Spare The Rod: Part III
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"I
don't think that'll be any problem at all, Dani"
Darryl said, when the sound of the alarm was heard. "What's that?"
Dani
listened for a moment. "Sounds like Biff's
alarm. The idiot's always setting it off by bumping
the car after he's set it. He'll switch it off in a sec".
They
waited patiently. The alarm persisted. Dani bit her
lower lip angrily. "Anytime now" she said, trying to use as much
restraint as possible. The alarm still persisted. "That DOES IT!" she
screamed, "I'LL KILL HIM!" marching towards the stairwell. Darryl
frowned as he watched her leave. He wouldn’t put it past her.
**
Downstairs,
she marched past the kitchen, where Tony was stirring his pasta in the pot.
"Hey,
why haven't you gone to check on that noise?" she asked him. "I'm not
the only one who's meant to do everything around here"
"It's
just Kevin at the TV.. isn't
it?" Tony asked.
Dani
marched out into the lounge room where Kevin was on the couch watching a cop
drama with the volume turned to full. Sirens and shattering glass dominated the
room and Kevin jumped in surprise when Dani grabbed
his shoulder from behind.
"TURN
IT DOWN!" she screamed at him.
"AAH!
DON'T SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT!" Kevin said, grabbing his chest.
"TURN
IT DOWN, KEVIN"
"WAIT,
I CAN'T HEAR WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, I'LL TURN IT DOWN!" he yelled back, and
used the remote to turn the volume down. The alarm sound still persisted. Kevin
frowned at the remote and turned the volume down further, but the alarm
continued at its present volume.
Suddenly
Brad burst into the lounge, breathing heavily.
"Guys"
he said, "Biff's been attacked! I think he's
dead!"
Dani
pushed past him and ran outside. There on the floor lay Biff, a quarter of his head
caved in, and blood slowly trickling into the gutter. A metal pole of about 4
feet in length was rammed through the glass of the windshield about a quarter
of the way. Dani looked down. Where Biff's left eye and forehead had been was now just a sticky
red cavity. She gagged and turned away, seeing Tony and Kevin cautiously coming
outside.
"Is
he..?" Kevin asked, nervously, raising his voice to be heard over the
alarm.
"He's
dead. Yes. I think. He'd have to be" Dani said,
feeling sick to her stomach.
"What's
going on?" Cindy said, coming to the doorway behind the others. "Oh
my!" she said in a fit of disgust when she saw the mess on the pavement.
The
alarm still persisted, and all they could do was stand there. Scott came
running out of the darkness and met the group gathered outside. "What's
going on?" he said, loudly, before seeing it for himself. "Oh Biff!" he said, dropping to his knees.
"Can't
we shut the alarm off??" Kevin said, stepping nervously forward, reaching
for the keys clenched in Biff's paw.
"No,
Kevin, you'll touch the evidence!" Dani said,
grabbing his arm and pulling him back.
"Come
on" Cindy said, grabbing Tony's arm and pulling him forward. She crouched
by the front of the car, looking away from bloody mess next to her. "You
lift the other side!"
They
both strained and lifted the top part of the car until suddenly the alarm cut
off. Cindy nodded to Tony and they both gently lowered the car again, and she
rushed into Tony's arms, shuddering.
"The
car.. thinks it's being
towed.. when you.. lift the
front bit past.. 35 degrees" she said, mechanically, shaking. Tony
thoughtfully lead her back towards the foyer opening
and the group.
"What's
going onnNN WHAT THE HELL IS ..?!"
Mikey said, jogging out of the darkness and seeing
the scene. "What have you done?!" he asked, horrified.
"US?!" Dani yelped. "We didn't do
anything!"
"What,
he did this to himself?!" Mikey asked
incredulously.
"Look,
let's just.. calm down"
Kevin begun, slowly, keeping his eyes off the carnage.
Dani
swallowed and looked at the iron bar that was wedged in the Ferrari window.
"Okay" she said, "let's just .. all go back into the lounge.. and
sit down. Security should be here soon. I hope"
The
group shuffled into the lounge and instinctively took a seat.
