Catherine

by A J Hollingsworth

  'Anything else Detectives? If not, can I go, otherwise I'm going to be late for my next seminar!' he asked, standing there looking at them.

  'No that's all we need now Mark,' responded Rachel, before he turned and walked away from the pair.

  Chapter 27

  Rachel and Logan watched as Mark strolled away from them, arrogantly pleased with himself that the pair were still digging and he was still walking away. He was innocent and was finding their obsession to prove him guilty an interesting and invigorating, he loved the thrill of being chased. Rachel was becoming ever more determined to uncover the secret she was so adamant he was sitting on.

  Logan, growing tiresome of the pompous young man and insufferable attitude turned away, looking over towards the lecture room that Mark had previously exited and at first scanned the area from the left to the right. As soon as he had reached as far as his neck would let him he looked back to his left.

  This time something caught his eye, or someone should it be, a young girl standing nearby the corner of the lecture hall. It wasn't a girl standing by the side of a building that made him stop and look twice. It was her eyes.

  Piercing green burning towards him without blinking, just wide green balls glaring in their direction. He blinked and looking for a further time, saw that the girl wasn't looking at him but was staring straight at Rachel. Why was this girl staring so hard at her that she looked possessed. She wasn't moving, her legs straight down into the ground, her arms dangling still by the side of her body and her head pointing forward. Even as other students strolled past, there was no difference in her stance. He considered walking over towards her and asking what was so fascinating about Rachel, moments later he felt her hand on his shoulder. Startled he turned quickly forcing Rachel to take a step backwards.

  'Sorry Logan, what's got you all spooked?'

  'That girl...' he replied as he span to look back towards where the girl was standing. She had vanished, he blinked half-expecting her to reappear, she didn't. She had gone. He frantically looked left and the right taking a few step in each direction too. He couldn't see her. She was nowhere.

  'What girl are you looking for?'

  'There was a girl...' he walked towards where the girl was standing pointing as he went. 'She was standing right there, beside the lecture hall, the same doorway Mark came out of.'

  'She seems to be gone now. What was so important about this girl?'

  'She was staring,' he paused. 'She was staring at you!'

  Rachel looked confused. Why would a random girl be staring at her? Then she wondered, it wasn't the first time that she had been watched. The face of the girl at the traffic lights came flashing into her mind.

  'What did the girl look like Logan?' she said frenziedly.

  'Five foot six at a guess, brown curly hair, green eyes and wearing a mustard coat.'

  Rachel, normally as hard as nails, felt her legs trembling almost causing her to almost sit down in the middle of the flowers and shrubs of the quad amongst the lecture rooms. She was been observed, followed, stalked, whatever you wanted to call it and now it had thrown her right out of her comfort zone. The colour drained from her cheeks and her eyes dilated, drawing away from Logan.#

  'You OK DS Lambert?'

  'How do you mean?'

  'You look ill. Who is this girl?'

  'I don't know. I have seen her once before. Saturday. When I was returning after my anniversary lunch with Nathan I had to stop at a red light. I looked around and she was there, standing on the pavement just staring at me, exactly how you just described that girl did.'

  'You think it's the same girl?'

  'The description matches.'

  Rachel still looking around for her nervously. Logan coughed moving her focus on to him, 'we need to check out Mark's alibi.'

  Rachel nodded and followed Logan in the direction of the University Library, still worried about the mystery girl and scanning all the faces of any female student that walked past her. The library was a little over a fifteen minute walk and Logan took the opportunity to smoke a cigarette into oblivion. He had been promising his wife for over six months that he would quit. He started strong at the beginning of each month, going several days without a single cigarette touching his lips, but then he would always use an excuse to why he broke a week in. His wife would nod, smile and never challenge him back.

  The universities library stood in front of the pair, based in the older part of the campus, the library was a three-storey stone building with Georgian-style windows and hanging gargoyles at the bottom of a modern-tiled slate steeping roof. The glass doors were a touch of modern architecture with carbon grey coloured steel frames set amongst the historical stone. The doors were automatic and slid up smoothly as the pair approached from the three stones steps in front.

  Instantly inside the magnificent hallway was the reception desk, on the right was the entrance and to the left was the exit, both having card operated access gates. Logan walked over to the desk, a young man making himself look busy on the computer resting behind the counter on a desk low enough to show only two inches of the top of the monitor.

  'Hello sweetheart,' he said has he looked up from the computer's keyboard. Logan was thrown by the response of the young man. He towered just over six foot tall, was stockily built with a shoulder span another half of Logan's own shoulders. He was housing a couple of days of stubble on his square jaw that looked strong enough to break every bone in Logan's clenched fist if her ever took a swing at him.

  'DC Langley and DS Lambert,' Logan said as the pair showed the librarian their warrant cards. 'How do the students access the library?'

  'They all have their student cards assigned to them at the beginning of each year and they are then used to swipe through these little gates. Let me show you sweetheart,' he said picking up a card of the top of the desk and reaching over the counter with ease he placed it on top of the tinted coloured card reader. The reader flashed green before the metal barrier swung open allowing a few seconds before closing again and the green little diminished.

