The Last Case

Chapter 6| A Clue Discarded

Nancy leapt forward before turning around to investigate the source of the crash, only to find what looked like a couch cushion to be laying across the pavement. How something that looked so soft be the source of such a startling loud clatter was beyond even Nancy's deductive skills. She went over to take a closer look, being careful not to step into the field of vision of the search party above her. They must've been the ones that dropped it.

Nancy carefully edged her foot over to the corner of the cushion and tried to drag it towards herself. To her surprise, it wouldn't budge. Taking a deep breath and hoping that the search crew wasn't looking to drop any more heavy objects directly overhead, Nancy stuck the top half of her body out into the open and dragged the cushion thing towards herself.

After looking at it straight on, Nancy figured that this piece of couch looked more like the headboard from a bed. She reached into her purse and pulled out a slim white binder and pressed it up against the entirety of the headboard surface to make sure that the headboard didn't contain anything sharp that could prod her bare hands. This process was going smoothly until Nancy turned over the headboard and ran the hard binder against the side—there was something sharp in there after all !

With the excitement of an enthusiast and the skill of a pro, Nancy pulled out a plastic baggie out of her shirt pocket and carefully wedged out the sharp object with ease.

It was a box cutter.

"Why would someone want to conceal a box cutter in their bed?" thought Nancy after slipping it into her bag for further investigation.

It sounded like the search party were starting to make less of a racket now and were making their way down the stairs in order to search the next building. To avoid being seen sneaking around the crime scene, Nancy quickly ran her hand around the headboard one last time and stuck her hand into the slit where the box cutter was previously placed. She came up short.

* * *

By the time Nancy got back to the main campus she realized how rash she was being concealing evidence from the authorities. She sighed. Part of growing up was letting the authorities do their jobs and stay out of it.

And so reluctantly, Nancy reached for her phone and found the non-emergency police number for her school's division.

Dialling the number she walked under a nearby tree and made sure she was out of earshot of any students nearby.

"North Division. Constable Huever speaking."

"Hi, I'm Nancy Drew, a student from Gilmont University and I just stumbled across some evidence that might be important in regards to your current investigation with the death of a Gilmont student."

Static of police radios could be heard from the other line before Constable Huever responded. "You stumbled across some evidence?"

"Well yes—"

"And where did you stumble across this evidence?"

Nancy paused, deciding not to reveal that she'd been snooping around the search party earlier. "Just under dorm building 4C."

Another pause. "Okay Nancy, come down to the station with this vital evidence," the constable said sarcastically before telling her the station's address.

Minutes later, Nancy walked into the bustling station with her box cutter safely tucked into her purse and her overview of the case safely tucked in her mind.

"Hi, I'm Nancy Drew, I called earlier and spoke to Constable Huever," she said walking up to one of the receptionist windows.

The receptionist motioned behind him and Nancy followed his gesture to a window with a clear, black plaque reading "CST Huever".

"Hi, I'm Nancy Drew, the Gilmont student that spoke to you earlier on the phone."

The slender woman behind the glass took her time rifling through some papers before closing the drawer and turning her cold gaze towards Nancy. "Ah yes, you had some vital evidence for us."

Nancy smiled and produced the neatly wrapped box cutter in a plastic bag and slid it under the window. "I found this in what seemed like a broken headboard just under one of the underpasses at dorm building 4C." She watched Cst. Huever examine the box cutter. "It was around 11 o'clock when I came across it tucked away in this headboard which was near an area of interest pertaining to the crime scene because— "

"Listen," interrupted Cst.Huever, while tucking an invisible hair back into her tight, raven-black bun. "What interests me is what you know about this incident. Are you a friend of the deceased?"

"Well no, but I—"

"So what gives you the impression that we are treating this death as a crime?" she interrupted once more.

"Well I might have observed a search party in action, Constable."

"Might have?" Cst.Huever was growing more and more impatient.

"And all of our dormitory locks are being re-keyed, which leads me to believe that this accident has happened as a result of some sort of break in. A robbery attempt maybe?" Nancy spoke quickly in fear of being interrupted again.

Cst.Huever sighed and twirled the box cutter around her hand. "Nancy, was it? What you have observed are just standard accident prevention procedures that are set in place by the policy makers of your school. With that said, you seem like a reasonably bright and interesting girl. I would advise you not to worry yourself with such dark ideas; especially not with your orientation in two days! I assure you, as unfortunate as this accident with one of your peers is, it really is none of your concern and if you find yourself faced with any more of these rash ideas, you'll do well with seeing a Gilmont guidance councillor."

Nancy smiled and thanked the Constable for her time. Trying to hide her visible disappointment she walked out of the station and thought she heard the Constable throwing away the box cutter she'd found in the trash.

But before she could walk down a few blocks and think of what to do next, Nancy heard the door of the station fling open behind her and a frantic voice shout out, "Wait! Nancy Drew?"