A String of Secrets

Chapter 3

The news of Professor Anderson being declared as missing spread like wildfire, and it wasn't hard to tell that every student and staff member at the university was on alert. One murder, another disappearance. There was no way in hell that it was a coincidence.

Whoever this killer was, they were near.

Once I departed with Dana, I went to my class, then I went to the library. I remained on the first floor for a while, wandering through the large aisles of high shelves filled to the brim with books of all genres. I always dreamed of owning a library this large. Tall shelves, spiral staircases, a gorgeous ladder.

Like every time I came, I stopped by the thriller section to see if I could find anything interesting. In between long study sessions or even just juggling life as a college student, I enjoyed reading and tried hard to find time for it nowadays.

I ended up checking out two books, and I put them into my bag before heading up the stairs to the second floor. The afternoon sun was bursting through the large picture windows near the seating areas, illuminating the rest of the grand space meant for studying and quiet socializing.

Finally, I saw the dark hair that reminded me of a midnight sky, and I started walking towards the figure sitting on the carpeted ground near one of the shelves. His head was ducked down, and it looked like he was reading and annotating a book.

When I reached a good distance, I took a small breath to prepare myself before getting right to it. "Manson."

Elias looked up, and he raised a brow as he put a bookmark in his book. "Well, that was quick." It looked like he was biting back a smug smile. "I honestly thought you'd wait until the last minute at the end of the week."

"I don't like wasting time."

"Me neither. How can I help you, Reyes?" He stopped hiding the smile.

You know why I'm here. Fuck off. "I got some advice from a friend about your offer, and I think it might work."

His smile faltered a bit, and I cheered internally. Those words weren't the ones he was looking for, but it got my point across all the same.

"So, you admit that you were wrong?" he countered.

Never out loud, and definitely not to your face.

"Are you still willing to do the project? If the work is way too hefty for you and you changed your mind since we last spoke, I understand." I countered back.

I fought the urge to laugh when his smile dropped completely. He stood up and put his book in his bag, taking a couple of steps until he was standing right in front of me. There was a shift in his green eyes, piercing and intense as always.

Now up close, he lowered his voice so only I could hear it. "Answering my questions with questions or passive aggressive comments won't get us anywhere, Amari." There was a hint of sharpness on my name.

"Then let's get started, Elias," I mirrored his tone. "We've already wasted enough time, wouldn't you say? There's some things we need to discuss before we talk to Rize."

He fell silent for a moment, then a deep and amused chuckle that sent a small chill down my spine left him. "Alright, let's go," he said before starting to walk towards the stairs.

Dana, he might just be the next one murdered, I thought to myself, and I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans before following him. We left the library and started walking across the campus to the building where Rize's office was located.

As we passed some other students from our class, I noticed some raised eyebrows and shocked stares at the sight of us walking together instead of being seconds from ripping each other's throats out. I couldn't imagine what was going through their heads.