Page 65 of Silencing Stolen Whispers
The theory played out in Kinsley's mind with frightening clarity. What if it hadn’t been Hannah having the affair with Victor Reeves, but Bailey? What if Hannah had been protecting her sister all along, just as she had during their entire childhood?
Or worse…what if Hannah had decided to finally let her sister deal with the fallout?
How would Bailey have reacted to that scenario?
Kinsley lifted her radio, pressing the button.
“Start searching for Bailey Scriven. I need to question her before she leaves this campus.”
Kinsley didn’t wait for acknowledgment. She headed straight toward the east exit. The Scrivens were already halfway to the parking lot before she was able to call out to them.
“Have either of you spoken to Bailey this evening?” Kinsley asked after she closed the distance between them. She took a moment to clip the radio to her belt. “She?—”
“If this is about that disgusting accusation you threw around earlier, you can leave our daughter out of it,” Katherine replied tersely. “Hannah did not have some sordid affair with her professor. She never would have compromised her position here at the university or sullied our family’s reputation. And if you keep on this line of questioning, I will sue your entire department for slan?—”
“Mrs. Scriven, my job is to find the individual who murdered your daughter. You do what you need to do,” Kinsley advised, maintaining a firm but professional tone. Her patience was thinning, but Hannah’s parents had already been through enough. Kinsley then turned her attention to Patty Bigsby. “May I have a word with you in private, please?”
“Of course,” Patty responded quietly as she handed off the stack of sympathy cards to William, mindful of her reading glasses. He juggled Hannah’s portrait to tuck the cards under his left arm. “Should either of you need anything from the university, please don’t hesitate to call.”
“Ms. Bigsby, you do not need to?—”
“It’s okay,” Patty assured Katherine, even taking the time to pat the woman’s shoulder. “I’ll answer any questions thedetective has if it means this monster is taken off the streets. Detective Aspen means no harm. She’s just doing her job.”
Katherine appeared to want to argue against such an opinion, but instead, she nodded curtly before exiting the courtyard. At this point, there weren’t many people left behind.
Kinsley stepped away, and Patty followed suit.
“Professor Bigsby, was Dr. Reeves having an affair with Hannah Scriven?” Kinsley asked, seeing no point in dancing around the inquiry.
“I honestly do not know,” Patty responded after a slight hesitation. She crossed her arms defensively, her reading glasses clutched in her right hand. “I don’t like speaking out of turn against colleagues, but I will say that Dr. Reeves has a reputation for being overly familiar with his female students. You can take that as you will.”
Kinsley got the impression that Professor Bigsby was being honest. The woman didn’t know much more than the casual university rumors that circulated among students and faculty members. There was no reason to keep her any longer, and the courtyard had emptied to just a few stragglers.
Only Bailey Scriven wasn’t one of them, and Kinsley didn’t believe for a second that such an absence was a coincidence.
27
Alex Lanen
July
Monday — 10:38 pm
The headlights of Alex’s Camaro swept across the address numbers on Victor Reeves' mailbox, illuminating the black digits against white plastic. It was one of the few markers that identified the home.
The modest middle-class neighborhood featured uniform rows of houses with nearly identical exteriors, which consisted of grey siding and white trim. It seemed the homeowner’s association allowed residents to showcase their individuality through their landscaping or porch décor. A single streetlamp cast one long shadow across the manicured lawn, and the white garage door was closed as Alex pulled into the empty driveway.
He killed the engine before checking the time on the dashboard. Reeves couldn’t have been home for more than fifteen minutes. Just enough to settle into the lie that he had been living recently.
“Let me handle the conversation,” Alex said, glancing over at Hendricks, whose eager posture reminded Alex of his own early days on the force. “Pay attention, watch closely, and be ready for anything. We’re about to ask a man, with his wife present, if he was having an affair with a student. Things could escalate rapidly.”
If they were fortunate, the wife would be asleep.
Although background checks had been filed, those for the faculty members hadn't been thoroughly reviewed yet. As no discrepancies or issues had been flagged at first, Alex and Kinsley’s attention had shifted to the cheating scandal instead. They followed the direction of the investigation, and there had been no indication that Hannah had an affair.
“You think the wife knows?” Hendricks asked as he reached for the door handle.
“Hard to say. People can be remarkably blind to what's happening right under their noses.”
