“Got an update on Dory today.”
I shifted my attention from the table to him. “Did you find her?”
Shaking his head, he said, “Not yet, but I’m working with Blake’s brother on this. We found out some things that might surprise you.” Nothing Dory did would’ve surprised me at that point, but I told him to continue. “After talking to her mother, we discovered she’d lied about her background.”
Standing to my full height, I asked, “I thought her mother was dead?” During office hours one day, Dory had shared that she’d lost both of her parents in a car accident.
“No. Her mother is very much alive and living in Grand Rapids.”
I took a long gulp of beer. “Why would she lie about that?”
“Who knows. For sympathy?”
“What else?”
“Her mother didn’t even know she’d enrolled in school. She thought Dory had moved to Texas. I guess Dory would call her mother every Sunday and act like she was in Houston, talk about job she didn’t have, send pictures of an apartment that wasn’t hers.”
“Wait, that doesn’t even make any sense.” Although Dory was technically an adult, I couldn’t imagine a parent not knowing where their college-aged kid was living. My parents had been a huge presence throughout my entire life, and my mother hadn’t thought twice about surprising my ass on campus. Even when I’d pleaded with her to call first.
“As a minor, she got into some trouble with the law. Her juvenile records are sealed, but her mother explained she’d gotten violent with a high school classmate—over a teacher.”
This keeps getting better. “So I’m not the first, huh?”
He shook his head. “Nah, man. You’re not even the second. Before she came to the University, she attended a community college in Kalamazoo. A professor there had filed a complaint against her and later dropped it.”
“Why did he drop the charges?”
“Because he was a piece of shit. They had an affair for three months before she moved here. Apparently, she saw a video of you giving a lecture and decided she wanted to be Mrs. Lennox Cole.”
“Whatever, man,” I grumbled. “What the hell am I supposed to do with this? She knows where I live, where I work.”
“We have reason to believe she’s still in town. We’ll find her. She’ll slip up at some point.”
“In the meantime, I just…what? Lay low?”
“I’m not saying that. Just be careful. No telling what her state of mind is.”
As angry as I was at the situation, I hoped Dory got the help she needed. Obviously, she’d been spiraling out of control for quite some time. At the same time, I needed her to get help far away from me. I let out a heavy sigh. “I guess. I already changed my locks. The security company is coming to install more cameras tomorrow morning.”
“That works.” Jace frowned, grumbling a curse.
Turning my head to see who he was muggin’, I noticed that a group of men had gathered near the bar. I didn’t recognize any of them, but Jace obviously had. “You good?”
“Shit,” he mumbled.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Blake stalking toward the rowdy group. She was laser focused on one in particular and stopped right in front of him.
Jace sighed, setting his beer down. “I need to go handle this.”
Before I could ask any questions, Jace approached the crowd. And before I could question myself, I inched toward the group.
“Can I talk to you?” Blake asked.
The guy snorted. “What do you want?” he slurred.
She motioned with her head. “Alone?”
“Alone, huh?” The guy gave another man a high five.
