“Not a problem. It’s a misconception that we deal with all the time.”
“Yeah, good point. Sorry about that.”
She walked outside and stood in front of the pizza parlor. It was empty at the time, but, as she took a sip of her coffee, she wondered. Stepping back inside, she asked, “Hey, have you seen that guy again. Bill?”
“Now that you mention it, no. I haven’t seen him since that day you both were here last.”
She nodded and stepped back outside again. If the ice-bullet shooter was Bill, he didn’t want to show up in his same spot, and, if the five annual deaths at this intersection wasn’t about Bill either, he was doing his best to keep a low profile.
While she stood here, Rodney called. “Did you find anything?” she asked.
“The only thing I could confirm was that they were all students.”
“Which I was assuming, so I didn’t take time to verify it, but I’m glad you did.”
“Why would you assume that?”
“I don’t know, but they were all on bikes, and it seemed like a student thing to do.”
“No, you’ll find a lot of the faculty and staff there ride bikes as well. And there is a lot of staff. Don’t kid yourself. That university is a small city.”
“My bad, but our victims were all students, huh?”
“Yes. And these ones in particular are from the Faculty of Arts.”
“Okay,” she said, “thanks for covering me on that then.”
“What are you up to now?”
“I just stopped in at that pizza parlor, grabbing a coffee and asking if that Bill guy had been back again, but he hasn’t been in.”
“Either way, if he’s involved in this, he won’t want you to see him, and, if he’s not involved, you probably chased him away from his favorite haunt for now.”
“I know. I’m heading over to get answers now,” she muttered, “still looking for a connection, still looking for something that would tell us what the hell is going on.”
“And yet, we have connections. It’s just not close enough to pin anything on.”
“I know. Track any of those victims against Brandon and his crew, will you? Cross-reference everything from previous schools, parents, siblings, charges, if there are any. Look at anywhere they might have crossed paths.”
“You’re still thinking they’re connected, these repeat anniversary killings and Brandon?”
“Yeah, I know. Brandon wasn’t around five or six years ago and would have made for a younger suspect. But, the trouble is, because of the way Candy was killed, either it’s a copycat of Sally’s death or it’s a connection.”
“Either way, it’s a connection. It’s just whether it’s… Yeah, got it,” he said.
And, with that, she hung up. She walked around to her vehicle, hopped in, and went around the block, so she could hit the intersection the right way, then turned the corner and drove down to the boulevard.
As she got close to the admin building, she parked and walked in to find the Executive Assistant for the Dean, Faculty of the Arts, on the phone. Kate waited until she got off her call, held out her badge, and said that she needed to see her boss for a few moments. The woman immediately looked worried. Kate tried to reassure her. “I just need a few moments to ask him a couple questions about this trouble on campus.”
“I know he’s pretty booked, but let me go see.” She hopped up and disappeared into the room behind her. When she came back out a few minutes later, she looked more relieved. “He’ll see you now,” she said, with a bright smile to Kate.
Kate muttered, “Thanks,” as she walked past and inside the office to find Dr. Agress, sitting behind a huge desk.
He looked up, frowned. “Sorry, I don’t have very long. Hope this can be fast.”
“That’s fine. Even a few minutes for a few questions will help.”
“How can I help you?” He crossed his hands, resting them in front of him. “I have to admit I’m more accustomed to working with students. Surely this is for the UBC Legal Department to handle or maybe the Committee of Student Affairs. At least the RCMP over the VPD.”