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“No, I don’t. The board hired me for a reason. Let me do my job.” Kamryn stared across the table at Yara, giving her a pointed look. “If you see my position as a conflict of interest, then you should recuse yourself right now.’

“Why would Yara need to leave?” Heather asked.

Kamryn held her hand out for Yara to explain. She didn’t want to be the one to explain it. She was airing dirty laundry for sure. Elia had said the breakup was mutual, but that didn’t mean that Yara felt that way. When Yara didn’t answer, Kamryn jumped right back in.

“During the time of the accusation, actually, Yara and Elia were in a committed relationship.”

“Not at the time of the accusation,” Yara corrected. “Elia and I broke up before that happened.”

“Lucky for you,” Kamryn murmured. She couldn’t imagine being in a relationship with someone who had been accused of that, having children at home, and then having to decide whether or not to support a partner.

“Yes, lucky for me,” Yara agreed. “Not so lucky for Rylann. It ruined her.”

Kamryn would look into that one too. She needed as much information as she could possibly find. “Yara, are you available to come in tomorrow?”

“Thursday, I can.”

“Good.” Kamryn put it into her calendar. “We’ll start our investigation then. We’ll meet together next week to discuss what we’ve found—or not found.” Kamryn was ready for this to be done. She needed time to collect herself again.

They finished the meeting, and Kamryn made sure that the others left before heading back to her office. She fired off a text to Greer, but she kept it simple. She couldn’t exactly tell her everything. It was all confidential at this point. But she needed someone to vent to and to tell her worries to, and Greer was the best option for that. At least at this point.

“Hey,” Kamryn said as she answered Greer’s call. “I’ve had a hell of a day.”

“Oh no, what happened?”

Shaking her head, Kamryn stared at her desk drawer where she’d shoved Elia’s file. “I can’t talk specifics.”

“Okay.” Greer knew the drill.

“People can be so cruel, but right now I’m not sure who to believe.” Kamryn closed her eyes and let that sink in. Without all of the facts, she was left in a constant spinning loop of what-ifs.

“Who do you want to believe?” Greer asked.

“All of them.” That was Kamryn’s issue. She wanted to always believe the one who was coming forth and making the accusation, first and foremost. So she couldn’t just let that go. “I want to believe all of them.”

“Oh, Kam, that’s so hard.”

“Because it’s impossible.” Kamryn groaned and put her head on her desk. “What do I do?”

“You go straight to the closest source you can find.”

Kamryn had known that was the answer, but despite having Greer tell her that to her face, she still didn’t want to do it. This was going to hurt. Not just Elia, not just Kamryn, but it was going to hurt whatever was between them.

Wasn’t it?

“Yeah. You’re right. Thanks. I’ll talk to you soon. Love you.”

“Love you!”

Kamryn hung up, and without waiting to start doubting herself, she grabbed her jacket, locked up her office, and left the building. It didn’t take her long to reach the humanities building and find Elia’s office door wide open and the light still on. Speech practice would have ended only ten minutes before, and Kamryn was certain that Elia would be cleaning up to head home.

When she reached the door, Elia looked up at her, devastation clearly written all across her face. Elia was waiting for Kamryn to bring her bad news. But Kamryn wasn’t ready to do that, not just yet.

“What did you decide?” Elia asked.

Kamryn pursed her lips and shook her head. “Not here. Take a walk with me, Elia.”

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