In order to rifle through some pictures she kept of her and Tina in her work desk, Bette took a short break from the chaos. She traced her finger along the edge of a picture she’d taken of Tina at their wedding years ago – Tina’s goofy smile only complimenting the elegant dress she’d worn. The next picture was especially sentimental, as it was a picture from one of their first dates together. Bette inhaled and flipped that picture over to see the next, completely surprised. That one was Tina, but not the Tina she was expecting. It was a picture of the unfamiliar Tina, looking over a book at the camera. It was clear she was smiling, even though the only part of her face captured on film was from the top of her head to her eyes.

Immediately, Bette dropped the pile on her desk, and then leaned to look closer toward the top picture. How had that gotten into there? Had the girl snuck into her things? It had been placed within her other pictures as if she admired it all the time, but it frightened Bette to think how it got there.

She called Tina at once, but only got the voicemail machine, so she hung up. Even to herself, she sounded paranoid, but she knew it must be true. Bette set the picture aside on the corner of her desk, and tried to get back to work for the time being. In fact, she’d become so swamped – in and out of classrooms – that she nearly forgot she’d put it there at all.

It was only when Franklin Pruss, a Psychology professor with an indiscernible accent, stepped in that she was reminded of the photograph. They’d been talking as they entered her office, and right away, Frank noticed the beauty shot on his colleague’s desk. He’d always gotten along quite nicely with Tina, so he was forward with his concerns.

“Who’s that?” he asked, looking to Bette in a way she found insulting. It was insulting because she could see he was analyzing her response for truth.

“Franklin! … Are you serious?” she whispered, trying to keep it down as she closed her door. “Listen … this is … a little complicated, but … I feel like you might be of help to me.”