“Yeah,” Ray winces. “I do.”

Teddy writes it down. The chances she wound up getting medical care or filing a report are about zero to none, and I think deep down Ray must know this, but he allows himself to be reassured.

He shifts in his chair, glances between me and Teddy. “You’re probably aware of this already, but—they’re all well connected. And they think they’re above the law. I’m not saying they killed Jay Kemp, or anything. Honestly, most of what I’ve seen was at night and involved a good bit of alcohol. But they don’t like their autonomy questioned. If you start digging around,” he looks at Teddy meaningfully, “I would be prepared for some hassle.”

I glance at Teddy’s head bent over his notes. That line around his mouth is back. The fly’s stopped buzzing, and all I can hear is the steady murmur of the heating system and that electric current humming somewhere deep beneath our feet.

Five

Thursday, November 14, 8:00 A.M.

The look-alike fraternity brothers don’t resemble Jay nearly as much in person. They came in late last night—our desks were still littered with folded, waxed boxes of Chinese takeout—and they both had alibis: 9:00 A.M. classes, which they swear they attended. One was in a biology lecture. The building’s south of Sanford Stadium; and in theory, if he drove and parked his car in one of the neighboring lots, he could have snuck out of class early and zipped down Lumpkin with enough speed to murder our victim. But he swears the professor always lets out class late, and he met his girlfriend right after to walk her to her next class. All easy enough to check, and he’s so moonfaced and intrigued by our questions that the level of strategy involved in this theory seems much too complex. The other was in a chemistry lab. The buildings are more or less side by side, but neither one saw the other. Jay-look-alike number two had a midterm and said he was one of the last to finish. The TA let him stay ten minutes after. I give her a call, and she confirms, so he’s out, too, officially eliminating our only lead.

“I think the witnesses just saw Jay’s reflection on the windshield as he somersaulted over the car,” I say to Teddy as he passes me a cup of coffee.

He gives a warning look.

“Too soon?”

“We still need to talk with Jay’s roommate. He hasn’t returned any of my calls. I get the impression from Tripp that he and his girlfriend have set up a little love nest on the south side. He didn’t bother to go to the memorial service, and they’re not answering the door to anyone, but,” he flashes a grin, “I think we should drop by to see if they’re in.”

“Great,” I say. “Address?”