Page 81 of Skeletons in the Closet

“Maybe. There’s more.”

“Hang on.” I was hungry, and the soup was calling me, but I didn’t want to eat it cold. “Let me heat this up.” I moved to grab the soup, but Diem got to it first, growling for me to stay put.

I smiled to myself as Diem found his way into the kitchen and located the microwave. When he returned, he set it carefully on the coffee table. I ate, and he watched me with such intensity I almost poked fun, but I knew how sensitive Diem was, so I let it go.

It was like I’d told Memphis. I enjoyed the attention. Something about Diem’s awkwardness and repressed attraction was invigorating. The fact I was shirtless didn’t help. His gaze roamed more than once over my body before he caught himself and did all he could to keep his eyes off me. He wanted to stare but hated himself for doing so. He wanted to touch me but didn’t know how. For whatever reason, Diem didn’t want to be attracted to me.

But he was.

“You can talk while I eat. I’m capable of doing two things at once.”

Diem darted his attention away when I glanced up and caught his gaze lingering on my bare skin again. He cracked his knuckles and folded his fingers together before releasing them and grasping his thighs. “I found David Shore. Took a hot minute, but since we had a vague idea of what he looked like, I was able to find him. David Shore is the teacher they’re investigating at the university.”

With the spoon halfway to my mouth, I froze. I replaced it in the bowl and shifted to face Diem. “The man from the newspaper? The one being charged for having relations with his students and possibly selling drugs?”

Diem nodded.

I sat with that for a long minute, contemplating. How did it fit? Then I recalled. “Wait. Noah went to school at York, where he teaches.”

Diem nodded again.

“Did Beth and Olivia go to school there too?”

Another nod.

“Same year?”

A nod.

“Stop it.”

“What?”

“I’m having a conversation with myself. I swear to god, if you make my migraine come back, I’ll be pissed. The human race learned to communicate with words eons ago. Please use them.”

Diem shifted his weight. “They were students at the same time,” he mumbled. “Noah was a year older, but they all went to York, and David Shore was a professor then too. Beth might have had him as a teacher. I’m not sure about Olivia. I called Faye to see if she knew if Noah had a class with Professor Shore since I thought there was a possible connection. She wasn’t sure but said she’d try to find out.”

“Okay…” I pinched the bridge of my nose, slotting the mismatched pieces of information together the best I could, but more gaps opened. More questions surfaced. The picture was less clear, not more clear. “Shit.” I removed my glasses and scrubbed my hands over my face.

“I shouldn’t have come.”

I dropped my hands and put my glasses back on. “Why?”

“Your head. I’m making it worse.”

“No. My head’s fine. It’s not you. I’m much better. The soup helped.” And I wasn’t fluffing his feathers. I did feel better. I’d barely eaten in two days and was hungrier than I thought. The shadowy migraine dissipated with my hunger satiated.

“I’m due for another pill. I’ll take it and be right as rain. What’s the game plan? What do we do with this information? Where do we go from here?”

“I want to go by the university.”

“He’s there? They haven’t removed him?”

“He’s been suspended, but his wife teaches there as well, and rumors will be rampant.”

“Wait. It’s summer.”

“There’re summer courses going on. It won’t be as busy, but students should be kicking around.”

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