nature?”
“Why do I feel like I’m being interrogated here?”
“I don’t know. Why do you? Is there something you’re feeling guilty about?”
Wolfe’s gaze remained cool. “Okay, you want my professional opinion? Maybe she’s having a midlife crisis. She’s at the right age. She’s about to get married; her taking off could be a stress reaction to making a commitment. She was single for a long time. It can be hard to change your ways, settle down, when you’ve been on your own for so long.”
“From what I know of women, they usually like being in relationships.”
Wolfe shrugged. “It’s a theory. You asked me to speculate.”
“Was she pretty open about her personal life?”
“With me?”
“With anyone. Including you.”
“Sometimes. We’ve worked together for a while now. It’s natural that personal stuff would come up.”
“And how would you characterize your relationship?”
Wolfe shrugged again. “Employer, employee. Professor, student.”
“You weren’t friends?”
“We were friendly.”
“How friendly?”
“We had a great working relationship,” Wolfe said with a smile.
“But you were more than just colleagues.” Jerry stated this as fact.
“Were we?”
“That’s what I’ve heard.”
Wolfe’s eyes narrowed. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”
“So you never socialized outside the university?”
“Define socialized.”
“Did you two have something going on?” There. A direct question. Jerry watched Wolfe’s reaction closely.
The TA’s face registered surprise. “You’re kidding, right? You know how old she is?”
“What does age matter?” Jerry cracked his knuckles. “She’s a pretty lady.”
Wolfe laughed. “It matters to me. Besides, my girlfriend wouldn’t be too impressed.”
“No, I’d guess not,” Jerry agreed good-naturedly. “But you didn’t answer the question.”
“Which was?”
“Were you fucking your professor or not?”
Wolfe stiffened.
“I’ll close the door so you can speak openly.” Jerry stood, his chair scraping the shiny floors of the office.
“No.” The sudden urgency in the graduate student’s voice caused Jerry to turn back in surprise. “The door stays open.”
Jerry stared at him and sat back down. “Your call.” He pulled his chair closer to the desk. “I’m waiting for an answer, Mr. Wolfe.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Wolfe snapped, clearly unnerved. “No, we weren’t getting it on.”
“Funny.” Jerry picked at a loose thread on his khaki slacks. “That’s not what your e-mails would suggest.”
“What e-mails?”
“The e-mails you’ve exchanged with Dr. Tao over the past few months. Three months, to be exact. Isn’t that how long the affair lasted?”
Wolfe stiffened. “It’s illegal for you to break into her e-mail. I could have your license yanked.”
Jerry smiled easily. “Who says I broke in? Her fiance knew her password and gave it to me. But thanks for the law lesson.”
“This is bullshit. You’ve totally misinterpreted.”
“Come on, man.” Jerry sighed. “You were having sex with her. Admit it.”
“That’s disgusting.” Wolfe’s face scrunched up to demonstrate just how disagreeable it was. “She’s sixteen years older than I am.”
“But she had good genes. Looked younger.”
“To you, maybe.”
“You didn’t find her attractive?”
“Not compared to my girlfriend.”
“Who initiated it?”
“There was nothing to initiate.”
“I heard she was a flirt,” Jerry said.
The teaching assistant hesitated. “Well, yeah. But that was just her way of flattering you. Of making you feel good about yourself. It was all in good fun.”
“And you never flirted back?”
“I already said. Never. And I’d really like to know who said we were hitting it, because I can confirm that we most definitely were not.”
Jerry grinned. “You’re right, I guess I misinterpreted. What do I know, I’m an old dog. In my day, there was no such thing as e-mail. What I might think is sexual innuendo could just be… friendly conversation.”
Wolfe didn’t respond. The two of them sat staring at each other.
A discreet clearing of the throat distracted both men, and Wolfe’s eyes flickered past Jerry to the doorway behind him. A petite blonde was standing there, laptop case slung over one shoulder and a bag full of textbooks thrown over the other. She looked nineteen.
She smiled self-consciously, looking past Jerry. “Hi, Ethan. I think I’m a bit early.”
“Hi, Suzanne,” Wolfe said. If he was relieved to be interrupted, he didn’t show it. “Can you give me five minutes? We’re nearly done here.”
“Sure.” Her eyes skimmed over Jerry. “I’ll grab a coffee. Want anything?”
“Coffee would be great. Cream and sugar. Need change?”
She shook her head, closing the door behind her firmly.
Before Jerry had a chance to react, Wolfe was up and out of his seat, maneuvering his lean body toward the door. Flinging it open, he practically fell into the hallway, his breathing heavy. Jerry saw that beads of sweat had formed at the younger man’s temples.
Strange.
“Are we done here?” Wolfe was still in the hallway, struggling to compose himself. “As you can see, I have a student waiting.”
“I guess we are.” Jerry stood up, looking at him closely as he ambled out into the hallway. “Thanks for your time, Mr. Wolfe. You have my card. Let me know if you think of anything that might be helpful.”
Wolfe raised an eyebrow. “You know, that’s the exact same thing the police said. Who am I supposed to call- them or you?”
“Me,” Jerry said cheerfully. “Definitely me.”
Detective Mike Torrance met Jerry at the Golden Monkey a few hours later. Jerry could easily eat here five days a week. They had the best dim sum in Seattle. Morris hadn’t seemed too impressed, but Jerry was convinced.
“I think something’s definitely up with this Ethan Wolfe guy,” Jerry said, peeling the paper off his char siu bao, a wonderful doughy delight that opened to reveal tasty barbecued pork inside. The steam poured out and he let it breathe on his plate so he wouldn’t burn his tongue. “He rubs me the wrong way. Something about him is off. You know the type?”
“I am the type,” Torrance said, spearing a siu mai with his fork. Torrance couldn’t use chopsticks to save his life. “So he lied about the affair? Did he not think there’d be evidence somewhere? Not that I blame him. He admits they’re fucking, it looks bad if she turns up dead. But it is sort of hard to picture. He’s a good-looking guy, young, and she’s what, thirty-nine? Not your average hookup.”
“But she’s attractive,” Jerry said. “You wouldn’t think it was so far-fetched if you’d met her. There really is something about her. She’s got a certain je ne sais quoi.”
Torrance stopped chewing. “Oh, shit. Don’t tell me you slept with her?”
