“I didn’t—”
“That wasn’t you?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
Laurence considered this, tipping his head side to side. “Regardless, it’s not very nice to hear, is it?”
“It’s not.”
“I’ll be honest. I’m not sure that’s how it all went down. It was too pat, all of a sudden this convenient story. A handsome professor taking advantage of an impressionable kid. I don’t think Tyler’s telling us the truth. Or not all of it.”
“Okay,” I said.
“But you know, I thought—it’s kind of interesting, isn’t it, that Tyler ended up with you? Maybe he’s into professors. I think that’s a thing.”
“I think so,” Hoffer said. “It’s probably exciting for them.”
“But of all the professors, strange that he found you.”
“How do you mean?” I asked.
Laurence took his time opening a thick brown folder. He slid a sheet across the table. A printout of my faculty bio page from the English Department.
“Well, just looking you up. It seems like you’re doing a book about gay killers and—what does it say?” He squinted at the page and read. “Cultural discourses of sexuality and crime.Interesting topic.”
“We didn’t have any classes like that when I was in college,” Hoffer said.
Laurence looked over at him. “I’ll never stop being surprised at the fact that some poor college let you in.”
“Shut up,” Hoffer said, but smiled.
“You know I’m just messing with you.” Laurence turned back to me. “Anyway, you have to admit it’s pretty interesting. A guy who devotes his time to studying gay murder cases ends up in a situation like this.”
“Just because I’m working on that book doesn’t mean I’ve killed anybody.”
“I didn’t say you had.” He grinned. “Tyler did.” He was enjoying this. And I almost admired it, the way he was stringing me along. He had me in the grip of his story; even I wanted to know what I had done. “But the thing about Tyler, there’s something sort of odd about him. Off-kilter? I don’t know how to say it. A wild kind of look in his eyes. Anyone could see it, I’m sure you did. And there was obviously something intense between him and Addison. I don’t know if it was sexual or what—” he waited for a reaction, but I offered none “—and so it made me think. Maybe Tyler’s done this. Killed off his roommate, for whatever reason.”
“Or no reason at all,” said Hoffer.
“Sure, that’s possible. But I wondered, if Tyler did kill Addison, maybe it wasn’t an accident. Maybe he planned the whole thing. So he’s had time to think about how to pull it off and get away with it. And in that case, who better to go to than you?”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“I think maybe you do understand. Maybe Tyler’s been planning this all year. And that’s why he came to you in the first place. Because he thought, lonely prof stuck in this shittown, I’ll strike up a relationship. Who wouldn’t like the attention of a cute kid like Tyler? Weird, sure, but endearing. And Tyler’s thinking, he’s an expert on murder. I’ll have his help when I need it.”
Tyler after that first class, asking about my book. Me, flattered he was interested.
Laurence went on. “I wondered even about this fight the other night. I don’t know you well but you don’t really strike me as a violent man. So I thought, maybe Tyler picked this fight because he was planning to turn on you. Getting himself beat up so he can prove you’re dangerous. Frame you for what he had done.”
Tyler refusing to leave, goading me on.
“That’s not true,” I said.
“None of this ever occurred to you?”
“Tyler wouldn’t do that.”
“Which part?”
