Divine: A Novel Read Online Free PDF

from her. This
seems only fair, considering the circumstances.
    -
Hannah
    Sorority girl Hannah is dead.

CHAPTER
FOUR
    S ometime past midnight I walked to
Daniel’s row house and looked in his bedroom window. The room was dark, no
movement, nothing. I slept sporadically, and now I have to go to school and
teach twenty pee-holes how to use some fairly complicated software.
    I pace in my living room before I leave
for work, making animal noises once more. Mehhh, mehhh. You think I’m cracked,
I know you do, but it’s only to scare the shit out of people. I hope anyone who
hears me is afraid.
    “Listen,
it’s coming from Div Hallowell’s place. It sounds like she has a dying lamb
inside.”
    I don’t want anyone coming in or out of
my home.
    I dress in blue, just in case I’m called
into the Dean’s office. In the land of color, blue gives people the sense that
you’re a calm, loyal, and honest person. So I have on my light blue sweater, my
dark blue skirt, and a pair of white Keds. I look as pure and wholesome as
Laura Ingalls. They’ll never fire me. I’m the pretty one.
    After a trip to Starbucks (part of Dan’s
list was correct) and a ride through the overly expensive carwash, I approach
campus and see a crowd of students outside of one of the dorms as I park in the
faculty lot. That can only mean one of two things. Either someone’s passed out
by the front door after a night of heavy drinking, or a dryer vent caught on
fire and set off one of the alarms. Both happen on a regular basis.
    But when a police car appears I know
something else is up. The real police, not campus security; an actual cop is
here. I walk over and take note of sorority girl Hannah, crying in the arms of
one of her friends. That’s odd, considering her sorority house is all the way
on the other side of campus.
    There are plenty of whispers as I
approach and luckily I can tell that this time they’re not about my colleague
and me. I hear the words bike ride and missing, and then someone says he left his cell.
    Everyone knows only one student on campus
is an avid cyclist, Big Boy, sorority girl Hannah’s boyfriend. I call him that
because he looks just like that fast food chain’s advertising figure. Only he
has a mustache and he wears glasses. Add those two things to a Big Boy mascot
and you’ve got Hannah’s boyfriend.
    The guy’s been in one of my classes, but
I haven’t a clue as to his real name. I’m just not very good with names. I have
nicknames for all of them, my students; it makes it easier for honest grading
without worrying about grade inflation. If I become too attached, get to know
them, where they’re from, what they enjoy, the music they listen to, then they
might end up with a higher grade. Grade inflation. I like you, so you get an A!
That’s asinine.
    Hannah frowns when she sees me and then
starts to sob again. I notice her sweatpants have grass stains on the knees and
there’s mud on her ass and back. I’d say she probably gave her boyfriend or
some random guy head last night, or early this morning, then sat back and did
some dry humping.
    I know I’m being a jerk, but that fucking
email was bullshit.
    “Hallowell!”
    My boss. The Chair of my department waves
me over to the side. He’s a nice guy, but a little naive. A man who’s got a
long blonde pony-tail and is shaped like a pear, always in khaki and plaid, and
often referred to as the creepy uncle by
the students.
    “Richard,” I smile. “Do you know what
happened?”
    We watch Hannah being led into a police
car and driven away.
    “Campus security mentioned there was a
‘lover’s quarrel’ in the middle of the night and a student reported his
roommate never returned from a late night bike ride. From the way the girl
looks, I’d say she was assaulted in some way, and the guy knows he’s gonna get
caught so he took off.”
    “Is that what you would do? You’d
disappear?” Oh Div, why do you ask such stupid questions? Is that what you
would