Earlier today, Nathan shot me an email. It contained a newsletter of Marlsgate University, and in the message below, he wrote to scroll down to page six. There was a whole sheet that gave information about local happenings taking place at the college. The last event was listed at the bottom and it was the teacher's meeting, being held in Arlington Hall. It was located on the north side of the campus. They were also going to start at six thirty.
Immediately, I wrote him a text, saying: Pick me up at 4:30.
Four hours later, I'm dashing down the stairs and running into the kitchen to grab myself a bite to eat before Nathan picks me up. If I don't, I'm going to ask him to stop at the nearest fast food place so I can satisfy my hunger. As I grab a Luna bar, I look at the clock on our microwave. Four thirty. No text or call from Nathan yet. Hopefully he'll be here soon. I'd like to get to Marlsgate early enough so we don't miss Professor Kelly.
I throw the wrapper in the trash and get ready to head for the front door when suddenly I hear a voice.
"Going somewhere?" It asks.
I gasp, nearly jumping out of my skin. From the arch that leads to our living room, Mom pokes her head into the kitchen. I breathe a sigh of relief at the sight of her. For a second, I thought someone broke into the house.
Oh, wait a minute. Mom? She's here already?
"Hey, you're home early," I say, stating the obvious.
"Weren't expecting me to be home at this time, huh?" she replies, sort of smiling as her arms cross.
"It's just you normally get out of work at five thirty. Is Dad here, too?"
"No, he's still at the school but he'll be leaving soon. I came home because I have a bit of a migraine."
"Oh, okay. I hope it gets better."
"Thank you, sweetie. So where are you off to this time?"
I give her a bewildered look. "What do you mean 'this time?'"
Mom takes a seat on one of the chairs by our breakfast nook. "Well, you've been going on these little escapades a lot lately without even bothering to tell us where you're going. That, and we don't see you until later in the evening."
"So?" Crap, I'm so not prepared for this.
"So, I want answers. I hate you doing all this sneaking around." I remain quiet. "Listen, I'm not asking for specifics but it'd be nice to know where our baby goes."
During the momentary silence, my brain quickly scrambles for answers. I wasn't ready for my parents' cross-examination. I always thought since they were at work during most of the day, they wouldn't really care at what time I came home. I stand corrected.
My conscience is screaming at me not to tell her what exactly it is I'm doing. Because if I do, there are two things that could happen: one, she won't believe me and she'll want a real answer or two, she'll tell me I need to mind my business, stay out of Erika's case, and let the police handle it. It can go either way and I don't want that. It feels like forever before my mouth finally opens and words come out.
"Nowhere in particular, really."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Are you seeing someone, Alexis?"
"Huh?" That catches me off guard.
"Are you seeing someone?"
Well, to answer her question technically, I am seeing someone. Nathan. In fact, I've been seeing him for the past month. Now dating, that's a different story.
"You know I'm through with dating," I tell her.
"Are you sure about that?" she counters.
"Mom—"
"Honey, you can talk to me. You know you can. If that's the case—if you're seeing a guy—it's okay. I'm not going to be upset. Your father and I just wanna know the truth, that's all."
I sigh.
Perfect. Just perfect. Now they think I've been leaving the house because it has to do with me seeing a guy (which is true but not in the way she thinks).
"Nowhere, it's...it's just that I've been hanging out with James. We've actually been driving around town because I wanna get a job, to keep myself occupied until next semester," I lie.
"You've been looking for a job?"
"Yeah. I figured I might as well do something constructive in the meantime while making a little bit of extra money."
Mom looks at me, contemplating what I just told her. For a second, she looks skeptical.
Please buy it, please buy it, PLEASE just buy it, I think.
"Why didn't you say something?" she asks after a moment of silence.
I shrug. "I don't know. Forgot, I guess."
"See? Was that so hard?"
I force a smile onto my face. "Sorry, Mom."
"It's fine, sweetheart. Just tell us next time. You worry us sometimes."
"Okay."
I lean in to kiss her cheek; she hugs me in response.
All of a sudden, a car horn honks outside, which tells me that Nathan's probably here.
"That must be James," I say, biting the inside of my cheek. "I gotta go. I'll be back by seven."
"Bye, Ali. Be careful," she says.
"I will."
