He pulls out his phone. “Tripp just texted it to me.”

“He’s texting you?”

“Ah, yes, Tripp’s been very helpful. I did some digging. I was wrong about the money. He’s on scholarship. Mom’s an elementary school teacher. His sister has cerebral palsy. Did you know that?”

I shake my head. “Is this relevant?”

“Probably not, just thought it explained his helpfulness.”

“Right,” I say, not sure it explains anything at all.

From the outside, the love nest doesn’t look like much. It’s an older condominium. Nothing like the glossy new builds north of campus. This one’s near the bowling alley and the nature preserve, past a collection of flat-faced two-story brick buildings with striped awnings—a cream structure in a cul-de-sac that faces a marsh.

“Which one is it?” I ask as we get out of the car.

“Top left.” Teddy indicates the building nearest us, connected by a staircase and breezeway.

“Right, let’s see if we can’t get them out of bed.”

We knock long enough that the downstairs neighbor—white guy, shaved head, wearing basketball shorts and nothing else—comes out to yell at us. At the sight of our badges, he disappears back into his apartment real quick, and I resist the urge to follow him.

He must have given them a heads-up that we’re outside and not going anywhere, because a minute later there’s movement behind the wall.

“Can I help you?”

The door’s a sliver ajar. Behind it, the woman’s flushed faced but glaring at us defiantly from an overlarge T-shirt that barely covers her thighs. Teddy looks away, but I’m unfazed. If she wants to talk to us in her underwear, that’s fine by me.

“We need to speak with Cade Abernathy.”

“He lives at Kap-O.”

“Yes, but he hasn’t slept there in two weeks,” I say patiently. “We were there yesterday afternoon.”

She blinks, and we both take out our badges.

“Samantha Barron?”

She flinches, just a quick twinge of her mouth, but I see it.

“Is this about Jay?”

“Yes.”

She waits for me to say more, but I don’t.

A glance over her shoulder down a dark hallway. “Just, um, give me a minute, okay?” And she shuts the door in our faces.

“One minute,” I say to Teddy. “That’s all she gets.”

I turn to the iron railing and look over the manicured bushes that line the sidewalk. From there, the asphalt slopes into a pale curb overgrown with weeds and long grass and then a sunken pond. It’s peaceful, and for a moment, I think I understand why—beyond the pants-less Samantha—Cade would prefer this place to the fraternity house. A heron stands in the marsh, so still that I almost miss him. But I let my eyes sharpen and bring him into focus against the green-gray backdrop.

“Hey.”

I whip around.