Forever (2 page)

It was later, at the hospital, that Lomen and I had been in Amanda’s room for a while. We didn’t talk much then, either.

I didn’t need to talk. I knew.

I’ve been told I’m too picky. Maybe so, but I refuse to settle. I want more than just sex. More than a night or a weekend. That makes me unlike most guys my age who are gay. It also guarantees that I’m alone more often than not. I don’t care.

“Frontier OK, or you want to get farther from campus?” Amanda asked as she unlocked her car, a well-traveled Camry.

“How about The Range?”

Another twinge of guilt. The Frontier was right across Central Avenue; The Range would take a few minutes to drive to. A few more minutes in Lomen’s space.

It wasn’t unreasonable. I could have picked someplace a lot farther away.

Lomen insisted that I get in the front seat beside Amanda. My back prickled with awareness of him behind me.

I wondered why Amanda had brought him—not that I was complaining. He was part of Len Whiting’s set, and Len was Amanda’s best friend. I hadn’t seen much of them since that day last summer. I’d run into Amanda a couple of times on campus, and seen Len and her boyfriend Caeran—who looked so much like Lomen that I’d wondered more than once if they were brothers—one time in the library. I hadn't seen Lomen at all since the day Amanda was attacked.

I had thought about him a lot, though.

Besides being gorgeous, he seemed like someone I could care about. He’d defended Amanda against an attacker armed with a knife. For a brief moment of dismay, I wondered if he and Amanda were a couple, but no. The way he had looked at me...

I wanted to know him better. And I’d be delighted to explore any kind of knowing he might be interested in.

As we headed north, my gaze fell on the Sandia Mountains rising above Albuquerque to the east, a mass of stone jutting into the sky, higher but less rugged than the mountains I’d grown up with further south. The trees up there would be turning soon.

In a few minutes we were pulling into the parking lot at The Range. The smell of coffee and cinnamon rolls hit as soon we I walked in. My stomach grumbled, but I wasn’t ready to face food yet.

I felt kind of disconnected, walking into the restaurant as if it was a normal day, as if I hadn’t just found a dead body. The décor, done by a local artist, was all turquoise, pink, and purple, with blue coyotes hanging from hot air balloons. It made the morning seem even more surreal.

We sat in a booth and a waitress brought us menus and asked what we wanted to drink. Amanda and I ordered coffee and I asked for a glass of water, too. Lomen opted for hot tea. I glanced at him, but he was reading the menu.

Beside him, Amanda leaned toward me, eyes wide behind her glasses. “What happened? Do you feel like talking about it?”

“I was heading for the lab to do some work before class, and she was just lying there.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“Pretty sure it was Kimberly Darrow.”

Amanda frowned. “Don’t think I know her.”

“Neither do I. She’s in the physics class I’m assisting.”

“Physics, not chemistry?”

“Right.”

“Then what was she doing by Clark Hall?”

“I’ve been wondering that myself.”

I glanced at Lomen again. He was still gazing at the menu, but I had the feeling he was listening.

“And you’re sure she was dead?”

“Her throat was torn out. I think her neck was broken, too.”

Lomen’s gaze shifted to me. “Torn?”

I looked back into those green eyes, wanting to drown in them. “Yeah,” I said in a low voice. “Ripped. Not just a knife.”

Amanda’s attacker had used a knife. One small, clean cut. Of course, I had interrupted her, and Lomen had come in right after me, at which point she abandoned her prey.

“Did they ever catch that woman?” I asked, still gazing at Lomen.

He blinked, then looked back at the menu. I turned to Amanda. “The one who was after you?”

“She was caught,” Amanda said in a small voice.

I hadn’t heard anything about it on the news.

Our drinks arrived in colorful mock-Fiesta-ware mugs. We were silent while the waitress set them before us.

“So, have you decided?” she said with a cheery smile.

“You hungry?” Amanda asked me.

I had a mouthful of water already. I shook my head. Amanda handed the menus to the waitress.

“Just the drinks for now. Thanks.”

Deprived of the menu, Lomen stared at the table top. Avoiding my gaze?

Crap.

