The stairs

Chapter 13

"Why Robin, in particular?" asked Detective Clark.

Cassie thought about the question. "Maybe it's the way he walks, perhaps? Or it could be because I expected it to be him. But, given you got this video..."

"Yes, we got the video from near the convenience store. None of our suspects appeared on it."

"But, the umbrella did?"

"In the distance, yes."

This was what Cassie thought. 

"So, tell me your next theory, then," said Clark.

"The next theory is, well, whoever it was, blocked a couple of cameras on the path and disappeared from the path. It would be very easy if was done near the junction halfway down the street from here. The road branches in several directions there - the sports facilities, the cafeteria, the academic buildings, the accommodation office, a couple of other shops, and more student dorms..."

"And..."

"if you got onto the lawn unnoticed, you could go into any of the student dorms unnoticed by everything except the cameras at the entrance of that dorm."

"So he..."

"No, I don't think so," said Cassie, "if the mall is any indication, this person is quite careful."

"So how can you avoid the cameras?"

"I don't really know," Cassie was forced to admit.

"Then..."

"Look, I don't know. I have a few guesses, but given the time in question, and given it's the intersemester period, and given that the courses that are held in the intersemester have just started..."

Clark sighed. "It's alright, we're pretty much out of ideas ourselves, I just thought you might be able to help. I just thought you were observant, and, well, you tend to assume the worst. That is very useful in this situation."

Cassie thought for a moment. 

"You have more video, I assume. Could you let me and Lex see it?" she asked.

"I chose to bring you into this investigation. This is already against all the rules, so to speak. You are also one of the suspects."

"Fine, then show me the rest of the video. I might be able to figure something out," said Cassie, "that's what you want, isn't it?"

Clark chose to ignore the question. Instead, she asked the person who happened to be closest to her - a young officer - to get copies of the rest of the video. Cassie sat and waited. She would have preferred to go change into something a bit more suited to the situation, but right now, she decided against it. 

The rest of the video was bought. The umbrella left the dorm, walked up the street, past the convenience store. She moved on to the next camera - and it was blocked.

"This is blocked," said Cassie.

"And?"

"So, which one of your suspects left their dorms in the middle of the night?" asked Cassie.

"The video is right there."

So Cassie moved on to that video. She checked her dorm, and sure enough, the only one who actually left the dorm was her. That was after the incident. Then she moved on to Robin's dorm. The camera there was blocked.

"I think it's obvious that..." started Cassie, but detective Clark interrupted her.

"Watch the rest, Cassie. Don't jump into conclusions."

Cassie moved on to Rosa's dorm. The camera there was blocked as well. Next she moved on to Phillip's. That was not blocked. Beryl's was not blocked either.

"So, what do you think?" asked Clark.

"It's not Phillip, he couldn't have left the dorm, since he doesn't live on the ground floor. Beryl probably didn't do it. It doesn't fit her personality. Rosa and Robin, on the other hand - but then, given it's a man, it's almost certainly Robin," said Cassie, "Rosa is tall enough to be the person on the camera, but her figure is more feminine. I don't think she can find a pair of jeans that would disguise it."

"Then I'll arrest Robin," said Clark.

"Is there enough evidence?"

"If you will repeat everything that you told me so far, and if the forensics find anything more - and they will find something - we will have enough evidence."

"And about whatever Mark tried to give you..."

"Don't underestimate us, we'll find it. If it's a pen drive, he may have opened the files on his computer. We might be able to recover something from there. If that is the case, though, why didn't he email me the contents?"

"Maybe the file was too big?"

"I suppose that's possible. In that case, we might be looking at some video. Fine. I'll see what I can find."

"Does that mean I can go?" asked Cassie.

"Yeah, sure, in a few minutes. Go wait in the next room," said Clark. 

Cassie returned to the room. Lex shot an inquiring look at her, but she said nothing. Robin was staring out of the window. Cassie wasn't sure whether he was aware of the fact that he would be arrested soon. She sat down next to Lex.

A little while later, Detective Clark came in with several other officers. They arrested Robin for interrogation about Mark's and Lorna's murders.

Robin froze as he was. He said nothing at all - he could only stare at Clark in wonder. Two policeman approached him to handcuff him. He did not cooperate, but he did not protest, either. Finally, once the handcuffs snapped into place, he spoke.

"I would like to call a lawyer."

That was it. Cassie had expected him to at least try to say that he was innocent. There was no confession either. What was he trying to do? Sure, keeping his mouth shut would be a good idea given the amount of evidence they had, but it was not how Cassie had expected him to act. 

"Can you tell me one thing?" asked Rosa, suddenly.

Robin turned and looked at her. 

"Why? Why Mark?" 

Robin smiled  - or he came close to cracking a smile. He ignored the question completely, and let the police lead him away. Rosa sat down - or rather collapsed - on the bed. 

"Alright, you can return to your rooms now," said Clark, "any questions?"

Cassie had a few dozen, but she decided to wait until next morning. Rosa spoke up.

"Where's Mark?"

Everyone looked at her like she had gone crazy. 

"I see, so he's really dead," she said, "I'm going back to my room."