You might get lucky on top of his desk.
Sex on PMs desk, so hot.
“Thank you, Shannon. I’ll let you know if I have any more questions.”
After he’d hung up, Zach sat back in his chair for a second before picking up the phone again and calling Aria Glazer’s roommate.
She picked up on the second ring. “Tessa? This is Detective Copeland, we talked—”
“I remember you, Detective.” Her voice was slightly breathy.
“I have a quick question about the classes Aria dropped before she went missing.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Did she take classes on Wednesday nights?”
“Yeah, she did. Mondays and Wednesdays.”
“Do you happen to remember the classes she was taking?”
Tessa sighed. “Two science classes, I know that. Aria wanted to be a nurse someday and they were part of the requirement.”
Science, not English Lit. Still, she had been on campus the same nights as Miriam Bellanger, even if they hadn’t been there during the same semester. One may have been having an affair with her English Lit professor, the other had a secret relationship with someone who might have gotten her pregnant.
Zach struggled to connect all the puzzle pieces swirling in his mind. There were too many similarities forming between the two most recent victims for it to be a coincidence. Did any of this have anything to do with Josie’s case?
Zach did another quick search on Vaughn Merrick, pulling up his profile on the college website. He’d worked at the University of Cincinnati for almost twenty years. He’d taught there when Josie attended classes.
Holy hell.
He needed to go talk to Professor Vaughn Merrick right away.
And he needed to talk to Josie.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Zach knocked on the door of the beautifully refurbished older home in Hyde Park where Professor Merrick lived with his family. He waited, but the house was silent from inside and when Zach leaned forward, cupping his hands around his eyes so he could see into the dim foyer beyond, it appeared to be completely empty. Confused, he stepped back.
“They don’t live there anymore,” he heard called from behind. Zach turned, noticing the blonde woman in the driveway next door handing a grocery bag to a pretty, young black woman who looked to be in her late teens or very early twenties. The young woman disappeared into the house, her arms laden with groceries as the older woman, also holding a couple of bags, hit a button on her key fob and the rear door of her SUV began to close.
“Do you know how long ago they moved?” Zach asked, descending the steps of what had apparently previously been the Merrick house and walking toward the neighbor.
She balanced one of the bags on her hip. “They moved a few weeks ago.”
“Did you know them well?”
She gave him a semi-suspicious look, obviously wondering why he was asking questions. He removed his badge. “I’m with the Cincinnati Police Department. I just have a few questions for Professor Merrick.”
“About those missing students?”
“In relation to that, yes. I’m hoping he can shed some light on a few questions that have come up.”
“Awful case. I hope Vaughn can help. Anyway, to your question, yes, I knew them really well. We’d lived next to each other for almost two decades. Their girls used to play with mine.” The woman nodded up to her house where the young woman was waiting on the porch.
“Do you need me to grab those, Mom?” she called.
“I’m good.” She smiled up at her daughter. “If you’ll start unpacking, I’ll be up in a minute to help.”