Page 150 of The Love Position

Now she needed to see him. Email was too impersonal and even a video call hid someone’s micro expressions. She wanted to speak to him in person, to apologise for flying off the handle and doubting him. To hold his hand and know they could have a future together.

She smoothed the skirts of her dress, the one Isaac had bought for her on Tortula island. She felt feminine, grown up, a woman in charge of her own destiny. No matter what the Vice Chancellor threw at her, she could handle it.

The door to his office opened and a man with short white hair came out to greet her, his hand outstretched.

‘Sophia, thank you for meeting me. I don’t think we’ve met before, but I’m aware of your sterling work. I’m Michael. Please, come on through.’

She followed him into a brightly lit room, sunshine flooding through the tall windows.

‘Take a seat,’ he said, indicating an area of sofas away from his desk arranged around a low coffee table. ‘We’re out of the sun here. Water? Tea? Coffee? I’ve even got ice. It’s the only thing keeping me sane in this heat.’

‘Water, thank you.’

After filling two tumblers with ice, he poured water over.

‘Here we go.’ He smiled genially at her as she took the glass. ‘I’m practically eating it at the moment. If I didn’t have to keep up appearances, I’d be behind my desk with my feet in a bucket of the stuff.’

Sophia smiled back at him. If he was in this good of a mood, it couldn’t be that bad what he was about to discuss with her. Could it?

Michael took a big gulp then leaned forward, elbows resting on his thighs, palms facing each other like a politician about to make an important point whilst also appearing to be one of the people.

‘I got your letter.’

Sophia nodded, remembering her brother’s words of advice.

‘If in doubt, don’t say anything. The quieter you are, the more they’ll reveal their hand.’

‘I’d like to speak to you in complete confidence, if I may?’ he continued. ‘Man to—’ He broke off and pulled an embarrassed face, his cheeks reddening. ‘Oops. I think I just failed my gender bias assessment. Please accept my apology.’

Sophia nodded again, trying not to giggle as she imagined James high-fiving her.

Michael cleared his throat and tugged at the collar of his shirt. ‘I got your letter. However, it hasn’t been the first communication I’ve had regarding the conduct of Professor Thwaites. Normally I wouldn’t share with you what concerns have been raised, however due to your, er, personal as well as working relationship with him, plus your letter of resignation, I thought it prudent we had a conversation as soon as possible.’

Someone else has complained about Marcus? But who?

Michael’s expression grew grave, his eyebrows drawing together.

‘I was first contacted by the parents of Kiera Thomas. Their daughter has become addicted to heroin and they claim Professor Thwaites is to blame.’

Sophia gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.

‘Would you know anything about this?’

Eyes filling with tears, Sophia told him about the night she came home early from the conference back in January and found Marcus smoking heroin with Kiera and Darcie.

Michael sighed heavily. ‘This concurs with what Kiera told me. It would seem she fell out with Darcie and the shine wore off her relationship with Professor Thwaites. She’s made a formal complaint against him and is currently in a rehab centre.’

‘That’s so awful.’

‘Indeed, indeed, but at least she’s now getting professional help. She also drew my attention to the exciting archaeological find your department made, earlier in the year.’

Sophia nodded, uneasy again.

‘She told me it was actually yourself who’d made the discovery, not Professor Thwaites, and that he ignored your assessment of the findings in favour of his own conclusions.’

She shrugged. It was true, but what could she do about it?

‘I put in a call to the museum and the curator of the upcoming exhibition told me she was also unconvinced by his hypothesis. Then, yesterday, she rang to inform me of another, far more significant find…’

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