  'Do you keep records of what cards are swiped and what time and date?' asked Logan.

  'Yes. Of course sweetheart. With technology as it is now, everything is recorded and stored for six months before the system automatically deletes it.'

  'Where are the records kept and who would we need to speak to, to gain access to the records?'

  The librarian tapped the top of the computer monitor, 'here sweetheart and they are backed up on the University servers. And to answer your other question, that would be me, sweetheart. I'm Duncan, the Library Manager.'

  'Fantastic,' stated Logan with the smallest smile in the world. Was he happy? It was hard for Rachel to tell, Logan was a master at not showing any other emotion than anger. She wondered if that was the only one he in fact ever felt. Not that he would ever tell her why he was the way he was, Logan was not the first in the queue to talk about the way he felt. He thought all psychiatrists were con-artists.

  Duncan invited the pair behind the counter and loaded up the system for them, 'who are you looking for?'

  'Mr Mark Jacobs,' Rachel moved into the conversation.

  Duncan nodded and began writing in the name into the search box, few seconds later several results appeared on the screen. 'What date are we looking for?' Rachel provided the date of Catherine's murder. 'Here we go! One entry.' He double clicked the record and on the screen appeared a separate window, with Mark's name, student number and the time when he scanned his student card. 'Half past seven he scanned in and then quarter past one in the early hours of the next day.'

  'I assumed the library would close long before then?'

  'No. The library is open twenty four hours, generally a member of staff works till eleven. We don't get that many students in after that and the one's who do, don't cause any hassle.'

  'The one's who generally stay late, are they here often?'

  'Yes, Mary who works the late shift can list them all
by first name and even give you a description of them all.'

  'Where does Mary live?'

  'You won't need to go that far, she arrived five minutes ago to start her shift, she should be around here somewhere. I can call her on the radio if you want me to.'

  'Yes please,' responded Logan.

  Duncan radioed through to Mary and within a few seconds she had responded back, he explained he needed to see her and asked if she could come to the enquiry desk, five minutes later a woman in her mid forties appeared from around the corner of the book shelves wearing a pleasant smile.

  She approached the desk and was introduced to Rachel and Logan. 'How can I be of help?' she enquired.

  'Mr Mark Jacobs was in the library on Friday night, do you remember him being here?'

  'I'm not sure, there was a scrawny tall student. Scruffy wavy black hair and dressed in black. You know, one of these Goth types. I think that's the phrase used today. Vampire and Saturn lovers.'

  'That would be the young gentleman,' responded Logan.

  'I hadn't seen him before or certainly it would be safe to say he wasn't one of our regular students.'

  'What did he do? Did he act nervous or suspicious?'

  'No, not at all. He scanned his card and then went up onto the second floor and when I saw him he was sat at one of the study desks making notes from one of the text books.'

  'What books are on that floor?'

  'That's the humanities floor. Covers subjects such as English, Sociology, Psychology, etc. He didn't cause any problems, not that I noticed anyway.'

  'He is studying English so I guess that would make sense. Does the library have a CCTV system?'

  'Yes it does,' Duncan interjected.

  'Would it be possible for us to have a copy for Friday night?'

  'Of course, but it will take a few hours for me to download it on to a compact disc for you. Would that be OK?'

  'Yes,' stated Rachel. 'Thank you ever so much for your help. It is much appreciated.'

  'Not at all. I'll let you know when it's ready.'

  'Great,' said Rachel writing her mobile phone number down on a post-it note and handing it to Duncan, before turning and leaving the library.

  Chapter 28

  Nathan had been at the university for almost a year now, it was actually about nine months, but it was coming to the end of the year for the students and staff before their two and half months summer vacation. He was now finding his way around the university and his faculty and his colleagues were now accepting him as part of the group. His students were coming to the end of their respective years and their final gradings would soon be announced. Nathan and Beth were growing forever closer and he had agreed to have a meal with her to celebrate the previous years hard work, her gradings had been amongst the top five in her year since the very first assignment she had submitted.

  They had arranged to meet away from the university, both understanding how they would make prime gossip for the wagging tongues if they were to be seen. Nathan had parked in one of the town centre car-parks, taking advantage of the free spaces available after six in the evening. He had chosen to dress semi casual and semi smart, with highly polished shoes and freshly pressed black trousers but then opting for a subtle blue polo shirt. The start of summer had seen record temperatures hit the region and Nathan had not seen the sense of taking a jacket with him. He was fiddling with his mobile phone when he walked around the corner and saw her there standing outside of the restaurant.

  He was immediately taken aback by her appearance. She was standing there looking forward across to the other side of the road, nervously unaware of his presence off to her right hand side. He freshly groomed hair style had plenty of bounce left in her glamorous curls and the right amount of makeup applied to make her look four to five years older than she actually was and yet restricted enough to prevent her from looking like it was deliberately done to make her look older. She was wearing an extremely short blue tight dress, that was attracting the attention of the majority of those around, some approving and others disgusted. Nathan walked up towards her and within two feet his presence had been noticed by her, as she spun her head around to face him with a smile on her face.

