Page 40 of Nobody's Fool

And yet, when I saw Anna/Victoria in the flesh in my classroom, I was sure it was Anna in a split second.

Crazy.

“So what we are saying,” Gary continues, “is that Victoria Belmond showed up to your class last night.”

“Could be.”

“And when she saw you, she ran away.”

I smile. I know where they are going with this, but I play along. “I startle people.”

“True,” Lenny says, “and we might buy that if it ended there.”

“But?” I say.

“But, see, you chose to run after her,” Lenny says.

“Chased her,” Lenny clarifies.

“You didn’t hesitate a second. A crazy look crossed your face and bam, it’s like you were a world-class sprinter all of a sudden.”

“And let’s face it, Kierce. You don’t like to run.”

“Physical activity isn’t my bag,” I admit.

“Conclusion,” Gary says with a flair for the dramatic. “This isn’t just a class assignment. You, Professor Kierce, know—or knew—Victoria Belmond.”

“Or at the very least,” Lenny adds, “you have some personal connection to her or this case.”

I look at Gary. Then at Lenny. I nod to show that I’m impressed.

“I will neither confirm nor deny your allegation,” I say, mostly because I don’t really know for sure what to tell them or even if the allegation is true. “But let’s suppose I do. Then what?”

Gary takes a step forward. He grabs a chair, pulls it up near me, swivels it around and sits reverse pony. “This is a class of curious detective wannabees.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning we all googled you before we joined the class. We know your background. We know you were a decorated NYPD homicide detective, of course. And we know why you lost your job. We also know that another case where you had a personal connection has suffered a severe setback.”

I try not to bristle at that. “I found her killer,” I say a little too defensively.

“And now he’s free,” Lenny says.

So there we have it. The two men look at me and wait for my reply. I turn my hands palms up in a quasi shrug. “If you don’t want to do this—”

“We didn’t say that,” Gary says quickly.

“But we think you should come clean.”

“Because it may help us solve the case.”

Gary rises, making a big production of putting the chair back where it was. “Either way we are still going to help you.”

“Because we like you,” Lenny adds. “And we think you’re a good man.”

“But we wanted you to know that we aren’t patsies,” Gary says. “We are going into this with eyes open.”

They wait for me to say something. I settle for “Thank you.”