The stairs

Chapter 10

Cassie sat up on her bed, and listened. It was the quietest part of the night. A lot of students stayed up until two, but they tended to stay in their rooms except for the occasional student who needed to buy snacks at the convenience store. If anyone had discovered anything, it was one of those students. 

There was no wind and no rain, and the crickets weren't chirping at the moment. The only sounds were AC units. Cassie heard nothing following the scream, at first. Then, she heard voices. Then she heard another muffled scream. Something was happening. 

Against her better judgement, Cassie grabbed a coat and put it on, slipped into her shoes, grabbed her phone, and moved to the door. There were no noises there - whatever it was, it wasn't in her dorm. It could have been the one next door - where, she realised, that Lex was staying. 

Her hands shook as she fumbled with her phone, trying to get it out of sleep mode. It took her several attempts to get to the call app. She found Lex's number - she had called him quite recently - and pressed dial.

After what seemed like ten minutes, Lex answered.

"Wha - Cas, you 'kay?"

He sounded quite groggy. That was all Cassie needed to hear.

"I didn't give you permission to call me Cas. Is something happening in your dorm? Did you hear a scream?"

"My dorm, no. Wait, what's going on? It sounds like the whole dorm is awake. What do you mean a scream? Wait, stay on the line, let me go check."

"Be - be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

Cassie was certain he'd be anything but careful. She grabbed the knife she had in her room for cutting fruit, put it into her coat pocket, and opened the door carefully. There was no one in the corridor. She looked at the dorm next door. It was visible through the end of the corridor. All the corridor lights were on everywhere, and the windows were open, so she could see what was going on quite clearly. There were several students there. Cassie could see one on the phone, looking quite worried. 

A student could have fallen down the stairs or something, or someone could have spotted a snake. There were any amount of innocent explanations. The incident at the mall didn't necessarily have to be the root cause of whatever that happened there. 

"Cassie, are you still there?" asked Lex on the other end.

"Uh, yeah, what's going on?"

"Cassie, Someone's fallen down the stairs. There's a lot of blood - I mean, more of it than I've ever seen before. A few people got here before me and they're calling the ambulance and the police."

"Who is it?"

"A guy with longish wavy brown hair, tallish, wearing skinny jeans, a bright red t-shirt, and a large purple watch. Cassie, there aren't many people like that..."

"Is his phone around?" asked Cassie.

"The one with the garish green cover, right? Yeah, it's fallen down the stairs," said Lex, "Cassie, do you think someone pushed him down the stairs?"

"I don't know. Look, I'll come there."

"Wait, why did you ask me about..."

"I'll explain once I get there."

"Don't, Cassie, it's risky..."

"You're not my father." Cassie took her keys, locked her room, and left for the dorm next door, with the call still on. She walked quickly, and followed Lex's instructions. She met up with him on the landing of the first floor.

From there, it was obvious that it was Mark. He was on the landing between the first and second floors.  As Lex said, there was a lot of blood. It was dripping down the stairs. Several students stood around. Two students were next to Mark now, and the two of them was turning Mark over. Cassie could clearly see the large gash on his neck. His jugular vein had been cut. 

Lex and two others kept the crowd away form the body, though the crowd was perhaps ten students at best. One of the two students next to Mark shook his head, and the other put him back where he was. Even under the bluish tube light, Cassie could see why - his fingers looked a little strange and stiff. He had probably been dead for some time, perhaps upwards of an hour.

Thinking about it, him not being discovered for so long probably made sense - many students had gone home, and those that stayed tended to have a normal sleep schedule because most lectures weren't held during the summer.

The ambulance arrived shortly afterwards, and the two students who checked on him - one a nursing student the other a biology student with first-aid training - explained the situation to them. Mark was pronounced dead on scene. The police arrived shortly afterwards. The first person to rush up the stairs was Detective Clark herself.

She was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. The shirt was crumpled, like she had pulled it out of the cupboard not long ago. She ran up the stairs, and stopped at the landing. She paused, and stared at the body for a couple of seconds.

"Detective Clark," said Cassie, suddenly. She turned, abruptly.

"What are you doing here?"

"Cassie heard a scream, she called me and woke me up, and I got here. She followed. I live in this dorm, Cassie lives in the next dorm, on this side," said Lex.

She stared at both of them for a while. Cassie felt the intensity of her glare, and she basically scanned them from head to toe.

"What's in your pocket?" she asked.

It was then that Cassie remembered the fruit knife. It was a small thing, with a ten-centimetre or so blade and a wooden handle. There was no blood on it, so there was no harm in handing it to the police, decided Cassie. 

"It's a knife I use for cutting fruit," said Cassie, handing it, handle first, to the detective, "I popped it into my pocket because I was nervous. You can test it, there's no blood on it - rather, you'd likely find a lot of watermelon and guava juices on the handle."

"Okay, we'll test it," said Clark, putting it in an evidence bag, "I'm inclined to believe you."

She turned back towards the body, and then turned to the crowd. "So, who discovered the body first?"

A girl raised her hand obediently. She was dressed in a pair of shorts and a fairly ancient t-shirt, her hair was a mess, and there were marked dark circle around her eyes. She was probably on her way to buy a midnight snack from the convenience store.

"Is there any other way for you to come downstairs?"

"Yes, there's another flight of stairs on the other side," said Lex, "though, under the circumstances..."

"Johns, could you accompany her? Thank you," said Clark, "and you two, I want to talk to you in detail. Follow me."