Favors and Lies by Mark Gilleo Page A

try texting her.”
    â€œSend me her contact info.”
    â€œWhat’s your number?” Josh opened his cell phone, punched in Dan’s number, and sent the information.
    â€œDoes she live in this building?”
    â€œNo. She’s at the Alpha Chi Omega sorority house. Other side of campus. Near Nebraska Avenue. There are about seven or eight houses over there. Kind of like American University’s version of Greek Row, though it’s unofficial and not sanctioned by the school. It’s not much, but it’s all we have.”
    â€œYou say this girl Lindsay is a hottie, huh?”
    â€œSmokin’. You’ll see.”
    â€œDo you mind if I take a few of the things here?” Dan asked, motioning at the desk.
    â€œNo, not at all. Everything on the desk is Conner’s. The backpack too. His computer isn’t there. I assume he took it with him.”
    â€œWhat about his GPS? I didn’t see it in his car.”
    Josh looked around, cocked his head and said. “I don’t think I have ever seen him bring it to the room.”
    Dan scooped a variety of objects off the desk and put them in the backpack that was hanging on a hook under the loft bed. “I may be back for the rest of his things, or the university may box them up for me.”
    â€œI can box them up.”
    â€œI’m sure you have enough to deal with.”
    â€œI can handle it. The university is giving me a free ride for the first semester. All my grades are pass/fail and all my classes are pass. One of the perks when your roommate passes away.”
    â€œThat’s a hell of a way to get out of studying.”
    â€œOnly works once.”
    â€œWhat’s your GPA?”
    â€œThree point six.”
    â€œSo you weren’t motivated to kill your roommate for the semester off.”
    â€œThat’s a no.”
    â€œJust thought I would check.” Dan stood and threw the backpack strap over his shoulder. “What did the detective have to say?”
    â€œWhat detective?”
    â€œThe one that was here this morning.”
    â€œThere were no cops here as far as I know. I stayed at Krista’s last night. I got here an hour ago.”

    â€”

    Dan stopped by the front desk on his way out. “You said there was a detective here this morning?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œA slightly built Asian guy?”
    â€œNo. Caucasian. About your size.”
    â€œGun?”
    â€œI don’t recall a gun. He could have had one under the jacket.”
    â€œDid you see him leave?”
    â€œNo, now that you mention it. But I do have to use the bathroom on occasion.”
    Ruth thought for a minute. “We have a security camera running.”
    â€œI would love to see it.”
    â€œIn the back,” Ruth said, flicking her head over her shoulder, happy to add sleuthing to her morning duties.
    Dan followed Ruth to a converted closet steps beyond the front desk. Two monitors sat on a metal shelf. Ruth took up position next to the open door, keeping one eye on her desk while she fiddled with the keyboard and monitors. “These are DVRs that run on twenty-four hour loops. The recordings are stored on a server for a week, and then they are dumped from the memory by campus police. Pretty high tech. Used to be all tapes. The building may be old, but the university likes to cover its ass.”
    â€œCan you show me the last two hours?”
    â€œJust give me a second.”
    Ruth ran the DVR recording in reverse. A girl walked backwards out the door and Dan followed a few minutes later.
    â€œThat’s you,” Ruth said.
    A rush of students walked out the door backwards and Ruth continued her commentary. “Those are students with nine o’clock classes coming back.” She waited a few more minutes and the recording blipped. Then it showed another group of students walking backwards through the door and across the lobby.”
    â€œAnd