“Yeah, my job is definitelynota reason to live for.” There’s an edge to her voice, but I don’t press her for meaning. Her gaze falls to her lap where she picks at the edges of her fingernails absentmindedly.
I have a sudden urge to reach over and wrap her in my arms, to hold her and promise her that it will be alright, but it’s something that I can’t do.
“I’m sorry if I’ve been a little harsh with you in class,” I say, breaking the silence that’s fallen between us.
She shakes her head. “No, it’s okay. I think I’d be the same if one of my students wasn’t paying attention.”
“Even so... I apologise.” I smile. “Can I askyousomething?” I throw her question back to her.
“Sure.”
“What’s really going on? I know a slacker when I see one, a student who doesn’t care about grades and who’s just there for an easy ride. I'm not going to pretend to know you, but that doesn’t seem like you at all. The tardiness... the daydreaming... there’s more to this isn’t there?”
“It’s nothing,” she dismisses quickly.
“Miss Taylor,” I say firmly.
“Please just leave it.” Quinn jumps up from the bench. “It’s nothing, okay? Please just drop it. I’ll see you in class, Professor.” She turns and stalks away towards the gate of the cemetery.
I watch as she swings open the gate and lets it slam shut behind her before disappearing from sight.
She's being defensive, so there’s definitely something more to this than she’s letting on.
Something she's hiding.
And I’m going to find out what.
Chapter 10
Dwight
After our encounter in the graveyard on Saturday, the not knowing has been bugging me all weekend, so much so I haven’t been able to settle at all. The worst possible scenarios circling around in my head.
Is someone hurting her at home? A boyfriend maybe?
Is she struggling mentally? Is she depressed? Suicidal?
Ineedto know.
The first thing I do when I arrive at work, is head to the student record office and search her file. I'm not supposed to look at student records, but I need to know more about her, get an idea of who she is and why she's acting the way she is.
To get a better idea of what she's hiding.
It doesn’t take me long to find her file once I’ve searched her name on the computer.
Quinn Taylor. Nineteen years old. She works part-time at a restaurant about ten minutes away from campus.
She has no next of kin, her parents died a few months before she was due to begin her freshman year at college a year ago, and she doesn’t have any other family.
She's all alone.
I scroll further down the page where her address and contact information is. I recognise that address. It takes a couple of moments before my mind clicks. I know I’ve been away for three years, but I know the city well enough to know that, that place is bad news. It’s riddled with drug-addicts and criminals, pretty much every scumbag to grace this earth lives there and it’s almost half an hour from college.
What possessed her to live in an area like that? Does this girl have a death wish?
A girl like her shouldn't be living in a dump like that.
I keep scrolling down to her grades. From what I can see, her grades from her first year at the university are perfect. She’s a model student. She's never been late or missed a single class.
