“I asked what she knew about the situation with my parents, but apparently, I didn’t even tell her why I left, so that’s still a mystery. She says I lived in my car for a while after leaving home. When she found out, she asked me to be her roommate. We met at Grinder’s and went to the same community college. I was going there to up my GPA before applying to the UW again. I guess I didn’t get in the first time I applied.”
“Don’t feel bad about that. It’s a very competitive school to get into. I didn’t even try,” he said. “She sounds like a good friend.”
“Yes, it’s comforting to find out I wasn’t a total loner, although she did say I was pretty private with things and kept to myself a lot. She knew I had a sizable trust fund but didn’t know who my parents were or how much money was in the fund. She also said I told her about the money in the strictest of confidence and made her swear up and down that she wouldn’t tell anyone. I probably didn’t tell any of my other friends.”
“That jibes with what your friends at the coffee shop said about you being very private. Maybe you just didn’t want the fact that you come from money to get out. That does change things for some people.”
Hannah nodded. “Well, I must have told the infamous Zach because Holly said the reason I broke up with him was over a difference of opinion on using the money.”
“Don’t suppose she knew Zach’s last name? He’s definitely someone the detectives should talk to.”
“I asked, and she didn’t. But even if she did, I wouldn’t want to get him in trouble without being certain it was him. Hopefully, I have better judgment than to date someone who could be a murderer!”
“People can surprise you,” said Jake. “And I don’t mean in a good way.” From his experience, people tended to be self-serving. And most had a dark side that could make them do things under pressure they wouldn’t normally think possible. “Any indication Zach was hard up for money?”
“No idea. I must have deleted anything to do with him because there’s no one named Zach in my contacts or text message history. I don’t see any sign of him on my phone.”
“And you’re not on social media, so there’s no record of anything there, either. Even if we found a picture of Zach, I’m not sure I could identify him,” said Jake. “The man that pushed you had his hat pulled down, and I didn’t get a very good look at him from where I was sitting in traffic.”
They talked it to death, speculating and ruminating. When they realized that was pointless, they buckled down to focus on studying. Hannah to catch up with her classes and Jake on the material for the sergeant’s exam he was preparing to take.
It was Saturday night, and normally Jake would have thrown in the towel on studying and hit the bar for a few beers and some female companionship by now. But he wasn’t about to leave Hannah alone to go carousing. Surprisingly, he felt okay with staying home. He was also soothed by a batch of cookies Hannah made. They snacked on those all evening. She was cordial but still a little distant, presumably from this morning’s kiss-that-went-nowhere. Jake felt bad, but short of giving in to her advances, there was nothing he could do.
Sunday morning, after making her promise to stay inside and lock the door behind him, Jake left her alone for a couple of hours to go play racquetball with Sam.
“Shekissedme,” he said after explaining the two near misses with Hannah. “I stopped it as soon as I could, but what was I supposed to do?” Jake was twirling his racket around in his hand over and over.
“Tell her the truth? Ever thought of that?” Sam said.
“Sure, I have, but then she’ll think I’m a womanizing jackass. I don’t want that.”
“Youarea womanizing jackass, dumbass. If you wait for her to remember, you’ll just be a womanizing jackass who lied to her.”
“Shit. I know. It’s hard being so irresistible.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“I’m sure it is.” Sam rolled his eyes. “You need to come clean, dude. I raised you better than this.”
“Raised me? Pfft.” Jake said. “Give me a break. Anyway, you know I’m joking. I’ll think about it. Your serve.”
That evening, Jake talked Hannah into dinner at one of his favorite Mexican restaurants. Right after the food arrived, he received a call from his sergeant. The sarge would only call if it were an emergency, so Jake walked the short distance to the lobby and answered it, never taking his eyes off Hannah. Midway through his own conversation, he saw her look at her phone and then answer it.
Three of Jake’s coworkers had called out sick, and the sarge was asking Jake if he would come to work the next day. Well, more like groveling. Jake had planned to drive Hannah to school, but he figured they could work something out, so he told the sergeant he’d be there. She might have to hang out on campus all day, but if she could find a crowded, safe area, that would be better than missing class.
When he returned to the table, Hannah was just hanging up.
“Great news,” she said with a bright smile.
“That’s good, because I have bad news.”
Her smile fell. “You go first.”
“That was my sergeant. I was supposed to be off tomorrow, but it looks like I’ll have to go in. And since I was going to drive you to school, we’ll need to make other arrangements for that.”
“Oh, crap. My news will complicate that situation,” Hannah said, wiping salsa from her lips. “Susan, the owner of Grinder’s, called right after you left and wants me to come back to work. Well, not technically work, she knows I can’t make coffee with my broken arm, but asked if I would be willing to help her with the ordering and bookkeeping stuff. It would only be a few hours every other day or so. Her schedule isn’t really set, but at least I’d get some hours.”
“That’s awesome.” Jake smiled.
“Yeah, it is. She said it was the perfect time to start taking over. That just adds to the problem, though. Now I have to get to schoolandwork. I told her I was staying with a friend and that I’d have to figure out transportation before I could fully commit. I already feel guilty you were going to have to drive me to school every day. I can’t ask you to take me to work, too. You’re not a chauffeur. Maybe I should move back into my apartment.”
