Page 24 of M for Murder

The only thing that didn’t add up was that both Jim and Pete were certain that Scott hadn’t left his room on the evening of his disappearance. The two of them had been in the dorm until almost half ten and, when they’d called on Scott and asked him if he wanted to go for a drink with them, he’d answered the door dressed only in his boxer shorts, claiming he felt too hungover to bother. His hangover must have passed because he had left the campus at some point. It did seem strange though how no one had seen him.

Lots of questions, but no answers, Joel was thinking as they left the college later that afternoon. As they crossed the parking lot, the cellular phone inside the car started to beep. Joel unlocked the door and picked it up.

‘Hickok.’

He recognised Max’s voice, ‘Hey, buddy, it’s me.’

‘What’s up? Did you find anything?’

When Max finished talking, Joel hung up the phone. He glanced at Angell. ‘Looks like they’ve got a body,’ he said quietly.

Her eyes widened. ‘Emma Keeley?’

Joel shook his head. ‘No. It was another guy.’

She looked almost relieved. ‘Another student?’

‘Probably. He had the initial.’

‘K?’

‘No. L.’

Angell looked confused. ‘But what about K?’

Joel gave a humourless smile. ‘Well, I guess either we haven’t found her yet, or we’re dealing with a killer who doesn’t know his alphabet.’

7

J ustine waited in the cafeteria until the cop left Lawrie’s classroom. Although he didn’t wear a uniform, she knew he was a cop because of his officious manner and the way he watched everything. He had watched her too. She knew it. Back in the classroom when she had been collecting her books, wishing that the lesson hadn’t passed so quickly and damning the cop for being there, because if he wasn’t she could find an excuse to stay, she had felt his eyes on her, and they had stayed on her right up until the moment she had left the room.

She wondered why he was there. Was Lawrie in some kind of trouble? Her heartbeat had quickened with horror at the very thought. What if he was arrested and couldn’t tutor her English class anymore?

In the back of her mind she knew that she was panicking unnecessarily. The cop was likely there about Scott Jagger’s murder. The whole campus had been buzzing with gossip for much of the past week. From various sources, Justine had heard that he’d been shot by a drug dealer to whom he owed money, that he’d been beaten to death by a gang who’d been trying to mug him and that some weird sex killer had strangled him. There were so many rumours flying around that no one knew quite what to believe.

The second cop, this one in uniform, pretty much confirmed her suspicions of why they were there. She was sitting in the larger of the two college cafeterias talking with a second-year student, Mandy, or something, Tyson. Her last name was always easy to remember because it was the same as the boxer.

Feeling curious, Justine bought a hot chocolate and pulled up a chair at the next table.

The cop was young enough that she could possibly pass as a senior, and she was pretty with long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and a friendly face. Her attention was completely focused on Mandy Tyson, who was talking as the cop took notes.

Justine wasn’t sure what Mandy had to do with Scott Jagger’s death that would warrant her being questioned. Maybe they knew each other, though she couldn’t recall ever having seen them together. She strained to hear what Mandy was saying, but the girl was talking quietly, obviously not wanting to be overheard, and she was only able to pick up on odd words and sentences. After a few minutes had passed, she realised they were talking about Emma Keeley.

Now that was a name Justine was familiar with; in fact it was a name probably every student in the college knew. To say Emma Keeley was popular would be an understatement.

She was clever, confident and very pretty. Even prettier than Kylan Parker, and that was saying something. Although she wasn’t a part of the childish in-crowd, she did have a lot of boyfriends and was always surrounded by a large group of friends.

Justine knew that if she was as pretty and popular as Emma Keeley, she wouldn’t have any trouble whatsoever getting Lawrie Parker’s attention.

She wondered how come Mandy and the cop were talking about Emma. Did she have something to do with Scott Jagger’s death? Come to think of it, she couldn’t recall having seen Emma around campus over the past couple of days. Maybe she and Scott had been secret lovers and she had gone home to mourn him. Or perhaps she had something to do with his murder and had left town to avoid the police. Both possibilities, although far-fetched, were pretty intriguing: one of the most popular students on the campus involved in the sordid murder of a college football player.

Her mind working overtime, Justine didn’t hear Luke Williams approaching. It wasn’t until he actually sat down in the seat opposite her that she became aware of his presence.

‘Daydreaming?’ he asked with a smile, as he attacked the ring pull on his can of Coke.

Luke Williams was Justine’s on-off boyfriend, had been for the past six months. Justine had met him at one of the first student parties she had attended, and she had to admit they did get on well. She liked him, he made her laugh, and he was fun to hang out with. Best of all, he didn’t put any pressure on her for a heavy relationship.

He wasn’t Lawrie, though, and over the past couple of weeks Lawrie had been the only guy on Justine’s mind.