Majoring in Murder

Chapter 20

Leo stayed away from me the rest of the week. I spent most of that spare time studying, reading for fun, listening to my iPod, and riding the stationary bike at the gym. I realized I was doing myself no favors by drinking as much as I recently had, so I made an effort to wean myself from the bottle and was doing better with coping with my situation. I surprised myself later in the week by completing a half hour program on the bike without wheezing through the last five minutes. My stamina was improving. I deliberately forgot about my job and reveled in pretending I no longer had that monkey on my back.

It was also a pleasure to see Stacey and her friends at the gym on Wednesday without Matt or any of his friends around to give me grief about it. I wondered if Matt ever mentioned our encounter to Stacey or told her what really happened to his leg. I doubted it. After all, he had his pride to worry about. Not long after Matt showed up on crutches, I overheard two guys discussing Matt's misfortune, saying that he broke it by tripping over a root when he was off campus. One guy pontificated about how Matt's absence from the field would affect our team's performance the rest of the year. They shared a worried look and commiserated over the prospect. I couldn't care less how our football team would do without him, but, instead, asked myself who had started the rumor about Matt tripping over a root.

I had plenty of time to dwell on Daniel and Carlo's relationship, too. Thursday night, while we were busy studying, I looked across the room at Daniel sitting at his desk. It was 8 PM and he was hunched over a book, his head propped on his hand. The desk lamp highlighted his face. Again, I couldn't help but question what he was telling his uncle about me. I know he had said something about Matt harassing me, but what else had he said? And, what exactly did he tell Carlo about Matt? Daniel hadn't been there when everything went down; he only witnessed the aftermath: me exiting the gym with teary eyes. Did Daniel tell Carlo because he was concerned for me and knew Carlo would do something about it? Or did it come up when Carlo, like my parents, asked Daniel how his week at school went? That seemed more likely because I couldn't convince myself that Daniel genuinely cared that deeply about my affairs. Sure, we were roommates and he invited me to Florida with him, but since then—and since my involvement with his uncle—our relationship as friends had grown superficial rather than deeper. Daniel could have casually mentioned that some guy harassed me at the gym, which may have worried Carlo, enough so that he sent Leo to handle the situation.

Regardless of Carlo's motives for having Leo deal with my problem, it was still nice to know that someone was watching my back, protecting me against narrow-minded mouth-breathers like Matt and his friends.

I snapped out of my reverie, realized I was supposed to be studying for a quiz in chemistry, and focused my attention back on my sheet of notes and my textbook.

Friday morning I still hadn't heard from Leo. If he didn't show up during the day it meant I could enjoy another relaxing weekend at home with my family. I looked forward to just such a break.

* * *

My sense of normalcy came to an end on Tuesday when I found Leo waiting for me in front of my dorm.

"What's new, Leo?"

"Same old, same old, kid." Leo walked over to his car. I followed. He opened the glove compartment, took out a familiar blank envelope and a new cell phone, and handed them to me discreetly. "You know what to do."

"Yeah," I said and sighed. "I guess I do."

He certainly picked up on my unenthusiastic reaction because he said, "I'm sure you enjoyed your down time, kid."

Instead of hurrying off as he normally did, he hung around to ask me how things were going, see if I needed anything for the job, whether anyone was giving me any hassle. His concern was unnerving. While it was true that he seemed more genuine and open than his colleagues, Leo wasn't much for small talk, and he didn't bother with getting touchy feely on an emotional level. I knew that if it wasn't about anything pertaining to work or something that would benefit him, he didn't care about it. I told him everything was fine, because my problem centered on missing my old, uncomplicated life. I thanked him for handling Matt, telling him that it was one less weight on my shoulders.