When the turn for Anna to speak came, she entered with a look of trepidation. The detective stood up and beckoned her to sit down. The room they were in was farther away from the Dean's office and it was glass on one side. There were numerous other people lingering outside and though Anna hated to be the center of attention, she could look at everyone walking outside from where she was seated.
Her eyes lingered on the curious faces of the onlookers as the detective recollected her whereabouts.
"Of course, I know that you didn't have anything to do with the situation, but I would appreciate it if you have any information that could lead to catching the culprit," he said.
Actually, Anna was more perplexed than the detective. She had been in the same room as Ladislas and the secretary while the Dean was still alive. And she had also been the first person to see him dead.
His body was freshly deceased, but the claws of an animal had pierced into him. Now, how could an animal go in and out of a room without anyone noticing? Moreover, what was that female voice she had heard? A humongous predator and a woman entered and left the room but there was no passage except for the one the students were in and the one she had been in front of.
Hence, curiosity was killing her.
On the other hand, she was also bothered that the Dean's death would hamper what she wanted. To evaluate the cause of his death, all his belongings would be thoroughly investigated. If his lock was transported to another location, she would need to track it down.
"I… understand," Anna said softly. She choked on the last syllable and coughed without restraint. Her eyes watered with the force of it and her hand pressed on her lips as she tried to hold it back.
The detective moved forward and patted her on the shoulder, trying to get her to stop coughing, but it continued. His pressure increased and Anna quickly placed her hand over his to stop him.
She sniffled and patted her chest. She looked at the detective through watery eyes and shook her head.
"I'm alright," she whispered huskily. "Sorry." And she coughed a few times again.
"Have some water," the detective offered. He handed her a small bottle of water and instructed her to sip on it carefully. "You must be startled."
And for the next couple of minutes, the conversation consisted of the man reassuring Anna that she was safe and to contact him if she remembered anything.
In midst of this, Anna looked up. Through her watery eyes, she saw Ladislas Forester standing near the end of the hallway. His eyes were set on her. She stared for a beat too long before moving her eyes away.
He had a knowing look in his eyes. One she didn't appreciate.
There was something clearly off about this man. When she looked back in his direction again, he had vanished.
Her eyes roamed over the available faces and couldn't find him. With a sigh, she concentrated on the words of the detective.
It was only after she came out of the glass room that she pulled out her headphones and connected them to her phone.
She slid one into her ear and then the other. The voice from the other side was clear.
"None of them knows anything. The students weren't stoned out of their minds and the other two were sober. No one went in or out," the detective groaned.
Anna smirked. The sound system on this tracker was excellent. She could trust those dark web sellers to know what was good quality and what was not.
Her money was well spent.
Having faced such a 'traumatic scene,' Anna was sent back home. The record of why she was in front of the Dean's office seemed to be forgotten for the moment. It suited her well.
She walked to her apartment and switched on all the lights in the room. Her eyes looked around every detail and she nodded. Everything was left untouched. Not a single strand of hair had been moved.
She slid into her study table and opened her laptop apprehensively.
As she listened to the movements of the detective and the progress (or lack thereof) in the case, she pulled up the academic papers and books required for her to write her midterm assignment.
With half of her mind on the sounds in her ear, she wrote a whole thesis paper in a matter of three hours. When she looked up, the clock on her wall showed that it was evening.
The noises from the detective's side were mostly about what he was eating and how frustrated he was.
Unlike the scenes where the police badgered every bit of clue they got, the investigative process was rather laid back. No one really puts their life on the line to solve a mystery. That was a thing of fiction. And no detective had only one case to work on at the time.
So, a mixture of irrelevant gossip and cases she didn't want to know about were now things she knew acutely about. What she would use this information for was yet unknown.
She printed out the final assignment and sent the copy to the professor for evaluation. She still had a few hours before the deadline, so she was safe.
Finally, after preparing for class the next day, she started her nightly ritual.