"We all here?" Tony asked, looking around.
"Well,
not ALL of us, of course" Scott said quietly, looking back out the foyer
door.
"Wait,
where's Lisa?" Kevin asked.
There
was a short pause. "Come on" Dani said,
"we'd better go check".
The
group hurried up the stairs, and heard Lisa's muffled screams when they emerged
on the third floor.
"LET
ME OUT OF HERE, BIFF, YOU DUMB SON OF A MEDIA
MAGNATE" she was heard to proclaim, while the room door rattled. On the
hallway floor lay the doorknob to her door, which had
been broken off. "OPEN UP THIS SECOND!"
"Lisa,
it's us! Biff's not here! Can you hear us?!" Dani called.
There
was a pause and Lisa called back. "..Yeah, I can hear you. I'm stuck in
here!"
"It's
OK, we'll get you out. Get away from the door, Lisa, we're going to bust it
down" Dan called.
"We
are?" Scott said. "Dani, don't you think we
should wait until a-"
"She's
scared, Scott, and we have a crisis on our hands.. I
can justify the damage. Come on, Tony, break the door" Dani
said, turning to Tony.
"Uh.. okay" Tony said nervously,
stepping forward. He put his shoulder against the door and rammed it gently.
Nothing happened.
"Come
on, harder!" Dani said.
"Okay.." Tony said. He stepped back, and applied his shoulder
harder. The door busted open and Tony fell in, sprawling on the floor. Lisa,
who was sitting on the bed gave a frightened yelp and hugged a pillow to her
chest.
"It's
OK, Lisa" Dani begun, quietly, "we're here
now. What happened?"
Lisa
dried her tears and nervously started her narrative. "I was, uh, just
sitting here and I heard this sound at the door, so I get up to answer it, and
the door won't open, and I hear these footsteps, and I thought it was locked or
stuck but I kept trying and trying and trying and.." was as far as she got
before bursting into tears again. "I got so scared" she said, "I
thought it was him".
"It's
OK Lisa" Cindy said, "Biff isn't.. uh.. he's not.."
Lisa
sniffed. "He's not what?" she asked, confused.
"Alive"
Brad finished. "He's not alive any more. Someone murdered him".
"MURDERED
HIM?!" yelped Lisa, squeezing the pillow tighter.
"Come
on" Kevin said, "we'd better go phone the
security people and assemble in the lounge. They're going to want to question
us".
Cindy sniffed
the air and blushed. "I uh.. I have to go off and.."
"Not
so fast" Brad said, "no one's going off anywhere until we've talked
to the police"
Dani
wrinkled her nose at the smell. "I..um..
have some good stuff you can use, Cindy" she
offered, quietly.
"How
did they murder him? Who killed him??" Lisa asked, apprehensively.
"Someone
beat his head in with an iron bar" Scott said, "it
wasn't pretty".
"Do
we have to talk about this?" Mikey asked, with
one hand on his stomach.
"We
do" Brad said, "we all do. Come
downstairs".
**
Dani
set the phone down and stared off into the darkness through the window.
"They'll be round in ten" she said, before turning back to face the
rest of the group assembled in the lounge. "But according to them, some
new infra-vision camera thing they have has detected only three people
wandering in our area of campus in the last hour, and motion activated lights
prevent anyone getting in from the exterior of the University itself. Darryl
can vouch for all the members of his floor so.."
"So.. the three people wandering the
campus are me, Scott and Mikey" Brad said.
Dani
nodded. "And given no one from the SECOND floor could have done this.." Dani continued.
Lisa
gasped. "It was one of us??"
"It
had to have been" Dani said, sadly. "One of.. us".
Everyone
begun to speak at once, but Kevin raised his voice to quieten
them down.
"Guys,
GUYS.. Dani's right. We'd better..uh ..
go over our movements of the last twenty minutes or
so, get our stories straight".
"Hey,
who made YOU the investigator?" Scott asked.
"I'm
not" Kevin said, "but while we're talking about it, what were YOU
doing outside?"
"Yeah"
Dani said, "you said you were going to go see if
you could see Biff arriving. Well, someone certainly saw him..
when they killed him".
