It’s empty and quiet out here. Muted voices come from behind other classroom doors, and a few students congregate at the far end of the hall, standing in a little circle, looking at something on one of their phones.

“Connor, you are way out of line coming in here like this. I’m not sure what you’re thinking. I know this has been hard on you, being suspended and under suspicion this way, but you can’t let your judgment get away from you like this. It’s best if you just turn around and go right now. If you walk back out of here, everybody will forget it. I’ll tell the students it was a misunderstanding. And Preston doesn’t even have to know.”

“Preston saw me coming in. He’ll probably be here in a minute. I hope he is.”

“I don’t think you can count on Preston’s help with this one. He’s going to want to keep his hands clean.”

“Madeline,” I say. “You were sexually harassing Madeline. Before she disappeared. You insisted on helping her with her thesis because you thought I was overburdened and off my game. That’s when it started. Right?”

“This is sad, Connor. I guess this is grief over your family being transferred to grief over Madeline. That is, if you’re not the one who killed her.”

I hold the story in the air between us. “You harassed her. You took advantage of your position on the thesis committee to keep her coming around. You dangled favors in front of her. Like a computer. It’s really classic predatory behavior. And she put it all down here in this story before she died.”

“That’s a short story you’re holding in your hand?”

“It is.”

“Fiction? You’re using a work of fiction to justify all of this?” Some of his perpetual condescension returns in the form of a half smirk. “You can’t even believe that. You can’t base that kind of accusation on a stupid story.” He shakes his head, full of disappointment and disgust. “Just go, Connor. Take your sorry ass out of here and get back to what’s left of your life.”

“She wrote it down, and she signed her name at the end. It’s like her last will and testament. She explains how your behavior led up to her disappearance. That she felt threatened by you because she revealed what you knew about Sophia’s murder in her thesis. Yes, it’s fiction, but that’s how young fiction writers express themselves. With stories. That’s the way Madeline communicates with the world. Or do you have an explanation that contradicts what she said in here?”

“I can deny it. And I will. How did you end up with that?”