Holden’s obvious attention was the only thing that followed Kit towards Joyce’s table.
Kit and Bishop had talked about the case a few times since the vigil. Bishop brought the files over to James’s place for morbid dinner dates. So far Bishop had followed up on most of the leads, leaving Kit to organize the paperwork. The only person who hadn’t responded to Bishop’s contact attempts was Joyce.
That seemed weird to Kit, since Joyce hadn’t had any problems talking at the vigil. Maybe she was more nervous about authority figures. Kit probably shouldn’t act without letting Bishop know, but this was too good an opportunity to pass up.
“Hi,” Kit said quietly, waving a little when she looked up. “It was Joyce, right?”
Joyce looked tired. The laptop screen was turned away from Kit, but the notebook next to it was open to a page with a title, date, and nothing else. “Right. Sorry, what was your name again?”
“I’m Kit.” He couldn’t remember if he’d actually introduced himself to her last time. Probably not. “Sorry, I didn’t want to bother you.”
“No, it’s fine.” Joyce waved at her empty notebook page. “You’re just interrupting my important procrastination.”
Kit gave an exaggerated grimace. “Oh, wow, I’mreallysorry!” He shrugged his hands into his sweatshirt pockets. “Seriously, I’ll leave you alone. I just wanted to ask how you’ve been.”
The grin froze off of Joyce’s face. Her gaze darted away from Kit, then back towards him.
“I’ve been fine,” Joyce said. Then she burst into tears.
28
He was used to seeing Kit as the victim.
Kit had even less experience dealing with crying people than he had in outlining essays. When Joyce’s face crumpled into sobs, Kit’s first reaction probably should have been something noble and kind-hearted. He should have said something reassuring.
If Kit had a tissue, he would have offered Joyce a tissue. But Kit didn’t have a tissue, and he didn’t know what to say.
“Are you okay?” Kit asked, which just made Joyce cry harder.
Kit looked around desperately for help, and mostly just saw other students starting to stare. Fuck. Joyce covered her face, muffling her sobs without stopping them at all, and Kit suddenly recognized what she was trying to do—hide. She didn’t want all these people to see her like this.
That was something Kit had experience with. “Hey, let’s go somewhere else, okay?” Kit said, his voice lower and less panicked. He gave her a small smile and pointed to one of the meeting rooms off to the side. “Maybe one of those rooms?”
Joyce wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “They’re locked,” she managed to whisper. “Um, can you watch my stuff? I’ll just—there’s a bathroom downstairs.”
Then her eyes widened, and Kit turned around to find Holden. The overhead lights illuminated him like a guardianangel descending to Kit’s rescue—if guardian angels wore man buns and slung backpacks over one shoulder.
“Take this,” Holden said, pressing a card on a lanyard into Kit’s hand. “That unlocks room 203, right over there. I’ll grab Joyce’s stuff.”
Kit didn’t know why Holden happened to have the room key, and he didn’t care. Joyce had already taken off towards the meeting room, so Kit hurried after her.
The meeting room light turned on automatically, revealing a single large table surrounded by dented chairs. Joyce collapsed into one of the chairs, still covering her face.
When Holden appeared a moment later, Kit took Joyce’s bag and asked, “Could you track down some tissues?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right back,” Holden said, retrieving the keycard before taking off on his new mission.
Kit closed the door and turned around. Joyce had stopped sobbing to stare at him.
“Sorry, I can go.” Kit set Joyce’s bag on the table. “I’m so sorry for bothering you, I’ll just—”
“No, no.” Joyce rubbed her eyes with her sleeves. “I wanted to ask you something, actually. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Kit dropped into another chair. “I didn’t expect to see you either. Um. Ask whatever you want?”
Joyce blinked rapidly and took a deep breath. “You were at the vigil with that detective, right? Matthew Bishop?”
Kit straightened up. “Yeah, I was there with Bishop. That’s… that’s actually why I wanted to talk to you today.”
