate Crashing.

5. Fame is Fleeting.

6. Flaws in the Hood.

7. Hillbilly Heroin.

8. An Experiment in Basic Gravitational Physics.

9. Argus Gets a Paying Client.

10. The Ugly Past Raises Its Head.

11. It Happens.

12. Language Arts.

13. Lost and Found.

14. Return of the Chemist.

15. Graduate Admissions.

Epilog. A Housewarming.

Prolog.

They met in a dark staircase, in the evening just past dusk, in one of the apartment towers near Donghua university in Shanghai. The stale smell of dinners past filled the air, just barely overwhelming the sulfurous smell from the coal smog.

The young man said in his most desperate voice, I need to do well on the TOEFL to enter Harvard. My parents could not live with the shame if I fail.

The foreigner coughed from the smog then quietly replied, in his strongly accented and not quite mastered Cantonese, The money, you it have? By his build, he was unmistakably a foreigner, despite his smog mask, dark glasses and hat pulled down over his eyes. Even though he wore clothes from the local department store.

Five thousand dollars?

Six. Cash. Now.

Here.

The foreigner counted it. You're short. Not enough. More.

It's all we have, we'll pay you. I promise.

No. Not enough for Harvard.

UGA then?

OK. The foreigner pocked the money. He then gave the young man a written sheet with his gloved hand. This instructions is. Understand?

Yes, thank you.

Now forget you saw me. He left down the stairs and out into the deepening fug. He had long a series of appointments to keep that evening before catching his plane home.

Shen Yi carefully read the sheet of paper he bought. It contained detailed instructions on how to log into a site using a virtual tunnel through the 'Great Firewall of China'. He could hardly wait, and once home fired up his laptop and got started.

The most beautiful girl he ever saw was on the screen when he logged in. She looked very much Chinese, for an American. He wasn't expecting that. He sat there, agog at her, his jaw dropped with amazement. She began to speak, Do you want to start with the English practice?

He stammered, in Cantonese, Do you speak Chinese?

A little, she then continued in English, I'm adopted and my parents insisted I learn my culture's language. You're here to learn English aren't you?

You're very beautiful, Yi, continued this time in English. She blushed. Thank you. She looked down at a paper on her desk and asked him, The first question is 'what is the difference between to and too?'

One means also. Can you give me your email address so we can talk later?

The girl paused, I'm not allowed to tell you that. She wrote something on a sheet of paper and held it up in front of the camera. Yi hastily wrote down her address. She continued, The second question is give me an example of using too.

I like know if you are a college scholar too.

Very good, but it would be better to say, 'I would like to know if you are a college student too'.

I would like to know if you are a college student too.

That's excellent. And I would reply, 'I am, I am a student at Georgia State University'.

You are?

Yes. Where are you?

Donghua. I want to graduate study in Georgia.

Good, but 'Donghua, I want to do graduate study in Georgia', is correct

Donghua, I want to do graduate study at Georgia State University.

The girl blushed again, Yi was a fast worker. He seemed nice enough, but coming halfway around the world after a couple of minutes of an online chat was a bit excessive. Don't be silly.

What's silly about it? What is your name?

Jane.

Jane I think I you love.

Now you are really being silly. The right way to say it is 'Jane I think I love you', which you can't yet. We've just met.

Jane I know I love you.

1. Put Your Hand Up before You Die.

Spring semester found me back practicing academic physics. While it was not quite as spiritually rewarding as chasing down a network of serial killers, my sudden death was a lot less likely when I was standing in the front of a classroom blathering away. Even with the new concealed carry law, the chance that a student would take it into his mind to create a vacancy in the physics department was remote. It was a fair swap, especially since Laura Brown and I had hooked up. Having a reason to stay alive changes your outlook on life. During summer, class breaks, and on the occasional evening, I still worked with Arthur Ellis, the head and sole full-time detective for Argus detectives. If I kept at it, I'd have my two years employment as a private detective and could become a certified private investigator. Given the status of funding and the way this university ran, that was looking more and more attractive each day. I'd drawn the short straw in the class assignment lottery for spring semester and was teaching PHYS