Hi there again! Thanks for coming back for chapter two. Once again feedback is what I'm looking for, so feel free to let me know what you think!
Mira walked from Sparky's back towards her dorm, thinking about her previous interaction. She was looking forward to the next week, even more so now with her shift coming up.
It was only a ten minute walk back to her dorm. While she walked she thought about what to do for the rest of the day.
There are some nice clothes shops around here, maybe I can get some clothes while I'm here? Looking at a dress through a shop window. It was a long sleeved off shoulder dusty pink mini dress with ruched sides. She walked into the shop, having a look at all of the clothes. On her left were the dresses. A dress caught her eye - a backless yellow midi dress with a floral pattern and a tied halter neck. To the right of this dress was a rushed side camisole dress with chain detailing in forest green. Mira reached out to feel the satin material, bumping into the person next to her in the process. "Sorry!" She breathed out quickly, looking at the person she stumbled into. "Watch where you're going." The woman glared at Mira, though Mira smiled in response. This seemed to confuse the woman, and she breathed out a sigh before speaking.
"Sorry it's been a long day." She said, shaking her head and looking away. The woman had long wavy light brown hair, half back into a claw clip, and thin black cat eye glasses over her meadow green eyes. She was wearing a dark green square neck midi dress with a white knitted cardigan over it, and a pair of low white pointed heels.
"No worries," Mira smiled, "were you after this dress too?" she asked, pointing towards the green dress. "Yes." the woman responded, reaching for the dress before turning away from her.
Mira continued to look around the shop, picking things up as she went along. Eventually she ended up with two bags of clothes, walking back to her dorm.
As she got to her dorm she noticed a familiar head of blond hair, heading into her dorm building. Walking inside, she saw the woman sitting in the study area. She headed towards her she smiled. "Hey, Lucy, right?" Lucy turned to look at Mira, a glint of recognition in her eyes. "Yeah, and you're Mira, right?" Mira looked at her and laughed. "Yeah, so you're a student here then?" Lucy smiled in return. "Yeah," she nodded, "I'm starting a creative writing class this week. You?"
"Criminology and Criminal Justice," she responded, "Are you going to the social event tomorrow? I didn't go to the ones from last week."
"Yeah it's that one at Sparky's tomorrow. I'm going with a few friends if you want to come with us?" Lucy smiled, before grabbing her phone off the table in front of her, scrolling and tapping. Holding the phone out to Mira, she said, "Here, give me your number and I'll let you know where we're all getting ready tomorrow." Mira smiled, typing her details into Lucy's phone, before sending a quick text to herself to get her number too. "Sounds great, I'll see you tomorrow then." she smiled, waving before heading towards the stairs. Her dorm room was on the second floor. Quickly heading up she got her keys ready.
Once she was at the door she heard a voice inside. I wonder what Raina is like… She thought, turning her key in the lock. Slowly pushing the door open she stepped inside and looked at the woman talking on her phone on the other side of the room while placing her bags at the foot of her bed. The woman hung up the phone before turning to greet Mira. "It's you from the shop! You're Mirajane?" She chuckled, recognising the woman. "Yeah, and you must be Raina, then." The woman grimaced. "Please, call me Ever." She held her hand out waiting for Mira to take it. Mira reached out and shook her hand. "And call me Mira."
"I'm heading out to meet with some friends, so I'll see you later." Ever said, walking out of the door. Mira turned to look at her bags, sighing before starting to put her clothes away. She'd picked up quite a bit. A white cropped vest with spaghetti straps, a brown pleated miniskirt, a cream coloured cardigan with lantern sleeves, a black long sleeved t-shirt with a zipper stand collar, a black A-line miniskirt, a pair of black high waisted straight leg jeans, some light blue denim shorts, a black off shoulder long sleeved dress with a black fur trim, and a pair of black fleece lined leggings. She started folding the clothes, setting them in the drawers before sitting at her desk to set up her laptop.
Two years ago, Mira decided to start a true crime podcast called The Cold Case Chronicles. She started this to learn more about criminal investigations throughout history, but ended up setting her sights on speculating about cold cases. Her most recent episode was about the disappearance of Juvia Lockser, who went missing three years ago. The case went cold after six months with no evidence. Everyone assumed that she just ran away, despite her boyfriend Gray insisting otherwise. I'll need to come back to that case by myself, but I have to find another case for Wednesday's episode. She had a list of cold cases already which she made when she started the podcast, slowly crossing off cases that were either solved over the years and ones which may never get solved.
She looked at the next on her list, the murder of Jenny Realight. The 23 year old paralegal, who went on a night out with two friends and never came back. Her bag was found two months after she disappeared about 6 miles away from her last seen location.
Mira decided to get a head start on the research she needed to do around this case. I need the investigation report, the transcripts from the suspect questioning, and the evidence list. She thought, typing the name 'Jenny Realight' into Google. The first thing to show in the list of search results was an article from last year, titled 'Jenny Realight Killer - Found after six years?'
This intrigued Mira, how had she not seen this yet? She opened the article, reading as she scrolled through.
"New evidence discovered six years after the initial disappearance of 23 year old Jenny Realight. Police have released that the new evidence was a diary belonging to the victim detailing the events prior to her disappearance, including an incriminating entry describing an argument between the victim Jenny Realight and the suspect Kinana Cubellios. Shown in this entry is an argument including an undisclosed death threat from the suspect to the victim. The suspect was the one to give the evidence to the police, claiming that she 'found it in [her boyfriend's] house, and that she was worried that he was involved.' This was later discovered by the police to have been false as there is no connection between the victim and the suspects boyfriend, who has chosen to remain anonymous."
