Janet McNulty - Mellow Summers 01 - Sugar And Spice and Not So Nice (6 page)

I approached the desk.

“I noticed you were late,” he said, “I do not appreciate tardiness.”

“Sorry, professor,” I said, “It won’t happen again.”

“I’m sure it won’t.” Professor Vincent placed his smooth hand on my shoulder. I thought his eyes flickered toward my bosom. I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. “Be on time next time.” His grin possessed a lustfulness.

“I have to go,” I said and left.

The rest of my classes went quickly. I headed straight home. I didn’t even remember the drive back to the apartment. I burst through the door actually hoping to see Rachel. She wasn’t there.

“Rachel!” I yelled. “Rachel!”

“What,” said Rachel from behind me.

“Can’t you remember anything that happened to you that night? I feel like I’m going in circles.”

“I’m sorry,” said Rachel. “It’s all fuzzy.”

“Or, you don’t want to remember.” I regretted that statement the moment it exited my mouth.

“Don’t want to? Do you think I like being here not knowing why or how I died?” Rachel glared at me. “Do you think this is fun for me?

“I was always told that when a person died they met God, or at least saw their loved ones again, but instead of any of that, I found myself back here. At first I didn’t know I was dead, but I figured it out quickly when everyone I tried to talk to couldn’t see, or hear, me. Those that did, ran away screaming.

“All I asked from you is a little help. And all you have done is complain.”

“I am trying to help you, but everyone I talk to thinks I’m either crazy or nosy. And now my boyfriend has basically left me because I had to tell him why I am so interested in finding out what happened to you; and why I was upset that he didn’t mention following you to the college.”

“He what?” said Rachel.

“He followed you and saw you leaving with someone, but he doesn’t know who. But it doesn’t matter. He’ll probably never speak to me again.”

“Is that so?” Rachel vanished.

“Mel?” Jackie appeared in the doorway. She had a concerned look on her face. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I said.

“Nothing?” Jackie’s stance told me she didn’t believe me. “Nothing. Ever since we moved here, you have acted strangely. Constantly late for things. Going out and staying out until all hours in the morning. Getting in a bar fight. And talking to yourself. Something is going on and I want to know what it is.”

I stood awkwardly. I didn’t want Jackie to think I had lost my mind, yet, I wanted her to know the truth. “You want the truth?”

“Mel, you can tell me anything.”

“When we moved here, I met a ghost. But not any ghost. It’s the spirit of the girl who lived here before us.”

Jackie stared at me in disbelief. She didn’t believe me. “A ghost. Mel, if you don’t—”

A loud crash echoed across the hall. Jackie and I both ran to the hallway. More thumps and bangs sounded. We eyed each other, wondering what was happening. Greg’s door opened. Out came Rachel, dragging Greg into our apartment. She stopped in our entrance. “Does this belong to you?”

I bursted out laughing. Jackie glanced from me to Rachel. Even Greg seemed uneasy. They saw Rachel too. Relief swept over me as now they had to believe me.

“I guess you were telling the truth about seeing a ghost,” said Greg. Rachel dumped him on the floor.

“Rachel, why—”

“I can’t have them putting you in a padded cell when I still need your help,” Rachel said interrupting me.

“You mean,” said Jackie, “that you weren’t kidding?”

“No, she wasn’t,” said Rachel. “Now, I don’t want to sit here answering questions. Mel agreed to help me find my murderer.”

“I didn’t… Rachel,” said Greg.

“Relax,” said Rachel. “I know it wasn’t you.”

“Do you know what could have been on that camera, or what you did with it?” I asked.

“No,” said Rachel, exasperated.

“It’s too bad we can’t get a look at the police report,” said Jackie.

Greg pulled out his cell phone. “I can help with that,” he said. “I have a cousin who works at the local police department. He’s a file clerk, but great at hacking.” Greg dialed a number and put his phone on speaker.

“Hello,” came a male voice on the line.

“Jack,” said Greg, “I need a favor.”

“No,” said Jack. “No more favors. I can’t. I could lose my job.”

“Jack,” Greg said, “you are indebted to me for life.”

“Will you stop that?” The line went dead a moment. “Am I on speaker?”

“Yes,” replied Greg, “and I still need that favor. Or do I need to tell your mother why you missed church last Sunday?”

“You wouldn’t,” came Jack’s panicked voice.

“That favor?”

“Oh, all right,” said Jack, “What do you need?”

“I need you to look up the file on that college girl who was murdered last year,” said Greg.

A bunch of coughing filled the line. Jack must have choked when he heard Greg’s request. “That case is closed.”

“Jack, I have your mother on speed dial,” threatened Greg.

“Okay. Okay. Give me a moment.” A series of taps echoed through the line as Jack typed on the keyboard. “You realize I can get in a lot of trouble for this. Okay. Got it.”

“What does it say? Is there an autopsy report?”

“She was found around dawn,” said Jack. “She died from a blow to the head by a blunt object. The coroner figured it was made of wood because he pulled splinters from the wound. There were also signs of strangulation. DNA was pulled from under the fingernails, but was ruled inconclusive.”

“Inconclusive?” I asked.

“Something about it being contaminated. The report is a bit mute on that,” said Jack. “But there were rumors around the station that the detective in charge accidentally touched the body without gloves on, so the coroner was forced to rule out any DNA evidence. It’s a rookie mistake, but does happen.”

“What items were with the body when the cops arrived?” asked Greg.

“Uh, there was a purse with a wallet, keys, ChapStick, jewelry…that’s about it.”

“Was there a camera, or a phone, there?” I asked.

“No,” replied Jack. “No phone or camera of any kind.”

“That’s odd,” I said. “You said Rachel mentioned a camera.”

