Creep - Jennifer Hillier [88]
Jerry stood for a moment to observe the younger man, who didn’t appear to notice he was being watched. Wolfe didn’t look like a particularly small guy, but Morris had to outweigh him by at least seventy pounds. Not a smart move on the kid’s part, getting involved with Sheila.
Jerry cleared his throat.
Wolfe, without looking up, said, “Be right with you.” The student’s fingers continued to type out words Jerry couldn’t see from where he was standing. It seemed everyone under thirty could type nowadays, Jerry thought, noting Wolfe’s perfect hand position at the keyboard. In his day, only secretaries could type.
The bobblehead nodded in rhythm to Wolfe’s movements, and the spring in its neck produced a squeaking sound that didn’t take long to get on Jerry’s nerves. He resisted the urge to reach out and make it still. Not that he was easily distracted, but damned if that bouncing head wasn’t annoying as hell.
Standing politely in the doorway, he waited for Wolfe to finish. Finally the younger man looked up. His handsome face displayed genuine surprise to see the tall black man watching him.
“Can I help you?” Wolfe asked, standing up. Jerry noticed that his eyes, a striking pale gray, were rimmed with red. Fatigue, or staring at the computer screen too long? Or something else? His face had a hollow look, but since Jerry had never met this kid before, he couldn’t tell if this was normal or not.
“Jerry Isaac.” He eased into the little office and slid a business card across the desk. “Sorry to interrupt. I’m here to ask you some questions about Dr. Sheila Tao.”
Wolfe shook his hand. “I didn’t think you looked like a student, but you never know, do you? I’m Ethan Wolfe, but you look like you already know that.”
“Mind if I sit?”
“Please.” Wolfe looked over Jerry’s card. “Private investigator, huh? The police were just here last week. Kind of freaked everybody out. We thought Dr. Tao left for personal reasons, but they made it sound like something bad happened. Are you working with them, or did the family hire you?”
Jerry smiled. “Yes to both,” he replied, the answer rolling smoothly off his tongue. “I’m just here to follow up.”
“But I thought the police weren’t concerned about Dr. Tao.” Wolfe seemed confused. “We called them for an update a couple of days ago and they told us they’d closed the investigation. Confirmed that she’d left of her own accord.”
“That’s why the family hired me. To look into it a bit further. Police investigations aren’t always as thorough as my clients would like. Thank God for that, or I’d be out of business.” Jerry chuckled. “I understand you’ve been working with the professor for about a year now.”
“This is—was—my third semester with her, yeah.”
“Anything you can tell me about her?”
“Like what?”
“Does her sudden disappearance surprise you?”
“Disappearance?” Wolfe repeated. He rocked back in his chair and appraised the private investigator coolly. “They’re no longer calling it an absence?”
Jerry waved a hand. “Just words. Does her absence strike you as weird?”
“Totally. She’s not the kind of person to just take off. She was very organized, very meticulous about her schedule.”
“Rigid.”
Wolfe looked thoughtful. “No, not rigid. She would make time for anybody. She’d often meet with students outside her regular office hours, and I don’t know many professors who did that. But she was very particular about getting things done, very committed to her work. So, yeah, I’d say it’s surprising for her to just up and leave.”
“She didn’t say anything to you that might have hinted this was coming?”
“No. Why would she tell me?”
Jerry’s gaze didn’t waver. “Why do you think she left?”
“I have no idea. I couldn’t say.”
“If you could speculate . . .”
“I don’t speculate.”
Jerry chuckled again. “So you’re telling me that you