  'Hi Professor,' she said teasingly.

  'Nathan,' he said looking around, there was no-one nearby. 'Call me Nathan. You look beautiful, absolutely beautiful,' he complemented her.

  He placed his hand on his waist making a u-shape with his elbow, allowing Beth to link her arm through, as he accompanied her inside the restaurant. The Matradee showed them to their pre-booked table, a small round table with two chairs facing opposite one another and the only light been offered by a single burning candle in the middle of the table. Once they were seated, the waiter came across with two glasses of spring water and two menus, he was very polite and smiled at the pair before placing a menu in front of each of them. He then dashed off to another table that had just been seated.

  Nathan picked up the menu and began studying the starters, 'would you like to share the special starter platter?' he asked Beth looking up from the menu. She nodded and then he returned to consider the main options. They sat in silence whilst each choose their main meals and then closing the menu placed them on the edge of the table.

  'Have you enjoyed your first year?' he asked her.

  'I have Nathan, I know I have made the right choice coming to this university.'

  'What were your other options?' he asked further digging.

  'I had been accepted at Bristol and Leicester, but Stafford was my first choice and meeting you was like icing on the cake for me,' she replied with a seductive smile.

  'I'm glad too, you have been by favourite student from that very first lecture, your grasp of classic British romance fiction has been exceptional. I knew from reading your very first assignment that you will be leaving with the highest degree. You just need to maintain that level now and you will do just fine.'

  She smiled at him, feeling her cheeks redden with embarrassment from the compliment, just before the waiter interrupted ready to take their order. They both placed their requests and again were left alone, the nearest table with anyone sat at it was three tables away.

  'I don't want to upset you Nathan, but I don't want to spend the evening talking about my studies,' she said delicately.

  Nathan chuckled a little, 'of course Beth. Don't worry, you haven't upset me.'

  She pushed her hair backwards, hooking it around her earlobe, looking upwards at him. She was very happy and despite what her friend, Samantha, had said to her earlier when she was preparing for tonight, she felt she had made the right choice. She sat across from him with her heart fluttering away inside her chest.

  Chapter 29

  The rain had begun again, it had rained over the weekend on and off but had remained dry since. Rachel fastened her coat to the top and wrapped it close around her neck, attempting to keep out the whipping rain as the winds lifted each drop and threw them at her. Logan hunched up his shoulders and shuddered as he felt the cold too. Standing outside the Library he looked left and then right, a number of students were moving around between lectures, seminars and catching up with friends. Each one of them preoccupied and carrying on as if the murder of Catherine had ever happened.

  'Fancy a coffee?' asked Rachel. Logan shrugged his shoulders just enough for her to accept that he had agreed. She walked off to her right, remembering passing the university cafe on the way to the library earlier. The young woman from earlier and the previous day was still on her mind. Was she a student here? She was taking a gamble that she was right and was hoping that the longer they stayed on campus the more likely they were of bumping into her again and then hopefully she could discover why the young woman seemed so interested in her.

  A few minutes later and the pair entered through the door of the cafe, it was in stark contrast to the student canteen she had been familiar with in her university days. Cheap plastic chairs that were bolted on underneath the equally c
heap plastic with metal bars that restricted leg movement, meaning everyone had to sit in a uniform posture to even be the slightest bit comfortable and any extended period of sitting on them would inevitably result in a numb feeling on the buttocks. Now there were several areas where three deep padded mustard coloured sofas made a u-shape with a short legged wooden tables in front and then the rest of the cafe had cosy rounded tables with three chairs around them. The serving counter was long, wooden grain effect counter top with soft teal under-lighting that cascaded down the high gloss white front and finished reflecting on the wooden laminated flooring. Above the counter were several neon signs separating the different eating options, from warm and cold food ending with deserts and cakes.

  Rachel fancied a warm milky latte and a slice of Victoria Sponge cake. As they approached the counter, one of the servers behind took a double check of the pair. The cafe was subsidised by the University and wasn't open for the general public. They both looked out of place amongst the rest of the customers.

  'I'm sorry but we are only open to students of the university,' she said as the pair reached the side of the counter.

  'I do understand that, but we are not members of the general public,' Rachel explained as she removed her warrant card from her pocket and showed it to the server.

  'Oh, I see, are you two investigating the murder that happened on Friday?' she said as Rachel nodded in response. 'It is terrible what happened. My husband told me not to come back with a killer on the loose. We've all been warned to stick together in pairs around the campus. Can't take the risk, you see. We've two members of staff that are refusing to return to work until whoever murdered that girl is behind bars and I would have done the same, only can't afford to since my husband got laid off from work. We struggling to get by on my wage. On a positive notre though with us being short staffed I'm able to pick up a few extra hours.'