She spotted Glenda almost immediately along the sidelines of the field, towering above the crowd in her red coat. As Phoebe made her way in that direction, Glenda seemed to sense her presence and looked over. She waved and broke away from the people who’d congregated around her. As she reached Phoebe, her smile faded.
“What’s happened now?” Glenda asked. She had obviously read Phoebe’s face.
“The news just keeps getting better and better,” Phoebe said. She spilled what she’d learned—that it was Duncan, not Tom, who’d been on the committee with Lily. Glenda flung her head back, grimacing.
“Oh, wow. You’re sure?”
“That’s the information in the computer. Of course, I have no proof they had an affair.”
“Are you in love with him, Fee?”
Phoebe shrugged mournfully. “Not in love yet, fortunately,” she said. “But in like, definitely. And it’s not just that he might have had an affair with Lily. But what else might have happened.”
The wind whipped Phoebe’s hair in front of her face, and she yanked the strands away, tucking them behind her ears.
“I need to ask you a question, G,” Phoebe said. “When I first told you about me and Duncan, you paused a beat. Why?”
Glenda looked off, gathering her words. The wind was playing havoc with her hair, too, and she smoothed it down distractedly with her hands.
“Not because I’d heard anything bad about him,” she replied. “Of course I would have told you that. And look, the guy has a stellar reputation here. Not only do the kids like him, but he’s published terrific papers. But when his wife was sick—well, there were rumors that his attention was diverted elsewhere.”
“With a student?” Phoebe demanded.
“No,” Glenda said. “Again, I would have told you something like that. I heard it was with someone in town. Look, people cheat every day, and maybe he just needed a way to cope with his wife’s illness. But then there was the creepy way she died.”
“You think he might have killed her?” Phoebe asked, her voice catching.
“Well, I didn’t at the time. And I didn’t five minutes ago. I just thought it was, like I said, creepy. But now you’ve got my mind racing.”
“I feel like puking,” Phoebe said.
“Should we tell the police?” Glenda asked.
“No,” Phoebe said sharply. “Sorry—I just don’t want to cast any suspicion on him with the cops until I have more information.”
Behind them the crowd noise began to swell from a hum to a light roar and then finally jubilant cheering as a goal was obviously scored. Instinctively the two women turned their heads toward the field. As Phoebe’s eyes ran over the scene, she saw that Rachel, the girl from her class, the one she spotted walking with Jen, was sitting on the players’ bench.
“I’d better be getting back,” Glenda said.
“That girl with the blond hair who’s on the bench,” Phoebe said. “Her name’s Rachel Blunt. Do you know anything about her?”
“Just that she’s out for a few days with an injury. Why?”
“She may be—look, I’ll fill you in later. I’m still in information-gathering mode.”
“Phoebe, please be careful.”
“I will. Before I go, there’s one more thing I need to tell you.” Mentally Phoebe gritted her teeth and described her trip to Glenda’s house yesterday, and what she’d overheard Mark say.
Glenda shook her head in disgust. “Do you think it was a woman?”
“If it was, he didn’t seem all that friendly,” Phoebe said. “I remember you told me that he once had that problem with online gambling. I’ve been wondering if that’s what it is, that what he needed to deliver to the person was money.”
“What a bastard. Of all the times for him to be pulling this.”
Phoebe hugged Glenda with just her left arm. “I’ll call you later. Let me know if I can do anything at all,” she said.
Phoebe headed back toward West Gate, making slow progress over the sodden grass. She tried calling Wesley again. Still nothing. As she dropped her phone into her purse, she glanced around her. The other two playing fields were empty now, though far ahead of her she could see the football players trudging into the gym after practice. She was on the western edge of the Grove, and she realized that there was no one in the immediate vicinity. She pulled her pashmina around her and began to hurry.
When Phoebe stopped to catch her breath, she heard footsteps behind her and spun around. A man was coming towards her. He had on a dark jacket with a scarf obscuring the lower part of his face, but she knew the gait. It was Duncan. He’s been following me, she thought. She froze for a moment, and then took a step awkwardly backward, unsure what to do.
“Phoebe, wait up,” he called to her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked roughly.
“What am I doing?” he said. “I saw you at the game, and I wanted to catch up with you. Is something the matter? Why did you cancel tonight?”
“I thought I explained,” Phoebe said. “I need to be with Glenda.”
“No,” he said, stepping closer. “Something’s the matter, I can tell.”
Phoebe glanced over his shoulder. Behind one of the dorms, a bunch of boys was tossing a Frisbee, calling out funny insults to each other as they played. She knew it wasn’t smart to say anything, to confront Duncan, but she couldn’t hold back.
“You lied to me,” Phoebe blurted out. “You knew Lily, didn’t you?”
Duncan said nothing for a moment and just looked at her, his eyes wary.
“All right,” he said finally. “I did know her. But it’s not what you think.”
30
PHOEBE HAD BRACED herself for the fact that Duncan had lied to her about knowing Lily, but the actual words still rocked her.
“Did you have an affair with her?” Phoebe said.
“No, of course not.”
“Really?”
“You honestly think I had an affair with a student here?” Duncan said indignantly.
“Lily told at least one person that she was in love with a man she was on a committee with last spring.”
Duncan pressed his lips together, as if holding the words back.
“Okay, something did happen,” he said after a moment.
Phoebe’s heart seemed to stop. She glanced over his shoulder again. The boys who’d been tossing the Frisbee had given up and drifted off.
“You slept with her?” Phoebe said.
“No, I told you I didn’t,” Duncan said. His anger was rising, and he swept a hand roughly through his hair. “But she seemed to have a crush on me, and it might have been partially my fault. I’d become friendly with her when we were on a committee in part because I knew she was a wreck about her boyfriend disappearing, but also because I liked that she was so passionate about animal rights. She came by my office a couple of times this term to continue the discussion. Then one day she called and asked me to grab a beer after class. I thought she was including other kids from the committee, but she was alone and I started to pick up this flirtatious undercurrent. So I backed off completely. Even if I’d been interested—and I wasn’t—I would have never jeopardized my career here.”