Jane leaned against the doorway, idly turning over a new page in her notebook, as she stifled a yawn. Her mouth twisted as she did, making her appear to be grimacing, as she looked around to make sure no one had noticed. John had his back to her, standing in the middle of the room, while the dorm president was behind him, filling the air with her nervous energy. No one seemed to notice her yawn. She found a clean page in her little A6 notebook and began to write today's date. It took her longer than she cared to admit to remember it. It had been a long week.
"As I was saying officer, we didn't notice they were gone until the Friday. Her boyfriend had been unable to get in contact with her for some time, so I opened the room up then to see if anything untoward had happened. They were gone."
John moved around the room, surveying everything, touching nothing. He was a big guy, thick and broad shouldered, with a bit of a gut having developed from over twenty years on the force. He was in his forties now, hair thinning, stubble from two days without shaving, but he carried a presence of authority and calm in otherwise dire situations. Right now though, he was exuding an air of indifference which was making the student abundantly more nervous than she should have been. She kept her hands clasped together, wringing them occasionally, as John continued to be stoic and say nothing. Jane had been with him long enough to know he was enjoying himself immensely, even if he wasn't showing it.
"So they've been missing for one week?"
"That's correct. They've attended none of their classes. We checked the roles."
"I'll be contacting the heads of the departments at the college to get those." Jane said. The president nodded, her long black hair swirling nervously around her, as she pressed her glasses back up her nose. She stood there, waiting pensively, as Jane blocked the doorway and John now groaned as he kneeled down, having a look under the bed.
"What are you doing?" The president moved next to him, looking under the bed. John pushed her back.
"Outta the light."
"You can't touch anything, can you? I mean, this isn't a crime scene, right?"
"Two girls in their early twenties, roommates, go missing for a week? And no one has called us until now? Yeah it's a crime scene."
"Oh my God! You think they're dead!?"
The president burst into tears, her thin body shaking as she held her face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably all of a sudden. Now it was Jane's turn to sigh. She closed her notebook.
"Hey listen, it's not a crime scene. No one said that." Jane placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. Straight away the girl spun into her, crying into her chest. Jane rolled her eyes. Not only was it awkward, but the girl was now clutching her waist, smothering herself up against her tactical vest, which was pressing into her ribcage. The vests were not the best design for women with a bust. Jane pried her off, grabbing her by the shoulders.
The girl kept crying. "This is all my fault! *sob* I should have called the police sooner! Now they're dead! *sob* Killed by some serial killer!" John stood up, his face an unreadable mask. But Jane saw the flicker in his eyes that made him very happy that Jane was dealing with this instead of him. Which was surprising because it had been his rough demeanor which had caused this in the first place.
Jane turned the girl around and thrust her to the senior officer. "Here. Senior Deputy Wilson will take all further statements from you. He's the best there is. If anyone will get to the bottom of it, it'll be him."
The girl, still sobbing, now threw herself and clung to John. He threw his hands wide, bewildered at the state of the girl, before giving an annoyed glance to Jane.
What are you doing, he mouthed. Jane just smiled and pointed at him. Your turn.
"Please, please Officer! It wasn't my fault! I didn't mean for this to happen. They were good girls! I just thought they had gone on a holiday or something!" The girl was in hysterics. John stood there, before he let out a massive sigh and began to walk out of the room, the girl still clutched to him.
"Come on, we'll take your statement out here. God damn kids..."
As the duo left the dorm room, Jane shut the door behind her. Thank god for some peace and quiet for a minute! She straightened her vest, making sure the girl hadn't dislodged anything and it was all still safely secured, before she took her cap off and tucked it under her arm. She surveyed the room, taking it all in.
It was a standard girls dorm room, nothing special. Wide enough for two single beds along the walls, with a desk occupying the far wall. A single window opened up the space, casting some light onto the concrete walls. There where posters all along one side of the bed, of a few male celebrities and teen heart throbs. Stickers covered them, ranging from kisses to hearts and stars, while the bed itself was unkept and messy. A photo of the girl and possibly a boyfriend was stuck over one poster right next to the pillow. She was 21 at the eldest, with smooth mocha skin and dark curly hair. Definitely Latina in heritage. She was on the beach with her boyfriend, her bountiful chest barely contained by her red bikini. The young lad had done well.
In comparison the other side of the room was the opposite. A neat well-made bed. Books on a floating shelf alongside the wall stacked neatly and in order. There were a few pictures on the wall but they were all photographs of family and friends. The young girl appeared in all of them, short and round, always in frumpy looking clothes. Her hair color seemed to change consistently as well, but red and black seemed to be what she had committed too as she reached her current age. She looked a little frumpy, hardly ever smiling, as if she was in a bad mood. Or maybe depressed?
The two girls had been roommates for awhile and had been quite studious and friendly amongst campus, so it had been a shock when they had gone missing. No contact for a week now. Their mobile phones had been found in their rooms. One of the girls owned a car and it was still in it's parking spot downstairs. There was no sign of forced entry. It was like they had both literally vanished off the face of the Earth.
For Jane though, she knew that never happened. Something had happened to these girls. And it was her job to find out. Cracking this case would be another tick in the box for her eventual jump to investigations. She was still quite junior, especially compared to a career beat cop like John, but she was ready to take the plunge and go for the training. And cases like this, if she could solve them early on, would be the best thing she could do to ensure that happened. She may have been nearly a decade and a half younger than John, but she made up for that lack of experience with a keen eye and doggedness that often brought her the right result.