Karin Slaughter - Fractured

Victor continued, "I'm sure you know that the Varsity is the largest drive-in fast-food restaurant in the world. It covers two city blocks. This tunnel comes out on the north side of the building at Third Street."

"I don't remember this part of the tour when Jeremy visited the campus."

"It's a well-kept secret. You should see this place during football games. It's wall to wall."

Faith felt herself sweating, even though it was cooler underground. Her heart started pounding for no reason and no matter how far they walked, the stairs lining the tunnel exit seemed to get farther away.

"Hey." He sounded concerned. "You okay?"

She nodded her head, feeling silly. "I just-" She realized she was clutching the envelope and slipped out the pictures to make sure she hadn't creased them. When she looked up at Victor, she felt her panic from a few moments before start to return. His face was hard, angry.

She asked, "What is it?"

He glared at her, his fury almost tangible. "What are you doing with pictures of Evan Bernard?"

"How do you-"

He quickly closed the space between them, grabbing her right arm. His grip was tight. He was left-handed. Why hadn't she noticed that before?

"Victor-" she breathed, panic taking hold.

"Tell me what you know," he demanded. "Tell me right now."

Faith felt her right arm go numb where Victor was grabbing her. "What are you talking about?" she asked, her heart beating hard enough to hurt.

He pressed, "Was this some kind of sting operation?"

"To catch you doing what?"

"I have no connection to that man. You tell them that."

"You're hurting me."

Victor let go of her. He looked down at her bare arm, the mark he had made. "I'm sorry," he said, walking back to his side of the tunnel. He ran his fingers through his hair, pacing nervously. "I don't know Evan Bernard. I had no idea what he was doing. I never saw him with students, I never even saw him on campus."

She rubbed her arm, trying to get the feeling back. "Victor, what the hell are you talking about?"

Victor put his hands in his pockets, rocked back on his heels. "Just tell me, Faith. Does this mean anything to you, or are you investigating me?"

"For what? What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything. That's what I'm trying to tell you." He shook his head. "I really liked you, and this was all some kind of game, wasn't it?"

"Game?" she demanded. "I've spent the last three days trying to find the sick fuck who killed two people and abducted another to do God knows what to her. You think this is some sort of game?"

"Faith-"

"No," she snapped. "You don't get to sound like the reasonable one here. Tell me exactly what's going on, Victor, starting with your connection to Evan Bernard."

"He's been a part-time tutor for over twenty years. Our students aren't exactly well versed in liberal arts. He helped them with their course work."

"Was Adam Humphrey one of his students?"

"No, we fired Bernard last year. He taught remedial classes during summer term. We found out he was having an affair with a student. Several students. He's suing us-he's suing me-for wrongful termination."

"Why you personally?"

"Because the program fell under student services. Bernard's suing anyone who was remotely connected with the tutoring program. He lost his state pension, his benefits, his retirement."

"It's illegal for him to have sex with students."

"Not unless you catch him red-handed," he countered in disgust. "None of the girls would testify against him."

"Then how did you find out?"

"One of them came forward. He was pretty rough with her. There was some kind of fight and she got hurt. She didn't come to us until a few weeks later. I tried to get her to go to the police, but she wouldn't. Her word against his, right? She was scared of being paraded in front of the media. She was scared of being ostracized by the campus." His lips went into a thin line. "It's disgusting enough that it happened, but for him to sue us…"

"Why isn't this public knowledge?"

"Because he wants money, not headlines, and the university sure as hell isn't going to call up CNN and give them the scoop. It's only about the money, Faith. That's all it ever boils down to." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"He teaches at a high school. Did you know that?"

"The lawyers told us not to contact them. He could sue us for slander."

"It's not slander if you're telling the truth."

"That's a high-minded attitude when you're not looking at fifty thousand dollars in legal bills to defend yourself against a bastard you've never even met." He crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm sorry, Faith. I saw the photos and I thought they sent you to get me."

"It's not a criminal case."

"I know that," he said. "I'm just so…" He shook his head, leaving her to fill in the blanks. "I'm paranoid. I worked damn hard to get where I am and I don't want to lose my job and my house because of some asshole who can't keep his dick in his pocket." He shook his head again. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't use that kind of language. I shouldn't have grabbed you, either. I'm under a tremendous amount of stress. That's not an excuse. I know that."

"Why didn't you tell me about this before? We spent the night together talking about everything but this."

"For the same reason you didn't talk about your case. It was nice to just talk to a human being about normal stuff. I've been dealing with this lawsuit all summer. I just wanted somebody who sees me as Victor the nice guy, not the administrator who's being sued because students got poached on his watch."

Faith wrapped her arms around her waist, frustration building to the boiling point. Emma Campano had been abducted by a madman. How many more people had been standing idly by while the girl was being brutalized, her friends were being killed? "You have no idea what you've done." He tried to respond and she shook her head. "This man could be connected to my case, Victor. He was sleeping with one of the girls who died. His sperm was found inside her body."

His mouth opened in shock. "What are you saying?"

"That Evan Bernard is a suspect in our case."

"He kidnapped that girl? He killed…" Victor seemed truly horrified by the prospect.

She was so angry that she felt tears come into her eyes. "We don't know, but if you'd shared this information with me two days ago, you might have spared another girl from-"

Footsteps echoed in the tunnel. Faith shielded her eyes from the harsh lights and made out a round figure making its way toward them. As the man got closer, she could see that he was wearing shorts, a T-shirt and a white lab coat that was stained with catsup.

"Chuck," Victor said, his voice strained as he tried to get back his composure. He reached toward Faith, but she shrugged him off. He still managed introductions. "This is Faith Mitchell. We were just coming to find you."

By way of greeting, Chuck said, "Shockrete."

Faith asked, "Sorry?"

"Your gray powder is Shockrete. It's a high density concrete that's reinforced with titanium fibers."

"What's it used for?"

"Retaining walls, wine cellars, skateboard parks, swimming pools." He glanced around. "Tunnels."

"Like this one?"

"This baby's old," he said, patting the low ceiling. "Besides, I found granite in the mix."

"Like Stone Mountain?" she asked, referencing a mountain that was several miles outside the city.

"That particular granite is known for its clusters of tourmaline, which aren't common to other granites. I'm no igneous petrologist, but my guess is that it's our trusty three-hundred-million-year-old Atlanta bedrock."

She tried to put him back on point. "So it came from a tunnel in the city?"

"I'd say a construction site."