Chapter 16 #3
Quill almost choked on her water, as if she had already made his acquaintance. Her whole face lost color, but she didn't look up, quickly taking a much too large sip.
Perhaps she confused him with the old Fitzek, because Joseph was less conservative, just too long trained under Arnold's hand. He was a man with a heart of stone, but his core was soft. I was sure of that.
Why was it that I could get through to him and not even his own son could? I didn't know.
“He often pulls Davian to the conservative side, where he doesn't belong.”
Monica sounded annoyed, not noticing how my daughter once again avoided Quill's gaze, which this time was not piercing her, but looked at me. Pale as a ghost.
“I'm just trying to keep the peace.”
Our eyes interlocked completely.
A shadow passed over her face.
“Joseph Richter knows no peace.”
Now everyone was looking at her.
“Did he talk to you?” Monica's concern was audible as she lowered her wine glass. “If so, I absolutely must have a word with him. Arnold can't be allowed to set all his bloodhounds on you.”
Why did it sound like Quill had been wallowing in the campus rumor mill?
I didn't want to know what rumors the students were spreading about the faculty members, even though professors like the Fitzeks really did provoke it, to the point that other professors, like Anthony, would engage in gossip with their students.
But Joseph was, despite his strictness, a respected professor. I had admired him for many years for his teaching methods and I had learned a lot from him.
“No,” Quill shook her head hastily. “No, he didn't.” She speared a bite of the puff pastry. “I just looked into the professors here…” She avoided our gaze. “…and found out that this professor lost his license to practice law in court cases against him. Something like that doesn’t happen if you’re peaceful and stay out of trouble. ”
She hastily shoved the fork into her mouth and swallowed without chewing.
Something urgently needed to be clarified here.
“I can assure you Joseph is a good man.”
Quill stared at me. With a look so empty that I had never seen on her face before. One that robbed me of any ability to continue defending Joseph.
I left it at that. She would get to know him. And she would like him.
“Speaking of colleagues...”
Monica turned to me and began to list all the reasons Troy had given the Ethics Committee in his first week to be fired without notice. But that would never happen as long as Arnold was head of the faculty.
The rest of the meal passed without any further tense or sensitive topics. Lara talked about her studies and Monica finally got up to serve dessert. Quill followed her into the kitchen to help.
“Dad?” Lara looked at me with puppy dog eyes. “Can Quill sleep over?”
Normally, I would have said yes right away, especially since she had never invited her friends over out of fear that they might discover the secret I was desperately hiding from myself in my study.
However, the mere thought of Quill sleeping under the same roof as me, just two rooms away, triggered a forbidden excitement in me. The tingling in my stomach was impossible to ignore.
This was not a good idea.
But if I said no, Lara would ask questions.
“Have you asked her yet?”
“No need.” Lara grinned. “She's too modest. Probably thinks you'd have something against it. And she won't regret it afterwards.”
Oh, great. So, there was no way out of this situation.
The best thing to do was to lock myself in my bedroom tonight and go straight to sleep.
“Fine by me.” I tried to sound relaxed and leaned back. “You're an adult. Invite whoever you want.”
Lara beamed like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, and I didn't regret it, even though that warning feeling wouldn't go away for the rest of dinner.
Grand Jury
Atli ?rvarsson
As soon as Monica had said goodbye, I immediately disappeared upstairs to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, before locking myself in the bedroom, where I changed into a dark blue T-shirt and a pair of comfortable gray sweatpants.
Something fell out of my trousers.
I bent down and picked up the autumn leaf, staring at it as if it were a bad omen.
Unable to throw it away, my gaze wandered to the dark blue hardcover copy of Batteries of Ink resting on my nightstand.
“What did those scenes evoke in you?”
Thinking back to that night, I slowly reached for the book.
“Desire.”
All the blood in my body rushed down.
“Desire for what?”
I took a deep breath, feeling the hardness in my pants slowly grow.
“To be touched the way Atrinus touches Velina.”
Cursing under my breath, I opened the much too thick book, slipped the leaf between two middle pages, then hastily closed it again and shoved it into my nightstand drawer, where it belonged.
I should never have written that damn book.
In trying to keep you away from my typewriter,
I didn't notice that you had already become part of my book,
hiding between those desirous lines,
of which I didn't know for a long time
what I had wanted to express with them.
– Leaking Batteries Diary