I drank some more water, grateful for the clean, cold taste of it. I swished it around, trying not to make a production of rinsing my mouth. When I felt fresher I sipped my coffee. Too strong. I added some cream, stirred, sipped again.

“Did you see anyone?” Amanda’s voice was low.

I shook my head. “It looked like she’d been there a while.”

Amanda traded a glance with Lomen. “Seen anything else...weird...lately?”

“Compared with a corpse? No.”

Amanda picked up her orange mug and took a long pull. I got the impression she had something more to say, so I waited.

“Well.” Amanda cleared her throat. “I’m sorry that happened to you, and I hope it all works out all right, but I’m actually glad you texted me. I’ve been meaning to get in touch with you.”

That caught me off guard. We weren’t friends, really. More like acquaintances. Amanda worked at the library, and I occasionally bugged her for books that other people were late in returning. Other than that one day when she was attacked in the library restroom, we hadn’t done much more than exchange passing hellos.

I waited. She took another swig of coffee.

“Would you maybe be interested in a part-time job?”

I thought about the lab, and my assistant-teaching, and my double major. “I’m a little booked up.”

“This is a start-up. It’s pure research. Not lucrative, but interesting.”

I remembered the conversation she was referring to, in her hospital room last summer, about career possibilities. The smart path for me was into some lucrative science, like pharmaceuticals, but I was drawn more toward innovation. Hence the double major in physics and chemistry. I was still trying to make up my mind.

“I’m listening,” I said.

“Medical research. Might involve DNA analysis.”

“A bit outside my focus,” I said.

“I bet you could pick it up.”

I shrugged. “There are plenty of places that do DNA analysis these days.”

“This is a private effort. We have to do our own.”

I met her gaze. “Why?”

She looked at her mug, and swirled it a couple of times. “Privacy. It’s a specific project to combat a disease that affects a small minority. The treatment will have no lucrative potential, I’m afraid, but we’ll pay you.”

“Human interest?”

“Not enough to generate any clout.”

“Who taught you to talk so politically?”

She gave me an ironic look. “You’re the one that recommended I study business.”

“And did you?”

“I signed up for a couple of classes. Not sure if I’ll stick with it. Don’t change the subject.”

“What
is
the subject? What disease is this? Not AIDS.”

“Oh, hell no. This is obscure. You’ve never heard of it.”

“Try me.”

“Steve, it doesn’t even have a scientific name. That’s how obscure it is.”

“No one’s written about it at all? How do you expect to get any funding?”

“We have a private backer.”

“Better have pretty deep pockets.”

A small sound—just an exhalation, a hint of a laugh—drew my attention to Lomen. Our gazes met briefly, just enough to waken a response in my groin, then he looked away again.

If Lomen was part of this, I might be more interested. I wondered if the deep pockets were his. Not likely; he wasn’t much older than me or Amanda. Unless maybe he was a trust-fund kid, but he didn’t have that polished look.

“The pay is good,” Amanda said. “Could help cut down your student loans.”

“How good?”

“Twenty-five bucks an hour.”

That was good. Way more than I was getting for grading papers.

“How many hours a week?” I asked.

“It’s flexible. We’ll work around your schedule.”

Tempting. Sounded too good to be true. I would much rather do research than teach, but if I gave up my student-assisting gig for this job and the deep pockets ran dry, I might be sorry.

“Let me think about it.”

“OK.”

Amanda drank the last of her coffee and looked around for the waitress. Lomen looked up from the table top, right at me.

“Please consider accepting. We need your help.”

His voice was quiet, his eyes were earnest, and I felt like I’d been kicked in the chest. I wanted to do whatever he asked of me. Anything.

I was the one who looked away. Down at my coffee, which was now cold. I swallowed.

I was not thinking rationally. The day had started badly, and I was still off-balance. My feelings were getting in the way, and I knew I should just step back and calm down before making any decisions.

He was still watching me; I could feel his gaze. I looked up again into those emerald eyes.

“I’ll do it.”

A
manda turned to me, looking startled. “You will? Great!”

She grinned and held out her hand. I shook it. She glanced at Lomen, who had gone silent again.

“We’ll need to meet with Caeran and Len,” Amanda said. “Maybe tonight, if you’re not busy?”

