Burning September Read Free Page B

business.  He had skeletons, you’d better fucking believe it.”
    “That’s your plan?  You’re going to tell the jury he deserved it because he cheated on you and sold some weed?”
    “That’s for a lawyer to decide.”
    Yeah, right.  When hers actually made time to see her.
     
    ***
     
    Waiting lists for college classes are something equivalent to a bottomless abyss.  You could spend eternity on one, but then I suppose when your sister is accused of a salacious murder it would tend to shunt you to the top.  Especially when that sister had been a favorite student of the Department of Arts head. 
    Valerie Rasmussen had emailed personally rather than an auto message informing me of the good news—I’d been granted a reprieve from Waiting List Purgatory. 
    Art teachers are an odd breed.  The bulk of those I’d been around were everything one would imagine a hippy getting on in years to be.  Matted hair grown long, more often than not sporting grease buildup at the roots.  No makeup; art materials might smear it.  Lopsided eyeglasses, attached to a groovy neck chain.  Not least, the air of a lecturing blowhard; someone who’s been there, done that, probably done it better, and my my, you kids these days . 
    I couldn’t tell if it was a good thing Professor Rasmussen was none of the above.  With the looks of an aging soap star, sleek hair, and smart suit, she beckoned from behind the desk as I knocked on her open office door, cutting over my introduction.  “Katya, right?  Caroline’s sister?”
    Of course it was never simply Katya, right ?  Caroline always got a mention. 
    “ Kat is fine.”
    “You look a lot like her.  I’m glad you stopped by.” 
    I dithered in the doorway, fingering the strap of my backpack.  “I figure it’s not every day you get off a wait list.  Thanks for that.”  Though the jury was still out on her motives. 
    She closed the thick datebook she’d been flicking through.  “Caroline meant a lot to me.  She’s a very talented artist; you always remember the gifted students.  Sweet, too.  A very nice girl.”  Sure, she was sweet.  Sweet like antifreeze.  “And you were one of her favorite subjects.  A lot of her pieces and projects had something to do with you.  That photograph of you with the tarot cards got her a lot of attention.  More than she normally got, even, which certainly says something.  I have a copy of it hanging in my classroom.” 
    I don’t even remember Caroline taking that picture, but it must have been the first time we went to the fair.  The sun had begun its descent behind the mountains, and smoke curled in the air from an out-of-focus bonfire.  I had my little girl legs crossed as I sat alone in a deserted stretch of swaying bleach blonde grass on a violet swath of velvet that frayed at the edges.  My hair dripped over my shoulders, my hand cupped my chin as I considered the complicated tarot spread in front of me.  I’m sure my thoughts were along the lines of uhh, what? but luckily it didn’t come across in the photograph.
    She gestured for me to sit in the chair across from her.  “Did you know she didn’t title it originally?  The photo of you?  She’d called it Untitled for months before I finally put my foot down.”
    “Yeah.  It’s still in our living room.”  My backpack slithered to the floor with a dull thud as I sat.  “Is she the reason you wanted to see me?  You couldn’t find a way to contact her, or something?”
    She sat back in her chair, gazing over the pen she fiddled with, letting the silence stretch further than was comfortable.  “She’s partly the reason.  Let’s just call it a mixture of general concern and maternal instinct.  I know a lot about your history, yours and Caroline’s.  You can’t have many people to lean on, given the circumstance.  I imagine it’s been rough going.”
    Or stressful . 
    “Well, it hasn’t been fun.”
    Blue eyes considered me beneath