I open the front door and see Nathan has his cop car parked a house down from ours. It makes me feel slightly at ease. At least Mom won't be able to see us when we leave. After closing the door, I walk down the driveway to get to his car, a sharp pang of guilt nagging at me. I feel really bad lying to my Mom like that. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't lie to my parents. I hate going to sleep with a guilty conscience, but this time feels different. They wouldn't believe me if I told them what's truly going on. It'd sound like a lie when it's really not.
And even if they believed, they'd try their hardest to discourage me from continuing any further to try to find Erika's killer. They wouldn't approve of me trying to do police work and understandably so, because the kind of search Nathan and I are conducting is dangerous. But I can't quit on Erika now. Not while we're still trying to figure out who murdered her.
Once I get inside Nathan's car, he looks over to me.
"What took you so long?"
"Sorry. My Mom was grilling me with questions pertaining to my whereabouts."
He kind of chuckles. "Oh, okay. Did you tell her?"
I hesitate. "Uh...no, I didn't. I told her James and I were job-searching for me since I'm not in college yet..."
Nathan gives me a disapproving look. "You shouldn't lie to your parents, Alexis."
"You think if I told them I'm having memories from a dead girl, they'd buy it?"
"Well, I suppose you're right. But if you don't tell them soon enough, they're going to find out eventually."
"I know. I'll deal with it when I get to that bridge. All right, let's go. We're wasting time here."
He nods. "Right."
Putting the car in drive, we zoom away from my house. It's quiet during the ride but by the time we're near the I-85 ramp, Nathan talks to me again.
"I, uh, scanned that Comic-Con ticket for fingerprints yesterday before leaving work."
I turn to face him, eager. "Did you find anything?"
"I did but there are so many fingerprints on that ticket. And none of the people who've touched it are in our database."
"Which means?"
"Which means they haven't been in trouble with the law. In other words, we're back to square one."
I'm a little disappointed but I don't let it show.
"Well, we still have Professor Kelly to talk to, right?" I ask, trying to lighten up the conversation.
"Yeah. I don't how much he'll be willing to share with us, though. Given that he was involved with one of his students, he may not say anything," Nathan replies. "I mean, we'll see how it goes today."
I guess we will.
Once we get to Marlsgate, we wander around the campus for what feels like hours, asking people where Arlington Hall is. Unfortunately, we can't find it even with the directions given to us. The college is ringed with rows of oak trees. There are some parts of the campus that are actually landscaped, however, so there are some pretty wide clearings where the sun can at least cast some of its rays down on the fields. Students are sitting out on the lawns in front of their dorms trying to get a tan. A group of boys are throwing around a football while some girls cheer them on from the sidelines.
Nathan stops and asks one of the girls for directions to Arlington Hall. I'm not standing close enough to hear their exchange, but I can tell from the look on the girl's face she thinks he's cute; she smiles widely at him while checking him out. Jealousy makes butterflies flutter in my stomach. She's dressed in short denim cutoffs and a white university crop top, wearing jet-black oversized sunglasses over her head. Her long, brown hair is twisted into one braid, which is hanging nicely past her right shoulder, unlike my auburn fuzzball.
I wriggle my toes inside my Vans and shove my hands into the pockets of my shorts, forcing myself to look away, pretending to be interested in the football competition. Pretending I don't notice Nathan turning from her and coming back toward me.
"It's not on this side of the campus, it's a little further that way," he says, pointing ahead of me. "You wanna walk or take the car?"
"Um..." I look up at the sky, seeing blue all around and no clouds. It's really pretty out and the temperature feels nice. "...no, let's walk. I could use some air." Both of us start walking, leaving the girls and the football game behind.
We follow the signs leading to Arlington Hall but after ten minutes of striding around and double-checking to make sure we didn't miss the place, we end up in the same place we were before. Nathan and I stop by a large fountain that's near the campus library and sit there, trying to think where to go next. I do a quick time check on my phone in the meantime. Five forty-five. Already wasted fifteen minutes.
"I don't know where else to go," he says, sighing exasperatedly.
"You wanna ask someone again? Maybe in the library?"
He shakes his head. "Not unless they can actually guide us to Arlington Hall. We've asked, like, five people already and look where we are now: sitting by the water fountain."
"We'll find it. It can't be far from here," I assure him.
