The curtain has really been lifted now. And I see what’s happening behind it. “Oh, a capital campaign? Fund-raising? I thought it was all about the students.”

“It is. Of course. But it’s about money too. You know that. We’re practically begging the legislature in Frankfort to send us more, but all they’ve done is cut. To the bone. Do you think we need a bunch of politicians getting up and saying, ‘Why should we give more money to higher ed when the professors murder people?’ ”

“That’s insane.”

“And it’s about the reputation of our department and the work everyone is doing. We’ve all busted our butts to have the department in the right place. We can’t lose that. You’ll be hearing from Human Resources. They’ll make you sign some forms.”

I fumble for the door latch with my right hand. “I thought you’d go to bat for me.”

Preston must have overridden the locks, because I can’t get out. “Now hold it. Don’t run off. You need to listen to me.”

“I have been. And it hasn’t helped.”

But I stop trying to open the door—a fruitless gesture anyway. And since I’m trapped in the car, I decide to listen. I don’t have a lot of allies, and it sounds like I might need more in the future.

“I have stuck my neck out for you,” he says. “And you know that. Going all the way back to when Emily and Jake died.”

I remain silent, a grudging admission that he’s right.

“And if you want me to continue to do that, if you want me to try to go to the administration and go to bat for you, I have to know everything. And I mean everything. I need to know that nothing else is going to surprise me.”

“I didn’t kill Sophia Greenfield,” I say. “I didn’t even know her—” But I can’t get those words all the way out of my mouth. I did know her. Or I thought I did. And I’d created a story for her, the way any author would. My story turned out to be wrong. Very, very wrong. “I mean, I didn’t even know her name. I didn’t really know who she was.”

“What about Madeline?”

“What about her?”

“Is there anything with her that’s going to bite me in the ass?” he asks.

“It’s weird the way you bring that up.”