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Amber felt a flicker of interest at that. A relationship they didn't know about, particularly one that Mia's friends thought shouldn't have been going on, could point to a potential motive for someone to murder her. "Do you know who this person might be?"
The girl nodded after a few seconds. "The rumor is that it was Professor Samuels," she said. "He teaches some of our math classes. It’s just a rumor, though."
Even the rumor of it was enough to keep Amber's attention. A math professor might reasonably also have met someone who was doing a master’s degree in statistics. It might potentially give him a connection to both victims. That meant that they would need to speak to this professor, but first, they needed to find out if there was any sign of him having a connection to Kelly Wasner.
“Come on,” Amber said to Simon. “We need to check this.”
Amber headed out of the physics building with Simon alongside her, already pulling up files on her phone, searching for any hint of someone who knew Kelly well enough to tell them if she’d known the professor.
A name leaped out: Justine Burton, Kelly's best friend.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
They got a dorm room number for Justine Burton from the receptionist who had helped them before, then headed over there as quickly as they could. A hint of a rumor wasn't much to go on, but right then, Amber would take anything that she could get.
If the rumor proved to be true, the relationship Mia had been in might point to a reason for her murder. For now, though, they needed to see if there was any connection to Kelly. They needed a motive that worked for both murders, not just one.
They reached Justine's dorm, a smaller building tucked around the back of a couple of the bigger academic buildings. They headed inside and tried to find their way through the halls until they came to the correct room. Amber knocked on the door. After a few moments, a young woman answered. She had long brown hair and freckles, while she was wearing a floral pattern dress. Her eyes looked slightly red as if she'd been crying recently.
"Can I help you?" she asked, looking at them with curiosity tinged with worry.
"Justine Burton?" Amber asked. She showed her badge. "I'm Agent Young with the FBI. This is Agent Phelps. We understand that you were Kelly Wasner's best friend?"
Justine's eyes widened as Amber said that. "Yes… I guess that's right. Sorry, this is just… is there something I can help you with?"
It was obvious that their presence had flustered her a little.
“We know this must be hard for you, Justine,” Amber said. “But can we come in and ask you a few questions?”
Justine nodded, then stepped back, letting them into a dorm room decorated with posters from old movies.
"I talked to the police about Kelly already," Justine said. "I'm not sure what I can tell you that they haven't already heard. She was… she was a great roommate, but I don’t really know much.”
“But I’d guess that, as her roommate, you would know her pretty well?” Amber said.
Justine nodded. Amber could see the grief etched there on her features. Amber reached out to put a hand on her arm.
“We know it’s hard, Justine,” Amber said. “When someone you know well, someone you’re close to, is hurt, there’s no worse feeling.”
She was thinking about Joseph as she said that, and some of what she felt must have come through in the words because Justine looked at her as if recognizing that Amber was talking from personal experience.
Amber knew that she should try asking the questions they were there for. She and Simon needed to get answers. To one pressing question in particular.
"Did she know Professor Samuels?" Amber asked. "He's a math professor here, and-"
"I know who he is," Justine said, with a note of distaste that Amber caught. It intrigued her. "Kelly was doing statistics, after all."
"So she knew him from her classes?" Simon asked. “Just from her classes?”
He’d obviously caught the note of distaste too. Justine hesitated. That hesitation caught Amber's attention in the same way that the hint of distaste had before.
"What is it, Justine? What aren’t you telling us?"
"Well... there was something else," Justine said. “It’s just…”
Amber tilted her head to the side. "What else?"
"Professor Samuels... made a pass at her once. Hit on her, whatever you want to call it. Obviously, she turned him down. He's a professor and much older than her. She just wasn't interested. He wasn't very happy about it, but I didn't think it meant anything."