"Hey,
hey, I DIDN'T kill Biff" Scott said, holding up his hands, "the guy
was a prick and he screwed up my dating chances with some campus women, but I
didn't KILL him!"
"You
still haven't said where you were.." Kevin
observed.
"Okay,
okay, I went downstairs to check whether he'd got back yet, as Dani asked. And when I didn't see him back, I went off and.."
"And?" Brad asked.
"Went
to try and get a date with Kim"
"Kim
is Biff's girlfriend!" Kevin said. "..was his girlfriend, I mean" he finished, sullenly.
"I
know, I know! I figured I'd get my revenge on Biff that way, get
around with his girl behind his back" Scott said, nervously wiping his
hands on his singlet front.
"So
Kim can make an alibi with you, say you were with her at the time of the
crime?" Tony asked.
"Well.. no. I, uh, didn't actually see
her. I was going to, but I changed my mind and turned back. But I DIDN'T commit
any murder, you have to believe me on that" Scott finished.
"We
don't have to believe you on anything" Brad said, "if you haven't any
evidence to back it up".
"Well,
what about YOU, you were out wandering the campus too, weren't you?" Scott
asked heatedly.
"Well,
sure, I was going off camping. I hadn't got far away when I heard the car alarm
go off. It kept going, so I hurried back to see if I could catch the guy, when
I saw Biff, lying there. I rushed inside and got the others at once". Brad
replied.
"Got
anyone to verify that?" Scott asked.
"Well
no, I don't" Brad said, "but I didn't murder the guy".
"How
about you, Mikey, what were you doing?" Dani said, trying to turn the conversation.
"I
was off jogging. I always go jogging on Friday night, right up until ten"
he finished.
"Biff
was murdered at around ten, you know" Kevin put in.
"Yeah,
well, I was off jogging at the time" Mikey
replied snootily.
There
was a pause.
"You
got here a bit after ten though, didn't you, Mikey?"
Cindy asked hesitantly.
"Yes,
I.. uh.. was
a bit behind schedule. I broke my routine" Mikey
said, sheepishly.
"You
BROKE your SCHEDULE!" Scott said, pointing. "Trying to fit a bit of
extra murdering into it??"
"What?
No!" Mikey said, horrified.
"It
would have taken a lot of strength to hit Biff in the head like that, Mikey" Scott said, "and ramming a pole through a windshield
is no easy feat either"
"How
would you know, have you tried it before? Recently?"
Mikey challenged back.
"I've
already accounted for myself, now it's your turn" Scott said.
"Guys,
we're starting to lose control, we can't fight among ourselves" Lisa said,
quietly.
Mikey
sighed. "I was going to quit jogging and come back to have it out with
Biff for destroying my notes. But.. I changed my mind
on the way back and went back to my jogging, so I had to go overtime to make up
for lost time"
"So
you say.." Brad said.
"Yeah,
and so YOU say" said Mikey. "A pole's an
unusual kind of weapon, and there you are on campus with your camping kit. I
wonder how many tent poles you have right now, and if you're missing one, Brad?"
"I
have them all" Brad said dismissively.
"Oh yeah?" Mikey said. "Prove it!"
"I
don't have to prove anything to you or anyone" Brad said, "but I'll
DO so just to show you how stupid you've been". He picked up his camping bag
off the ground from where he got it and took out his tent. There were two poles
there.
"See?"
Brad said.
"Well,
how many poles are they MEANT to be?" Mikey
asked skeptically.
"Two!"
Brad exclaimed, exasperated.
"Well,
we can check up on it, because you're not going to be believed until you
assemble the tent here and now and show us it only requires two poles to put it
up!" Mikey said, folding his arms.
"Put
it up now?! What are you, stupid? How am I going to nail the pegs into the
carpet?"
"Guys!" Kevin said, stepping between the two. "I've seen Brad's tent
before, and it takes two poles, so let's just stop
this stupid argument now. Back to getting down where everyone was, I was in the
foyer watching TV the whole time".
"Got
anyone to validate that?" Mikey asked him.
