Something Wicked ✅ (Excerpt)

Chapter 6

Daisy frowned as she stared at the screen of her laptop, going over her last story for this issue. She was still annoyed by President Cunningham. While she had to admit the college president had given her a bit more information in their meeting that day than she expected, she didn't like that all police updates now went through her office.

Adding in a middle man was never good. It meant that Daisy was unlikely to get all the information. She didn't trust the college administration to be forthcoming. They'd hold back stuff on the off chance it made Carleton State look bad. As if having a student murdered just off campus in front of an already troublesome fraternity wasn't bad enough. And well, the fact that said killer was still out there somewhere.

The interview with the president that morning had lasted about an hour, with Cunningham going over the ins and outs of new security protocols. The woman had practically gloated about how they were not about to skimp when it came to student safety, which didn't impress Daisy, to say the least. The president had put on a similar show last year in the aftermath of the frat story. But she bit her tongue in the beginning, and let Cunningham speak. Campus patrols had been increased. They were pushing to get the students to use a buddy system - namely, no one was to be walking around after dark alone. Also campus shuttles were now running all night. And then some more. While most of the things were good, Daisy found them to be common sense and let a snide remark sneak out that some of it should have already been implemented. That had gotten her a glare, though Cunningham continued and then sent her off with a clipped, "That's all, Ms. Lowder."

The trip to the police station before that hadn't been any more enlightening. Anders wouldn't let her sit in with Nora - which Daisy had expected - and when she had pushed him for more information afterwards, he sent her off with gruff instructions to talk to President Cunningham.

The rest of the day had flown by in a blur of class, interviews and scrambling to get her articles finished up before deadline. All thoughts of classwork were completely out the window for now.

Daisy sighed as she sat back in her chair a moment, and then sent the article off to layout, knowing Amy would edit it on the page. Finally she was finished and probably should go home and either sleep or work on homework, but couldn't seem to bring herself to. Music was playing loudly from the room their designers used and she could hear Amy barking out orders. Daisy probably should be in there as well helping with proofs, but Amy was much better at these things and was giving her a break this issue, wanting her solely focused on Tara's story.

Pushing out of her chair, Daisy walked over to the front door and stepped out, feeling like she could use some air. The night was still and quiet except for the crickets. Walking over, she fell down into a wicker chair on the front porch and watched the empty street, her mind wondering. She thought over her interview with Ashley again, seeing Tara's room and her things. The following interviews with her other friends, which were full of tears and stories. The residual effects of stepping into Tara Smith's life clung to her mind.

Daisy couldn't get the image of her bright smile out of her head. Tara hadn't deserved this. No one did. While police investigations took time, Daisy couldn't help her growing frustration. Yea, it had only been a few days, but surely they would have found something useful by now. Or maybe they had and just hadn't shared it publicly yet. She hoped that was the case.

Someone had viciously beaten this young woman to death. Regardless of what the police knew, someone else out there knew something. They had to. She just needed to find them.

Daisy's body stiffened as she saw a dark form moving down the street, shoulders hunched slightly. For a moment, she froze, watching the figure and unable to move at all. She then cursed herself for leaving her pepper spray in her purse inside. Finally, her eyes darted around, finding there was absolutely no one else around. Holding her breath, she finally managed to regain the use of her limbs, pushing up out of the chair.