50 Words For Murder

chapter 5 : manslaughter

manslaughter

manslɔːtə/

noun

the crime of killing a human being without malice aforethought

Louis could tell his professor wasn't pleased when he called to say he wouldn't be attending the day's class. Nobody really attended class after Halloween, anyway. Besides, he wasn't just skipping, he was attending a murder investigation.
"Tell me everything, Mr. Horan," said Detective Brooks. They were sitting in a cramped-up cubicle at the college bar. The staff of the bar who were cleaning the previous night's mess ocassionally shot glares at Niall who had conviniently skipped work last night. "From the day you met her to what happened after."

Louis glanced at Niall. The Irish charmer looked grim and his eyes were bloodshot. All the boys looked sheenless due to lack of sleep. Louis observed Harry texting frantically - probably informing a classmate regarding his absence. Zayn, however looked thoughtful. Louis would ask him what was on his mind later. He shot a grin to Liam who was squeezing Niall's hand in comfort.

"Well," said Niall. "I was working a shift here in the bar three days ago when I first saw Cassie. She came here with a group of friends. I was their waiter that night. Then Zayn here came to visit so I spoke to him for a while. I noticed Cassie leave, so I went up to her and took down her number for a date."

"Go on." said the detective.

"We never really spoke the day after that," said Niall. "But she texted me that night saying she wanted to attend the Halloween party with me. So I took her to the party and that was where we got acquainted properly."

"Did you know, at the time, that she was the daughter of your principal?" questioned Brooks. Louis looked guilty at that. If he had known what had happened, he would've warned Niall beforehand.

"No, I didn't," said Niall. His thick accent sounded weird without its cheer. "She introduced herself to me as Cassie Springfield, a Literature student at Oakwood."
"What happened after that?" asked Brooks.

"Well, we made arrangements to meet at the party," explained Niall. "I introduced her to these guys and then we headed out. We wanted to go to some place quiet to..ahem..we wanted to go to some place quiet. So we were walking back to my place when she told me she wanted to tell me a secret."
"A secret?"

"Yeah," said Niall, tired. "That she was being stalked by some guy and was scared that he would come after her. I assured her she was safe with me but she looked afraid, I didn't know what to do."

"After that, she suggested we walk down the horse riding trail a bit so she could calm down. I agreed. We were walking...and then I woke up to four police offers yelling at me and no clue where I was."

"What time did you leave the bar, Mr. Horan?" asked Detective Brooks.

"He left at 9:50," said Harry. Everyone turned to him, surprised. "I remember because I texted him after he left saying I was upset he ditched me."
Louis groaned. He couldn't believe Harry was still thinking about that.
"And I got the call at 10:15," said Zayn, suddenly. "Which means Niall was hit sometime in between those two time frames."

Detective Brooks gave a questioning glance to Zayn.
"I'm writing a murder mystery thriller," said Zayn, as though it explained everything.
"Did Ms. Cowell reveal any details about this stalker?" asked Detective Brooks.
"Nope, not much," said Niall. "Just that he had been bothering her for about a week now."
"She particularly said it was a male stalker?"

"Uh, yeah." said Niall. The detective nodded. She then pulled out a card from her pocket.
"We're done for today," she said. "We'll keep in touch with you. In the meanwhile, call us if you remember anything."

So saying, she left the bar premises.

"That sounded more like a warning than a request to me," observed Louis. "Cops are so full of themselves."

"Says you," said Harry. He turned away. "Are you okay, Niall?"
He looked pale and grim. "I don't remember anything from last night."
"Last night was a blur to us, too, pal," said Liam. Niall shot a questioning glance.
"Why don't we get showered and look like normal human beings before we discuss matters further?" said Louis. "We can meet at Niall's dorm after freshening up."
The boys disbanded and went on seperate paths. Liam decided to accompany Niall as it would be tedious for him to go back to his own university.

Little did they realize that from a distance, they were being watched.