"How am I supposed to remember every student that I have ever had over four years of teaching and more years than that as a guest lecturer?"

“It's just as frustrating for us sir," Edgar said.

“For the first time, I almost wish that I could have a vision that might actually give us a clue."

Reichert nodded, acknowledge the admission of desperation. Edgar was a raven-shifter, the mystics of the birds. The ravens sometimes developed the ability to see into the future or the past, but these gifts signaled the beginning of a descent into madness. But this young man was the sort who would sacrifice his mind to stop this monster.

"This is all my fault," Reichert muttered.

"Somehow, somewhere, I did something so heinous that it drove someone to this.”

"It could just be that he's a deranged psychopath who took offense at something most people would not have thought twice about." Edgar dropped a pile of files on the table.

"Maybe it's not a former student. You've not been involved in any other scandals?"

“Absolutely not. The university has suffered through enough of that."

Edgar raised one eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Any institution has problems," Reichert explained.

"The man that I replaced was in serious trouble due to allegations of fraternization with students, and he was not too particular about the gender of the student."

Edgar's eyes narrowed.

“And you did not think to mention this?"

"Professor Hill's issues started before I came to visit the first time. I have no idea how long he held onto his job as it was, but when a female shifter comes to me directly and complains that she felt that she was magically coerced into sexual situations, I had to bring it to the department's attention. Hill held on for another semester while hearings took place, but eventually his tenure was revoked and he was dismissed."

"Now THAT sounds like motive," Edgar said.

"How could you possibly -—

"Hill is dead," Reichert interrupted.

"He couldn't handle the disgrace. His wife had long before left him and he had no children.

No one else on staff even seemed to like him very much."

"There could still be something to it," Edgar said. He pulled out his laptop and started to browse. Finding the basic articles were not difficult. After losing a fierce battle against the university's board of directors and the department and anyone else he could think of, Gerald Hill had lost his post as history professor at Four Corners University. With lawsuits looming on the horizon and his professional reputation crushed, he had walked out into the woods behind his house, put a gun in his mouth, and ended his own life.

Edgar kept reading, finding a few articles describing the event.

There were a lot of “It's a shame" kind of comments, but they all tended to be the sorts of platitudes one disposed of in situations where there was nothing nice one could say. But in the depths of the school paper, there was one dissenting opinion. An anonymous student was quoted as saying: