The stairs

Chapter 14

Cassie went back to her dorm and pretty much crashed on her bed. The alarm did not wake her up, and she slept soundly until about ten in the morning. 

When she did wake up, she immediately remembered what had happened the night before. Mark had been killed. Robin was arrested for his murder, and for Lorna's. Everything was settled. All was well.

Yet, something felt off. This had been settled too easily. Robin had let himself be arrested without protest. Either he had a strategy to weasel his way out of this, or he was not guilty. She could still talk to Clark, she thought, but first, she had to figure out what was wrong. She decided to try talking to Lex and Phillip. But first, she had to call work and tell them that she'd be absent, but, well, she was absent already.

Sorting out that mess took a good half an hour. Then she thought she'd contact Lex - Phillip wouldn't have thought of waking up yet. 

After sorting out things at work, she sat down on her bed. She reassessed everything that happened so far. There was a lot of information to process. There was too much information to keep in her head. There was only one thing to do now - she had to make a chart.

Their university did not allow putting up posters on walls, so there was a very large canvas she could use for the moment. She also had a ridiculously large stash of post-it notes.

She could organise the information she knew, and then she'd get to the information that Lex knew.

But best of all, it would be like she was in one of those classic detective dramas.

No, focus, she told herself, two people were dead. The wrong person may have been arrested. Leslie thought that the case was closed. The situation was serious.

She wrote down everything she knew so far on notes - the location of Lorna's body, what they knew about it so far, where everyone was at the time, their alibis, everything went on a separate note connected by strings to represent the existence of a relationship. She hung notes on the strings to elaborate relationships.

Then she moved on to Mark's murder.

That filled up the rest of the wall. Right now, it looked less like a useful way of representing information and more like a packet of sticky notes had thrown up on the wall.

Maybe this should have been a soft copy, thought Cassie.

No, she had to approach this logically. First, Lorna's murder - who had the motive? There was Lorna's ex, Robin, and Mark's ex, Rosa. That was what she knew about. Did anyone else have a motive? She didn't know for sure.

Opportunity - who had the opportunity? Rosa's entrance to the mall wasn't recorded. Robin likely entered the mall twice. Lex was in the mall and had the opportunity. So did Beryl and her friends. Or even Mark.

Then - means. Lorna wouldn't have handed her cup to someone who obviously didn't like her, but Rosa had the easiest access to cyanide. She wouldn't have trusted Robin, either, not given how Mark reacted to him identifying himself.

She wouldn't have trusted anyone, really, except Mark, possibly Beryl, and Phillip.

But then, did she need to hand the cup over to dive into her handbag?

Cassie had seen Lorna dive into her bag. She was usually completely absorbed in the process. Someone could have slipped some cyanide into her drink while she was distracted, even if she didn't hand it over.

If that was the case, anyone could have killed her.

Next, there was Mark's murder. Motive - Robin could have had a motive. Rosa could have had a motive.    None of the others had a clear motive in this case, either.

So in terms of motive, then Robin and Rosa were the primary suspects.

What about means and opportunity? Anyone could have had a knife. As for walking into the dorm, well, the CCTV footage implicated Robin.

So could Robin have committed the murder in the mall? Absolutely.

It still felt incomplete, somehow. Something was missing, and Cassie couldn't figure out what it was for the life of her.

Then her exhaustion caught up with her and she fell asleep.

She was woken up, hours later, by a knock on the door. Cassie was instantly on alert. Her fruit knife was still held as evidence. There was a badminton racket in her room. It was too light to be an effective weapon, but it was probably big enough to distract someone for a second.

Someone knocked on her door again. She grabbed her racket.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Lex. There's something I need to discuss with you."

"Couldn't it be a call?"

"It could, but I think it's better if we discuss this in person."

There were several possible reasons for this, but Cassie decided to bite. She opened the door.

It was just Lex outside.

"What's the news?" asked Cassie.

"Did you know who Robin's father is?"

"No, is it a senior police officer or something?"

"No, it's worse. The guy's a senior politician. And he can hire the best lawyers."

"So he's out?" asked Cassie.

"Not yet, as far as I know, but it's a matter of time," said Lex, "and you're in danger, at least according to what Leslie said."

"But he's the suspect of a murder case, and I suspect he'd have the sense to do nothing once he gets out."

"He'd be in trouble if they find the body," said Lex, "but if you go missing, that might be different. Be careful, Cas. You might be dealing with a psychopath here."

"I can take care of myself, Lex. Just try not to move around by yourself."

"It applies to you as well," said Lex, "let's go grab dinner. I'll wait here until you get dressed."

Cassie considered it. There was no evidence in the room, and any value she had in the investigation would be in her testimony. Lex could be targeted out in the corridor. But if he was the killer - she was fairly certain he wasn't - she would be in danger.

"I need a wash. Wait in front of the dorm."

"So no one kills me in the corridor? Fine. I'll wait right in the camera's line of sight. Call me when you're leaving the room."

Cassie got dressed, met up with Lex, and went for lunch or dinner - whatever the meal was. There was little to talk about. As they were leaving, Cassie's phone rang. It was Clark.

"Robin's going to be out by tomorrow morning. We have no real evidence on him. The CCTV footage isn't conclusive. If you have any ideas, I need it now."

Cassie took a deep breath.

"It's not Rosa on the video, but it could be just about anyone who's a guy of medium height."

"So you're saying it's Phillip?"

"Nope, gait's different. I'd say it's someone he hired."

"And this person is likely still in the university premises."

"Yup."