I step outof the rain and into McCosh Hall, where Professor Williams’s office is located.
I knock on her door, and a few seconds later, she opens it a crack, peering out at me from the dimly lit space. “Naomi…I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I have a favor to ask,” I tell her. “Do you have a minute?”
I take a seat in the chair across from her desk. “It’s about someone named Lila Jones.” Amy had told me months ago that Professor Williams knew Lila, but I’d been too distracted by everything else to go to her. Now I need help, and she’s one person I know I can trust.
I watch as her face falls into a look of concern. “Be careful who you ask about that.”
“We can’t let this go on. If we don’t do something now, it’ll never end. It could happen again.”
I tell her about our plan to talk to Marta, and though I can tell she’s scared, she’s willing to help us.
On my way out, she stops me. Her hand grips my elbow tightly. “Naomi. Please be careful.”
—
It’s raining harderby the time I step out of McCosh Hall. I open my umbrella and step onto the slick sidewalk. I’m halfway to my dorm when I see movement out of the corner of my eye. Someone in a dark coat slips behind the side of a building, out of sight.
Unnerved, I walk faster.
I’m crossing the wet grass when I hear footsteps behind me, hard soles, barely perceptible over the rain. Panic floods my system.
I walk faster. The footsteps get louder, closer, until they’re right behind me.
I spin around, ready to react. But there’s no one there.
Chapter Sixty-One
Maya
August 2023
“Ms. Banks, may we comein?” Gary says, from outside the door.
“Of course.” I open the door. “I’m sorry for the mess—I was packing.” My palms are slick with sweat.
Simmons looks at the chair next to me, which is covered in my dress and Nate’s suit.
“We’d like to ask you a few questions,” Gary says.
Simmons paces around the room, eyes crawling over our clothes, old coffee cups, luggage before stopping in front of me. My body goes rigid. “Ms. Banks,” she says, “can you walk us through what you did yesterday?”
I take a step away from her. “I was here—for Kai’s wedding. Margaret St. Clair invited a few close friends to stay on the property.” I pause as she writes this down. “My husband, Nate, and I came back to the room around ten.”
“We heard there was an altercation.”
“Nate didn’t start it.”
“Right.” She shoots a glance at Gary, who stands near the doorway with his arms folded. “What happened after that?” she asks.
Well,I think,I was asleep. And then I wasn’t.
“We went to bed, and”—I swallow—“my friend Daisy came by the next morning and told us he’d been—” I can’t bring myself to say he’d beenmurdered.“That was the first time I’d heard what happened.”
“What hours were you asleep?”
A bead of sweat drips down my spine. How do I mention the scream but avoid the fact that Nate was missing?
