The police hadn’t been totally incompetent, thought Conor. They hadn’t charged him without physical evidence to corroborate the circumstantial. In the end they’d figured out the killer wasn’t Conor. Not that he was going to point that out right now. Maybe she didn’t even know. “Too bad you couldn’t predict that.”

“I gave them way too much credit.” Her eyes went crazy wide. Her face twisted into an angry, animal-like snarl. The girl was freaking out, the gun in her hand trembling out of anger, not fear. “I’d thought they would follow the clues to the logical conclusion. You and Dr. Hancock were involved with that ritual killing in Maine together. You were the last person to see me. I left some strands of hair in your apartment and your car. It should have been airtight.”

“It’s been a rough day.”

She waved the gun. “Oh well. I’ll have to improvise. At the end of the night, it’ll still look like you killed Louisa, then turned the gun on yourself.”

Yeah, dying or letting Zoe kill Louisa were not items on his to-do list for the night.

Just behind Conor’s boots, Louisa stirred. Without moving his head, he dropped his gaze. He could just see her in his peripheral vision. She was struggling to sit up. Even if she got to her feet, she couldn’t run. Not with the concussion he suspected she’d suffered. Rage competed with panic in Conor’s chest. Zoe had done that—and much, much worse. All because she wasn’t the star of the university? No, there had to be more.

Conor needed to keep Zoe talking. The police had the address. It was only a matter of time until they showed up. “Isa was older than you and a year ahead in school. Why would Professor English give you the grant instead of her? She’d been working with him for a year already. Dr. Hancock told me you’d probably get the grant next year. Why not just wait?”

Zoe’s eyes narrowed in anger. “Age has never been a factor for me. I’ve gotten everything I’ve set out to achieve, except the grant that bitch stole from me. Working with Dr. English? Is that how you think she got the grant? She was fucking him. She thought she was so smart, but he was fucking other girls too. Professor English isn’t very discriminating.”

“What about Riki and the other girl? Who is she? Why did you kill them?”

Zoe glared at Conor as if he was an idiot. “I killed the other two girls to cover my tracks. I threw Dr. Hancock in to cement your guilt, to make my plan a complete circle, and because she wrote me up for being late a few times. Tardiness. What the fuck does tardiness have to do with brilliance?”