Agents On Campus

Research Research and More Research

Chapter 4

***

Research, Research, and More Research

The drive took about four hours.

During that time we analyzed everything we could about the murders. The more we learned, the more confusing it became. All three bodies were found in the history wing of the school, but they weren't killed there. The killer moved them. Last Friday, the sophomore, Elena Merritt, was the first person who was murdered. She was shot in the middle of her forehead and showed no sign of a struggle. She apparently died ten minutes before her body was found, which meant she was killed while everyone else was at lunch. The lunchroom is on the first floor and the history wing is on the second floor, so somehow the killer lured her to the second floor...but that is still up for debate because we still don't even know where she died.

On Monday, the senior, Jessica Levant, was murdered too. Like Elena, she died sometime during lunch and was found in the history wing. She was shot too, but twice: once in the shoulder and once in the back. She also had bruises on her arms. After several minutes of looking it over, Aaron, Sami, Parker and I think we figured out how Jessica was killed. The killer must've somehow lured Jessica from lunch, and then brought her to wherever he planned on killing her. He probably pulled out his gun, and she tried to run away but the killer grabbed her arm (thus the bruises). Then she either freed herself or he let go for some reason and she began running away. Before she could get too far, he fired and hit her shoulder. After that she probably slowed down and he fired again and hit her in the back, which pierced her heart and killed her. Then he moved her to the history wing because God knows why.

Based on the fact that the third guy—Freshman Dwight Paley—was injected with poison and not shot, the killer didn't want to take any chances with making a mistake. Like the other two, he died during lunch, and was found in the history department. He was injected in his right arm and, like Elena, showed no sign of a struggle. He was murdered yesterday.

"What I don't get," said Sami as we reread his file, "is how stupid he could've been to let a random guy inject you. I mean, I know he's a freshman and we know he's already lacking in common sense, but still!"

"Maybe he thought it was drugs?" I suggested.

"Well then that just proves my point that he's an idiot." Sami replied.

Aaron glanced down at the file, then back at the road. "Whatever that stuff was, it was strong and fast acting. The file said that he was dead before the syringe came out." Since Dwight only died yesterday, they hadn't yet been able to identify what the substance was.

"You would think," said Sami, "that after three freaking bodies found in the history wing that they'd close it off, but no. No, all they did was put police tape around the areas where they were found. How stupid can they be?"

"Why the history wing though? Why make such an effort to put the bodies there?" I wondered out loud.

"To prove a point?" said Parker.

"To send a message." Aaron stated confidently. "That ties back to the notes he left."

"Send a message to who though?" I asked.

"I guess that's what we're here to find out," said Aaron as he made a right and pulled into a parking lot of the hotel we'll be staying at while on this case. I hopped out of the car when he parked and pulled my suitcase out of the trunk. I unzipped the first pocket and took out my ID, just in case they needed to see it. Aaron, Sami, and Parker did the same and we headed to check in.