Page 56 of Zero Divergence
Sawyer’s heart sank. Humphries was returning to his favorite hunting ground. Jesus. He didn’t know if the university believed in the man’s innocence or was afraid Humphries would bring a lawsuit against them too.
“I wouldn’t answer my phone either if I were them,” Royce told Lulu. “He didn’t mention anything to me when we talked last week, or I wouldn’t have bothered him. What’s that?” Royce asked. “It was a last-minute decision? Uh-huh. Yes, I see. I’ll patiently wait for him to return my call. Thank you so much, Mrs. Meyers. Good day to you, ma’am.”
Royce returned the desk phone to its cradle. His gray eyes looked a little wild when they met Sawyer’s. “They’re taking the fucker back.”
“They probably don’t have a choice,” Sawyer countered, knowing it was the last thing Royce wanted to hear. “The DA dropped all charges against him, and there was no credible evidence tying him to the four coeds.”
“Everyone has a choice,” Royce said. “They could’ve offered him a severance package. They could’ve asked him for more time to let things die down first.”
“We need to consider that they believe him,” Sawyer said, playing devil’s advocate. “What did Lulu say about his second honeymoon?”
Royce exhaled deeply and released the breath slowly. Sawyer raked his teeth over his bottom lip to keep from smiling at the evidence of his influence on the man he loved. “Lulu said it was a spur-of-the-moment decision because he hadn’t expected to get reinstated so quickly. It was now or never, according to her. They asked her late Friday morning to watch the dogs and dropped them off on Saturday before leaving for the airport. They’re due back on Wednesday afternoon.”
If they come back.
Sawyer knew they were both thinking it but neither wanted to say the words out loud. The idea that Franco Humphries could live out the rest of his days enjoying the beach life in Mexico after raping and killing at least four women was too sickening to comprehend.
Sawyer sat up straighter in his chair and narrowed his eyes while he rolled the timeline around in his head. “Friday, as in the day Vivian Gross was wrestling with her conscience about new evidence that had suddenly come to light. Evidence she had wanted to turn over to the police. Either she had the goods on Humphries, and he had someone silence her, or this is all a big coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidence,” Royce replied.
“Neither do I, but I’m running out of ideas on how to pursue this further without speaking to Humphries directly.”
“I think the first thing we have to do is verify Humphries is telling the truth about the university reinstating him. He could’ve lied about it to his neighbor, knowing he could come up with a dozen different excuses for why it didn’t pan out later.”
“I agree,” Sawyer said. “What are you thinking?”
Royce heaved a sigh. “As much as I hate to say it, I think we need to ask Felix to poke around his contacts. While you’re reaching out to him, I’ll call Jacobs and let him know we need help finding the PI on Schultz’s payroll. Maybe they can both obtain the information in time for the meeting tonight.”
“Deal,” Sawyer said, then picked up his phone to dial Felix. His call went to voicemail, so he left the reporter a detailed message. When he hung up, Royce was still verbally sparring with Jacobs.
“I’m not kissing your ass, dipshit,” Royce groused into the phone. “Are you going to do this or not?”
Sawyer shook his head and unfolded the list of names Blakemore had given them. They needed to interview the managers, bartenders, waitstaff, and bouncers at the club who worked with Blakemore over the weekend. The likelihood of finding all of them working the same shift was nil, but he hoped to interview as many of them today as possible. Royce’s voice got louder, and his tone grew snappier, then he exchanged another round of insults with the PI, so Sawyer decided to call The Cockpit to find out if anyone on the list was on duty now.
A few minutes later, he hung up the phone and noticed Royce watching him intently.
“Know the phone number by heart, do you?” Royce asked. “Is that one of the gayness challenges?”
God, he loved to stir the jealous beast residing beneath Royce’s skin, but this wasn’t the time or place for it, so he held up the piece of paper and pointed to the phone number Blakemore provided them.
“Oh,” Royce said.
“None of the people we need to speak with are working right now,” Sawyer informed him.
“Figures since you got me worked up over the idea of eating wings for lunch,” Royce said.
“I can treat you to the second-best wing place for lunch and save the best wings for later when we interview the staff at The Cockpit,” Sawyer suggested.
“I’m not so big a fan of chicken wings that I want to eat them twice in one day,” Royce replied. “I know my eating habits can be as atrocious as a fourteen-year-old boy’s at times, but even I’m not that bad.”
“Now or later, then?” Sawyer asked. “You pick.”
Royce rose from his chair. “You’re going to eat chicken wings?”
“I’ll order a large salad and a small order of wings,” Sawyer said. “It’s all about the balance.” He pocketed the car keys and led the way out of the bullpen. “I had to leave a message for Felix. What did Jacobs say? Does he have any idea which PI is working for Schultz? How many private investigators can there be in Savannah?”
Royce chuckled bitterly. Sawyer stopped and faced him, searching his boyfriend’s face. Then it dawned on him why Royce and Rocky were fighting. “No fucking way.”