Chapter 7 - More Troubling Information
"Alright," Joe's voice brought Frank back to the present from his wandering thoughts. "That's two for two," he said quietly as they both walked back to the main lab located in the next building for their next class. "Feels like we just survived a couple of mad dashes over a yard full of landmines. Congratulations, brother."
Frank chuckled. Joe did have a point. The two meetings had been intense and dangerous in their own way. "Yeah. You too."
The rest of the meal - after they were done with the recruiting speech - with the Hyenas had been actually nice, Frank had to admit. They had shared a number of remarkable stories about Lincoln and its proud sports history with them, with a heavy dose of jokes, insults and insanely funny stories about themselves. At the end of the break, he and Joe parted ways with their new friends after thanking them for the good time, promising to keep an open eye and not to get too involved with anyone in a hurry.
"Hey, Joe, why do you think we are so popular on our first day with all these people?"
"I don't know," his brother shrugged, scanning the corridor as they walked. Frank did the same to make sure there was no one close by to hear what they were saying to each other. "Probably our magnificent aura and the animal attraction," Joe said with a straight face.
"Let's hope so," Frank snorted, drawing out a mischievous grin from Joe. "I feel like we're already caught in the middle of a territory war or something."
'Two poor little lambs caught in the middle of a bunch of Hyenas and Vipers," Joe mumbled, with a full-body shudder. "I'm starting to wonder what the hell we have gotten ourselves into, Frank."
"I don't know," Frank grimaced. "I almost wish we had a bank robber or a kidnapper chasing us around waving a gun instead."
"You know, I agree with you. At least, we know where we stand with that type of uncomplicated and honest law breakers."
Frank followed Joe into the well-equipped laboratory where they had practical lessons in Forensic Investigations for the next hour with Professor Kate Wellington. She was already there, arranging slides for the microscopes that were set up on the tables.
According to the notes on the board, they had a group activity planned. They had to get into groups of four and try to identify the sources of the samples and write down the identifying markers they used to differentiate them into relevant categories.
The lab was almost full and the students seemed to have separated themselves into fours already. Frank looked around, trying to find a spot where he and Joe could join in the activity while his brother continued to glare at the board.
"Well, Frank," he muttered softly. "I sure hope you still remember how to tell cat piss apart from human piss, because I can't."
They had participated in a few conferences before, sometimes with their dad and sometimes on their own, about the importance of forensic evidence when it came to solving a crime. They had learned a lot over the years about proper procedures to follow when entering or securing a crime scene. They had seen a lot of presentations and slideshows where the speakers had shared images, quick and easy identifiers, and protocols when it came to collecting evidence.
Although Frank had a pretty good idea how what human samples such as blood, tissues or hair would look like, he had absolutely no idea how the images might change when it came to non-human samples.
"We're going to have to wing it, I guess," he replied just as softly when a tall student with prominent Asian features waved at him enthusiastically from where he was seated on the second table to his right.
"Hi guys," the guy yelled, grinning brightly. "Get over here."
"Frank and Joe, right?" he asked as they both took the empty stools before their invitee and the short girl with curly brown hair, and an irritated scowl on her face. "I'm Kevin," he introduced himself and then elbowed the girl to his right. "This is Alex. You are more than welcome to join us."
Alex punched Kevin on the shoulder much harder than his playful jab, making him wince, and she turned her glare towards the professor. She spared no attention to the three of them as Kevin continued to talk happily, completely unfazed by Alex's ire.
"Really, Alex, John's already with Brixton's group and we're short of two partners," he said, reasonably, pointing at another guy by the table next to theirs. "Frank and Joe can sit in just for today."
"Whatever." she rolled her eyes and continued to ignore them.
Kevin shook his head, letting out an exaggerated sigh before beaming at them. "It's okay, she'll come around," he said as if she wasn't sitting next to him. "So, have you guys covered this section back in your own college yet? Maybe we can get these all correct if you have; it won't even be cheating."
"It's not a test, is it?" Frank frowned, turning around to read the board again.
"Nope. Just a refresher on the section we covered last week," Kevin replied. "Just that Professor Dragon over there likes to get on your case if you don't get at least seventy percent of these things right."
"No, sorry," Frank said, stealing a glance at Joe, who was eying the stack of slides they had on the table with a grimace. "They haven't. But I'm pretty sure I can identify most of the human samples, at least."
"I'm just bad at biology," Joe confessed with an apologetic smile.
"Ah well, between the four of us, I'm sure we'll figure it out."
Professor Wellington called the class to attention and explained what she needed them to do after that. They were to identify the sample source, whether it was human, animal, vegetation etc, and write down a small description about how they identified the sample along with its correct category.
Alex spared them another challenging look, her blue eyes darting between them as if she was daring either him or Joe to have a go at the task first.
Joe grabbed the first slide off the stack and set it in his microscope. After a moment, he got the accurate adjustment. He jolted back in surprise and only managed not to fall off his lab stool thanks to Frank's quick reflexes.
"Joe, what?" Frank demanded, shaking him by the elbow he had gripped to keep him on his seat.
"There's a nasty-looking squiggly mess in there," his brother pointed at his scope with a disgusted frown that almost made Frank laugh out loud. "It's moving. Like their little heads are on fire."
Kevin chuckled at his brother's overly dramatic antics while Alex huffed. Frank leaned over and confronted the sample in the scope. "That's a type of necrobiomes."
