“And when he vanished and his body was found, nothing was ever mentioned about him seeing Professor Shaw.” Bardoul folded his arms.
I sidled over to Phelan and tucked my arm in his.
“And that was when the rumors began that a hunter had killed Mika,” Holden added.
Bardoul shrieked. “What if the professor is a hunter?”
We’d come full circle back to the subject of hunters. While we knew I wasn’t one or was no longer a hunter, the subject was distressing, and it reminded me of how upset I’d been about me and Eira and what the implications were for Phelan and me.
“It’s too much of a coincidence that Coach was taking money under the table, Mika’s father confronted Coach or was going to, and Mika turned up dead after meeting Professor Shaw.” Holden studied the notes on his phone. “Are Coach and the professor friends?”
“They were students here at the same time,” Phelan told him.
“And we’ve seen them talking.” I recalled the first week of semester when they’d been chatting.
“What are you thinking?” Channon tucked his legs under him.
“What if the professor killed Mika?” Holden glanced at me, and my belly dropped. I gulped because this wasn’t going to be good.
“As a favor to Coach?”
I had an inkling of where Holden might be going with this. I’d never wanted to voice my fears, not even to Phelan, but I couldn’t hold back now.
“Let’s back up a bit. Based on how I provoked the professor in class and how he mentioned Charlie and was as I call it, spitting venom about her, it’s not beyond belief that he was so angry with her and Arnie that he—” I couldn’t put it into words. It was too horrifying. I buried my face in Phelan’s shirt and shed tears.
“That he killed your adoptive parents in a fit of rage.” Phelan finished the sentence for me.
I wiped my eyes and glanced around the room. No one looked at anyone. My friends studied their hands, feet, or the walls.
“It happens far too often. A rejected lover kills the former husband, wife, or mate, plus if there’s a new partner, they’re murdered as well.” Channon stared directly at me.
“But why would he kill Mika?” Bardoul asked. “Mika wasn’t even one of his students.”
“Coach had a motive but not the professor as far as we know.” Holden got up and walked around. “So with the little information we possess, I’d guess if he did?—”
“He owed Coach a favor.” That was me putting a full stop on that thought.
“Or she was blackmailing him.” Bardoul was more pale than usual.
Phelan shook his head. “So we’re saying Coach wanted to stop Mika’s father from going to the authorities, and the plan was to kill his son so he’d be devastated and back off.”
“But Coach couldn’t or wouldn’t do it, and somehow she knew what the professor had done to Charlie and Arnie and she blackmailed him.” Channon nibbled a nail.
“Are we making huge leaps and accusing a professor of murder and another of being an accomplice?” Phelan was whispering.
I dragged out the infamous whiteboard again, and we went over everything we knew about the professor and Charlie.
“That would be why Rawlins was no longer friends with Professor Shaw.” I tapped the bit about Rawlins’s chocolate allergy that we’d talked about last session. “He suspected his former friend killed his sister and brother-in-law, my adoptive parents.”
Last semester the professor had admitted he and my godfather had lost touch, but he said it was because Rawlins was focused on me.
Phelan put his arms around me and said everyone should leave as he pressed his lips to my head.
“No, let’s delve into this more because Phelan, Eira, and I are leaving in a few days and this is our last opportunity to piece this together.”
But we couldn’t contact the shifter council on a whim. We had no proof of any of this, only circumstantial evidence.
“Coach had a motive to kill Mika based on what Kendric said.” Channon took the pen and wrote that on the whiteboard.
