She had a more pressing problem: there was a chance that the high school boyfriend she’d so callously tossed over might be her professor.

Groaning inside, Kristi dashed up the steps of the vine-clad hall and yanked open a heavy glass door.

Another student shot through ahead of her and she recognized Hiram Calloway as he swept past. She almost said something because she felt as if the guy were following her. When she’d needed his help with the apartment building, she couldn’t scare him up to save her life. But now that she was starting classes, he was everywhere she turned on campus. She had a bad feeling that he, too, might be signed up for Dr. Monroe’s Monday night class…. Geez, didn’t guys work their schedules so that they could stay home on Mondays and watch football?

Let him get to the classroom first so she could avoid sitting anywhere next to him.

As the door swung shut behind her, Kristi headed for the stairwell, where the smell of some pine-scented cleaner couldn’t quite hide the odor of formaldehyde that seeped through the hallways. Many of the floor tiles had cracked, and the light green walls had grown dingy with age. The stairs, too, were worn, the banister polished smooth by thousands of hands.

The staircase opened to a wide landing. Several hallways angled off the main corridor, making the area seem more like a rabbit warren than a science lab building.

She followed signs around a corner that led to a long corridor. At the far end of the hall a door was open and a few students, including Hiram Calloway, were walking into a large classroom.

Crossing her fingers that she wasn’t about to see Jay again, Kristi walked briskly to catch up with the crowd. She stepped through the doorway with the last of the stragglers.

Once inside, Kristi’s worst fears were founded.

Beneath the glow of fluorescent lights, Jay McKnight stood at the front of the windowless room. Several life-sized charts of the human body were pulled down over a chalkboard behind him.