Free Split by Tara Moss

enlightening subject, psychologically. Earlier in the year, one of the university staff had tipped him off about her involvement in a serial killer case in Australia during the previous summer break. Sensational stuff. Seems she’d been abducted by a multiple murderer and only survived because the cops managed to bust in the room and save her at the last minute. She was the only surviving victim of how many? Ten?
    Makedde had worked hard to keep a tight lid on it once she returned to Canada. She had the geographical isolation of Australia in her favour, not to mention Canadian media laws that banned the printing of victims’ names in criminal cases such as hers. But it was hard to keep such sensational news a secret for long. He had to admit she had contained it remarkably well.
    Professor Gosper wanted very much to sit down with her at some point and discuss her experiences. He wanted to run some tests on her, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), the Pain Apperception Test and the Holtzman Inkblot Technique for starters. Perhaps the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) depending on what he saw.
    What exactly happened? How much could sherecall? How was she coping? How much had her experience changed her and altered her perceptions of the world around her? And in what ways? What was the accuracy of her own eyewitness testimony after what she had been through? Perhaps she should examine that for her thesis?
    Professor Gosper hoped to publish an exclusive account of her torment and his findings in the professional journals, or perhaps even in a true crime novel. He had already left a couple of notes for her to contact him, but she’d ignored them. Women like that always thought everyone wanted to get in their pants.
    Makedde walked in his direction and then veered off down another aisle of seats. He wasn’t sure, but she may have spotted him. Damn. Now she was at least twelve rows away. He watched her struggle out of a shoulder bag and plonk a notebook and pen down on the seat. Her pants fitted her nicely and the toffee colour of her top complemented her fair hair. She was a very attractive young lady.
    He noticed the young man in the next seat give Makedde a long appraisal.
    “Look out for that one,” Gosper said.
    The man turned to him with a friendly smile. He was a good-looking lad, probably in his late twenties. “Why’s that?” he asked.
    “Ice Princess. Way too much baggage,” Gosper said. “She’s like Katharina from The Taming of the Shrew .” It gave him great satisfaction to say it.
    The man laughed. “Nice…” he said, exaggerating the “ice” in nice.
    He looked Makedde’s way again and Gosper followed his gaze. She was reaching into her bag to get something. When the man finished admiring her, he turned back and said, “I’m Roy Blake, nice to meet you.” He extended his hand and the professor shook it.
    “I’m Harold Gosper, Professor of Social Psychology.”
    Roy wasn’t a student at the university as far as Gosper knew, and he didn’t look like he was visiting from Simon Fraser or one of the other universities either. He was a little too clean-cut. Maybe a plain-clothes cop, Gosper decided.
    “I just started with campus security,” he said, answering Gosper’s query before he even had to ask it.
    “Oh really?” That was interesting.
    UBC had recently beefed up security but as far as Gosper was concerned, it was little more than a political move designed to appease the public.
    “There’s all that terrible business with the Walker girl, I suppose.”
    “Yeah,” the man agreed. “Really put a scare into everyone. Then of course there was that poll—”
    “That poll about the assaults on campus?” Gosper cut in. He was familiar with it. “They blew that story out of proportion on every bloody front page. It’s crap.” He shook his head with disapproval. “The numbers were totally