Page 31 of Professor Next Door

Galen hadn’t been arrested but he’d been taken in for questioning. What did all of this mean? Why hadn’t he stuck around to explain it to me more? Had he been carrying on the affair? Had he lied to me?

The thought played through my mind, tormenting me, that maybe I’d jumped into everything and perhaps I’d been played. Could a man lie about such open need? I remembered the way he’d looked at me that night we’d made love, the way he’d yearned for me, the moan he’d let out as he’d given up trying to fight his longing for me.

Could that have all been faked? I paced the hallway of the courthouse, my new heels pinching my toes, the tight waist of the dress I had on felt like it was smothering me. I had to go home. I needed to hold Rikki, I needed to think, I needed to know what the hell was going on!

Why would the judge postpone the hearing if it was all conjecture? That didn’t seem right to me. It told me he thought there might be some merit in the things Ms. Luther had spouted. And if the police were now questioning Galen, that meant they saw some merit in the whole thing too.

I paced until the car came, then silently rode in the back until I got to the house. John was at the door by the time I walked up to it, the fact that I was alone and in a taxi telling him something was wrong.

“What’s happened?” He took my elbow and helped me inside the cold house, but I held up my hand.

“Let me change first. Please, I can’t keep this stupid dress on!” I’d chosen it for its conservative look, black with a satin black collar. It was conservative, not dressy, but not informal. Just perfect. Now I never wanted to see it again. I threw it in the corner of the closet, pulled out some gray sweatpants I’d had for years, a t-shirt that was almost transparent it had been worn so many times, and pulled my hair up into its normal bun. I needed to wear my armor to do this.

“Right,” I said to John, walking back into the living room and plopping down on Galen’s super-comfortable long black couch. “He’s being questioned for the murder of his wife.”

John stared at me from across the room where he sat in a recliner. “Murder?”

The question was very carefully asked, as if he thought I’d lost my mind and might attack him.

“Yes, it seems they’ve dug up a witness that will testify that Galen drove Kayla to her death. I’m not sure how yet, but I guess we’ll find out.”

“I wondered when that would be brought up.” John sat back and looked at me in some kind of odd satisfaction.

“What? What are you talking about?” I wanted to hate him but something told me John was onto something. He loved Galen as a man loves his brother, he wouldn’t have doubts like I did.

I didn’t think Galen was guilty of murdering his wife, and I wasn’t going to let his one source of stability be taken away. Looking at John I knew we could make a team, we could make sure Galen didn’t fall further into whatever traps Kayla’s parents had set.

“There were no skid marks at the scene of the accident. Which means she never hit the brakes.”

“And?” I asked, not seeing the point.

“Galen’s wondered if she killed herself ever since. It seems they want to blame Galen for pushing her to what I suspect was suicide.” He stroked his beard in a way I would have found comical in any other situation. His eyes narrowed as he thought over the matter.

“You can’t convict someone for that, can you? If so there would be a lot more people in jail right now for things they never even realized they were doing!”

“I don’t know, actually. I’d have to research it.” His phone buzzed in his pocket, interrupting us. I assumed it was one of his friends. “No, it’s not gone well. I’ll tell you when you get here. Yeah, later.”

He put the phone away and looked back at me. “Does Galen still have all of those files he’d put away?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I looked to him for an answer but he was still busy stroking his beard. I scowled, preparing to growl if he didn’t answer me.

“There was an investigation when Kayla first died. Galen used to have quite a few boxes of stuff. Her medical files were in there. Those might be helpful.” John stood and started to open closet doors and stopped when he got to the attic.

“I bet they’re up there.” He pulled the stairs down and made to climb up.

“Should we be doing this? That has to be all the private stuff Galen’s kept. Maybe... maybe we shouldn’t touch it.”

“Honey, I love you for loving him, but he’d do the same for me. If it was me he’d be invading the hell out of my privacy. I’ll do the same for him.” He gave me a chuck under the chin and climbed up. “Yep, found them!”

He started passing boxes down to me. By the time he’d finished there were six boxes stacked in the kitchen. We stared at them when he came down. Six brown boxes covered in dust and filled with answers, we hoped.

“Where do we start?” I asked, looking at John doubtfully.

“We start with box one. Get a notepad, we’ll write stuff down that strikes us as important. Amanda will be here soon, then she can help too.”

“Tar-wah, where Daddy?” Rikki came in, sleepily rubbing at her eyes. She’d woken up from her nap. I put her in my lap and kissed her neck as she cuddled into me.

“He’s got to talk to some people, honey, but then he’ll be home soon, don’t worry.” I hoped I wasn’t lying to her.