Chapter 10
Robbie and James were seated at a café having a late lunch. The post mortem had confirmed Dr. Hobson's original hypothesis about strangulation. Beyond that, there wasn't much to go on.
They had searched Janine Cross' room and found it was partially packed. When they spoke with the roommate she didn't know why. She didn't notice it until she had gone looking for Janine the night before. The last time she had seen her was the morning before as she was leaving for class. Everything had seemed fine with Janine.
So, now they were waiting to catch her boyfriend as he left a tutorial. Robbie was looking out over the campus. James thought this might be a good time to start a conversation, "You'll never guess who I saw last night, sir."
He looked at James, "Not even going to try to guess."
"Zoe Susskin."
Robbie gave him a blank look, "Who is that?"
"You remember, she was that young girl who was in a gifted program."
Robbie nodded, "Aye, the clever clogs who put you in your place?"
James rolled his eyes, "Thanks for that sir. But, yes that is who she is."
"How is she doing," Robbie asked as he took a bit of his sandwich.
"She is doing well. She thinks she'll be back in school in the fall." James took a bite of his sandwich and waited. When Robbie didn't respond, "Sir, was that the last time you had lunch with Dr. Hobson?"
Robbie took a sip of his water and thought about it, "Yeah, I think it was."
"So, did something happen at that lunch or during the case?"
Robbie thought about it, "No, she came by the office near the end of the case and I was on the phone with Our Lyn. I tried to get her to wait and she left."
"Do you think she was mad about that?"
"No, she knew it was Our Lyn, but she did seem sad. However, I saw her the next day and she was fine, she even asked me to her house for dinner."
James paused for a moment, "Dinner at her house? How did that go sir?"
Robbie had a mouthful of sandwich he swallowed then answered. "It didn't. That was the weekend Our Lyn had that scare. I went up to Manchester. I left her a message at her house."
"And, did she ever reschedule?"
"No, come to think of it, she never mentioned it." Robbie rubbed under his eye. "I wonder why, she seemed pretty excited about it."
"Sir, did it occur to you to say something to her about rescheduling?"
Robbie looked at his watch then picked up his plate, "No, I didn't say anything because I figured she would since she did the asking in the first place. Come on, we need to go to catch the boyfriend."
James stood and grabbed his plate. "You know sir, you should probably say something to her. Try to reschedule."
"Maybe, we'll see. Let's go catch the boyfriend."
They chatted with the boyfriend and he added one piece of information to the puzzle. Apparently, Janine was not doing well in school. The last time the boyfriend saw her she was headed to a meeting with her tutor, Dr. Jack Avery.