There was another article linked at the end of this one, titled 'Body Found in Maintenance Building of Abandoned Tenrou Park - Confirmed To Be Jenny Realight'. She clicked onto this one and quickly read through.
"A body found in abandoned Tenrou Park last week was today confirmed to be the remains of 23 year old Jenny Realight, who went missing approximately six years ago. The cause of death has not been confirmed yet, however, police have confirmed that the initial examination places the time of death close to the time of her disappearance. There were reports of a stab wound on the chest of the victim though this has yet to be confirmed. The suspect Kinana Cubellios has now been arrested for murder due to the evidence against her. The Magnolia Police have made no further comments at this time."
Mira was shocked. That can't be right? I thought they'd cleared her twice? Her next search was for the list of evidence, now updated.
"Evidence:
Witness statement of argument between suspect and victim hours before the disappearance
Suspect was in possession of the victim's phone after the disappearance
Suspect was one of the last people to see the victim
Suspect was in possession of the diary belonging to the victim
Diary entry detailing death threats from the suspect to the victim
Victims belongings were found within 5 miles of suspects residence
Video of last sighting - victim gets into car with unknown person seemingly non-coerced"
"Holy Mavis," she whispered to herself, searching for the witness statements from the night Jenny disappeared.
"Witness Statement 1: Cana Alberona
PO - Tell me what you remember from the night of Miss Realight's disappearance.
C - Me, Jenny and Kinana went out for drinks that night. We were all a few drinks in when Jenny and Kinana started arguing about something. It was something about work, I think. They work together at Clive and Associates.
PO - What time was that?
C - I think it was after 11, we didn't arrive until after 10, so about then.
PO - Ok, what happened next?
C - Jenny said she needed to use the bathroom, and she didn't come back to the table after that.
PO - Did either of you look for her after that?
C - Yes, Kinana went to look for her and I stayed at the table with our drinks.
PO - And did she find her?
C - She said that Jenny told her she was going home.
PO - Ok, thank you for your time."
This seems off, she thought while tapping her fingers on her desk.
"Witness Statement 2: Kinana Cubellios
PO - Can you tell me about the events of the night in question?
K - We went out for a few drinks, the three of us, to catch up with Cana. We haven't seen her in a few months.
PO - We were told about an argument between the two of you, what can you tell me about that?
K - It was a stupid argument. A case was given to me to help with rather than her, she wasn't happy about it I guess.
PO - What happened after?
K - Jenny went to use the bathroom. When she didn't come back after ten minutes, Cana suggested I go look for her and she kept an eye on the drinks.
PO - Did you find her?
K - No, I looked around inside and asked the guy behind the bar if he'd seen her. He said she left, so I assumed she went home.
PO - And you didn't see her after this?
K - No.
PO - Ok, that's it for now. Someone will call if we have any further questions."
Hang on a second, Cana said that Kinana told her that Jenny said that she was leaving.
"Witness Statement 3: Rogue Cheney
PO - You're an employee of Sabertooth, right?
R - Correct.
PO - You were working on the night of Miss Realight's disappearance. What time did you see her leave?
R - She left around 11.30PM.
PO - And did you see anything worth noting about her interactions that night?
R - She was flirting with a few different guys before she left. There was the singer from the band we had that night, Sting Eucliffe, and also a guy outside, I'm not sure of his name. She also argued with one of the girls she came in with.
PO - Anything else?
R - Not that I can recall.
PO - Alright, that's all. Let us know if you remember anything.
R - Ok."
The guys weren't mentioned before…
"Witness Statement 4: Sting Eucliffe
PO - What do you remember of your interactions with Miss Realight?
S - Short, I guess. She started off flirting, but then seemed bored when I showed interest. She left after a few minutes, and I saw her sit at a table with two other girls.
PO - Have you seen or spoken to her since that interaction?
S - I saw her leaving and followed her out.
PO - Then what happened?
S - She started flirting with some other guy and he brushed her off I guess. She said something to the guy and he seemed mad so I stepped in.
PO - Anything else?
S - Yeah, he got mad at me and punched me. We ended up fighting and then the police showed up. They dragged the guy off me and arrested him.
PO - Did you continue to follow her after that?
S - No, she was gone by the time I was able to look.
PO - Ok, if you think of anything else then give us a call."
This gets more confusing as it goes. Why are the details soinconsistent?
"Witness Statement 5: Jellal Fernandes
PO - Tell me about your arrest the other night.
J - I was arrested for fighting with the guy at Sabertooth. Officer said that the person who called said I was trying to kill him.
PO - Ok, can you tell me what happened before the fight?
J - Yeah, this woman was trying to flirt with me and I told her that I wasn't interested. She carried on until I told her that I'm already taken, and her response was that the guy was inside bragging about banging my girlfriend.
PO - How did you know who she was talking about?
J - She pointed him out when he came outside. Turns out it was bulls–t. The guy said he doesn't know who my girlfriend is. Said he wasn't talking about anything like that.
PO - Have you seen this woman before or since that night?
J - No, never seen her before and certainly not since.
PO - Ok, we have what we need for now, we'll call if there's any more information that we need."
So, she flirted with a guy, argued with her friend, tried to flirt with another guy and instigated a fight between the two guys before disappearing? What happened here?