The stairs

Chapter 3

After what seemed like ages, they moved the body from the stairs. As they bought the body up, Detective Clark called Mark over - probably for identification. Cassie edged closer as well. There was clearly something going on - they were too suspicious of Lorna's acquaintances. The police should have been at least a little suspicious of everyone else in the vicinity, but that didn't appear to be the case.

The photos did give her a clue of sorts - Lorna's skin may have been a bit pinker than usual. She wore a pink blouse, so it was a bit difficult to determine. Cassie edged closer as Mark confirmed that it was, indeed, Lorna. 

"Her skin is a little red," said Lex, "that's a symptom of carbon monoxide poisoning, right?"

"How exactly do you make someone breathe carbon monoxide?" asked Cassie, "it's more likely one of the many poisons that cause the same symptoms."

"We will deal with that," said Detective Clark, "you can wait here for the time being."

"We have a right to know what's going on," said Robin, "Lorna was here for a club meeting, we're a detective club..."

"Really? And exactly how many of you are a major in forensics, or law, or medical lab science, or something of the sort? I thought not. You are just playing detectives, and it may have ended with someone getting killed, so stay out of our way."

Cassie had enough.

"It was ingested, wasn't it? It was probably coffee, since she drinks coffee all the time. Her lipstick was also rubbed off by a straw, so it was likely iced coffee. I'm going to go ahead and assume that the coffee cup was not found, because I saw nothing of the sort near her. Your people are probably dumpster diving at the moment trying to locate it. At the same time, you are likely asking every coffee shop in the mall whether we bought coffee from them. If that works out, great, but Lorna being Lorna, I doubt that was the case. She probably bought her own coffee."

"If she bought her own coffee, how did anyone poison it?" asked Detective Clark.

"Oh that, she has this habit, she dives into her handbag like a rabbit diving into its hole," said Mark, "and if she's with someone, she hands the coffee to them. She does that with people she knows, so..."

"Mark, what's going on? Why did you want me here?"

It was a girl of about their age. That had to be Beryl.

"This is Beryl, you can explain the situation to her," said Mark, indicating her to Detective Clark. 

He moved away from there. He likely wanted to be alone for a while and process what was going on, thought Cassie. That was likely natural under the circumstances. He wasn't crying, but he was quite distracted. That probably meant that he was upset, and after all, they couldn't expect more of a response from him. He wasn't more suspicious than anyone else. 

Beryl appeared to think that everyone was pulling her leg. Mark ignored her, so she directed her questions to Detective Clark, who was back to being reasonable and calming. That was also not a usual response. 

If anyone's response was usual, it was Lex's cold, clinical approach, Robin's fidgeting, Phillip's complete withdrawal, Rosa's alternate interest and disinterest, and perhaps, Cassie's own interest in the forensic side of the case. In Lex's case, it was probably how he functioned. Robin's reaction may have been a reaction to stress, since he was half insane to begin with. Phillip was probably just sleep deprived - there was a coffee stain on his shirt after all. 

There was a coffee stain on his shirt.

That could have been caused by the coffee that poisoned Lorna. If so, would the poison in the coffee stain cause visible symptoms? A lot of poisons did, as far as she knew. If only she had a way to legitimately check under his shirt!