“I’m open.”

“Good, good! We’ll talk about scheduling. It’s early in the project—we still don’t have a work space.”

“Fine.”

I should give the Physics 102 prof some warning anyway. She wouldn’t be pleased to have me quit. Or maybe I wouldn’t have to; if this startup hadn’t quite started up yet, I might have until the end of the semester.

Secretly, I hoped I wouldn’t. The minute I’d said yes, I’d been filled with excitement. The student-assisting job was dead boring and I’d be happy to drop it immediately. I already knew I didn’t want to teach.

I looked at Lomen. He was staring at the table top again, frowning slightly.

Amanda flagged down the waitress and paid our tab, insisting on buying my coffee. We headed out to her car. The sun was hot enough to make me wish I’d worn a hat.

“Where should we drop you?” she asked.

I checked the time; 10:15. My next class was at 1:00. I didn’t feel like returning to campus; I wanted some down time.

“My place, I guess.”

I gave her directions to my apartment in the student ghetto. It was a decent place, an easy walk from campus. I had a bike, but I’d left it at home that morning.

“Thanks,” I said as she pulled up to the curb. “And thanks for answering my distress call.”

“No problem.” She smiled softly. “I owe you.”

I got out. She rolled down the window.

“I’ll text you about tonight.”

“OK.”

I looked toward the back seat, where Lomen was maintaining his Zen detachment. He made no move to switch to the front. Not even a glance at me as the car pulled away.

Well, hell.

I went inside and opened the refrigerator. I should have been hungry, but the thought of food did not appeal. I poured myself a glass of water and sat on my sofa, thinking over the conversation.

I still didn’t know whether Lomen was interested in me. When he looked at me I felt like he was, but he didn’t look at me much. In fact I had the impression he was trying not to.

What was that about?

I had an afternoon class: Calculus. Ordinarily I liked math, but I felt no enthusiasm. Since the alternative was driving myself crazy trying to second-guess Lomen, though, I dug out my text and went over the assignment I’d already completed.

The phone rang. I looked at the number—local, but I didn’t recognize it. I let it go to voicemail, then listened. Turned out to be a reporter, wanting to interview me about finding Kimberly.

No, thanks.

I studied, heated up some some for lunch, studied some more until it was time to head to class, then stuffed the text, notebook, and my assignment into my pack. I hauled out my bike and put on a gimme cap—Isotopes freebie I’d picked up over the summer—and rode back to campus.

Amanda’s text came in partway through the class. I glanced at it, but the prof hated phones and had been known to confiscate them from inattentive students, so I shoved mine back in my pocket. After class I stood outside the building under a tree and read Amanda’s message.

MEET 7 PM – PICK YOU UP 10 TIL, OK?

I sent back “OK,” then put on my cap, climbed on my bike. I’d avoided Clark Hall on my way to Calculus, but it was just a couple of buildings away and I was curious. I cruised past on my way home. There were still cops and yellow tape, and a few looky-loos. Building no longer locked down, apparently. The body was gone.

What had brought Kimberly to this part of campus?

Her killer, maybe.

There was no reason for her to go there that I knew of. Certainly not at night; and since I’d found her in the morning I assumed she’d died overnight. The student union building and the theatre complex were a bit of a walk, kind of far for nighttime wandering. Kids looking for fun were more likely to head straight for the Nob Hill district from the dorms, not this far west.

I took a deep breath. Not my problem.

I headed home and spent an hour or so surfing and looking at UNM’s course offerings in medical science. DNA sequencing would require ten or fifteen hours of course work before you got to the good stuff. That was a big time commitment, if that’s what they’d want me to do.

On the other hand, more fun than grading papers. And definitely a marketable skill. It was early enough in the semester I could probably pick up the first class and catch up fairly easily.

I made myself eat a peanut butter sandwich, though my stomach was still kind of knotted. Went back to surfing, trying to keep my mind off of Lomen. Was only partly successful.

Amanda knocked on my door at eleven minutes til seven. Lomen was not with her, much to my disappointment. The sun was still up, but heading for the horizon. I followed Amanda to her car, wondering if Lomen would be at this meeting.