Turning my head away from him, I watch a group of college students stroll by with their friends, talking and going inside the library. As they walk in one-by-one, another group of students come out, holding books in their arms. A guy behind them walks out right after. He seems to be by himself as there's nobody accompanying him. But something about the guy suddenly strikes me as familiar. I don't know if it's his lankiness or his dirty-blonde hair, but there's something I recognize about him.
Then, I notice his eyeglasses slide down his nose in a certain way.
Aha! It's Reuben, from Faith's apartment complex. I wonder if he knows where Professor Kelly's office is.
"I think he can help us," I say.
"Who?" Nathan asks, looking up at me.
"That guy walking over there, Reuben."
"Who's Reuben?"
"Someone I bumped into after leaving Faith's place. Come on."
Grabbing his forearm, I practically drag him across the walkway, making a beeline for Reuben. His back is towards us, so I don't think he sees Nathan and me.
"Reuben!" I call. "Hey!"
He stops walking and turns around, his face full of confusion. At first, I think maybe he forgot who I am and doesn't remember me. But then his confused expression is replaced with a welcoming smile. He turns on his heels and comes toward us.
"Hi...Reuben," I greet, breathless. "I didn't know you attend Marlsgate."
"Yeah, I do. This is my sophomore year here. Um, Lexis, right? From the apartments?"
"It's Uh-lexis, and yup, I'm the guilty party," I joke.
"Alexis. Sorry. I knew I remember seeing you somewhere. Well, welcome to Marlsgate University."
"Thank you. I thought classes were finished today."
He nods. "They are, I'm just part of a volunteering group here at the library. I'm also an orientation guide for the university when freshmen arrive during the new semesters."
"Oh."
"How can I help you guys? You seem a little lost," Reuben says.
"You could say that. We've been trying to find Arlington Hall for the past fifteen minutes and we've had no luck. We were told it'd be down this path but we can't find our way there," Nathan replies, scratching the nape of his neck.
"Arlington Hall? I know where that is. It's further down this way, a little past the library. I'll take you guys."
Leading us away from the library, and the fountain, Reuben takes us to a sidewalk that's lined up with small trees on each side. Little white flowers and the small branches sway side-to-side in the gentle breeze that blows in our direction. The sun's rays are blocked by the leaves, so it feels a little cool when the wind picks up a little. I wrap my arms around myself as we keep walking.
After a few minutes, we all find ourselves in front of another building. I can tell by the way it's built, it's older, with a couple of arches by the entrance and an old clock mounted on a tall brick column. The exterior is entirely made of dark brown brick; some areas a little faded.
"Here we are. Arlington Hall," Reuben points.
"Great," Nathan answers as he looks around.
"Is that all you guys were looking for? Can I help you with anything else?"
"We're also looking for a Professor Kelly. We were told his office is here," I say, adding the second part.
"Oh, certainly. It's on the second floor."
Reuben walks straight ahead of us to the entrance of Arlington Hall. We follow behind him, walking up six little steps to get to the doors. The inside is very nice and it's surprisingly quiet at this time of the day. The floor beneath our feet is marble, so our footsteps echo throughout the halls. There are also wooden beams that are arched and looks as if it's from a different time. For a moment, my eyes linger, staring at them. I wonder if Faith and Erika ever came to this side of the campus. I'm pretty sure, especially Erika. She must've come here when college courses were over, when nobody was around, and came to Adrian's office to see him.
In front of us is an elevator. Nathan and I almost go straight for it but then Reuben makes a left turn towards a set of stairs that's just around the corner.
"The elevator here has been out of order for the past six months. We'll have to take the stairs," he says, looking at us with an amused expression.
"Oh, that's fine," Nathan replies.
Both of us follow behind him as we ascend the stairs. My hand runs over the polished banister; it's smooth dark wood, and it's cool beneath my fingertips. I wonder how long Marlsgate has been around. Clearly for a little while as the designs are old.
When we reach the second floor, it looks similar to the floor downstairs, only smaller. It's almost empty, except for a few students lingering in a corner of the hallway, talking. The three of us walk further down until we're at the last door on the left, which I assume is Adrian's office. Reuben knocks on the door, appearing a little nervous doing so.
"I'm busy," a deep voice from the other side says.
"Uh, I know. But it's Reuben Baker, professor."
