Odin's Murder

I swallow too big and gasp at the hot liquid burning my throat. “Ethan already made a complaint, didn’t he?”

“This has nothing to do with other members of the group,” he lies. “I want to touch base with you, to see how the project is resonating with your interests.”

“Well, we’re not very far along,” I hedge. “Kind of still looking at sources, seeing what is out there.”

“Your list of approaches to the topic does seem a bit weak. I might have research materials that you could use. Perhaps it would help strengthen your direction.”

“That might be great.” I grin at the thought of showing up my brother. Might shut him up about me spending the evening out with Jeremy rather than festering in library dust.

He smiles back. “Excellent. Come by my office during free period. You are in the pre-lunch group?”

I shake my head. “After.”

“Even better. See you then,” he says, with an abrupt turn to the coffee kiosk.

I toss my empty cup in the trash, and smooth my hair as I walk in Danielle’s direction. “Better hurry,” I tell her, swooping in by her side. “Cafeteria closes in a couple minutes.”

“Oh, hi, Memory. Yeah, Ethan went in to grab a couple things. I’m waiting for my group.” She looks well rested—certainly better than I do. Maybe Julian had the time wrong.

“Did you have fun last night?”

“I showed Ethan around campus. I saw you and Jeremy hanging out. He’s my group advisor.”

“Yeah, squeaked in under the curfew.” I give her a conspiratorial grin. “Did you guys make it back?”

“Yeah, it got too dark to take more pictures. He got me back just in time to get the last dessert.” Her smile is fat as she watches the tallest guy in the quad approach.

Interesting.

“Morning, Cherry,” Ethan says. He hands a paper sack to Danielle.

I give him as dirty a look as I can muster for the nickname. “Guess we’d better get to the study room before Julian sends out a search party.”

“Yeah,” he says. He takes a bite of his bagel and turns to Danielle. “See you later.”

I’ve already turned to walk away, and Ethan is behind me, not making much of an effort to keep up. I try to guess when the sun sets at this time of year, and why he was out until midnight if Danielle was eating dessert at dusk.

r /> “Why don’t you walk on the sidewalk?” Ethan asks. “The grass has to be difficult in those things.”

I glance over my shoulder. He’s several yards behind me, but his face scrunches up, lip curled, mocking my shoes. “I’ve already seen the view from there,” I say, facing forward again.

“Always in search of something new to amuse you?” His tone is loaded; he’s not talking about the paths between buildings.

“Something like that.”

“So you’re even bored just walking down the sidewalk?”

“I didn’t say I was bored, I said I’d seen it before.” I sigh, and stop walking. “There’s a crack in the concrete about five feet up, and next to the cigarette butt wedged in it is some mossy stuff. Beyond that is the stain of some pink chalk with Greek sorority symbols. Two more steps, and there’s another crack, diagonal this time, but nothing is growing in it.”

He says nothing, so I turn around. I close my eyes a second, flipping through my mental sketchbook of images, stopping at a landscape of the campus the day before yesterday.

“You arrived here in a white Nissan, driven by an African-American woman with a silver charm bracelet. The license plate number ended in 6B—the first half was blocked by the beige sedan behind you. You had your camera satchel, and a green backpack with a blue logo. Packing light for a six week stay, don’t you think? And when she drove away, you reached down like you were tying your shoe, but you ran your palm over the grass, like you’d never felt it before.”

His eyes narrow, wary, then he smirks. “Nice of you to notice me, Cherry. I didn’t realize I’d made such an impression.”

“You didn’t. You were just part of the scenery, then.”

“And now?” he taunts.