by Ivy Smoak
I put my Stat notes down and walked up behind him. "James?" I said quietly. I could tell that he was upset.
He sighed and turned around. "Apparently the people they hired for the investigation need to talk to you."
"Why would they need to talk to me? We already told everything to the dean."
"I don't know. But it probably isn't good."
"That's not necessarily true."
"Well, I guess we'll find out."
"How do you think they knew I was here?"
"Maybe they already tried your dorm room. It doesn't exactly take a great investigator to assume you'd be here."
A dinging noise sounded through the apartment. James walked over to the elevator door and pressed a button. The doors slid open.
Two men in suits stepped out. One looked about James' age and the other was probably 20 years older or so.
The older one put his hand out to James. "James Hunter, I'm Detective Tim Reed. And this is my partner, Scott Turner.
Detectives? Were they cops? When the dean had said they'd be interviewing all the students, I thought he meant a colleague of his. Not the police.
James shook Detective Reed's hand and then Detective Turner's. "I still don't see why this is necessary. Penny has already talked to Joe."
"It's a formality really. We just have a few questions." Detective Reed peered around James' shoulder. "You must be Penny."
"Yes, hi." I walked toward them. Detective Turner still hadn't spoken a word. It felt like they were trying to intimidate me. I wasn't going to let that happen. James hadn't done anything wrong. I had told my parents about our relationship this afternoon. Two men in suits weren't going to scare me now. I felt stronger somehow. And I was sick of this. I just wanted everyone to leave us alone. "You said you have some questions for me?" I crossed my arms in front of my chest.
"Right. Well, we're actually going to need to talk to you in private, Penny." Detective Reed looked up at James.
"I really don't see why that's necessary," James said coolly.
"Something has come up in our investigation. And we need Penny to be able to talk freely about your relationship."
James' eyebrows lowered. "What has come up in the investigation?"
"We can't really discuss that with you right now. I'm sure Joe will be in contact with you shortly."
"I think that you both should leave."
"James, it's fine. I'll talk to them." The last thing we needed was for James to lose his temper and punch a detective.
"You don't have to answer their questions, Penny. Let me call my lawyer. He'll handle this."
"It's fine. I really don't mind."
James stared at me for a second. "I guess I'll be in my office then." He put his hand on my shoulder and then walked away.
I stood there awkwardly in the foyer. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. But I didn't have to decide. Both detectives walked past me toward the living room.
"If you wouldn't mind taking a seat, Penny."
Okay. I followed them into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Both of them remained standing. They were definitely trying to intimidate me. Screw them.
"I see that James has been buying you presents." Detective Reed looked at the T.V. It was still in its box and there was wrapping paper on the ground.
"No. He bought that for himself." I had taken a criminal justice class with Melissa my freshman year. I knew they were trying to get me to admit something without actually asking a question. I folded my arms across my chest again.
"Does he wrap everything he buys for himself? Or just expensive things?"
"I don't know. We've only been dating a few months."
A smile broke over Detective Reed's face. "You know, when people act defensive, it usually means that they have something to defend."
I glared at him. "I don't have anything to hide."
"Good. I expected as much. You're an open book, Penny. Straight As in high school. Same here except for the occasional B. You're a good girl. Respectable. A First State scholarship winner even. That must have made your parents proud."
"Yes, it did." My father's words came back to me. There wasn't anything I could do to disappoint him. He'd always be proud of me. I didn't need a scholarship to prove that.
"So the question is, what made you risk all that? What made you decide to sleep with your professor? Were you worried about losing your scholarship?"
"What? No."
"What kind of arrangement did you two have exactly?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I knew what he was suggesting. And it made me sick to my stomach. It was like what Raymond Asher had said. Why did everyone assume it was something terrible that brought us together? Why couldn't everyone just see that I was in love with James?
"Was it for the presents? Or maybe you weren't doing as well this semester. You have a C average in your statistics class right now. Did you do it for the grades?"
"Do what exactly?" It was hard to stay calm.
"Did he, or did he not agree to give you an A in his class if you gave him sexual favors?"
I stood up. "I think you should go."
"So it's true, is it?"
"You have no idea what you're talking about. We never did anything that we didn't both want to do. James is a good guy."
"Good professors don't sleep with their students."
"Tim." Detective Turner had finally spoken. He put his hand on Detective Reed's chest, as if holding him back. "Why don't you let me take it from here." Detective Turner gestured toward the couch.
Detective Reed nodded and sat down on the sofa. I stared at Detective Turner, who was now smiling. I was a little surprised by the sudden change. Were they seriously trying to good cop, bad cop me? I internally rolled my eyes.
"Please, Penny, take a seat," Detective Turner said. "I'm sorry about my partner's outburst."
No he wasn't. I sighed and sat down, as far away from Detective Reed as possible.
"You said you have nothing to hide," Detective Turner said.
"I don't."