"No"
Kevin said, "watching TV isn't a team sport. I can tell you everything
that happened in the movie, though".
"Was
it the first time you'd seen the movie though, Kevin?" Dani
asked him.
"Well .. no. I HAD seen it before,
sure" Kevin begun, uneasily, "but you have to believe me! I didn't
leave the lounge!"
"Hmm"
said Scott skeptically, "he WAS there when I went through".
"Hey,
we can corroborate something" Tony said, "Kevin, what time did Scott
go through the lounge?"
"Uh.." Kevin begun, "I um..
I was kinda into the show. I didn't..
actually notice that Scott had passed through. You
know, the couch faces away from the door and I had the volume up high.." he said, his voice trailing off.
"In
other words, anyone from the inside could have snuck through and done the thing
and you wouldn't have known about it" Brad said, folding his arms,
"and me, Scott and Mikey aren't the only
suspects"
"Well,
sure, I suppose" Kevin said.
"I
was in the kitchen stirring the pasta the whole time" Tony said, as
everyone turned to him.
"Got
anyone to corroborate it?" Dani asked him.
"Well,
Kevin was there at the beginning but then he left so ..
no. No, I don't" Tony answered.
"If
you stopped stirring the pasta for more than a minute, the heat would make it
stick to the bottom of the pot you know, Tony, perhaps we can check on
that" Kevin offered.
"Oh no! The PASTA!" Tony yelled, rushing
into the kitchen. He came out a moment later holding a pot that had a large
black charred mass in the bottom.
"I
uh.. left it on the stove
when we all.. uh... the water must've evaporated
off.." Tony said, embarrassed.
"Wouldn't
have been a decent proof anyway" Mikey said,
"a minute would have been all it would have taken
to slip outside, murder Biff and duck back in again. Not that I'm saying you
did, of course" he added.
"Oh,
so you cut HIM some slack and not me, huh?" Scott asked, turning on Mikey.
"Not
now, guys" Dani said, tiredly. "I was
talking to Darryl, the second floor R.A. at the time of the incident, just so
you know".
"Corroboration at last!" Kevin said, throwing up his hands
in mock relief.
"I
can also corroborate for the time that Scott left me, which was... around
"Did
you see me come down to the floor?" Cindy asked.
"Uh..."
Dani scrunched up her eyes in concentration. "..nnno. Sorry, Cindy, I
didn't".
"I
did" Scott said, "she was just entering the
second floor as I was leaving it".
"What
were you doing on the second floor?" Kevin asked Cindy curiously.
"I
uh.. had a problem.. with .. personal aroma" Cindy
said, delicately. Tony leant over and took a light sniff. "Seems okay to
me" he said, quietly.
"Oh
no, I showered before I.. wait
a second.. Dani, didn't you say before you thought I
still.. um.. nevermind. I was on the third
floor with Lisa until a little after
"How
long were you showering for?" Mikey asked.
"Um,
I don't remember" Cindy said, blushingly, "I was somewhat.. thorough" she said as
though revealing an indiscretion. "And I didn't have my watch on, of
course"
"Did
Dani see you leave the shower?" Brad asked,
looking at them both.
"No,
I didn't, but I was kinda into the conversation I was
having - I didn't see her enter the floor either" Dani
said. "And I was facing down the hall, Darryl had
his back to that direction so he wouldn't know any further on the matter
himself".
"Anyway,
I finished freshening up and redressed and came out and I heard this noise, so
I came downstairs and met you all". Cindy finished, folding her hands on
her knees.
"So
you didn't go back up to the third floor?" Brad asked her.
"No"
said Cindy, "I didn't. If I would have, I probably would have discovered
Lisa banging on the door and let her out, or caught Biff at it anyway"
"Are
we even sure it was Biff who came into the building and locked Lisa in?"
Kevin asked. "He was next to his car with his keys in his hand, and his
case of beer was next to him. If he'd come in already, he would have at least
set down his beer case before going out again".
"Unless
he was taking the beer to a party" Scott put in.
"I
suppose, yes" Kevin responded.
