Page 64 of Second Chance

She swallows delicately. “Why should I tell you anything if you’re going to judge me for it?”

“I’m not judging.” He shovels a forkful of pasta into his mouth. When she doesn’t answer, he finishes chewing before continuing. “I just want you to be honest about what you’re doing. Trust me, I get it. I’ve been freaking out ever since that knife ended up on the door.”

“Yes.” She drums her fingers on the island’s fake marble top. “I’m not anxious for police attention, and I truly think Detective Taylor would find a way to blame us. But either Daniel or I are definitely being threatened.”

The idea of the threats being meant for Colette hadn’t even occurred to Tony.

“Amelia Lawrence was well-liked among faculty.” Colette picks her fork up and then sets it back down. “And she did too much in her efforts for tenure. She was at the least a decent professor, and her courses were reasonably popular. She had a young daughter and a husband who works from home, and she struggled to prioritize them over work.”

“I don’t understand the whole tenure thing,” Tony admits.

“Neither do I, and I’m trying to get it. Academic jobs have become far more competitive with more people getting degrees, which means the few positions with a lifetime guarantee—”

“Tenure?” Tony checks.

“Yes. Those positions go to fewer and fewer of the applicants for them. Most positions are limited to a few years at a time and subject to contract renewals and negotiations. Conditions are terrible—too many teaching hours for too little pay and not enough time for your own research. I’m sure Amelia didn’t want to move her whole family again for a different job, and her field of study doesn’t exist in the private sector.”

“Hm.” Tony knows Daniel’s tenure got fast-tracked in the spring when he took over most of Stacy Allan’s responsibilities, and he knows Colette is up for tenure soon as well. “So you and Daniel were pretty lucky.” That aligns with everything Mr. Lawrence said last week, which keeps him out of the running as a suspect as far as Tony’s concerned.

“Daniel is extremely talented at his job and occupies a very specific academic niche.” Colette shakes her head. “He’s very good at making his research seem like something anyone could think of, but it isn’t, and that’s part of what makes him such a good teacher.”

Warmth suffuses Tony, which is dumb. It’s not his accomplishment. It’s Daniel’s. He just enjoys hearing that Daniel’s as good as Tony thinks he is. “And you?”

“I was very lucky.”

Tony has a sneaking suspicion Colette is also very good at her job and downplaying her own accomplishments. He lets it slide. “You serious about moving back to Europe?”

She doesn’t instantly say no, which is worse than he’d been hoping for. “I don’t know. There aren’t many positions for anthropologists in Europe either.”

“What about your family?” It’s something Tony’s wondered about, on and off, since he met Colette, especially since she mentioned her sister the other day. He knows much more about Daniel’s family and how Daniel ended up living so far away from them. He also gets to be around for more of Daniel’s Skype calls to his family these days, so he knows distance is only an impediment if you let it be.

Colette hardly mentions her family.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing my siblings more,” she says. “Even if they’re all doctors and lawyers.”

Tony lets the silence grow longer while he eats.

Eventually, Colette continues. “My parents are…complicated. From a different time, a colonial time, in my father’s case at least. They’re not welcoming of…alternative lifestyles.”

“Ah.”

Colette’s never talked about it specifically, and she hasn’t dated anyone in the time Tony’s known her, but Daniel confirmed Tony’s gut instinct that she’s not interested in the opposite sex. Maybe she’s discrete about it. Maybe she’s waitinguntil there’s something worth talking about. Tony can relate. He remembers how his father asked about Daniel today, a little awkward but with his heart in the right place. He’s suddenly, overwhelmingly thankful.

Colette spears a piece of fusilli on her fork. “On the other hand, France has less insane policies on gun control.”

“I think you mean France has policies on gun control.”

“Precisely.” She leans against the uncomfortable metal cross forming the back of the stool. “I don’t know. I like it here. I like my work and my home. I hate the politics. And…it’s lonely sometimes, always being foreign. It’s easier to play into it than to try to assimilate when you know you’ll never pass as a native.”

With a start, Tony realizes he’s part of a couple that Colette is a third wheel to. He wants to comfort her, wants to say she always has a place with them, but it seems presumptuous.

Instead, he offers a weak smile. “Want to keep going onBoneswhile we wait for Daniel?”

Chapter Ten

Tony wakes with a start some time past three in the morning, leaned back against the couch, overstretched, his neck killing him. The DVD menu is on a loop. Colette sleeps slumped against the other arm of the couch. Her neck must be hurting too; she’s bent forward, chin to her chest. The spreadsheet they were filling out rests on the coffee table precariously. It shows tracking onBonesfor the locations, perpetrators, and frequency of violent crimes as well as whether or not they’re solved.

Tony stumbles to his feet to check the bedroom.

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