The Masqueraded

7

Wes couldn't help finding Stefan a little odd. A transfer student who enrolled in College just a few days ago being so interested in this whole turn of events was all a bit unreal.

This whole scenario was strange, no matter how many times she tried to reason it out in her head. She sometimes wondered if she was hallucinating. Then she'd read the unofficial testimony which was lying on Detective Quinn's table the other day and she had contemplated if she was going crazy. If all of them were.

The words of the letter were resonating in Wes' mind;

'When I came back to the office, the door was half  open. I stepped into the room and it was Semi-dark. I found it a bit strange, I mean it was mid afternoon and someone had drawn all the blinds and when I tried to put on the light someone grabbed my waist from behind me and put a hand over my mouth. I wouldn't have shouted anyway, I was so surprised I think I froze. I was sure I  didn't see him when I entered the room. He might have been standing close to the door. I don't understand why I didn't see him! He kicked the door behind him with his foot and then he reached for something on Mr. Rothman's table. He was throwing everything on to the floor in a hurry. His hand was covering my mouth so tightly I couldn't shout for help even if I wanted to. Then he took something and jammed it into my shoulder. The pain was unbearable I thought he was going to kill me. He kept twisting it into me. It was so painful. I don't remember anything else.

Wes leaned back against the porch, her insides clenched at the mere thought of what she'd read in the paper. She couldn't tell her friends just yet because she probably wasn't supposed to read it at all. She found it extremely disturbing and wouldn't want to relate it to them anyway.

She looked absentmindedly at everyone around her. Everyone looked as rattled as she was. They'd met up that afternoon at Kira's summer house and she couldn't believe her ears when Detective Quinn had asked Stefan to join them at Kira's summerhouse until 'the whole thing was taken care of'.

Stefan was an interesting visitor, both polite and elegant, he was now doing something on his laptop and had his hand draped over Wags, Kira's little golden retriever. He seemed like a nice person, but he also was the only transfer student who was actively working on the case with Detective Quinn, while the other two were probably being severely monitored and had no clue of what was happening. That was what got Wes thinking that it would be too risky, what if he was pretending to be good so that he could get inside information and stay below the radar?

Ru, on the other hand, was contemplating the same about the guy she saw at the cafeteria. They didn't know anything about him and plus he looked a bit out of place himself.

Breaking the silence, Detective Quinn walked out on to the porch,

'I just got a call from Leopold', she said, sitting down next to Kira on the floor, cross legged, 'he says she just got out of hospital and went home. Her parents were making a fuss it seems'. Her shoulders drooped, 'looks like Alan will be facing a bit of a dilemma, Cassie's parents want her to change the College for her safety. I can't say I blame them but it won't be good for the College'.

Everyone looked at her curiously.

'It won't be a good thing for the investigation too', Mavis added, 'It's true that she's told everything she knows about this, but we need her to verify things for us in the future'.

'If this person is actually in the College, then maybe she'll remember something about him. Something could trigger her memory', Mel added thoughtfully.

Bella Quinn was actually impressed with them, she gave an approving nod,

'Makes sense, thank you guys. I will be going over the documents, meanwhile you guys stay put. All of you better get home now before it's too late. I don't want your parents to worry', she said, as she closed her laptop and slid it into the bag.