Page 125 of The Kingpin's Call Girl

Me:Can you say which research project this pertains to?

Janey:Of course not bc enigmatic!

I deposit the bitcoin money immediately into Darren’s account to show him I’m interested. Ten o’clock is totally doable. I’ll have turned in my paper, and my Classics seminar ends at nine.

I text Luka before I turn in to let him know there’s been no text from Bender.

There’s still nothing from Bender the next morning. I let Luka know, finish my paper like a boss, turn it in, and head off to class. I have the rest of the day to study for Indo-European after I meet with Darren.

The first thing I notice when I get to Darren’s residence hall is the line of police cars with cherries blazing. I head straight for the cafeteria, wondering if Darren will know what happened, but he’s nowhere to be seen. It’s just a few minutes before ten, so I wait. And wait. Did he give up on me? I walk around the place as the time ticks by. He’s five minutes late. Then ten. Did the police spook him?

I find his room number from the directory and head up. Students are clustered in the hall, some talking to cops. I ask a girl if she’s seen Darren.

“They just took him out of here. He’s in a coma. Somebody tried to kill him.”

My blood freezes in my veins. “Is he... gonna survive?”

“No clue,” she whispers.

“Do they know who...”

She shakes her head.

I’m mortified. Did Darren get hurt because of the research he was doing for me? I have this horrible feeling that he did.

Cops are interviewing students up and down the hall. I push my way up to where bright yellow tape blocks one of the doors. Darren’s room.

A uniformed officer stands just inside the door whileother police officers mill around inside; most are clustered in and around the far room, probably one of the bedrooms. You can see special lights and techs with foot coverings in there.

“Stay back,” says the officer at the entrance.

“What happened?”

He doesn’t answer.

My heart pounds. Did Darren find out where my sister is and get attacked for it? Did he do more research on Luka and get attacked for that?

My gaze drifts to the little table next to the door. There’s a copy ofThe Elements of Stylewith a pink Post-it stuck to it and ED scrawled on top. He probably set it there to take down when we were going to meet. Did Darren stick notes inside the book like he did last time? Is the key to finding my sister in there?

I’ve seen enough police procedurals to know they probably wouldn’t let me take it.

“I was supposed to meet Darren just this morning,” I say to nobody in particular.

This gets the attention of a woman with a notepad—a detective, I think. She comes over. “When did you last see Darren?”

“Last week. He was helping me with some research, and I lent him a book. We had plans to meet for coffee this morning, but he wasn’t there.”

“You’re a student here?”

I nod, getting up my nerve to ask for the book. “Yes. History. Medieval studies.”

She asks if he seemed agitated in any way or if he mentioned any enemies or upcoming appointments he was worried about. People having it in for him. The nature of my research. I tell her it had to do with European families that stretch back centuries, which isn’t entirely a lie.

A guy in a red sports jersey pushes past me, bursting right in. “What the fuck! Where is he?”

It’s unclear if he’s talking about Darren or whoever did this toDarren, but it’s enough to grab everybody’s attention. This is my chance to nick the book.

I hesitate. It’s a big move, but then I think about Luka and force myself to channel him. Luka doesn’t fret about the future. He would make a bold plan and execute it.