Page 99 of Love and the Laws of Motion
Livie squeezed her eyes shut as she rubbed a hand across her forehead.“Sorry, you guys.It’s been a bad few days.”
“That’s okay.You really think this is personal?That Langley has it out for you?”
“He’s got it out for meandJanet.”
“Professor Finch?Why?”
A few months ago, Livie never would have shared what she’d heard between Janet and Langley.There would have been no one to tell, for one.And she would have felt obligated to protect their privacy, to not insert herself in a conflict that didn’t involve her.But that was a few months ago.It clearly involved her now, and it wasn’t right.Fuck Langley’s privacy.Why should she keep his secrets?
She told Michiko the gist of the fight she’d walked in on the day Janet collapsed.
“Daaamn,” Michiko said when she’d finished.“I knew I didn’t trust that son of a bitch.”
“I never liked him,” Anita chimed in.“Never trust a man who wears loafers without socks in the middle of winter.”
“It’s just a departmental rivalry,” Livie said.“I’m caught up in the middle of it.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Michiko said, casting a glance over her shoulder at Anita.
Livie looked between the two of them.“What are you talking about?”
Anita made a huge show of turning her attention to her computer monitor.“I’m busy going over this office supply request.I’m sure I’d never notice if that master key on the edge of my desk disappeared for a few minutes.”
Livie watched, wide-eyed, as Michiko scampered across the room and snatched the key off Anita’s desk.
“Come with me.”Michiko grabbed her by the elbow and steered her out of the office.
“Where are we going?”
“Peter Hockman’s office.”
“Why the hell are we going there?”In the last twenty-four hours, Livie seemed to have lost both her filter and her aversion to cursing.She didn’t miss either one.
They’d reached the hallway that led to Peter’s office.It also led to the men’s room, so Michiko hung back, watching casually from the corner until a freshman kid carrying a huge backpack wandered out of the men’s room and around the corner.
“Come on.We’ll be quick.”
“What are we doing?”
Michiko unlocked Peter’s door and flipped the lights on.“Take a look.”
Well, it was a mess, for starters.And not simply the clutter that sometimes accompanied the mind of a genius.It wasdirty.There were empty takeout containers, soda bottles, and candy wrappers littering the floor.
“Did you bring me here to show me Peter’s a slob?Because I already knew that.”
“No, Livie,look.”Michiko pointed to his desk.
Sitting on the corner was a brand new high-end color printer.It was a specialized model, used for printing out the kind of images generated by deep space telescopes.It retailed for thousands of dollars.There was also a new thirty-inch high resolution monitor.That clocked in at four thousand dollars.Livie knew what they cost because she’d priced them out and included them in the budget for Janet’s research.They’d never been able to buy any of the equipment, though, because Janet had gotten sick before she’d signed off on the purchases.
“Where did he get this equipment?”
“That’s a very good question, don’t you think?”
“Do you think—”
“That Langley is skimming off Finch’s grant money?What do you think, Livie?”
A few months ago, she’d have said absolutely not.She didn’t like the guy, but there was no way he’d do something so underhanded, so flat-out wrong.But she wasn’t that I anymore.And she wouldn’t put a goddamned thing past Langley.
