"So, were you very close to Ms. Durani?" Detective Martinez asked to the small, weasel-like principal of NYCCC.
"Well," he said in a voice that sounded like Smee from Peter Pan. "There are a lot of students here, and I don't know very many personally. Here is Marie's file."
"You're lying," I blurted.
Jo looked at me with a smile. "It's in your eyes. You aren't only aware of her existence, but you see her often. It's all in your eyes."
Panic filled his eyes. "Why in the world would I lie to the police?"
"You weren't lying to the police, you were lying to me. I noticed you never looked once at my detective friend, but you looked straight at me. Not looking at people means guilt, Dr. Richards!"
There was a very tense silence. I was standing, staring straight into the eyes of the Principal. Jo sat in a observant silence, watching us like it was a tennis match. The Principal stared down at his hands.
"Before I was a principal, I was a professor here. Maria was in one of my classes, and she was one of the smartest of the class. We got along, but nothing got intimate between us.
"When I became a principal, she would stop in and say hi every once in a while, and I would ask how her parents and little sister were, she would always say they were doing well."
"Does she ever mention any friends she has?" Jo asked.
"She liked to mention a Raymond. The only Raymond here is Raymond Oswald."
"Thank you for your time, Dr. Richards."
It took us some time to find Raymond, but he didn't seem like the nice type. Probably was hopelessly in love, then turned apathetic and hateful after Maria's death. I gestured for Jo to stay behind and I came up to Raymond.
He turned around fast. He raised his hand up and I held mine up.
"Ray!" I said in my American accent.
"Rachel?" He asked, staring at me like I was a ghost.
"Yeah. I heard about Maria. I'm sorry."
"She was one of my best friends. I was about to ask her out too..."
I hugged my old friend. "Oh Ray... I'm sorry... Do you know anybody that could have done this?"
"Her ex, Sean. He would be able to pull of strangling her."
I looked at his attire. He was literally the only one in the cafeteria wearing pants. I gave a half smile and hugged him again. "It was good seeing you, Ray, but I have to go to class. Smell ya later!"
"How did you-"
"He's wearing pants."
"Wha- the heel. Let's get back to the morgue."
It didn't take us long to get to the morgue. I raced into the room. "Where is the heel at?" I asked Henry.
"On the back of her foot... Oh you mean her shoe." He spun in place, then pointed at the evidence bag. "Why?"
"We found a suspect and we need to get the DNA sample," I said, pulling the shoe out and placing it on the table. I placed the DNA in the DNA reader and let it do it's thing. "It might take a while, Jo," I said.
"Okay, I can go work on something else. Hey, Henry, can I talk to you in private?"
She pulled Henry out to the elevator and they started talking animatedly. I started looking at poor Maria's body. Then I noticed something. A little hole on the side of her neck. Just enough for something to prick her. I could imagine it.
Maria was walking home after a long day at college. She suddenly felt a prick in her neck and she passes out. She was then moved from wherever she was to the dark alley. When she woke up, the killer confronted her, and she couldn't escape.
Henry came in and interrupted daydream. "We need to talk. Now."