The corridor rang with voices long after Professor Holloway’s lecture had ended.
“There’s no way he could have noticed all of that.”
“I think he did, though.”
“No one could have deduced that much!”
“Perhaps he is a detective.”
They laughed.
Naturally, the students formed into little clusters on their way to the next lecture.
Sam, however, walked alone.
Not that he didn’t want to walk with anyone in particular, but most people had a tendency to meander unnecessarily.
As he approached the staircase, someone blocked his path.
Mehjabeen Winslet.
She crossed her arms over her chest.
“You lied to me.”
Sam regarded her evenly.
“I do that from time to time.”
Her eyebrows lifted in mild surprise.
“You admitted it rather easily.”
“You didn’t ask whether I was lying now.”
For a moment,
she couldn’t think of a response.
Then she let out a small smile.
“So that’s your game.”
“My game?” He gave her a puzzled look.
“Answering questions with questions.”
“I answered your question.”
“No, you evaded it.”
“I redirected it.”
“Same thing.”
“They’re not the same!”
“…Explain.”
Sam took a sip of his coffee.
“If I avoid your question, you gain nothing.”If I redirected it, I learned something.”
“And what did you learn?”
“You don’t like unfinished conversations.”
She blinked.
“…That’s obvious.”
“It wasn’t before.”
There was a pause.
Mehjabeen studied him for a moment longer before giving a small laugh.
“I think I finally understand.”
“What?”
“You’re annoying.”
“For psychological reasons?”
“For every reason.”
For the first time,
Sam allowed himself a smile, albeit a small one.
“I’ve heard worse.”I doubt it.”
“You’d be surprised.”
She shook her head.
“I’ll see you around, Mr.
Valecroft.”
“You will.” With that, she walked away.
Halfway down the corridor,
she turned around.
Sam stopped walking.
“One last question,” she said.
Sam waited.
“Earlier…”
“When you said I don’t like unfinished conversations…”
“…how long did it take you to figure that out?”
“Thirty-seven seconds.”
She turned around.
“…You’re joking.”
“No.”
“…”
“…That’s impossible.”
Sam gave her a polite smile as he continued walking towards the library.
Leaving Mehjabeen Winlet standing in silence.
Blackthorn University Library.
10:12 A.
M.
Unlike the bustle of the university grounds, the library had a peculiar stillness to it.
Rows upon rows of ancient bookshelves seemed to stretch into eternity, their musty scent mingling with the polished wood.
Even when the library appeared completely empty, students could be heard giving whispers echoing off the high ceiling.
Sam walked straight towards the psychology section.
Not because he wanted to, per say,
but because someone else did.
Exactly twenty-three seconds later,
a sudden thud reverberated through the room as something toppled over.
“I’ve got it!”
“No!
Wait!”
It was too late.
A stack of books littered the floor in disarray.
Sam gave a small sigh.
“…Twenty-three.”
A curly-haired girl looked up at him in embarassment.
“Oh…
sorry.”
“You dropped these.” He picked up the books before she could do so herself.
One in particular caught his eye.
Cognitive Biases in Human Decision Making .
“You’ve read it?” he asked.
“Twice.”
“Was it good?”
“The author spends four hundred pages explaining something he could have explained in forty.”
The girl laughed.
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“I wouldn’t.”
She grinned.
“I’m Emily.”
“Sam.”
“I know.”
“…Should I be worried?”
“You’re the guy from Professor Holloway’s class.”
“Oh.”
“The famous one.”
“I became famous in two hours?”
She shrugged.
“University works fast.”
He couldn’t really argue with that.
Across the room,
someone gave a soft gasp as they quietly closed a book.
An older man peered at Sam through the shelves, his gaze lingering for a few seconds.
Then, he gave a small, near-imperceptible whisper.
“So it’s really him…”
No one seemed to hear him, not even Sam.
11:08 A.
M.
The psychology department had apparently decided to test their students with an impromptu assessment.
The students groaned in unison.
“A quiz already?”
“We literally just had a lecture!”
Professor Holloway was unfazed by their complaints.
“This isn’t really a test.”
“It’s a reasoning exam.”
He then placed a sealed envelope on each of their desks.
“You are not permitted to open them.”
There were various murmurs of disapproval as students exchanged confused looks.
“You have…
one minute.”
“Without opening the envelope…”
“…tell me what’s inside.”
The room erupted in mutterings.
“That’s impossible!”
“It has to be a trick!”
“It is a trick!”
Mehjabeen examined the envelope skeptically.
There were no visible markings on it whatsoever, not even any transparent areas.
She turned to Sam, who was not looking at his envelope at all.
He was watching
everyone else.
Professor Holloway gave him a curious look.
“Mr.
Valecroft.”
“Yes?”
“Why aren’t you examining your envelope?”
Sam gave a composed reply.
“Because mine doesn’t matter.”..Explain.”
“The answer is already in the room.”
There was a hushed silence.
Professor Holloway gave a small smile.
“For the second time today…”
“…interesting.”
Sam finally picked up his envelope and briefly weighed it in his hands.
“There’s a single playing card inside.”
A few gasps rang out.
Mehjabeen gave him a skeptical look.
“That’s just a guess.”
“It is.”
Professor Holloway gave a bemused expression.
“And which card would that be?” Sam asked.
“The Queen of Hearts.”
The professor said nothing as he slowly opened Sam’s envelope.
A single playing card fell out onto the desk.
The Queen of Hearts.
The room was silent as everyone stared at the professor.
He met Sam’s eyes.
“You never touched the seal.”
“No.”
“You never looked inside.”
“No.”
“Then how?”
Sam gazed around the room.
“You told us this wasn’t a test of knowledge.”
“You also said the answer was in the room.”
He gestured towards Professor Holloway’s desk.
“The card box is missing one card.”
Everyone turned to look.
An empty playing-card box was next to the professor’s notebook.
One corner of the cardboard was torn off, leaving the box about the thickness of one card shorter than usual.
Professor Holloway gave a slow smile.
“You noticed.”
Sam shook his head.
“No.
I noticed that no one else noticed it.”
For the first time,
Professor Adrian Holloway’s smile faltered.
Not because Sam had correctly answered his question, but because he realized that the young man had solved something else entirely.
Something the professor never intended to reveal.
That evening,
Professor Holloway found himself standing in his office, staring at a certain photograph.
Seven figures stood in it, their faces a mix of familiar and foreign.
One, in particular, was absent.
The professor traced his fingers over the empty space.
Then, he quietly murmured,
“…He’s faster than you were.”
The room fell silent.
Outside,
it started raining once more.
End of Chapter 3.
TO BE CONTINUED….