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Jason tiptoed as he squeezed past. He turned and looked back at the professor. The old man was engrossed in Jason’s scribbles. How bizarre, he thought, Lachlan barely looked at his actual assignment. Up until then, the assignment had been such a big deal, it had been the reason the two of them had come into the university on a holiday, and now it was sidelined. Knowing Lachlan, Jason ruefully expected the professor would commend him for his speculative work and still flunk him on his paper.

He opened the door as Lachlan added, “Tell no one, remember? I’ll be in touch over the weekend.”

“No problem,” Jason replied nodding. He closed the door quietly behind him, feeling like he was in a library, as though any stray sound could destroy a fragile idea.

Out in the corridor, he typed a quick message to Helena on his phone.

From Jason: I’m on my way.

The outer door opened easily as he pushed on it, but he could hear it lock behind him as he stepped out into sunshine. Jason turned and started walking down the steps toward the bus stop a couple of hundred yards away across the open area. Birds flittered through the trees.

“Hey, you! Stop where you are!” a voice boomed from behind him, and Jason felt himself flinch even though he’d done nothing wrong. Instinctively, he raised his hands slightly as he turned, expecting to see one of the campus police officers standing there with his hand resting on his holster. Campus police were notoriously paranoid about after hours access.

“You are such an easy mark,” Mitchell said, jogging over to him.

“What the?” Jason replied. “Are you stalking me?”

“A pimps got to keep track of his bitches,” Mitchell replied, and Jason could see he was trying to make light of his comment. “So is Lachlan a happy camper?”

Jason started to speak, but caught himself, not wanting to betray the professor’s confidence.

“What?” Mitchell asked, his hands spread wide in a gesture of openness. For a moment, Jason thought Mitchell was going to hug him. “Did he read your paper?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t believe that grumpy bastard dragged you in here on our nation’s birthday. What a douchebag! What’s the rush? Why couldn’t he wait till Monday?”

Jason shrugged as they walked along the cracked footpath.

“Did he have his way with you?” Mitchell asked, half laughing.

“No,” Jason laughed. “What the hell makes you say something like that?”

“I don’t know,” Mitchell replied. “I just can’t figure out why he’d want to get you alone like that,”

Mitchell was fishing. Jason could see he wouldn’t be content until he told him something so he said, “He wanted to show me the desk where Einstein sat before some lecture here back in the fifties.”

“Oh, yeah,” Mitchell replied. “Between the lecture halls, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So he took you into the Holy of Holies.”

“I guess,” Jason replied as they spotted the bus stop through the oak trees lining the walkway.

“And gave you a good spanking.”

Jason chuckled.

“Was he wearing leathers?” Mitchell asked in a whisper. “Fluffy handcuffs?”

Jason slapped him on the shoulder. “You wish!”

It being a holiday, they waited for almost an hour before a bus turned up. Mitchell griped about how they could have walked home in that time. When the bus finally came, they took it to within a block of Jason’s apartment. As they approached the intersection in front of his building, Jason could see Helena sitting on the far corner with her back against a red brick wall. Lily was there, pacing back and forth. Jason waved and Mitchell called out, but neither of the girls noticed them until they crossed at the lights and headed over toward them. Lily was again looking the wrong way down the one-way street while Helena was engrossed with her smartphone, reading something on the screen.

“Hey,” Jason said, walking up to Lily.

Lily smiled, blushing slightly as her eyes darted away for a second before returning to look at him. That must have been some kind of cultural thing, he decided.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

“I am worried about my father.”

“I know,” he said, taking her hand. Touch seemed like the right response, saying something more than words could convey. “It’s going to be OK, we’ll find him. Either that, or he’ll find us. Try not to worry. Everything will work out. Just give him a little more time.”

Lily glanced at the color print out taped to the pole supporting the traffic lights. Her own smiling face looked back with Jason’s mobile number written on tiny stubs beneath. A couple of the stubs had been torn off, but that didn’t mean anything. The wording beneath her photo read, “Lee, please call me.”