“Because that is my permanent address.”
In a way that made sense, but it also made it much harder to contact her immediately. “So, where are you staying on campus?” And. with that, she had to go back through all six of them again and write down their student housing addresses.
“We don’t want you coming up to our rooms,” one of the guys grumbled.
“I don’t want to, and, if your information checks out, then it’s not a problem, is it?”
“I still don’t understand what you’ll check out,” said the first woman, puzzled.
“Just to make sure your stories line up.”
“But we didn’t kill her.”
“Yeah, you say that, and yet somebody did. And it’s my job to find out who did. However inconvenient that may be.” With that, she gave them a cheerful smile. “Have a nice day.” As she took off, she heard them muttering behind her. She walked across the street again to talk to Rodney.
He asked, “Did you piss them off?”
“What a bunch of smart-asses. They didn’t figure they had to answer any questions and don’t understand what they could possibly have done wrong.”
“They could have stayed at the damn scene of the crime and told us about what they’d seen,” he muttered.
“They could have, but, you know, they were busy, with pizza on their minds, and they didn’t want to waste any of their time on something so minor.” He shook his head at that. She sighed. “And honestly, I don’t know if it was anything more than that. People handle stress very differently, and they were further proof.”
“Did you get any vibes off them?”
“You mean, ugly vibes? Yeah, a couple. One of the females had been pretty aggressive, and one of the males—Brandon—was definitely somebody I’d like to knock down a peg or two.”
Rodney snorted at that. “Remember. You’re not supposed to be fighting or getting in trouble.”
“So you say.” She smiled. “That doesn’t mean they didn’t need it.”
“No, it probably doesn’t. That doesn’t change the fact that it doesn’t progress our case though.”
“And that part pisses me off,” she muttered.
“Of course nobody saw anything. And, if it happened fast, and a silencer or whatever was used, you can understand it.”
“I can.” She studied the building across the street. “I’ll head back over there and check to see if anybody has security cameras. I can’t see anything specifically, but I’m hoping maybe somebody does.”
“You go do that. I’ll stick around and see who’s still hanging around, watching the proceedings.”
“Which is another reason I wanted to get names of everybody who was here,” she said.
“And we probably didn’t get everybody.”
“No, I’m sure we didn’t. And, if anybody here was watching the results of his handiwork, he’s probably long gone, but you never know,” she muttered. She had seen it happen time and time again. And still, only so much one could do about it.
*
Meanwhile Simon St.Laurant had started his day early, as usual, and knocked on the door. He was down in one of the alleys he knew well. Although he’d been here several times, knocking on this door made him feel odd. When it opened, just barely a crack, he smiled and handed over a roll of bills. A smile lit up the face on the other side.
“Simon, thank you,” she said quietly.
He shrugged. “Maybe it will keep somebody safe for a little bit longer.”
“It will,” she said. “It seems, right now, donations are hard come by.”
He nodded. “It’s not an easy time for anybody these days.”