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Joints ached in his fingers as he furiously scrubbed at his right shoe. All he had to wipe off the stained blood off the leather was a soap soaked paper towel and panic-powered persistence. One would think that liquids simply rolled off or wiped off of leather easily. On the contrary, it damages the leather, making it stand out against the undamaged parts. And yes, adding water would make the damage worse. But he would rather have a water stain than a blood stain.
Jackson had dashed back to the Chancellor's office to snatch up his hip flask before someone found out. However, in the process of stepping into the room, there was a person working in administration that was walking by to use the printer, which meant that Campbell had to rush into the room and quickly close the door before they could spot him. It was after he had picked up his flask that he realised his shoe was at the edge of the sanguine pool. He hastily stepped away, only to stain the carpet a few meters away from the pool of blood. This caused a flurry of cursing and him grabbing a tissue to wipe the sole of his shoe. Since he couldn't dispose the blood stained tissue on school property, he had to stuff it into his trouser pocket and quickly exit the room.
Which led him to one of the Arts campus' bathrooms, hiding in a toilet stall and scrubbing at the edge of his dress boot to get rid of any remaining impression that he was around blood. He was heedless to the way he was breathing like he had ran a marathon, blinking back the tears that threatened to form against his will. It did dawn on him that he definitely had the worst luck out of anyone in Beaumont. And it was only going to get worse now that another body has dropped dead. A trembling hand lifted away from his shoe, allowing him to check if it looked decent. The spot looked like a lighter brown colour, only noticeable under close inspection. Jackson let his right leg drop from the toilet seat and stood. He lifted the seat and disposed the paper towel and the bloodied tissue into the bowl, letting out a shaky breath of relief when he flushed it away. All evidence of him ever being at the crime scene was gone.
The Campbell exited the building, making his way to the fountain. It was only twenty minutes until Jimmy's class would start. If he caught him at the right time, he could potentially get answers out of him. An alibi or lack of alibi during Sunday night, last night and even this morning. That way, he could use a process of elimination with the suspects he had in mind. It was heart breaking that he was so suspicious as to start accusing his own friends - and he hoped that Jimmy wasn't behind all of this - but who else could it be of not the people who knew Jackson intimately?
A squeak came from somewhere on the ground, pulling him back into the present. He searched around the large basin of the fountain, finally spotting a cat unsuccessfully trying to jump onto the flat surface of the basin. Jackson scooped up the cat and sat back in his original spot. While the cat was not hostile, it was still more than eager to get closer to the water. Was it thirsty? With one hand, he dipped his cupped hand into the clear water and brought the hand to the cat, letting him lap up the small amount of water he could give. He did this several more times, patiently waiting for the cat to drink its fill each time.
