Creep - Jennifer Hillier [90]
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?”
“No.” Jerry gave his former partner a dirty look. He took his first bite of the siu bao, savoring the flavor. “But the thought did cross my mind. If I was single, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it.”
Torrance snorted. “I’m sure Annie would be happy to know that,” he said, referring to Jerry’s wife. He looked over the selection of food on the table and speared a shrimp roll. “But what if Tao was, say, sixteen years older than you? The same age difference between her and Wolfe? What if she was seventy? Would you still find her attractive?”
Jerry laughed. “That’s not the same thing and you know it. She and Wolfe definitely had an affair. That’s a fact. Sheila admitted it to Morris.”
“It’s only half a fact. She never told him the name of the student.”
“You didn’t see the e-mails. It has to be Wolfe.”
“You mean the e-mails you illegally hacked into?”
“No, the e-mails that I paid someone else to illegally hack into,” Jerry said with his mouth full. “Asshole.”
“I thought you said there was nothing specific in them.”
“Not in so many words, no.”
“You can’t prove anything. People flirt all the time.”
“I can read between the lines, Mike. She told her fiancé she had an affair with a student.” Jerry waved to a passing waitress and pointed to their empty teapot. “I’d bet my left nut it was Wolfe.”
“Tao’s a sex addict, isn’t she? God knows how many students she was screwing. Flirty e-mails or not, you need proof. I know you don’t like this guy, but stay objective.