The stairs

Chapter 1

Cassie's thirst for real detective work remained unsatisfied. That was the main reason she decided to stay at the university for the summer break - Lex had invited her to join his 'detective club' at the end of last semester. Everything looked like it was going to be beyond awesome - for one, the plane ticket home was expensive, and for another, she had a part time job. The university library wasn't much, to be honest, but they did subscribe to interesting journals, and best of all, the software in her computer actually worked within the university.

Once the break started, Cassie realized that she wasn't that interested in reading journals blindly - and besides, it wasn't something that you could do all the time. The detective club was supposed to be more fun, but so far, it had been breaking ciphers and solving puzzles - when they could gather five members in the same place. She and Lex were literally the only active members in the place.

It was one week after the break started. Cassie finished work, and entered the nearby mall. It was the weekend, and as usual, it was quite full. They were supposed to have a detective club meeting there and practice cold reading. Cassie was quite certain that the only other person who'd come would be Lex.

She found the meeting spot easily enough, sat down, found the book she was reading on her phone, and started reading. It was interesting, but not interesting enough to keep her engrossed. She was working on it when she recognised a footstep she heard. 

"Hey, Robin, over here!" she called.

Robin was of average height and had a thin, gangly build. He was a third year in civil engineering. He had taken engineering mathematics with Cassie's class, which is why she knew him. 

"Cassie! On time as usual, I see. Where's Lex?"

"He's supposed to be here. Maybe he's lost. He's not familiar with this mall after all. Did you get up early? No you didn't, you went somewhere beforehand, and then got dressed in a hurry before coming here. No, you came here, and then got dressed."

"Why do you say that?" asked Robin.

"The state of your t-shirt. It's freshly washed. It hasn't been worn long enough for the creases from folding to disappear. There are no creases formed by sitting, being squeezed between people, or holding on to the handrail. Your hair is messy, but it's not a bed head - I think I can safely assume it's a result of putting your shirt on. You have not forgotten to shave. Am I right?"

"Yeah, it's called an internship, you doofus. You have opted to stay in your work clothes."

"Deal with it. Did your internship involve working with toxic stuff?"

"If you count cement, probably. Why?"

"How are both of you here on time? I am not surprised about Cassie, but Robin?"

It was Lex. He was carrying a bag of electronics parts - he had probably been shopping at the only shop he knew at the mall.

"Okay, my turn," said Robin, "you bought three reels of 28 gauge wire, a weird blue box, several transistors, several ICs, shrink wrap, soldering wire, a weird microphone, a circuit board - what in the universe are you supposed to do with this?"

"First of all, that's a gas sensor, it says so clearly..."

"Oh there you are! I thought you meant the floor below!"

That was Rosa, a second year marine biology student. The confusion was understandable, thought Cassie - the floors were labelled weird at the mall. Cassie noticed that she was fiddling with her right pocket.

"You came to this mall about one hour ago," said Robin, "am I right this time?"

"Yes, how do you know?" asked Rosa.

"You have a new headset and I know your shopping habits."

"Why is everyone early?"

It was Phillip, a fourth year computer science student. As usual, he looked like he hadn't slept at all. His hair was a mess, and he had a beard with about a week's growth, which probably represented time since the last exam. His shirt was reddish brown, but Cassie couldn't help noticing an old coffee stain on it.

"That's everyone who confirmed minus Lorna. Does anyone have her number?" asked Lex.

"Message her first?" suggested Cassie.

"Doing that," said Lex, "okay, sent. Guys, Inform all other members that we will be starting soon. I did send a message to the group, but given the nonsense traffic lately, it's unlikely that anyone will check it."

"We're going to practice cold reading, right?" asked Rosa, "like, do we question random people after we deduce something about them, or..."

"Uh, we can't go up to random people and ask, "sir, have you slept for the past 36 hours?" because we'd probably get, I don't know, physically attacked?" said Phillip.

"Not everyone's like you," said Lex, "she's not typing yet. That's really unusual."

"Maybe she's in the bus," said Rosa, "look, she's late. Let's just leave a message and go wherever we're going. We could also, you know, start here. there are a lot of people around. What do you think of that lady in front of the accessories shop?"

"Bored, window shopping because she has to," said Cassie, "she has her phone in hand, so she's probably waiting for someone."

"That's not bored, that's sort of interested. She's picked out something and is waiting for someone to buy it for her. She's probably waiting for her significant other who's probably late," said Rosa, "Guys?"

"Well, if you're right, her significant other should be coming soon, since she's holding her phone. Either that, or her significant other is in serious trouble," said Robin.

"Lorna hasn't seen the message yet. She always looks at messages immediately,"  said Lex, "something's definitely wrong. Call it a gut feeling if you like, but, somehow, I know Lorna is in trouble."

"You are capable of gut feelings. Interesting," said Rosa.

"Something's happening," said Phillip, "Let's go check it out. Drop Lorna another message, Lex. Come on."

There was a commotion near the rear stairs of the mall. A lot of people had gathered around. The security was keeping them out. One of them was on the phone, and another was asking for a doctor.

"Medical emergency?" asked Lex.

"Serious medical emergency," said Cassie, "this has to be an attempted murder at least. Or someone could have fallen down the stairs - you can't ignore the possibility. Yet the human fascination with gore never ceases to amaze me."

"We can't get close," said Phillip.

Cassie grinned. "Leave that to the expert."

Cassie was short and thin. Usually, it tended to be a problem because no one took her seriously, but right now, it meant that she could squeeze through the crowd quite easily. Employing a few strategic head butts allowed her to clear a path, until she found herself at the edge of the landing. She almost fell headfirst down the stairs, but one of the security guards caught her.

Her eyes fell on the landing below, halfway down that flight of steps. Sprawled across it was the figure of a young woman wearing a long skirt - the type that Lorna liked to wear. Her face wasn't visible, but there was no mistaking the wavy hair with blue highlights. It was Lorna. Her right hand was under her body, and the position of her neck seemed a little uncomfortable. 

Cassie knew, right away, that Lorna was dead.