Every Breath You Take
Page 14
Chapter 11
McTavish and Chin sat inside their unmarked car outside the house on Broughdale, with Chin behind the wheel. Although McTavish had his periodic moods that drove her crazy, this was one of the things she liked and respected about McTavish-he never had to play the macho card, or the 'I'm the senior partner' card-and insist on driving, like many of the guys would have. One day shortly after they'd become partners, he'd simply asked, "Feel like driving?" As she smiled and nodded, he'd tossed her the keys. She'd been driving ever since.
"This Professor Drummond character sounds interesting," McTavish said. "I wonder what his story is?"
"A professor with a fondness for young female students? There's got to be at least one of those on every campus."
"Yeah, I'm sure he's fucked a number of them in his time." McTavish's abruptness came as no surprise to Chin. "I wonder if he had Yvonne Redmond for a student."
Chin already had her phone out. "Let's check and see," she replied, scrolling through her list of numbers. She put it on speaker phone and held it between the two of them as it rang.
"Hello." McTavish recognized the voice of Ashley Devers, the friend of Yvonne Redmond's they'd spoken with the day before.
"Ashley, this is Detective Chin."
"Do you have any news, Detective?"
"We're just following up on a few leads at this time, Ashley, and we're wondering if you could help us with something."
The girl coughed and cleared her throat, and they knew she'd been crying. "I'll do whatever I can to help. I still can't believe I left her there. I should have stayed?I should have stayed with her."
"Ashley, listen to me," Chin said. "There was no way for anyone to know this was going to happen. You can't go through your life always expecting that there's something horrible like this around the next corner. That's no way to live. Ashley, please, I know it will take some time, but you can't blame yourself for this-it's not your fault."
The sniffing continued on the other end of the line. "I know, Detective. It's just that I miss her so much."
"I know. It's going to be hard for a long time. But Yvonne would want you to carry on with your life and be happy."
A few seconds went by before the Devers girl responded. "Thanks, Detective. I appreciate you saying that." The young girl sounded a little more composed now, and they heard her blow her nose.
"It'll be tough, and some days you'll miss her so badly that you won't know what to do with yourself, but it will be all right in the end." Chin paused as the young girl took in what she'd said. "Ashley, if you're all right now, do you think you can answer a few more questions for us?"
"Yes, Detective Chin, I can do that."
"That's good. This should just take a minute or two. We're at the house on Broughdale Ave and we've spoken with one of the young men who had that party a few nights ago."
"Yes."
"We asked him if there were any people there who seemed out of place, and the only one he mentioned was a Professor Drummond from the sociology department." Chin let her words dangle in the air, and when there was no reply from Ashley, she looked over at McTavish, who returned her look of concern. Chin continued, "We were just wondering if you knew if Professor Drummond was one of Yvonne's teachers?"
"No, Yvonne was studying languages and never had to take a sociology class, so she never had Professor Drummond for a teacher." McTavish looked over at Chin, his mouth turning down at the corners as he shook his head slowly from side to side, thinking they'd hit another dead end. They were both surprised to hear Ashley Devers continue. "No, Yvonne never had Professor Drummond, but I did."
"You did?" Chin asked, both she and McTavish paying closer attention now.
"Yes, I was in his class in the fall term, but I don't have him this term."
"Did you see him at the party the other night?"
"Yes. He's one of the younger professors on campus and gets along well with everybody. He goes to those student parties all the time."
Chin paused, and McTavish spun his hand around, encouraging her to keep going. "Did you happen to see if he talked to Yvonne at any time during the party?"
"Well, briefly anyways. I went over to say hello to him, and Yvonne was with me. I introduced her to him."
"Was that it? You just said hello and introduced her to him?"
"He asked me how my courses were going this term, and asked Yvonne what she was studying. When she was telling him, somebody grabbed my arm and wanted to talk to me about something. I remember when I turned away, she was still talking to him, but I think it was only for a little while because she came over to where I was shortly after that."
"Did she say anything about him?"
"She said she thought he was nice, and kinda cute too."
"Cute?"
"Pretty much all the girls think so. For an older guy." Ashley continued, a note of surprise in her voice, "You don't think Professor Drummond's a suspect, do you?"
"We're just trying to be thorough, Ashley, and follow up on any possible leads. Why do you sound so surprised that we're asking about Professor Drummond?"
"If you knew him, you'd realize he's harmless."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because he's one of the kindest teachers I've ever had. He's always willing to take the time to listen if you need help, or just have questions about the course material or assignments. He's just?I don't know-sweet, I guess. No, I just can't see him doing something like this."
Chin looked over at McTavish, his lips set in a grim line as he shook his head from side to side. "After that time when you introduced Yvonne to him, did you see her talking to Professor Drummond at any other time during the evening?"
"No, I don't think so. Yvonne hung with me most of the night. Like I told you when you were talking to me yesterday, when I ended up leaving with a friend, that's when I saw her talking to that football player guy. I don't even know if Professor Drummond was even there at that time. He might have left earlier."
The 'friend' the Devers girl said she left with was a boy, who had driven her home, the two of them making out in his car for a while before she sent him on his way and went into her parent's house. She'd told them all that the day before when they'd interviewed her and asked about Yvonne's old boyfriends. "Thanks Ashley," Chin said. "You've been a great help."
"Let me know if there's anything more I can do to help."
Chin hit the button on her phone, ending the call. "So Ian, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked as she started the car.
"Yep," McTavish responded as he snapped his seatbelt into place. "I think it's time we paid Professor Cutie-Pie a visit."