Page 373 of Sticks and Stones
THINGS.
There were paintings with famous artist’s signatures, statues carved out of marble, and pillars that screamed‘old wealth’.
If anything, this piqued their interest even more. They knew he’d been trolling on that website to meet a rich man, and it appeared that he had.
Well, score one for Harrison.
The man led them to a sitting area, and they took seats on the couch. Before Gene could even tell him why they were there, the man was off to the races.
“I hope you can explain,” he admitted. “I’m curious enough to want to know why you were in my driveway taking pictures of the cars.”
Gene bet he was.
Only, he wasn’t revealing anything until he was ready to.
“And you’re Harrison Dunne? A professor of Political Science at Villanova and Temple?” he asked, beginning the questioning.
The man nodded.
“Yes, I’m a professor there, and I’m indeed Harrison Dunne. What I don’t know is why you’re here. I wish you’d get to the reason.”
Oh, he bet.
Instead of saying anything, Gene began asking questions to see if they could tie this man to the case, or if this was going to be a bust.
He kept going.
“Can you tell us how well you knew Elliot Graves, Wesley Thorton, and Graham Sinclair?” he asked.
The man only reacted to the last name, and Ethan saw him try not to respond. There was that flicker of recognition, and now here came the denial.
He’d bet his badge on it.
“I’m sure you’ve made a mistake. I don’t know the men. Could you be mistaken?”
Tsk.
Tsk.
Tsk.
Someone was lying.
Gene had been doing this for a while, so he could tell when someone was trying to evade. They always asked a question in return as they tried to formulate an answer by buying themselves time.
He clarified.
“Two were students in classes you teach, and one was your teaching assistant. You don’t know who teaches your classes in your absence?” he asked, skeptically. “Are you bad with names? Let me show you their faces,” he said, as Ethan pulled out a file with the men’s driver’s licenses for him to see.
Gene made sure that he stared at the man with‘the look’. It was the one that said,‘someone’s in some shit because we know they’re lying’.
Funny enough, his memory came back.
Shocking.
“Oh, him,” he said, pointing at Graham. “Yes, he’s my TA, but I assure you that I haveA LOTof students. I couldn’t pick them out if they were here in the room with me.”
Ethan switched it up.
