Page 41 of Ancient Obsession

“Oh? Well, it’s not my usual class day. I’m going to do some research and⁠—”

“Can you come with me?” Officer Montroig gestured in the direction Oliver had been headed.

“Yeah, sure. Of course.”

Oliver’s mind spun. Each step he took felt more like a stomp. His brain wanted to dissociate, to float up above his body in a mental balloon and not deal with any of this craziness at the moment. But he needed to stay alert. Any slip-up speaking with Detective Carter could land him in jail.

His phone buzzed again. Oliver ignored it, focusing on his breathing and counting his steps.

When they reached the quad framed by the Earth Sciences and Communications buildings, he saw Detective Carter and Beryl sitting on a bench, talking. When they were a few yards away, Carter noticed them and stopped mid-sentence. Oliver’s heart beat even faster. His brain tried to drift away, but he kept it in check, taking note of the sights and sounds around him: birds overhead; the rustle and chitter of squirrels in the trees; the sound of a loud muffler out on the main road; a young woman’s bright laughter.

“Mr. Berridge, good to see you,” Carter said. “You’re saving me a drive to Parson’s Hollow.”

“Oh?” Oliver looked at Beryl. Her face was drawn, and tears shimmered in her eyes. “Are you okay?”

Beryl sniffed and shook her head. “Did you hear?”

“No, I just got here. Hear what?”

“Dominic’s dead,” Beryl said.

“What?” Oliver could feel both Detective Carter and Officer Montroig watching him, and he hoped his reaction seemed genuine. “What happened?”

“Where were you last night, Mr. Berridge?” Carter asked.

“Me? I was home with Dave.”

“You weren’t here on campus playing amateur detective?”

Oliver glanced at Beryl. She blushed and dropped her gaze.

“My fiancé and his brother drove Robin and me back to get my car. Since we were here, we wanted to try and find out more about what happened, so Robin texted Beryl, and we met up with her in one of the upstairs classrooms.”

“Where you proceeded to grill her about the team,” Carter said.

“Grill her? No, we did nothing of the kind. We just asked her some questions, that’s all.” He looked at Beryl. “Come on, we didn’t force you to answer anything. We just wanted to understand what the hell was going on.”

“Or you wanted to know how much of a case we had against you.” Carter got to his feet. He was big and imposing as he stared down at Oliver. “How about we take a trip to the station for a chat?”

“Do I need a lawyer?”

The detective’s smile was cold. “I’m not permitted to tell you yes or no. You are welcome to call a lawyer once we get to the station. But for now, I’d appreciate it if you’d come with me.”

Oliver swallowed hard. “Can I drive myself?”

“I think it’ll be better if you just ride with me.” He gestured toward the parking lot. “My car is right this way.”

He couldn’t do anything but nod and fall in step beside the detective. This was an absolute shit show of a situation. How the hell was he going to get out of this?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“I’ve already said this multiple times, but I’ll say it again: I had nothing to do with the murders of Lucien or Dominic.”

Oliver rubbed his forehead as he stared down at the table. This interview room was different than the last time. It was smaller and had a camera high in a corner pointed down at him. Nothing intense about that at all.

“Let’s go through it again,” Carter said.

Oliver dropped his hands to the table with a louder-than-anticipated slap. His first impulse was to apologize, but he squashed it. He’d managed to send a quick text on the ride to the station, letting Dave know. But he had been repeating himself for over two hours. Was Dave just sitting out in the lobby? Were they telling him anything?