Page 90 of M for Murder

Carolyn closed her eyes, wishing she could block out the peppery scent of his aftershave.

You’re doing it for your future, she reminded herself.

She felt White’s hands untuck her blouse from her skirt and she winced as they touched the bare skin of her back, moving up and down and beneath her bra strap.

He removed one hand and brought it up to caress the side of her face, pushing her head back so he was looking her directly in the eye. His breath was warm on her face and smelt strongly of coffee.

‘You’re doing very well, Carolyn. I think your grade might have already just improved to a C.’

His gaze dropped down to the neckline of her blouse and with impatient fingers he pulled the buttons undone. Carolyn stared past his head at the locked door, tears pricking against the back of her eyes.

How could she let him do this?

Pulling the strap of her bra off her shoulder, he slipped his hand inside the white lacy cup, his fingers greedily squeezing the tender flesh of her breast.

Carolyn tried to pull away.

‘No! I can’t do this!’

White stopped. His eyes met hers and she saw a flicker of uncertainty pass through them.

‘You can do it and you will do it,’ he answered coldly. Clamping a hand across her back he pulled her towards him, pushing his face against hers and forcing his tongue into her mouth. Carolyn struggled in his arms, choking back a sob. Reaching down she grabbed hold of the front of his trousers and squeezed hard.

White screamed loudly into her mouth, relinquishing his grip and stumbling backwards.

‘You little bitch! What did you go and do that for?’

Brushing the tears from her eyes, Carolyn reached down and grabbed her purse.

‘The lesson is over, Professor. I’m not sleeping with you, ever!’ She spat the last word in his face and pushed past him to the door.

White grabbed hold of her arm. ‘You think you can just walk away and forget about this?’ he asked, his tone low and threatening. ‘If you leave this room, I promise I will ruin your reputation. I can make you flunk this course if I want. Hell… I can even get you kicked out of the damn college.’

Carolyn closed her eyes, knowing that he was telling the truth. This was it. This was where her life ended. Mustering all of her courage, she pulled herself free from his grip and continued to the door. With a shaking hand, she turned the key, feeling a small surge of relief as she heard the click of the lock.

Pulling open the door she turned around to face him, staring at him through a sheen of tears, and forced a smile. ‘Go to hell, Professor!’

She allowed herself a moment to register the look of shock on his face before she turned and, holding her head up high, left the room.

Her plan had been to tell no one.

If White planned to flunk her or get her kicked out of college, Carolyn decided she would go quietly. Nobody was ever going to know about what happened in his classroom on that Thursday evening in November.

What she hadn’t counted on was finding Bobby waiting for her outside her dorm room. Believing her to be sick, he had come across to cheer her up and immediately became suspicious when he’d found that she wasn’t there. Caught by surprise, Carolyn didn’t have time to come up with a believable story and he wasn’t going to give up until she told him the truth. Half an hour later he knew everything that Myron White had done, and he was hell bent on revenge.

Carolyn begged him to let the matter drop. Bobby had a vicious temper and seemed unable to stay out of trouble for longer than five minutes. he wouldn’t hear of it, though, and when he left her that night he looked her in the eye and made her a promise.

‘Don’t worry, honey. I won’t do anything to hurt him. I’ll just scare him a little.’

And as she stood and watched her boyfriend disappear down the hallway, Carolyn Mayo really believed that he was telling her the truth.

34

SAN PALIMO, CALIFORNIA. WEDNESDAY 7TH MAY 1997

M ax listened as Agnes Barnes finished recounting her story, then he leaned back against the red vinyl seat and let out a low whistle. ‘Oh boy,’ he murmured, shaking his head. ‘Sounds to me like Professor White was a bad man; that’s why his students decided to teach him a lesson, right?’

Agnes nodded; her eyes having turned a stormy grey. Max noticed that her mouth was pulled into a tense, thin line. ‘They didn’t mean to kill him. Bobby just wanted to scare him a little. Get him back for what he’d done to Carolyn.’