At that
moment Sullivan, DeMontford's Head of Security walked
in. "We'll keep this quick" Sullivan said, "because it's
important to get everyone's statements before they've had a chance to make
mistakes or alter their stories. Firstly, I've examined the corpse, and it's of
Pervical Kingston, who is a resident here. He's been
hit in the head with a large metal pole, approximate length four and a half
feet, injury sustained to left eye and upper forehead. The blow's remarkably
powerful, indicating strength" he finished, glancing around the room,
"meaning we're going to want statements on the movements of you, you, you and .. you" looking at Tony,
Brad, Scott and Mikey in turn.
"We
also found these at the scene" he said, holding up a plastic bag
containing two latex gloves. "Which I'm informed are
standard DeMontford science lab equipment, so any of
you people who're science majors are going to want to let me know"
"I'm
working on Med Studies, Officer" Tony cut in, "and Mikey's a physics major. Scott's a
maths major which is a science, but I don't think he
uses gloves." Scott glared at Tony with a
no-thanks-to-you-for-the-implication way.
“And
that’s all?” Sullivan said, glancing around the room.
“No,
Tony forgot someone” Dani said. Tony sat up and
darted a puzzled look at Dani. “Kevin’s an Engineering major” she added.
“Oh,
whoops” Tony said, slumping back onto the couch. “Yeah, Kevin’s a science major
too”.
“We use
the labs, but we don’t use gloves” Kevin put in.
"Hmm"
said Sullivan, noting it down in his notepad, "you’d
still have the chance to get them there, though. Now, moving on, the death
stroke being to the left side of the face, a right handed killer is implicated.
Are any of you lefties?"
"I
am" said Brad. "And I'm a Law major, not a Science one before you
ask"
"Okay"
Sullivan said, noting it down, "of course, it's still POSSIBLE for you to
have done it, if you stood so you didn't face directly towards the deceased,
but it's important for me to frame my enquiry at this point in time. No one's
off the hook yet. No one." he repeated, casting an even gaze along the
room.
"Anyone
outside at around the time of death?" he asked.
"I
was, as was Scott and Mikey" Brad said. Scott
now shot his wounded glare at Brad. Everyone else seemed keen to list him as
one of the implicated.
"Hmm.." Sullivan said, making a few more notes. "Okay,
now all of you tell me your version of where you were from..
say,
"The
police have been notified, of course," Sullivan said after he had
finished, "and they'll be taking a separate statement of their own. These
statements in turn will be checked, even checking with this other Residential
Assistant to see if your Residential Assistant is really off the hook as her
testimony seems to say, but in the meantime, no one's to make any unscheduled
trips out of town or anything. You can continue to go to your classes, but all
your teachers and supervisors will be informed of your position and you won't
be required to pursue your studies any further until the investigation is
successfully brought to a close. Are there any other questions?"
"Yes"
said Kevin, "is there going to be a live-in
security guard or something here? What if this killer strikes again?"
"We
think this to be unlikely, but we'll post a guy at the end of the third floor
corridor as a precaution. But we doubt it, I mean, given all you've said this
Percival guy's been up to, I'm personally not surprised something like this
happened. Off the record, of course, I mean. On the record I'm deeply saddened
about this tragic end of our college's most revered sporting legends and model
students" Sullivan allowed himself a small, wry smile. "Caught
the guy stamping on bikes parked outside the library one evening.
Stopped him and he told me his dad was going to have me fired. And the guy
tried, too. But hey, one of us's still around
now". Lisa let out a small whimper, and Cindy tenderly stroked her hair.
"Oh, sorry" Sullivan said, "I forgot myself. Please disregard my
distasteful statements. Stress of the job. Never had a
student murdered before and no man is an island, etc etc".
And
with that, he gestured for the other security guards to leave. They did, and he
turned to have one last word to them before he went.
"If
any of you comes up with anything, ANYthing,
don't hesitate to let me know. Evidence, I mean, not theories. I got plenty of
theories. Sleep well".
He
turned on his heel and strode out. It was going to be a Hell of a report to
type up.
End of Part III, End of Evidence.
Now
it's down to you. Go onto the Solution when you’re ready to find out the Truth.
It’ll be available in a week.
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Part II