Page 53 of Watch Me

Shawn and I were still waiting for Daisy’s phone records. The day before, we’d gone back to Amy’s apartment to discover that Heather, the roommate, had moved out. We went to the boyfriend’s apartment, but no one answered. So, to kill two birds with one stone, Shawn and I were with Will so we could stop by the admissions office and get Heather’s schedule to track her down.

We needed that fucking woodplaque.

The three of us found the admissions building. Shawn stayed on the main floor to get Heather’s schedule, and I went with Will down to the basement where the IT department was located. When we first entered, I counted eight doors—some opened, some closed—along a long, wide hall behind a receptiondesk.

Will stood ahead of me as we approached the reception desk. A woman looked up from her computer. “Can I … Can I help you?” she stammered as though they never gotvisitors.

Will handed her the warrant. “We’re here to scan your servers.”

She balked. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Let me … Let me get my boss.” Shestood.

“Sure.”

A few moments later, a man came up. “Jack Clark.” He stuck out his hand. He looked familiar, but in the short exchange, I couldn’t place him. “I’m the Director of the IT department.”

I took his hand. “Sergeant Valor, and this is Officer Nichols. He’s the head of the cybercrime unit at our precinct. We have a warrant to scan your servers and computers.”

“Why?” Jack furrowed his brows inconfusion.

“There have been two murders associated with Lakeshore University—”

“Yes, I’ve heard. And you think it’s connected to our computers?”

“Unfortunately, we can’t disclose that information at this time.”

When Shawn walked in, Jack’s gaze moved to him and then back to me. “Right this way.”

“Actually,” I stopped them with my words, “Officer Nichols will take it from here.”

Jack nodded, and he and Will turned and headed to the other end of the hall. They turned a corner, and were out of sight. The woman went back to her desk, but I caught her gaze a few times and made a mental note to speak withher.

I turned to Shawn. “Did you get it?”

“Yeah.”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and realized Reagan had fifteen more minutes left of class. “Do you want to go see if she has what we need? I want to walk Reagan to the car.”

“Yeah, sure.”

I gave a quick nod in agreement and turned to face the assistant. “If they get done before I’m back, can you tell Officer Nichols that I’ll be back?”

“Sure … sure thing.” She stuttered with asmile.

Shawn and I walked toward the elevator. Once we were inside, I asked, “Was she acting weird?”

He thought for a moment. “I was barely there, so I didn’t get a good read on her. Why?”

I shrugged. “She was stammering.”

“Maybe she just has a stutter or is nervous around cops?”

“Maybe.” I wasn’t sure if she was acting weird or not. Being close to the case was fucking with me. That was why police officers didn’t work personal cases, but Ihadto work thiscase.

Shawn and I parted ways when we got outside. He went to find Heather’s current class, and I went to walk Reagan to Officer Chase’s car. If I could, I would go with her everyday.