"Would it surprise you, then, if James was hiding something from you?"
I swallowed hard.
He put his hands in his pockets as he studied my face. "It wouldn't, would it? I've heard that James is quite a complicated man."
"And who did you hear that from? His ex wife?"
Detective Turner smiled again. "It's not too late, you know. If you're willing to cooperate with us, we can give the First State scholarship committee a call. Maybe we can get them to reissue that scholarship of yours."
"If I cooperate?"
"Yes. You see, we are building a case against James regarding sexual misconduct."
"I'm not going to lie in order to get my scholarship back. Like you said, I'm a good girl. Besides for that fact, you have it all wrong."
"Unfortunately we don't. We do want to help you, Penny. But we don't actually need your statement. Yes, it'll help, but I think we already have everything we need."
"What do you mean?"
"Two girls have already come forward saying that James agreed to give them As for sexual favors."
What? "They're lying."
"And how sure are you of that? Because Tim and I are trained to tell if suspects are lying. These girls didn't seem like they were lying. Actually, they were both in tears. They were embarrassed and ashamed because of the position that their trusted professor put them in."
"I don't believe you."
"And their stories lined up. They both said that James lured them into his office to dispute a poor grade. And that he agreed to change it only if they agreed to have sex with him."
No. Isn't that what he did to me? No. Kind of?
"Does that sound familiar, Penny? Did he do that to you too?"
"No. It wasn't like that." Was it?
"How about you tell us what really happened. And we'll get that scholarship back for you. Your life will go back to normal. All of this will dis
appear."
All of this? All of this had already disappeared from me once before. I didn't want my old, normal life back. That emptiness. I'd never go back to that. All I wanted was for these two idiots to leave me alone. "I think this discussion is over." I stood up again.
"Don't you want your old life back? We can give you back what you lost. Stop defending him. Can't you see what he's taken from you?"
"I'm not defending him, I'm telling you the truth."
"He's not who you think he is."
"Yes he is." I could feel myself losing my temper.
"He's a predator, Penny. And you're the prey. Don't you see that? Those two other girls were his prey too. Who knows how many others didn't come forward? You're probably one of a dozen. You can't hide from the truth. He seduces students. He's not a good man."
I had thought that before. That he was the predator and I was the prey. But I was wrong. And these men were wrong. James wouldn't have done those things. But didn't he do it to me? "Get out of my apartment." I didn't need to stand here and listen to this. They were just as bad as the person who wrote the article about James and my relationship.
"Your apartment? Is that the deal then? The gifts, the apartment? Is that to keep you quiet?"
"You're terrible detectives," I snapped.
"We're trying to protect you."
"Protect me? I don't need your protection. I wanted this relationship just as much as he did. I love him."
"He doesn't love you."
"Yes he does." Who were they to tell me how James felt? Arrogant assholes.
"Do you even know anything about him? Do you know that he has a criminal record? Do you know that he's spent time in jail? This is the kind of thing he does. This is the kind of thing that a bored man with too much money and no sense of morals does."
"If you both don't leave right now, some of your detective buddies will actually have a crime to solve."
"Did you just threaten us?" Detective Reed stood up. "You do know that it's a illegal to threaten a police officer?"
"Oh, I didn't realize you were police officers. I really couldn't tell. All you're doing is throwing out accusations without any evidence."
"Consider this a warning, Miss Taylor. We will be in contact again. This is far from over."
I didn't say anything. I watched them walk over to the elevator, step in, and disappear. The apartment was eerily quiet. I suddenly felt very, very cold.
Chapter 27
Thursday
They were lying. They were just trying to get me to confess to something that wasn't true. And if they didn't need my statement, then they wouldn't have bothered coming. There was no way that they had any evidence.
James had said he had never been arrested while he was in Harvard. So I had already surmised that he'd been arrested at some point after that. None of that mattered. He had a troubled past. He was different now. Isn't he?
But how much about him did I really know? The detectives had noticed my reaction when they said he was hiding something from me. Because he had done that before. But not this. He wouldn't hide something like this. He wouldn't lie to me.
I mindlessly opened up the freezer. Whenever I was upset, I always needed ice cream. I froze when I saw two pints of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream sitting in James' freezer. He had seen me eating that flavor one of the many times I had been upset. He remembered. He was a good guy. That's what good, thoughtful guys did.
I reached for one of the containers. It was also what creepy guys did. Creepy, stalker guys. I put the pint of ice cream back on the shelf. That wasn't James. If anything I was the one that stalked him. James' words suddenly came back to me, sending a chill down my spine. I had you right where I wanted you. He had lured me into his office. How had the detectives known that? Could it really be because he did it with other students too?
There was an untouched bottle of vodka in the back of the freezer. I grabbed it and slammed the freezer door. If he had broken the law so many times, he shouldn't be worried about serving alcohol to someone underage. I unscrewed the cap and poured some into a shot glass that I found in one of the cabinets.