"You mean the bacteria that decompose bodies?" Kevin frowned.
"Yeah," Frank said, jotting down the notes on the sample's shape, colour and a short description of what they did to a dead body.
"Slide number three: definitely hair," Alex announced with an air of irritation. But she no longer looked as if she wished they weren't there. "Not human, either canine or feline."
They went through a few more slides and Frank thought he and Joe were doing an alright job holding their own. He was grateful for all those workshops and notes their dad had made them study from very early on.
"Whoa!" Joe exclaimed when it was his turn again. "Number six is drugs," he said, scribbling on his notebook as Frank took a look. "I'd say LSD," then when both Kevin and Alex frowned at him suspiciously, he flashed them a mischievous grin. "Don't ask."
"What do you know about drugs?" Alex demanded.
"That most of them are bad for your health if you abuse them?" Joe shrugged.
"No," she shook her head impatiently. "I mean, how did you identify it so quickly?"
Joe exchanged a glance with Frank before turning back to face her inquisitive glare. "The, um, colours, and the unique pattern," he said, handing her the slide to see for herself. "Most of the time they are very easily identifiable because, uh, well… they look pretty."
"Why are you so interested?" Frank asked.
Instead of answering, she averted her gaze and shrugged. Kevin let out a weary sigh and turned to her. "Alex, you gotta let go of that insane theory of yours, you know," he said to her pleadingly. "All her tests came back with unhealthy amounts of pure heroin, high grade. She said so herself."
"But she never used it!" Alex snarled at him, making him wince. "You know this."
"Oh, gunpowder," Frank announced, trying to look like he wasn't intently listening to their conversation.
"Excuse me?"
Frank smiled at Alex's scowl. "Slide eleven."
"You seem to know your stuff…"
"Yeah," Frank said when Kevin stared at him expectantly. "We like to spend our time researching things, going to seminars and workshops and that sort of thing. You learn a lot more practical stuff when it comes to crime solving by listening to a cop or a forensics pathologist than you ever do in a classroom."
"You're interested in solving crimes?"
"We are interested in criminal defence," Frank grinned. "In order to defend, we have to learn the process of prosecution first."
"Clever," Alex muttered and continued to stare at them with a thoughtful look in her bright blue eyes. Frank exchanged another glance with Joe before going back to the next slide. He had a pretty good idea of what Alex was dying to talk to them about. He figured it would be best to let her take her time opening up to them on her terms.
"A crime took place in our midst very recently," she said slowly just as he finished writing notes on the sample of ketchup on slide thirteen. "Either everybody seems to have forgotten or nobody gives a shit. She's already gone. So it's nobody's problem anymore."
"What are you talking about?" Joe asked.
"Claire Stanford," Alex said, dropping her gaze. She seemed sad about her friend's departure from college. "She got expelled. I found her in her dorm," her gaze went glassy as she recalled the incident. "She was just lying there on the bed. Sweat-covered, unresponsive and her breathing shallow," she shuddered and closed her eyes. "The paramedics said she overdosed. The hospital found a crazy amount of heroin in her blood." Then she looked up and pinned them both with a determined, almost daring look. "She didn't take it."
"Then how did it happen?" Frank asked softly.
"Somebody made her take it."
"Why didn't she say that to the disciplinary committee?" Joe asked, just as quietly. "If she was forced, then she was a victim of a major crime."
"Because she couldn't remember a thing," this time it was Kevin who mumbled. "Not then, not now. I was with her that evening. We were in the library researching for a project we had coming up. We went back to our dorms at the same time. Not even half an hour after that, Alex found her."
"She couldn't have bought the stuff here, right?" said Joe. "I mean security seems pretty tight."
"It was one of them," Alex spat through clenched teeth. "They have all kinds of connections. I know they got their precious security team to get the drug and they made Claire take it."
That would be an issue for Gray to sort out if that's the case, Frank thought to himself. "Within the half hour of him seeing her going to her room?" was what he said out loud, nodding at Kevin.
"All the girls of Saunders group live two floors above what used to be her dorm," Alex pointed out. "They could have easily come down and planted the stuff in her room. And then forced her to take it."
"We've been through this, Alex," Kevin muttered. "They didn't find any evidence of a struggle, any marks or defensive wounds on Claire. Besides, they were all in the common room when it happened. I saw them when I walked past them that day, and there's security footage."
"They don't need to be in the same vicinity to make you do things," she hissed. "I know I sound crazy to even suggest something like this," she admitted, shaking her head. "But, I'm telling you, they have a certain influence…"
Joe exchanged a glance with him before turning back to Alex with a sceptical look. "Alex, you make it sound like they have mind control abilities or something–"
"I don't know," she sighed in frustration. "I've never been one of their inner circle. Claire got invited to sit through a few of their private gatherings. She said they were a fun bunch even if a bit on the bizarre side–"
"You didn't go?"
"I wasn't invited," she snarled. "Apparently, I give off a bad, malevolent vibe that messes with their energies."
"Then how'd you know that they have strange abilities?"
She looked at Kevin who shrugged and ducked his head. She then turned back to them and uttered a remark that defied all belief.
"Because I saw Constance and Temperance once stare at a guy who tried to buy them coffee," she said, lowering her voice to a whisper as if she was scared of being overheard. "They stared at him until he stabbed himself on the back of his palm until his entire hand was a bleeding mess."