Mollenkamp gave a short, choked laugh. Stalling for time, he ran his hands over his face and through his hair. “I take it you’re not a potential transfer student, are you?”

I took a seat. “Nope.”

His hazel gaze fixed me. “Where’s the other Trask sister? The hot one?”

It was meant to hurt, and to be honest, it did. But that was exactly what he intended. I had a feeling he liked his women off-kilter and insecure. I decided to give it right back to him. “Do you know who you remind me of?” I asked him. “Matthew McConaughey.”

He smirked at me. “Yeah, I get that sometimes. The name helps.”

“Did you ever see Dazed and Confused?” I asked. “No? It’s been a while, but I watched it with my mom years ago. McConaughey plays a guy who still hangs out with high-school students even though it’s sort of pathetic at his age. Glory days and all that, I guess, you know?” I shrugged. “You remind me of him. Only he pulls it off better. But then, it’s a movie. Real life is different. Don’t expect a happy ending here. Thad Vanderhei found that out the hard way, didn’t he?”

Mollenkamp glanced at the chief, his smirk fading.

The chief ignored him, examining his fingernails and maintaining a heavy, impassive silence.

I think it was at that moment that Matthew Mollenkamp knew he was in trouble. With the weight of silence pressing on him, his gaze flitted around the room, coming back to me. “Okay.” He raised his hands in mock surrender, his tone striving for bitter levity. “Okay, you got me. Busted. I made up some bullshit and a few of the alumni brothers played along. You didn’t actually believe it, did you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I did.”

“It wasn’t true,” he said in frustration. “It’s not my fault if Thad Vanderhei believed me! It was an accident!”

I shook my head. “Not the kind his buddies claim it was.”

Mollenkamp sank deeper into his chair. “So why don’t you talk to them? I wasn’t there. I don’t know what happened.”

“You sent them there.”

He shrugged. “I made up some bullshit story about a secret society within the brotherhood. What the hell? It sounded good at the time. They got punked, okay? No one was supposed to die, and believe me, I feel like shit about it. If I could take it back, I would. I’d give anything to take it back, okay? But it was just another kind of hazing. I didn’t dare Thad to swim the river. For Christ’s sake, I don’t even know why—” His voice cut off.