Page 62 of The House Guest

I had made Mona cry. I wasn’t proud of that. But I was still convinced I was right. And where was the most likely place Jack would have talked about Ruth and me coming to stay, as well as the place where he might have met Eden? His workplace. Here.

I found Schermerhorn Hall and paused outside, looking up at the inscription above the door.For the advancement of natural science. Speak to the Earth and it shall teach thee.

I went inside. There was hardly anyone around on campus, and this building had that empty, out-of-season feel. But on the way here I had checked and discovered that the summer programme for undergraduate research was still running. A young woman passed me in the hallway, not glancing up from her phone, her footsteps echoing behind her. I followed the signs to the psychology department and saw it: a door bearing Jack’s name. They hadn’t yet taken the sign down.

The door next to Jack’s bore the name ‘Prof. Niven Kyle’. It was slightly ajar. I knocked and a gruff voice called, ‘Come in.’

I stepped into the office. It was exactly as I had expected. A computer. Piles of books everywhere. Degree certificates on the wall. A photo of a smiling woman with her arms around a teenage girl on the desk. Professor Kyle was in his fifties with grey hair and an open-necked shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He peered at me curiously. ‘Yes?’

‘Were you a colleague of Jack Cunningham’s?’

He gave me a suspicious look. ‘I was.’

‘I’m Adam. I was house-sitting for Jack and Mona until they got home from New Mexico.’

‘Oh yes? He mentioned something about that.’

So Jack had told people they had house-sitters coming in. But I knew I had to be careful. For all I knew, Professor Kyle could be one of them. He might be the person who had sent Eden in to recruit Ruth. He didn’t seem alarmed by my presence, though.

‘Were you still staying there when it happened?’

‘No.’

‘Thank goodness for that.’ He sighed. ‘Terrible business. I’m relatively new to this department so I didn’t know Jack particularly well, but everyone around here is very upset.’

‘It’s been awful for all of us,’ I said. I had begun to concoct a story. And I decided I needed to take a risk. Professor Kyle really didn’t seem like he could be a member of a death cult. ‘This might sound selfish but I can’t help but think it could have been me or my girlfriend if we’d still been there, or if the burglar had come along a week earlier.’

He perked up. A man with some knowledge to share. ‘It’s a perfectly natural reaction. It’s called counterfactual reflection. Szpunar and Schacter did a very interesting study into it.’ He caught himself. ‘But I’m sure you don’t want to hear about that.’

I smiled politely. ‘I’ve also been wondering if this burglar knew Jack and Mona were going away and didn’t think they’d be back yet.’

‘Haven’t they already caught the guy who did it? I imagine that’s one of the questions they asked him.’

‘I know. But the police won’t talk to me and I can’t help but wonder. Did Jack tell everyone he and Mona were going away?’

‘He was pretty open about it. But wait, are you suggesting that someone tipped off this burglar? Someone here?’

‘Oh no, I wasn’t—’

‘Because he told everyone he had people coming to house-sit. So even if he mentioned it to all his students, which is possible because he was very excited about his trip, everyone knew the house was going to be occupied.’ A memory must have popped into his head. ‘Your girlfriend – she’s the actress?’ He furrowed his brow. ‘Or are we supposed to say “actor” for both men and women these days? We get so many memos about this sort of thing but I find it hard to keep up.’

‘“Actress” is fine,’ I said. But my theory was looking more correct by the minute. Jackhadtold everyone about Ruth.

‘Did you hear people talking about her? Ruth, I mean?’

‘Um, not really. I think a few people in the film school had seen her movie. Jack seemed very excited that a soon-to-be movie star was going to be staying in his house. He said he met you on a cruise, is that right? And your girlfriend is about to appear on Broadway?’

Now this was getting out of control. I had hoped Jack would have only told a few people, but it seemed it had been common knowledge. Hundreds – thousands? – of people, any one of whom might be a member of the cult, or who might have talked to Eden about it. How on earth was I going to find the source? Unless, of course, the person he’d told had been Eden herself.

‘This might sound strange,’ I said, ‘but can I show you a photo?’

‘A photo?’

It would be easier to tell him part of the truth. ‘I don’t know if this is connected to the burglary, but while Ruth and I were at the house, this woman turned up and said she was friends with them. Mona says she has no idea who this woman is. I think she might be someone who found out Ruth was going to be staying there ...’

‘A stalker?’ His eyes widened.

‘Her name’s Eden,’ I said, taking my phone out and showing him the picture.

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