"I don't have any extra assignments to give you at the moment if that's what you're here for, Reuben."
"It's not that, professor. There are people here who wish to speak with you."
There's a pause. "Are they from the meeting?"
"No, they're not. One is an officer and another is a young lady."
Another pause. "Come in."
Reuben pushes down on the lever knob and lets himself in, stepping aside for Nathan and me to enter. Adrian's office is a little big, with a large window to the right side of the room. Several books are piled on top of each other in corners of the space, along with some papers. Although the majority of the books here are mainly historical, I see he has a few fiction books lying around, such as 1984, A Brave New World, and The Great Gatsby. I doubt he uses those for his history lessons, though.
A sudden creak from Adrian's chair makes my head snap up and look at his desk, where he's now standing. The moment my eyes find him, I almost stop dead in my tracks and look at him. Well, stare would be the proper term. He isn't looking in my direction at the minute so I take the opportunity to scan his facial features. The first thought I have is he's handsome. Very, actually. He seems to be in his late twenties or so. His blonde hair has grown a little past his chin, a light brown stubble is visible and his eyes are incredibly green. The muscles on his arms and abs show just a tad on the button-down shirt he's wearing.
I can see why Erika thought he was cute. He looks like a mountain-man.
A strange sensation in my stomach intensifies. It's like the feeling you get when you're riding a roller coaster and you're getting ready to descend the slope. That's how it feels. This feeling quickly spreads throughout my body. I know Erika is everywhere inside me now.
She's pounding my heart into my ribs, my throat tightens suddenly, my brain is bombarded with thoughts of Adrian; she's filling me with her emotions. The other feelings I had prior, with Allison and Faith, felt vivid. I mean, I'd experienced them, but this particular sensation is the strongest one by far, brimming with some kind of exquisite excitement that I feel in every corner of my being. When Adrian looks up from a stack of papers that's placed atop his desk, we make eye contact for a brief second. I quickly avert my eyes to the bottom of his desk to distract and calm myself before looking at him again.
I know I'm going to have a hard time trying to control myself from wanting to stare and touch Adrian—or, rather Erika's urges.
Please don't make a fool out of me, I think silently to her.
"Hello there," he smiles as he extends his arm for Nathan to take. "Welcome to Marlsgate University. I'm Professor Kelly."
I'm glad Nathan's the first person Adrian chose instead of me. I'm still trying to pull myself together here.
"Hello, Professor Kelly. I'm Officer Yamamoto and this is Ms. Morgan," Nathan greets.
"Hi, Ms. Morgan."
When Adrian comes to me, I take his hand and our hands lock. My heart jumps a little but I know it isn't me. I'm praying he didn't catch my reaction.
"Please, have a seat right here. Feel free to stay if you want, too, Reuben."
"Oh, thank you, professor but I can't. I have to get back to my volunteering group," he says. "If you guys need help with anything else, I'll be in the library."
I nod. "Thanks, Reuben."
He steps out, closing the door gently behind him. Adrian clasps his hands together and places them on top of his desk.
"How may I help you guys today? Is there something you'd like to know about Marlsgate? We have a brochure talking about our college courses and life here on campus."
Nathan shakes his head. "That's not why we're here, Mr. Kelly. Ms. Morgan and I actually came because of an investigation."
"Investigation?"
"Yes, it has to do with a case pertaining to one of your students."
"Oh. Which student?"
"Her name was Erika Stryder."
The corners of Adrian's lips give a slight twitch as they turn down and his demeanor alters, becoming serious. From the looks of it, I can tell this may not go well.
"Go on," Adrian says.
"We understand she attended your history classes before she died. Could you tell us a little more about that?" Nathan asks.
"Uh, sure. Aside from the times she wasn't feeling well, Erika never missed any of my lectures. She would always show up a little early, normally a few minutes before our lessons started. She was very diligent and smart, too. She was actually one of the few students I had who took pride in getting her assignments completed and turning them in when they were due. Some of the others don't really care about their work or hand it in like they're supposed to."
I nod. "It must've been tough when Erika passed away."
"Certainly, it was tough for the whole college. Most of the professors and students showed up at her funeral to pay their respects. We'd lost a bright student."
"Have you ever talked to Erika before she died?"
