Vivian Mercer. Twenty-three. First-year graduate student at the College of Science and Technology. Owns a golden retriever. Currently living in the faculty apartment the university assigned to Elmer Weiss.
Attached was a photo. In it, Elmer held a leash in his left hand and the girl named Vivian in his right. They looked every bit like a couple in love.
I stared at the image until my eyes burned and my vision blurred before I finally snapped out of it.
My friend offered a few more words of comfort, then asked what I planned to do next.
I drew a long breath, forcing the hatred down, and kept my voice steady. "Thank you. I'll handle the rest myself."
The university strictly prohibited relationships between faculty and students.
Elmer was a professor who'd been sleeping with one of his own graduate students, and he'd done it right before receiving the highest academic honor of his career.
I was curious. If this scandal broke during the award ceremony, would he still have a job to go back to?
I threw a few things together and drove to the apartment under Elmer's name.