The Mercers and Sterling exchanged glances. Orion resumed his seat, listening intently.
“I’ll ask one more time,” Ezra said, his voice deadly soft. “How did she know she lost?”
I refused to look at Langford, but I heard the desperation creeping into his voice.
“I—I don’t recall. I may have said something about the way the discussion was leaning.”
“Ah,” Ezra said. “I am but a mere pianist, but it strikes me as odd that you discussed the committee’s deliberations with a student.”
“Vincent,” Langford appealed to Sterling. “This is ridiculous…”
Sterling pursed his lips. “Answer the question, Ian.”
Langford’s chair creaked. “I was trying to manage expectations.”
“I see,” Ezra said. “It sounds like you had a lengthy conversation when earlier you said that it was a short interaction.”
The mood in the room had shifted. Sterling was regarding Langford with a sour expression.
“I have one more question,” Ezra said. “What happened to your face?”
“My…?”
“Face. You’ve a wee cut on your jaw. It looks fresh.”
His hand flew to the small cut on his right jawline. “Oh, I…Imust’ve cut myself shaving.”
I examined my ring closer. There was dried blood on the pearls, maroon staining the white. I hadn’t even noticed, my body had been so hijacked by fear and anxiety from being in the same room with my attacker. Hope flared in my chest.
“That’s not from shaving,” I said. “I hit him.”
Dr. Sterling turned to me. “Come again?”
“I fought him off,” I said. “I kicked him in the groin and backhanded him. My ring hit him in the face. You can still see the blood.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Langford scoffed. “This whole thing is utterly ridiculous.”
Sterling frowned. “Was there a physical altercation, Ian? Just how close were you to her?”
“No, I… If she struck me, I don’t recall. Or she did, but I didn’t consider it relevant.”
“You didn’t consider itrelevant.” Ezra laughed darkly.
“That’ll do, Professor Wolfe.” Dr. Sterling sighed and ran his hands down his face. He consulted with the lawyer again and then nodded, resigned. “Given this new information, I have no choice but to suspend Dr. Langford without pay, pending a full inquiry.”
“Vincent, please—”
“Ian, this conversation has crossed into a legal matter. I’m going to ask you to excuse yourself while we determine the next course of action.”
Langford slowly got up, straightened his tie, and stepped out. The instant the door closed behind him, a tight band around my chest loosened. Ezra reached over and patted my hand. I grabbed his and held on tightly.
“Miss Bennett, this is all deeply regrettable,” Sterling said. “We will conduct a full inquest, but I hope that presenting you with the Novus Prize will be the first step in making things right. Today at the ceremony.”
Ezra snorted. “Of course. The show must go on.”
All eyes turned to me.
“Sure,” I said. “I’ll take it. I am, after all, desperate for the money.”
