Scoop to Kill Read Online Free Page B

failed.
    “So what’s the scoop?” Bree asked as she took a swig of her soda.
    Alice piped up. “Dr. Landry asked Reggie to cover Dr. Clowper’s May-term American lit class, and Reggie asked me today if I’d be willing to work as a TA.”
    Kyle laughed. “T and A?” he scoffed. “Not sure you’re qualified, Ally.”
    Alice glared at him. “TA. Teaching assistant. Grading and helping students who are struggling and stuff. Usually, that’s a job for graduate students and sometimes senior undergrads, but the department is a little shorthanded”—she glanced sheepishly at Emily—“and it’s short notice. I mean the class starts the week after next, right after spring finals. I’m local, and I aced the class last fall. Reggie said I’d be a natural.”
    Something about the way Alice said Reggie’s name, a smug note of satisfaction in her voice as she repeated his praise, made me wonder whether this Reggie person might be a little bit handsome. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kyle’s teasing smile turn into a glower, suggesting he’d noticed the very same thing.
    “Who’s this Reggie person?” I asked.
    “He’s another graduate student,” Alice said. “He and Bryan shared an office.”
    “Reggie’s ABD,” Emily added. “All but dissertation,” she clarified. “He’s completed all of his course work and just has to finish his research and defend his dissertation, and then he’ll graduate. He’ll be a great mentor for Alice.”
    Bree looked dubious. “I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” she said.
    “Come on, Mom,” Alice wheedled. “I can still pull my weight around the shop. It will look great on my résumé, and I’ll even get paid.”
    Emily nodded. “It would be a great opportunity for Alice, so I suggested her name to Reggie.” I caught the subtle emphasis Emily put on the word “I,” and by the way she stiffened, I guessed Bree had, too. Everyone in the room knew that Alice had this opportunity because of Emily’s largesse. “Alice will do a wonderful job,” she added more graciously, “and it will free up Reggie to work on his dissertation.”
    I knew my cousin well enough to realize that, at this point, if Emily said the earth was round, Bree would cry “flat!” By the time Emily finished her argument, Bree was already shaking her head.
    Alice’s face set in a mulish expression, ready to duke it out, but Bree tipped her head toward Emily and Finn. “We’ll talk about it later.”
    Alice huffed and rolled her eyes, but Bree didn’t budge.
    “What are they saying about Bryan around campus?” Finn asked, trying to bring the conversation back to more neutral territory. Though I suppose talk of a murder shouldn’t really be considered “neutral.”
    “Nothing interesting,” Alice reported. “Just that Bryan was a tool, and he was gunning for Dr. Clowper, and no one is really sad about him being dead.”
    “Alice Marie Anders,” Bree chided, “that’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”
    “Mr. Harper asked what people were saying, and that’s what they’re saying,” Alice said. “It’s not my fault people didn’t like Bryan. He was a hard-ass.”
    “Language,” Bree warned.
    “Really? You’re going to complain about my language?”
    Finn and Kyle both sputtered with laughter, but Bree just rolled her eyes.
    “He was a jerk,” Alice insisted. “He spent all of his classes talking about the novels he was supposedly writing and how brilliant he was and how the faculty at Dickerson were totally overrated, never talked about the class readings at all, and then asked these crazy-hard questions. I don’t know anyone who got better than a C+ from him.”
    We all looked at Emily for confirmation. She shrugged. “His teaching skills were not the best,” she said. “I told Dr. Landry that he shouldn’t put Bryan in the classroom, but we are incredibly short staffed. With more students coming to Dickerson and more required literature and