"Sometimes, yes. It was merely about reports and terms papers, also upcoming tests that the class needed to study for. Not much else."
"Were you two friendly with each other?"
"Of course, just like I am with my other students. I like to maintain a good relationship with everyone."
"Were you guys ever involved romantically?" Nathan asks.
Adrian's eyes grow wide, seeming appalled at the idea.
"Absolutely not," he answers quickly—a little too quickly. "I've never felt that way towards Erika at all. She was a very nice young lady, but she was just a student and I was her professor. That's how we saw it. There was nothing going on between us."
Not according to her memory of you guys going out to eat, I counter in my head.
"Okay." Nathan swiftly writes on his notepad. I glance over at him to see what he's thinking, but his face remains expressionless. "Do you know if Erika had any enemies here?"
"Mm, not that I know of. I mean, there was this one guy I noticed who kept bothering her. The look of annoyance on her face was evident. A few times I had to ask him to sit in the front because it was distracting not only her but the class as well. I always saw to it that he'd be in the first row of chairs in the classroom."
"Do you know his name?" I ask.
"I believe it was Ben Reed. He was a student of mine, too, and such a troublemaker. He would disrupt our lectures, get in fights, things like this. Though, after Erika's funeral, we had him expelled because he was becoming too much for us to handle. Since then, we haven't seen Ben," Adrian replies.
"Did he live on campus before getting kicked out?" Nathan inquires.
"No, he was never living in the dorms. He had his own place near Marlsgate, I think."
Nathan nods, then looks back at his notepad to jot more things down.
"Do you still need me for anything else, Officer Yamamoto?" Adrian glances down at his watch.
"Why do you ask?"
"I have a teacher's meeting I need to be at and it's about to start in the next five minutes."
"Well, for now, we don't have any other questions. You've answered everything we needed to know," Nathan replies. "You're free to go."
"Great, glad I could help. I apologize for cutting this conversation short but if you'll both excuse me, I really have to go. Oh, almost forgot." Adrian hands me a pamphlet as he's getting up from his chair. "Here's the brochure for Marlsgate. This is truly a great college to apply for. If you have any questions at all, feel free to call the number printed on there."
He opens the door and lets Nathan and me out first.
"Thank you for your time, professor," I say to him.
"You're welcome," he responds.
"If we need you again, we'll give you a call," Nathan says.
"Sure thing. Goodbye now."
And with that, Adrian sprints down the hallway and descends the stairs.
"I know he's lying," I say once he's out of earshot.
"About what?"
"Not being romantically involved with Erika. She showed me a memory of him taking her out to a restaurant for dinner. If that's not being romantically involved, then I'm not sure what is."
"I told you he wasn't going to be completely honest. Think about it. Adrian is a professor, Erika was a student. It's not exactly a relationship to be open about in a college. He could get fired for dating her," Nathan points out.
"That's true. But it's not like you and I are planning on exposing it to the board. We just need to know the truth in order to find who killed Erika. Everything else Adrian said, I find it credible. The part about not dating her I don't find credible."
"Neither do I, but we can't keep forcing it out of him. Not without proof, anyhow. And the proof we need is dead."
"Well, Faith said she believed something might've been going on between the two. Isn't that proof enough?"
"It's not something to go on. It's merely a suspicion. We need something more solid, like pictures of Adrian and Erika together, or texts or emails. Things like that."
We leave Arlington Hall and soon find ourselves by the fountain again, heading in the direction where we came from to get to Nathan's car.
"What did you think about Ben?" he asks.
I shrug. "I don't know. From how Adrian described him, he sounds like a jerkface. Why? What are your thoughts?"
"This is the second person who brought up Erika's ex. Because Faith mentioned him as well, didn't she?"
"Yeah. Are you suggesting that Ben's a suspect?"
"I'm not sure. I have my suspicions, but I'm not going to confirm anything until we have evidence."
I just nod.
That's true, I didn't even think about that. Faith did mention Erika's ex when I visited her a couple days ago, then Adrian mentioned him. Now that Nathan brought it up, I'm beginning to wonder, too, if maybe Ben had something to do with Erika's death. However, it's best not to jump to any conclusions yet. We still have to find the things we need first before deciding on anything.
Soon afterward, Nathan and I get in his car and leave Marlsgate, driving back to Fayetteville to take me back home.