Brutal

2

Barnard was not really far away from the Bureau. They reached in no time. Barnard, she thought. It was some campus. A beauty in itself.

"Lieutenant Ford and Sergeant Cooper," she pointed at him, "from NYCB for Laura," Chicago told the woman at the front desk.

"Yes, Lieutenant. Which Laura do you want to see?"

"Oh God, okay. Emily Suskind's best pal. I'm sorry we don't know Laura's last name."

"No problem at all. The Laura you're looking for is called Laura Beckett. And—there she is," the woman said, pointing at a girl coming from the far side of the corridor.

"Thanks a lot. NYCB appreciates your help."

"That's my job." The woman smiled.

Chicago and Cooper scurried down the corridor to Laura.

"Hello," Chicago held out a hand, "Laura?"

"Yes."

"Hi. We met this morning, do you remember?" Cooper asked her.

"Oh, yeah. Right."

"Yeah. We're from NYCB. Myself Sergeant Cooper and she's Lieutenant Ford."

"I'm guessing you've come for Emily's thing."

"Correct. We would like you to answer a few questions. Preferably in private."

"Sure, I was just going to my dorm. You could come there."

Her dorm wasn't far either. Laura gave Chicago and Cooper chairs as she sat on her bed.

"Yes?"

"Okay. We'd first like to tell you that your friend's no more," Chicago told her.

"What do you mean 'no more'?"

"I mean she's dead."

"Jesus! No. How could that be. No."

"Yes. That's the way it is. So, in order to find her murderer as soon as possible, we need you to truthfully answer our questions. All right?"

She deeply breathed in, composing herself. "Okay. I'll try my best."

"So, first. Do you know who Suskind was seeing?"

"Yeah, like, I've never met him before, but Emi talked about him a lot. Michael Drew, he was called. She said he was pretty. And even cute for the better part of it. I remember her mentioning gray eyes. Other than that, I know nothing."

"Okay. Do you know when or how they met?"

"Oh, yes. Emi'd mentioned that. So, apparently, he had his eye on her for a long time. Then he befriended her, took her out as a friend and after a while, he confessed. And, she said yes. That's about it."

"You know where this confession took place?"

"The movies. Just after the movies, the guy confessed."

"Okay, now, this is a bit personal, but was Emily a virgin?"

"I guess, she was. She wasn't much into guys, so I'd guess so."

"Hm. Thanks a lot, Laura. This is appreciated," Chicago said, walking out of her dorm.

"Cooper. The movies. It's too much of a commonality. All her dates were movie dates, which is odd."

"Who told you that?"

"Her mom."

"Okay, now, Ford. We'll get back to cops-mode later. We have to be at the tavern in fifteen."