The burn down my throat was a much needed distraction. I poured myself another and downed it. Two girls had come forward. Two. One could be justified as lying. But two separate girls, with two identical stories? And it was a story that was the same as mine.
"I see you've found the liquor."
I looked up at James as he walked into the kitchen. I was waiting for him to reprimand me. Instead, he grabbed a shot glass for himself and slid it toward me. I poured some vodka into the glass.
"You know, I could get in trouble for this," he said and held up the glass.
"Is that the only thing you're worried about getting in trouble for?"
He lowered his eyebrows slightly. "What, did they tell you what supposedly came up during their investigation?"
I shrugged. "They knew you lured me into your office so you could seduce me."
"That's not exactly how I'd put that." He downed his shot.
"Then how would you put it?"
"That I was mad at you. And I wanted to see you." He ran his hand through his hair. "I didn't want to have to share you with Tyler. I wanted more. I wanted you to want more too." He hesitated for a second. "And at the same time I didn't. I wanted to get over you. I wasn't really thinking clearly. I couldn't get you out of my head."
"But how did they know that? How did they know about the fake grade? And me going into your office?"
"I'm sure there's a logical explanation for that."
"Right. I'm waiting for the explanation. What is it?"
"I don't know. That's their job. They're the investigators. They must have pieced something together."
Pieced something together. I looked down at my empty shot glass. Vodka had been a bad idea. My mind already seemed slightly foggy. I wasn't going to be able to piece anything together like this. I just wanted to talk to him. I needed to see his reaction to the accusation. "They didn't actually know if that had happened. They just inferred it."
"Inferred it? From what?" He poured himself another shot and downed it.
"From what two other girls said during their interviews. Apparently both of them said that you lured them into your office to seduce them under that pretense of a poor grade." I had a vague desire to tell him he shouldn't be drinking. But I had seen him drink before. Besides, I was really the one that shouldn't be drinking.
"Penny, you know I didn't do that. That's ridiculous."
"Is it that ridiculous? You kind of did that to me."
"And I just told you that was different. I've said it a millions time, Penny. It's only ever been you. You know that. You know how I feel about you."
"But why would those girls lie? Why would they say you did that?"
"I don't know."
"And in the exact same way? How would they have known that if it wasn't something that you just do to tons of students?"
"Is that really what you think?"
"I don't want to think that. But..."
"But you do?"
I didn't say anything. I just stared at him.
"You think I gave my prettiest female students bad grades in hopes that they'd come to my office hours? So that I could get them alone and then what? Bargain with them to improve their grades? I didn't bargain with you, Penny. You kissed me. You asked me to punish you. I can get any girl I want. I don't need to make deals with immature college students to suck me off. I'm not desperate."
I hated when he lost his temper. I was just trying to understand. Maybe the detectives were right. A person acting defensive usually had something they were trying to defend.
"Then why are you dating me?" I asked.
"Because I love you."
"You can have any girl you want, James. Maybe you should go try to find someone a little more mature. You know, someone who isn't a college student."
"That's not what I meant." His hands were grippin
g the countertop and his knuckles were turning white.
"It's what you said, James."
He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. "I don't understand why you believe them over me. I just need you to believe me. I need to know that you trust me."
Lots of our fights seemed to come back to the issue of trust. And I did trust him. I felt guilty. I was pushing his buttons. "I do trust you."
"Okay."
I needed to believe him. If this was going to work, we needed to be able to trust each other. "Should you really be drinking that?"
He raised his eyebrow. "Should you?"
"No, probably not." I gave him a small smile.
He leaned against the counter and looked down at me. "You shouldn't believe everything you hear. The tabloid you read that interviewed my ex wife, these detectives...they have other motives. I don't want to fight with you every time something like this happens. And it happens more than I'd like. It comes with the territory."
"The rich, successful, eligible bachelor territory?"
"Minus the eligible bachelor." He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "I'm taken."
I smiled at him. "I'm sorry. The detectives just made it seem like they were so sure that you had done it."
"I mean, if you were told you had to make up a story about your male professor doing inappropriate things, wouldn't you just automatically go to sexual favors in exchange for good grades? It's not even clever."
"Right. So they're lying. But why?"
"Maybe they hated me? I could be rather distracted in class. Sometimes I was so focused on you that I'm pretty sure I was an awful professor."
"I don't think anyone hated you. Especially in Comm. At least all the girls loved you. Oh." I looked up at him. "Maybe they're just jealous you didn't choose them. Maybe they think you'll notice them now?"
"By dragging my name through the mud? Smart."
"Well, I don't know. I'm not them." I put my hands on either side of James' face. "I'm sorry I doubted you."
He put his hands on the small of my back. "If a bunch of pricks in suits told me that you had been doing stuff behind my back, I think my reaction would have been a lot worse than yours."
"My reaction was bad with the detectives too. I'm pretty sure I threatened to kill them."