As he explains to Allie the solution to her physics problem, it triggers a vivid flashback in Wally’s mind. He’s tutoring Anna instead, showing her different ways to find integrals for functions. When he finishes speaking, he realizes she’s staring at him rather than the paper he’s been using to jot down equations and illustrate his points. Her eyes are pools of liquid chocolate, focused intently on his face which is mere inches from her own.

Wally leans back in his seat, desperate for some space between them. He can feel the blood rushing to his face and the heavy pounding of his heart in his chest. “D-did everything make sense?”

She nods enthusiastically. “Yup, as expected of a genius. Thanks a ton, Einstein! You’re a life saver.” She grins, ruffling his hair playfully.

Wally is wrested back into reality by Anna’s voice. “Wally?” It starts out distant and muffled, but sharply gains clarity as he regains his bearings. “You okay?” Back in the present, Anna is watching him with a look of concern. No, he thinks bitterly, angry at himself for making that mistake so often. Not Anna.

***

Wally arrived soon after I texted him. I took the pizza off his hands and began setting out the plates while he sat at the desk and began reading Whiz Kid’s latest message.

“Thanks,” he muttered as I placed a slice on the plate beside him.

I nodded. “So, what do you think? It seems to me like he’s trying to get back on Anna’s good side.”

“Yeah, I agree,” he said, turning toward me. “At this rate, we might even be able to get him to meet us this weekend.” There was a fierceness in his eyes, an unexpected hunger.

“This weekend? Isn’t that a bit hasty?” I was worried Wally’s grief and anger were beginning to cloud his judgement.

He shrugged, as if our one chance at catching Anna’s killer didn’t hinge on handling the situation with care. “We’ll have to see how things go, but keep in mind that the longer we stretch things out, the greater chance there is that he catches on or gets cold feet.” He did have a point, so I dropped the issue.

With that goal in mind, we crafted our reply, hoping to spark further conversation.

Uni Anna: no worries! I hope things are going better for you now.

As we waited for a response, Wally and I finished off the pizza. After half an hour, we still hadn’t received anything. I resorted to working on homework while Wally began anxiously pacing around the room. He continued for nearly an hour, and it was becoming unbearable.

“Hey, Wally?” I asked, breaking a long silence.

He stopped pacing and looked over at me. “Yeah?”

“Could you help me with this physics problem? I’m kind of stumped.” Actually, I knew exactly how to solve it, but I wanted to give Wally something to do to take his mind off of things. Judging from his haggard face and a subtle twitching in his eyes, he sorely needed the distraction.

“Sure, I’ll take a look,” he replied, with what I thought was a hint of relief in his voice. He wheeled the chair over to the side of my bed and accepted the problem set I handed to him.

“It’s the last problem, the magnetic fields one,” I said. He grunted an acknowledgement and began to examine the question. After a moment, he brought the sheet over to the desk, grabbed a pencil, and began scribbling out a solution. I couldn’t help but grin—my plan had worked. Wally’s eyes had sparked back to life as he worked intently on the problem.

In a few more minutes, he was finished. He handed me the paper and explained how he had worked through the question. His solution was even more elegant and efficient than mine. “Ah, you’re a genius. I hadn’t thought of that. Thanks a ton!” I exclaimed.

“No problem,” he replied with a blush and a slight smile. There was an awkward pause as he stared at me, his eyes becoming distant and glazed over.

I cocked my head, wondering if I had said something wrong. “Wally? You okay?”

Snapping out of his daze, he hastily looked down at his phone. “Yeah, I’m fine. By the way… it’s 2:40. Don’t you have class soon?”

I turned away, pretending not to notice the tears forming in the corners of his eyes. I could only think of one thing that could elicit that sort of reaction from him. “I was thinking of skipping it. This is way more important.”

“Oh, uh… it’s fine if you want to go. It’s been hours and Whiz Kid hasn’t responded. There’s no point in sitting around doing nothing, and if he does respond, I’ll still be here.” It was a thinly veiled attempt to get me out of the room. He clearly wanted to be left alone.

“Sure,” I obliged. “I guess I’ll head out then.” I quickly packed my things and left.

When I reached the classroom, I noticed Lizzie was nowhere to be seen, though I figured she wasn’t the sort of person to worry about her attendance. It relieved a tension my shoulders I hadn’t realized was there. Throughout the class, I periodically checked for texts from Wally. Toward the end, after a heated debate between two classmates about the veracity of a claim, I noticed a new notification.

Wally, 12m ago

Finally got a reply, will try to make small talk

With the class winding down anyway, and the professor preoccupied with listening to my peers, I sneaked out of the classroom and hurried back to the dorm. When I entered my room, I saw Wally sitting at the desk, watching the screen as he munched on some chips. Next to him was a large paper bag, from which there wafted a delicious scent.

He turned to greet me with a wave, his mouth still full. “Hey,” he said after swallowing. “I had some Chipotle delivered, feel free to have some.” He handed me the bag before continuing. “Anyway, Whiz Kid is finally starting to talk. We’ve been going back and forth for a bit. Nothing important yet, but I feel like we’re getting close. I think we should start planning out our next move.”

I began reading the chat log over his shoulder. After such a long wait, it was somewhat disappointing how mundane their conversation was. The two had taken turns catching up with each other in a careful masquerade. “Our next move?” I asked. “As in…meeting him in person?” The thought filled me with nervous anticipation.

“Exactly.” Wally’s eyes met mine and I could see that intense hunger burning in their emerald depths once again. “I’m thinking we should ask him to meet us at the park on Saturday to ‘apologize’ to him in person. We can scout out a good meeting spot tomorrow.”

“Sounds good,” I replied. “I guess we can work out the details once we’re there.” Wally nodded in agreement and returned to watching the screen for new messages.

We spent the rest of the evening eating and chatting with Whiz Kid, priming him for our eventual request to rendezvous. This continued late into the night, until Wally pushed to move ahead with our plan. I expressed apprehension at first, but quickly gave in. At that point, Wally wouldn’t accept any further delay—not when Anna’s killer was almost in his grasp.

We sent a message asking Whiz Kid if he would like to meet on Saturday so ‘Anna’ could apologize in person.

His reply was almost instant.

WhizKid20: omg yes it would be an honor!!! Saturday works for me. what’s a good time and place?

Uni Anna: How’s 10 AM at Alder Park?

WhizKid20: that’s perfect, I live right nearby. see you then!

No doubt, he thought Anna was foolish enough to come alone, completely defenseless, and he was desperate to seize on that opportunity. We expected as much, since we had been so careful to plant that idea in his head, making Anna seem remorseful for ignoring him and eager to make amends. The fact that he lived so close to the park where he killed Anna cemented our belief in his guilt, not that we needed any further convincing.

Finally, everything was falling into place.