Page 74 of Second Chance

“Worried enough to go check out some guy you think might have done it.”

Tony laughs humorlessly. “When you say it like that, it sounds dumber than it is.”

“Oh, it’s very dumb. Academics, man. Where’s your common sense?”

“Not to burst your bubble, but I’m a mechanic.”

Emilio tuts. “You should definitely know better.”

It’s not funny, but they’re both still chuckling about it when Colette returns.

“Daniel not locked in any closets?” Tony asks her.

“Not that I could find.” She picks up a dish towel and wipes off a clean dish. “If Emilio here is our culprit, he’s too smart to keep Daniel in his home.”

“Hm.” Tony hands her a plate. “Shame. Would have been easy.”

“Say I didn’t do it, for the sake of argument. What other ideas have you got?”

They explain about Lily as they move on to straightening the kitchen. By the time Emilio’s caught up, it’s a livable space again.

“Is there a reason no one told the police about this girl earlier?” The way Emilio’s looking at them makes the question seem totally reasonable, and suddenly, Tony can’t quite remember why they didn’t. Helplessly, he looks to Colette.

“She’s a student.”

“And…?”

“Daniel feels…responsible, I guess,” Tony tries to explain. “He’s her advisor, and as far as he could tell, she was a troubled kid in need of professional help.”

“Yeah,” Emilio says, as if it should be obvious. “Which he is not. Isn’t there some sort of emergency service? One-800-this-crazy-chick-might-have-stabbed-someone?”

“The counseling staff on campus doesn’t have many availabilities.”

“Don’t tell me my wife died because of a fucking booking problem.”

Tony freezes at the counter, the words cutting straight through him. He glances at Colette and finds her similarly still and stricken. If Lily did do it, they have a lot to answer for.

“It wasn’t like that.” Even to Tony, it sounds weak as he says it. “Before—before it all happened, Daniel thought she was getting better. She had a therapist off campus, and she was looking forward to the school year. After…he thought…he thinks Lily was spiraling after she found your wife, which would be traumatic enough. For all we know, her issues are unrelated to your wife’s death. We have no evidence to the contrary. And if she did want to harm Daniel, she’s had ample opportunity before yesterday.”

Every word is true. On the off chance Lily has nothing to do with the crimes at stake, it’s still going to be a miserable story for her since finding a stabbed woman is traumatic whether or not she was involved. Tony can’t help but wonder if all of this could have been prevented if she had better care. If someone had intervened before Lily went over the edge upon finding Professor Lawrence, stabbed and dying in her office. Tony just doesn’t know who could have done it, if not Daniel.

A more bitter, jaded voice in the back of his head says that maybe Daniel, and by extension Tony and Colette, are clinging to the belief of her innocence because if she did do it, it would be a failure on Daniel’s part to see how close to the edge she really was.

At least Emilio seems to accept Tony’s excuses. “I think Amy said something about her. You know, not that I think your whole investigative duo thing is agoodidea…”

“But?” Tony prompts, leaning against the counter and draining his lukewarm coffee.

“But I work in IT. And I know most of Amy’s passwords. I could probably find a paper trail if there is one.”

Colette opens her mouth to say something—probably something about how they can’t involve a suspect in their investigation, which would be true but, in Tony’s opinion, a moot point given neither of them are professionals in the first place—when Tony’s phone starts buzzing in his pocket.

He wipes his still-slippery fingers on his jeans and pulls it out. Guiltily, he ends the voice memo to Colette. Even more guiltily, he makes sure it’s sent.

He has five messages from his dad. Why was his phone on silent? What if Daniel tried to call?

“Shit.” Tony scrambles to return the call. “Shit.”

The phone only rings once before Pa answers. “Tony? Where the hell are you? You’re never late.”

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