He spoke up — quite vocally — and then he learned how things rolled in the world of academia in which he toiled. It was all about appearance. The ...ew ‘boss’ didn’t make waves, he was as bland as a piece of Melba Toast. There were no rumors flying around about Seymour Hollingsworth III. He was a good academian who did what was required of him. He never bucked the system. JJ was livid. Rather than burning his bridges behind him, he took a six month leave of absence and hammered out a manuscript. Larry was always jealous of you, but you probably already knew that." What did he say about the abduction? Did he own up to setting it up?" I asked.Cora gave a slight laugh. "He said he had nothing to do with it. He said they were after you but he had no idea why. They seemed really mad when they got Larry instead of you. I'm confused about the whole thing. Is there something you know that you're not telling?" Let's drop this for now. Talking about my brother nauseates me. What about going to. Yup. There she was, sitting on the couch with some stranger. He was sitting way too close and was turned towards her. I didn’t need to be a body-language expert to read him.He was being Mr. Supportive.She looked at him and then to me. “Steve, honey ... We need to talk.”That was the last thing I needed. “Yeah? We do? Who’s this, Cheryl?”“This, uh, this is Mark. Honey, Mark and I work together and, well, we’ve gotten close over the past month and ... Steve, could you just sit down for a minute?. “Where’s Betty?” he asked.“Don’t touch her either,” said Matilda, her voice hard-edged.He knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t talk until she calmed down, whatever was bothering her.“Okay,” he said. “Let me know when you want to talk about it. You cooking for me too, or just you?”“Just me,” she said, still not looking at him.“No problem,” he said. “I’ll get something when you’re done.”He went looking for Betty, and found her in the living room. The TV was on.“What’s wrong with Matilda?” he.