“Anything else?” said Jack.

“No, thanks,” replied Greg. He hung up.

Rachel sat beside us unusually quiet. I could only imagine what she thought about us talking about her as though she wasn’t there. “I’m sorry…” I began.

“Don’t be,” said Rachel. “Who’d believe that you had a ghost among you? The thing is, I remember having a camera with me.”

A thought struck me. “Does your phone have a camera?”

“Yeah,” said Rachel.

“That’s the camera,” I said. “Don’t you see? We were thinking that you had a camcorder, but in reality, the camera was your phone. Every cell phone has a built in camera these days and they have remarkable picture quality.”

“And I always had my phone with me,” said Rachel. “It should have been discovered with my body. Unless…”

“Unless what?” asked Jackie.

“Now I remember,” said Rachel with excitement. “I hid my phone. That’s right. I recorded something on my phone. I don’t remember what, yet, but I went to the computer lab to make copies of what I filmed so that I could send it to different law enforcement agencies. But, I never got the chance. When I reached the lab, I heard footsteps coming after me, so I hid my phone. It’s under the filing cabinet by the window.”

“We should go look,” I suggested.

“Problem,” said Jackie. “It’s been a year. What if the janitor found it and threw it away? The likelihood of it still being there is very slim.”

“But what if it is there?” I said. “We have to try.”

“Does anyone else find it odd?”

We all looked at Greg.

“Detective Reiss was the detective in charge of the case,” said Greg. “He has been a detective for over twenty years. Why would he make such a rookie mistake of touching the body without gloves? He had to have known that such a move would make any DNA evidence found inadmissible in court.”

“We all make mistakes sometimes,” said Jackie.

“I don’t think so,” said Greg.

“You realize what you’re implying,” I said.

“Yes,” replied Greg.

“I don’t want to go down this road,” I said. “Let’s look for the phone first, and if it’s there it may shed some light on all this, and perhaps it will jog Rachel’s memory.”

“You’re right,” said Greg. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll go,” I said, “with Rachel. If we all troop down there, it might look suspicious. Remember, the murderer is still out there.”

Chapter 7

I snatched my keys and purse and ran off to the college. Within fifteen minutes, I was hoofing it toward the computer lab building. I ran inside and headed straight for the lab. I breathed a sigh of relief to find it empty. I didn’t want anyone to know why I was there, nor did I want to explain myself.

I spotted the filing cabinet in the far corner under the window. Wasting no time, I darted toward it, dropping to my knees. Sweat beaded on my back as I wiggled it from the wall a bit so that I could feel behind it.

“Anything?” said Rachel.

I continued to feel around under the cabinet. Frustration creased my brow as I found nothing. I was about to give up when I felt a lump under the carpet. Quickly, I pulled it up just enough to reveal a small flip phone. I snatched it.

“Lose something?”

I cursed silently at being caught. Slowly, I stood up, shoving the phone in my pocket, hoping that no one noticed. Professor Vincent stood behind me.

“Contact lens,” I said, even though I didn’t wear them.

He nodded in affirmation. “Hope you found it.”

I looked around the empty room, wishing that there were more people. I felt very uncomfortable with Professor Vincent here, and a bit trapped. “I wouldn’t worry about it,” I said, making a move to leave.

Professor Vincent cut me off. “What’s the hurry?”

“I really need to leave,” I said.

Professor Vincent cornered me against the filing cabinet, placing both arms on each side of me. “There’s no hurry,” he said. He glanced down my shirt.

“Professor,” I said, “I have to go. Now, please leave me alone.”

“Please,” he said. “You don’t mean that. You know you are a very beautiful woman. Very hot blooded, I’m sure. I love that.”

He leaned in for a kiss. I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him away with all my strength.

“A little spit fire,” said Professor Vincent, charging for me again.

A scraping sound filled the room as a metal basket with papers in it flew across the cabinet. It struck Professor Vincent in the head. Stunned, he cradled his forehead a moment, staring at me in disbelief. I was too far away to have touched it, and he knew it. Rachel appeared and kicked the man in the knee caps. He fell to the ground, groaning. Hurriedly, I bolted from the room and left the building.

“What a creep,” said Rachel. “I knew I never liked him. How did he get to be a professor?”

“I don’t know,” I said, wanting to get as far away as I could.

“You should report him,” said Rachel.

“And who would believe me?” I said. “It’s my word against his and he has tenure. And it’s not like I can use you as a witness.”

“Good point.”

I went back to my apartment and locked the door once I got in. I waved the phone at Jackie and Greg. They both beamed. I found my laptop and turned it on. While I waited for it to boot up, I relayed to them what happened with Professor Vincent.

“That bastard,” said Greg. “You should have let me come with you.”

“Doesn’t matter right now,” I said. “Rachel took care of it. Unfortunately, I still have to take his class.”

My computer had finally finished booting up. I took the memory card out of Rachel’s phone and placed it in the card reader on my laptop. Instantly, a file opened. We watched in horror at the video that played on my monitor.

Professor Vincent and a woman appeared on the screen. The two struggled violently. Vincent slapped her across the face, sending her flying to the ground. He proceeded to violate her in a manor I do not wish to describe. Let’s just say he ripped off her clothes and lay on top her. Afterward, he zipped up his pants. The woman lay unmoving. She was clearly very hurt.

Then, another guy appeared.

“That’s Detective Reiss,” said Greg.

Reiss and Vincent argued and shoved each other around a bit. Later, Vincent stormed off, but Reiss remained. The man pulled something out of his pocket. The way he held it told me it was a needle. He bent down and injected the woman with something. Then, he turned and noticed Rachel with the camera. After that, the screen went blank.

We all sat in stunned silence.

“Now I know who killed me,” said Rachel.