TOO CLOSE TO HOME

Chapter 21

Monday arrived bringing a semblance of normalcy to Charlie's life. He got and got ready, obediently ate the breakfast Alan had fixed before heading off on his bike for Calsci.

His first class started and he mentally took roll. "Okay, let's start this again. Please open your books and turn to unit five," he said and began to write out a few examples of the equations they were studying. The class proceeded as it normally did, the students more-or-less paying attention. Since they were freshmen, he didn't get into it as deeply as he did with students he'd already had in other classes. They knew what to expect from him and he knew what they were capable of learning.

Charlie was standing at the chalkboard methodically erasing what he'd covered in the previous class when the door opened. He looked to see who it was and couldn't help but smile. It was Amita Ramanujan, the graduate student he was assigned as thesis advisor to.

"Charlie, I just heard the news. I can't believe this could happen here. Wasn't she one of your students?" Amita asked, dropping her purse on the desk

"Hi, Amita. How was New York City?" Charlie asked in return, not wanting to talk about the events of the past few days. He was glad she'd been away from the campus, he didn't even want to consider the idea that she could have fallen victim to the killer. He put down the eraser and moved to sit in his chair.

"Oh, it was good. Rhian's wedding was beautiful. And it was a lot of fun actually being the maid-of-honor," Amita replied although she could tell that he really wasn't paying all that attention.

"I have some free time tomorrow after 3:00. That would be a good time to discus the progress on your thesis," Charlie told her.

"Okay. I've gotta get to class but I'll catch you later," Amita said. She picked up her purse and headed for the door, figuring that it would probably take him at least several minutes to notice she'd gone.

After a few minutes Charlie looked around to Amita "bye" only to realize she'd already left. Shaking his head, he pulled his attention back to preparing for his next class.

A/N Just a short little chapter to explain why Amita wasn't in any of the previous ones. Thank you for all the great reviews. There is much more to come yet..