Page 66 of Bonds of Magic
“I figured as much,” he said, “since I heard nothing else from you. A pity, of course, but I suppose it’s not fair to expect too much from the mundane among us.”
Apparently, he shared Teresa’s healthy self-esteem when it came to comparing himself to his non-magical peers. Well, if his arrogance made him dismiss my competence, I could use that.
“The thing is,” I continued, “I’m beginning to wonder if it really was students behind it.”
“Oh?” His voice was casual, but his shoulders tensed, and the foot he’d been tapping in midair stilled.
“What if those arrows weren’t an accident? What if the beer cans were a decoy and this really was an attack on you, like you feared? What if it was connected to Erika Martinez’s death?”
Sheridan said nothing, but I watched his eyes as he considered my questions. I wanted to see how he would react to my supposed suspicions. He was the one who’d raised the possibility that someone might want to harm him. But would he enjoy being linked to Erika?
“An interesting theory,” he said finally. “But no, I’m afraid you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“How do you know? The two events happened on the same night.”
“True, but I wasn’t in my rooms when that arrow broke the window. I wasn’t even on campus. If someone wanted to attack me, there are more direct ways to do it. And I was told that poor girl fell to her death. A tragic accident.”
He shook his head, but he didn’t seem too broken up about Erika’s death. He was making the face you make when you see a dead deer on the side of the road. Not a person.
“What if it wasn’t an accident?” I said. This was a dangerous line of inquiry, but I wanted to push him. “You were pretty convinced that night that someone was after you. What if they tried to use Erika to get to you?”
“Why would they?” Sheridan snapped. He tossed the contents of his glass back in a single swallow, then reached for the bottle again. “I didn’t know the girl.”
It was a fair point. But he was uneasy about my suggestion, so I pressed further.
“Sheridan, I’m going to be frank with you. You seem like you’re afraid of something. Can you tell me what it is?
“What? Afraid of something? No, my dear boy, you’re imagining things.”
“Am I? Because that night when I found you, when I showed you the arrow, you implied that the moraghin attack might have been meant for you.”
“You were mistaken,” he said grimly.
“I wasn’t, and you know it.” I made a show of sipping more sherry and moderated my tone. “Look, if someone is after you, then we’ve seen how dangerous they are. If you know anything that could help us find out who was behind the moraghin attack, or even Erika’s death, you have to tell someone.”
There. I’d said it. If Sheridan were working for Argus, he likely wouldn’t let anything slip. But if he weren’t… If he weren’t, then I might get some useful information out of him. Either way, I’d done a good job of painting myself as clueless and harmless. Isaac would be proud.
Sheridan’s knuckles were white around his glass, and a faint tremor ran through his body. He opened his mouth to speak, swallowed, then closed it. He shot me an aggrieved look.
“Why do you care so much?” he asked. There was a faint quaver in his voice. “You’ll forgive me for saying this, but you’ve never struck me as someone who’s cared much for making friends among the faculty. Not that I blame you. It must be difficult, surrounded by so much magical talent, unable to do anythinglike that yourself. So why are you throwing yourself into this investigation? Surely you’re the least qualified person on campus to do so.”
I bristled, but kept my temper in check. “Because Erika was my student, and she was first attacked by moraghin in my classroom. Even if her death was an accident, if I had known more about what was happening at this school, maybe I could have kept her alive.”
I hope Sheridan mistook my anger at him for anger at myself.
“Students should be safe at Vesperwood. I don’t want another attack. So if you can help, if you can think of anything that might be useful, please tell me.”
It rankled, having to beg this man, but I did it.
And finally,finally, a crack appeared in Sheridan’s armor. His lower lip wobbled. He pressed his lips together, but I saw the moment he gave in. He closed his eyes tightly and spoke.
“It’s…possible…that there might be some…people…who are interested in my whereabouts. But they have nothing to do with Erika Martinez or any of your students. And no matter what they want from me, they wouldn’t be so reckless as to introduce moraghin into an environment with so many untrained witches around. I’m certain of that.”
That was more certain than he’d sounded the last time we’d talked.
“Why are they after you?” I made an effort to keep my voice pleasant.
“Professional jealousy,” he said promptly. A little too promptly for my taste.
