I made a face, punching through the door and into the stairwell.
Elle:Wow. I haven’t even had coffee yet, and you’re issuing orders.
Unknown:It’s important, Graves. I need you safe.
A flutter of warmth expanded inside my chest at his words until I remembered Oscar’s speech. Without me, we were all doomed with an apocalyptic capital D. Caden’s text wasn’t a declaration of his undying affection; he was just doing his job. Why that bothered me so much, I wasn’t going to admit even to myself.
My phone buzzed with another reply.
Unknown:Be careful and keep an eye out. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
Elle:I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself.
Unknown:Debatable.
Elle:Miss you, too!
Three dots appeared then vanished. I laughed to myself as I pushed open the door and walked out into the morning sunshine.If you can’t strangle them, kill them with kindness.
Walking across the quad, I saved Caden’s number in my phone and stowed the device in my bag. I needed coffee if I had a shot in Hades of making it through the day. A quick bite and the largest cup of coffee they had later, and I was running to make it to class on time.
The lecture hall was almost full, and I slid into one of the seats in the back. Hushed whispers filled the room, and the normal chatter had taken on a somber tone. It grew quiet when a woman entered, her heels clicking across the polished floor. She stopped in front of the lectern and addressed the class.
“Good morning, everyone. My name is Julia Henry, and I will be taking over your class for the rest of the term. I realize how difficult this transition is. Professor Roberts was beloved by so many on this campus. I will do my best to continue from where she left off, and with that in mind, could you please pass your midterm papers to the front for collection?”
I handed my paper to the person in front of me and studied the woman I’d witnessed arguing with Professor Roberts right before her death. Was it a coincidence she was now teaching my class, or something more nefarious?
Julia Henry appeared at least ten years younger than Professor Roberts. She walked the length of the room collecting papers, dressed in a cream-colored blouse and gray pencil skirt. A silk scarf hung artfully around her neck. She stacked our work on top of the lectern and dimmed the lights. Navigating to a presentation on a laptop, she projected it onto the screen and dived into the day’s lecture.
Maybe I expected more—a sharing of our favorite memories or even a moment of silence—but it was straight to work. Julia’s voice droned through the hall as students furiously scribbled notes. I couldn’t focus on the lecture. Instead, I opened my notebook and wrote the word “suspects” at the top of the page. Since this counted as neither cat burgling nor demon-hunting, I continued with my list.
The first entry was Julia Henry.
My gaze roamed over the class, watching each student individually. I marked down the name of Professor Roberts’ teacher’s assistant, who sat in the front row and had also attended the party. Next, I navigated to the photos I’d taken of the class rosters on my phone and scanned the lists. A few names caught my eye. Members of the waitstaff. I added them to the list as well. I paused, seeing Jake the bartender’s name on the roster. He was in her afternoon class. But that wasn’t the only name I recognized. Zoe was also in her afternoon class—although, according to the roster, she’d dropped the class after the first few weeks.
That’s odd.Zoe never mentioned she dropped a class.My hand paused over my list, reluctant to add her name. She wasn’t really a suspect, more a person of interest who happened to be at the party and have an outside connection to Professor Roberts. Given those parameters, both my name and Caden’s should go on the list too. But I knew we hadn’t killed her, and I knew Zoe hadn’t either.
Still, I had to be objective. I’d write her name down with an asterisk and label her an unlikely suspect.
Scanning the rest of the rosters, there was only one other name that caught my eye. My ex-boss, Angela, had been enrolled in a night class here at the university. Did she have a motive for wanting the professor dead?
On the list she went.
After I finished with the students, I moved on to her other colleagues. I downloaded the university’s coursebook onto my phone and matched the faces of her colleagues with the ones I remembered seeing at the party. All told, it was quite a list. Any one of them could be a demon in disguise. The trick to uncovering the culprit was to discover the motive. Professor Roberts had been involved in something that got her killed. It was my job to find out what and eliminate the people on this list until there was only one. Then slay them.
A shiver worked its way down my back. My words from last night echoed in my head.You can’t pick your family, and you can’t pick your team.All true, but you also couldn’t pick your destiny. I thought I had everything figured out. Now, here I was, filling someone else’s shoes. Shoes I had no business wearing. Shoes that would probably get me killed.
I fiddled with my bracelet, resting my hand over the stone and feeling it warm my palm.Deep breaths.I needed to take this one step at a time. Start with a name on the list and go from there.
The easiest name to start with was Angela. I still had to return my catering uniform, and it would give me a chance to talk to her as well as return to the scene of the crime. Yes, this was starting to veer heavily into investigating territory. Some might say I’d crossed right over the line. But my uniform was laundered and ready to return. The last thing I wanted was to be billed for polyester pants, a tuxedo shirt, and a sateen vest with the country club’s logo on it. So, if anybody asked—coughCadencough—then I’d tell him it was simply a matter of due diligence.
“Elle Graves, is everything all right?”
I jumped in my seat, startled by the woman’s voice. Professor Henry stood directly in front of me, her eyes narrowed with interest. Flustered, I snapped my notebook closed and fumbled for my bag. The lecture hall was empty. Sometime during my suspect-building exercise, the class had ended.
Had she seen my list?
“Yeah, everything’s fine. I was just taking detailed notes and lost track of time.” I shoved out of my chair and slung my bag over my shoulder.
