Rausch & Donlon - Can Be Murder 03 - Writing Can Be Murder by Marilyn Rausch, Mary Donlon Page A

common
for business students to create documentaries?”
    She noticed a red flush creep up the neck of the professor. “Yes…I
mean, no. He recently switched his major from business to environmental
sciences. Rick was a student in one of my international marketing classes a few
semesters ago. We hit it off, so when he asked me to be the advisor on a
project, I agreed.”
    Frisco said, “That special project wouldn’t happen to be a
documentary on fracking, would it?”
    Michael Mazlo’s eyes widened slightly. “Now how would you know
that? Seriously, I’d like to know what this is all about before I say anything
else. Is Rick in some kind of trouble, because….”
    Jo interrupted with a wave of her hand. “Professor, I’m afraid we
have some bad news. Rick Wilson was shot yesterday.”
    Mazlo turned pale. “Wha…What do you mean, shot? Is he dead? Oh,
no…..”
    Jo said, “As of now, he’s in critical condition. The doctors are
doing everything they can for him, but he’s not out of the woods yet.”
    The adjunct professor’s color was returning to his face and he
swiped a hand across his eyes. “What can I do to help?”
    Jo turned to Frisco. He said, “We’re hoping you can give us some
information about his project.”
    “Yes, yes, of course. But wait, you don’t think the documentary
has anything to do with his shooting, do you? Couldn’t it have been just a
random thing?”
    “We haven’t ruled anything out yet. I’m not at liberty to go into
a lot of detail about the crime scene, but it appeared as if someone
intentionally tried to destroy some paperwork and computer files.”
    Michael Mazlo clapped his hand to his mouth. “Jesus Christ! You
mean you think someone tried to kill him for his work on the documentary? Well,
then it would have to be the Frackers. Those bastards! Wouldn’t surprise me a
bit if they were involved.”
    Frisco glanced at Jo. His look said, “Now we’re getting
somewhere.” He turned to Mazlo. “What makes you say that?”
    The professor leapt up from his desk chair and began to pace, his
arms flailing about. “They threatened to sue Rick, me, the U…anyone they could
think of. Got a couple of injunctions to bring filming to a standstill. Of
course, they couldn’t stop people from talking. But they just kept coming after
us.” He tugged on his earlobe. “Shit.”
    Frisco raised his eyebrow. “Professor, we’ll need a list of the
individuals and/or companies involved.”
    “I can do you one better.” He walked back to his desk and pulled
out a sheaf of papers. “Here, you’re welcome to it all. It’s a copy of the
legal filings. Rick was scared out of his wits when he saw his name at the top
of the filing. I can’t say as I blame him, but my lawyer has been helping us
out with the legalities.”
    Jo read the name of the company at the top of the document. It
read, “Wellborne Industries”. After flipping through a few sheets, she came
across the management team, with the CEO’s name in bold lettering, “Jonathon
Wellborne”.
    Jo flipped through more of the document before setting it back on
the desktop. “Seems like a big fuss for a little documentary project.”
    Mazlo smirked. “Yeah, well, they’ve had many people questioning
their tactics. From what I heard, they’ve sent these filings out - like
scattershot - to anyone who got a little too nosey.” The smile abruptly
disappeared from his face, as if he suddenly remembered why Jo and Frisco were
here to see him.
    He lowered his head. “I swear, I never thought they’d physically
harm anyone.”
    Jo patted his shoulder. “We still don’t know who did this and
why.” She changed the subject when he gave a brief nod. “You wouldn’t happen to
have a copy of his documentary, do you? It might shed some light on whatever
he’d discovered so far. It appears anything he might have had at the apartment
was either destroyed or it disappeared.”
    “No. Rick was pretty cagey about his