“But your not?”

“Of course I’m not. Are you worried about it?”

Anne shakes her head. “No, Mr. Reese, and I apologize for putting you on the defensive like this. I hope you understand it’s not something I enjoy. It’s just the university isn’t accustomed to police detectives investigating our staff.”

I keep quiet.

“All I can go on is my instinct and your word,” she says. “My instinct tells me to trust you and that this is all a misunderstanding.”

“That’s good.”

“I can assure you, if you tell me you’re not involved in anything illegal or in anything that might harm the reputation of the university, then I’ll support you one hundred percent.”

We stare at each other, silent.

“Can you tell me that?”

I smile. “I’m not involved in anything, illegal or otherwise, that might harm the reputation of this university.”

She nods. “Thank you.”

Behind her, there’s a quick knock at the door, then Doug’s voice. “Jake, you in here?” He looks in and sees Anne. “Sorry, I’ll come back.”

“It’s okay, Doug,” Anne says. “I just stopped by to check in on Mr. Reese, see how he’s managing after his first week.” She hands me my bag. “I hope you’ll come to me if there’s anything I can do to help.”

I tell her I will.

She turns, and I watch her walk out.

Doug closes the door behind her and says, “Didn’t expect that. What did I miss?”

I don’t answer him. I’m thinking about what I’m going to say to Nolan the next time I talk to him. There are a few different ways I see it going, each one ending badly.

“Hey,” Doug says. “What the hell happened?”

I sit and lean back in my chair. I still want to yell at someone, but not Doug. That wouldn’t do any good; he’s known me too long. If he reacted at all, he’d probably just laugh, and that would make things worse.