Page 57 of Dream a Little Dream

“He’s been in care?”

“Apparently.”

“Come on, Kenny.” Jack stepped closer. “You have access to his file.”

“And you can look up on the system what I know about him. Which is next to nothing. He was in care, yes. So were ten others in the current first year cohort across all faculties. He came from a college in London. Anything before that is off limits. I’m not privy.Youmight get access.”

“And the bruises? The hand?”

“He’s got himself into trouble with a kid in his halls. That’s not unheard of. Throw teenagers together for the first time, it’s expected. He’s seeing welfare. They have eyes on him.”

“But he knows you?”

“As his professor, yeah.”

“He called you Kenny.”

“So do a lot of my students.” Not many. Certainly not first years. His Master’s and PhD students were more likely to.

Jack cocked his head. “Okay. If you don’t have thefacts. What can you tell me about his state of mind? Was he lying?”

“No.” Kenny shuffled over to his desk to fire up his laptop. He still had a job to do and a class to teach in half an hour. “Apart from the Saturday date, he was truthful.”

“Rather strange that. Why do you think he said all of that?”

“He likes to mess with people. Poke buttons.” Kenny logged into his laptop, opening up the timetable to check the room he was due in.

“Yours?”

Kenny peered up. “Looks like.”

Jack opened his mouth to say something, and Kenny was ever grateful for the bang on the door. “Yep,” he called over his shoulder.

PC Jenkins poked her head inside the room. “Sorry, sir, Dr Chong wants to know if we can move the body. The public got whiff and there’s an influx of onlookers trying to trample the scene. Could have TikTok sleuths already on it.”

“Shit.” Jack pocketed his notepad. “Thanks, Jenkins. Be right there.”

Jenkins hovered away and Jack took a breath before meandering forward to leave, but he stopped short of the door and, for a moment, the air stilled, and he subtly squeezed Kenny’s hand. Then, as if realising his mistake, he ripped his hand away and shook his head. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s been a confusing morning.”

“Can say that again. It’s like you’re jinxed.”

“Often think that myself.”

Jack stepped away. “You’ll tell me if anything else comes up? With Aaron?”

“Of course.”

“And when Chong’s finished her report, I might call you in.”

Kenny nodded, expecting as such, and Jack left, enabling him to breathe.

* * * *

The rest of the day went by in a heady haze. Kenny had to fill it with the usual demands of the job, ending at a senior leadership meeting where the discussions centred around Rahul Mishra. With the parents notified, his death had been announced to the student body. The media would have it by sundown. The investigation was underway. Both with the police, and internally with the university to discover if any of the blame lay with them.

If it was a suicide, it could.

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