Untouchable

1: Open lecture

Alexa's POV

Me: I honestly thought this would be a tad bit more interesting

Zayden: where are you anyways?

Me: Hall 2, they're having an open lecture and this detective introduced a case and asked the students to solve it 

Zayden: you should be enjoying this 

Me: I'm 17 not 7, the least they could do is present a more complicated case

___

The room fell silent and only soft chattering of a few students could be heard. "Can you please repeat the question?" A pale guy with messy brown hair and an over-sized hoodie a few rows back asked out of the blue, his gruffly voice filled the room before everyone started laughing like they were watching Steve Harvey. The professor calmed everyone down before he spoke "Elena was on the balcony when she shot herself. The coroner confirmed the shot was self inflicted and the body indeed belonged to Elena. How did late Ms Ricoletti rise from the dead to take her husband's life? Keep in mind there were witnesses to both incidents."

The pale guy grinned "People don't come back from the dead, sir. Ms Ricoletti could have used Tetrodotoxin, it induces a death like state, while it is hard to get your hands on I wouldn't put it past her. She did think her plan through very thoroughly since she's got the police all baffled."

The professor hummed, neither in approval or disapproval

I rolled my eyes and turned around to face the pale guy and said "You're wrong. Tetrodotoxin? it's too dangerous and unpredictable, she's too smart to risk it. Seems like a stretch to me."

"And zombies aren't a stretch?"

"Who said anything about that?" I rolled my eyes again at the pale guy before turning to face the professor "She'd need treatment after taking it to keep her alive, it is a form of poison after all. And even if she did bribe the coroner to treat her, she wouldn't be sure when she'd be well enough to go on her hunt. She had to take the life of her husband in a specified place and time and Tetrodotoxin needs four to six hours to kick in"

"Zombies?" The guy smirked

The professor seemed amused by our banter as a hint of a smile appeared on his face.

"Let me finish." I continued "She faked her death, bribed the coroner or used a corpse that looked a lot like her, better yet she did both. She then 'rose from the dead' killed her husband and then killed herself. You were right though about it being well thought of."

The professor had a full fledged smile on his face and the guy seemed taken aback yet amused.

"First off, I doubt she could find someone that looked enough like her to fool the coroner, and if you're suggesting she bribed the coroner do keep in mind you are accusing a police department worker with a punishable crime,and how could she have known which coroner would be on duty when her 'body' was brought in? Plus if she wanted to kill her husband, I'm sure she could have thought of another way to kill him without killing herself in the process"

There was a gleam in his eyes and I couldn't tell if he was enjoying the case or if it was at the ecstasy of thinking he won, either way I don't like losing.

"Just because someone has a badge doesn't mean they're a saint. It's very likely that the coroner was bribed, humans aren't angels, they can easily be manipulated with the promise of money or power, we're all prone to it and Ms Ricoletti was a rich woman. As for ending her life, there's always a chance she thought she wouldn't get away with it, maybe she thought life wasn't worth it since she's dead on the inside, maybe she'd rather be dead than imprisoned or executed. Wouldn't you?"

"I'd give myself the benefit of the doubt and wouldn't assume that I'd get caught in the first place." 

"Actually, it was because she was dying." The professor interrupted. 

I almost forgot about him and when I turned back to the pale guy he laughed shortly then shrugged and bowed his head slightly as if to tell me I've won this round.

___

I was on my way to get some coffee when I heard the same raspy voice catching up on me "So, you're well educated on drugs that make you look dead"

"Great conversation starter" I said sarcastically 

"I try" He smiled "Im Lukas, by the way, Criminology"

"Alexa, Astrology"

Lukas tagged along and we headed to Starbucks, we talked about our majors on the way and Lukas talked a lot about those different theories he had of the universe and how one cancelled out the other. 

___

*At Starbucks*

Lukas gestured with his hands at the table like he was pointing at a battle plan "There isn't any solid evidence that links Sir John Williams to Jack the Ripper" 

"He was specialized in obstetric surgery, he had the medical knowledge" I said confidently 

"The cuts weren't clean, they were jagged and according to the autopsy reports they were also violent, so really anyone without medical experience could have done it" Lukas intercepted

I had more to offer before he won this round "There's more evidence though" 

"None of it: solid or proven, you're just saying random facts about Sir John Whatever" Zayden was the one to speak this time

I rolled my eyes at him and told him to go back to work 

"My shift is over" he said smugly 

"Oh, so soon" 

Zayden frowned and grunted "Not really, I've been here for eight hours, one of which I had to listen to you two discuss Jack The Ripper theories" He made an 'it's obvious' face "It's not that much fun"

I turned to Lukas while pointing back at Zayden "He thinks Walter Sickert did it"

"I have more evidence than you do" Zayden protested

"But no motive" Lukas told Zayden 

Lukas grinned at me "It was very nice meeting you, maybe we'll finish this conversation some other time and keep that brain of yours safe until then" 

We said our goodbyes and split ways right in front of Starbucks; Zayden and I had planned on staying in for the day and were headed to my apartment whereas Lukas said he was meeting with his room mate, grace, for some lunch.