Kevin studied the victim’s feet. The walkway was fairly clean so there wasn’t any dust or debris that could tell how the victim had been standing when he was shot. But the way they were bent suggested that the victim had fallen straight down. More than likely his feet weren’t very far from where they had been the moment of the shot. Kevin stepped forward almost to the victim’s feet and again looked at the blood splatter. He turned and looked in the opposite direction, the direction the bullet would have come from. All he could see were trees and bushes. Tall bushes and low leafy trees and the trunks of some taller trees overshadowed the area. He was beginning to turn back when he saw something. It was only momentary, but he thought he saw a flash of something slightly lighter than the darkness of the trees and bushes. There it was again. This time he could make out the shape of a person. There was a tiny gap or opening in the trees at exactly that place.
“John.”
The officer was talking to one of the witnesses, the girl who had been with the victim.
“Yes, sir.”
“I need the crime scene widened...,” Kevin peered into the trees again, “oh about 60 yards in that direction.” Kevin motioned toward the trees and bushes. “And make sure you run off any people in there.”
“We’ll take care of it right now, sir.”
John Levin was a good man. He was ten years older than Kevin and had been on the force for almost twenty years. He had no ambition to rise above where he was now and held no animosity toward younger officers who were promoted above him. Kevin also knew that Levin was a valuable resource for just plain practical experience, and held him in great respect.
Kevin then turned toward the first girl. She was sitting on the ground next to the disheveled boy.
“Hi, I’m Detective Gould, your name is...?”
“Wendy.”
“Wendy. You’re the one that called 911?”
“Yes.” Kevin could see that she was pretty exhausted. She had a hard time focusing her eyes and her attention seemed to drift. Given the hour, and the party he’d known was supposed to take place tonight, he figured she really wouldn’t get much useful information out of her, and she looked like she needed some sleep.
“Where d’you live, Wendy?”
“In the dorms.”
“You think you can make it there okay?”
“I have some friends here that were gonna walk back with me’n Brad.” She gestured to some students nearby beyond the tape.
“Good.” Kevin stood up and helped Wendy stand. He motioned for her friends and they came under the tape and helped Brad stand as well.
“I may need to ask you some questions later, Wendy,” she stopped and turned to look at Kevin with very tired eyes, “but for now it looks like you and Brad need a good night’s sleep, and the officers have your name and phone number, right?”
“Yeah, they wrote that stuff down.”
“Great, we’ll talk with you later, then.”
Kevin walked over to the other girl. She sat on the bench with her face in her hands. She was sobbing, and another girl sat near her rubbing her back.
“You think you’d be able to answer a few questions?” Kevin asked gently. The girl pulled her face out of her hands and looked up at Kevin. Her eyes were puffy and red streaked her face where tears had flowed freely.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” She looked at the body then closed her eyes and turned her face away, then opened her eyes and stared at the ground, holding her eyes away from anywhere near the body.
“Janie, right? You were walking along here with Mr. Engstrom?”
“It’s Professor...I mean it was...,” she fought to hold back tears.
“I’m sorry. You were walking along here with Professor Engstrom?”
“Yes, about an hour or so ago.”
“Right along through here?” Kevin motioned to the walkway.
“Well,” she sniffed, wiped her nose, and focused on the question, “we came out of the office building over there. Then walked along there.” She gestured to a point several yards down the walkway. “Then Kristy and Gary came through the breezeway, and I went back that way with them.” She motioned toward the dorms. “That was the last I saw him, I mean...saw him...you know...”
“Yeah, Janie, I understand what you mean. Did you see or hear anything after you walked away?”
Her gaze wandered across the ground as she thought.
“Well...”
“There was Professor Walser.” Kristy offered.
“Yeah, that’s right.” Janie remembered, “He was sitting on the bench on the other side of the woods. We didn’t notice him until we heard him sneeze.”
Kevin’s eyebrows went up. “You heard him sneeze?”
“Yes,” Janie said, “he sneezed...”
“And you yelled, ‘God bless you.’” Kristy said excitedly.
“That’s right, I forgot about that. We heard him sneeze, I yelled ‘God bless you,’ then we saw Professor Walser sitting on the bench. He kinda seemed nervous, too.”
“Why do you say that?” Kevin asked.
Janie thought awhile, “Well, he was tapping his fingers on his arm kinda like this.” Janie demonstrated showing a nervous, fidgety tapping on her forearm.
“Hm,” Kevin grunted. He furrowed his brow in thought. “Did he get up and leave?”
“No,” Janie looked at Kristy who was frowning as she tried to remember, “He just sat there.”
“Okay.” Kevin looked at the three of them. They looked pretty tired, too. Not as bad as Wendy and Brad, but they definitely needed some rest.
“Janie, do you have someone you can stay with for the next few days?” Kevin asked, “I imagine this has been pretty traumatic on you, and it would probably be best if you had someone around.” Janie looked at Kristy and then looked back at Kevin.
“My parents live in Russellville. I guess I can call them in the morning, but I don’t want to miss any classes.”
“You should call them now. In fact, I think they’d be pretty upset with you if you didn’t. And President Payton will be here before long, and I’ll let him know you’re a witness and I’ll see if he can speak with your teachers, okay?”
“You don’t think my parents would get mad if I called them now?”
Kevin smiled at her, “They’re your parents, Janie; they’ll want to be there for you. Call them as soon as you get back to the dorm.”
The three stood up and began to leave.
“Oh, but Janie,” Kevin handed her his card, “if you do leave town, I’d appreciate it if you’d call me so I’ll know how to get in touch with you, all right?”
“Sure,” Janie took the card, stared at it a second then looked up at Kevin. “Thank you.”