Corpse in the Campus

by Harry Glum

  CORPSE IN THE CAMPUS

  Harry Glum

  Translated by J. Whitten

  “CORPSE IN THE CAMPUS”

  Written By Harry Glum

  Copyright © 2015 Harry Glum

  All rights reserved

  Distributed by Babelcube, Inc.

  www.babelcube.com

  Translated by J. Whitten

  “Babelcube Books” and “Babelcube” are trademarks of Babelcube Inc.

  CADAVER ON THE CAMPUS

  © Harry Glum, 2015

  All rights reserved

  This is a story based on true events. For reasons of confidentiality, names of the persons involved as well as places and most of the dialogues are fictional recreations. Dates have also been altered, as well as some of the minor details having to do with the investigation.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Copyright Page

  I

  II

  III

  IV

  V

  VI

  VII

  VIII

  IX

  X

  XI

  XII

  XIII

  XIV

  XV

  XVI

  XVII

  XVIII

  XIX

  XX

  Acknowledgement

  I

  The lifeless body of young Sarah Brown was found on Saturday morning, March 8th by a search party made up of university students from Northern Iowa and volunteer neighbors who were lending a helping hand. Several groups had been formed, each of which was directed by a Cedar Falls local police agent, and one of them had not taken long to find the body.

  Sarah Brown was lying amid some trees which were located in the south area of the campus, very near the Hillside student apartments and Jennings Drive. She seemed to be resting face up. If she had not been a cadaver, the scene would have seemed ideal: a beautiful blonde young girl with light colored eyes that is lying on the grass and looking up at the sky through the treetops on a cloudless winter morning.

  The body didn´t seem to show any signs of violence or struggle, and it seemed as if it had been carried to where it had been found, and carefully placed upon the frosted grass. However, a small caliber bullet hole in her left temple, from which there oozed a tiny stream of dried blood, indicated that the scene was not that of relaxed dreaming; on the contrary, it was the scene of a horrible crime.

  A coroner was intent on getting all possible photographs of the cadaver and from all possible angles and imaginable distances. This he was doing in the kind of cold manner of those who are accustomed to this kind of work. Gordon Stevens, a Black Hawk County Sheriff´s Office detective located in the nearby town of Waterloo was contemplating the scene thoughtfully thus avoiding having to see Sarah Brown´s open eyes again. He was not accustomed to a crime this horrible and felt his stomach turning, and pains like a punch in the stomach. Who could have done this? Waterloo, Cedar Falls, all of damn Black County was a peaceful place where the worst that could happen to you was a stolen bicycle because you had forgotten to leave a padlock on it when you parked it in front of the supermarket, thought the detective with frustration.

  —How´s it going? —Karen asked him, a fellow local police agent, with whom he had been in several training courses.

  Brown whirled suddenly, since he had now been torn from his meditation and he had almost forgotten where he was.

  —Ah, Karen, it´s you. I´m sorry. I hadn´t seen you...

  —Have I frightened you?

  —Well, I don´t know. I think that since I have arrived here I am a little terrified.

  —That´s incredible...

  The detective directed his eyes towards the police line surrounding the area. Next to the yellow police ribbon there were some press photographers, neighbors and a good group of students, some of which were crying uncontrollably and hugging each other.

  —Yes, it is incredible.

  —Could it be a suicide? —asked Karen with a slight stutter.

  —I doubt it. It´s the left temple, there´s no trace of the gun, and it seems that the body has been brought here. We don´t know yet if she was left handed, or if some criminal has taken the gun, or even if however incredible it may seem she had stayed in that position after having her brains blown out.

  —Calm down, Gordon.

  —I´m not calm, Karen, I´m sorry. And something tells me that the person that did this has not only destroyed this person´s life, with all of her future before her, but has also screwed all of us forever.

  II

  Sarah Brown was seen alive the last time on Thursday, March 6th. She had agreed to go shopping in Waterloo with her two best friends, Belinda Myers and Carol Weight. All three had known each other for years, and they were all from Sheldon, a town some 200 miles from Cedar Falls and had been together in high school.

  Sarah accompanied Carol to the Prime Falls student apartments´ parking lot, where the three friends lived, but she apologized asking them to wait a moment for her saying that she had forgotten her purse in her room. Carol waited in her car until Belinda appeared. She had arrived fifteen minutes late. After waiting for half an hour, both thought that it had been too long and that Sarah had probably run into some friend, or her boyfriend, Mark Walton, who was also from Sheldon and who also was a student in the same university, since he had a sports scholarship; so they decided to leave without her and go ahead with their plans.

  When Belinda and Carol returned that night to Prime Falls apartments they found out that nobody had had any news from Sarah, not even her boyfriend Mark. Everybody else had been thinking that she had been with her friends, having a good time in Waterloo. Immediately, all the alarms went off, and a search was undertaken at the apartments and areas visited most frequently on the campus; but to no avail.

  Desperately, friends phoned Sarah´s parents, who were still living in Sheldon, and they found out that they had not talked to Sarah since early that Thursday morning, when she had called to tell them about her plans for the day. Without a moment´s thought, her parents jumped in the car and arrived late that night at the local police station in Cedar Falls to report her missing.

  The police informed family members that since she was over 18 years of age, a search could not be initiated until after at least 24 hours of her missing. Therefore, they and some of Sarah´s friends organized a search which they held until the early Friday morning hours on the campus. They had no result. It seemed that the earth itself had swallowed her up.

  Halfway through the day on Friday, March 7th, the local police was able to start an investigation on Sarah´s disappearance. They interviewed her two best friends, Belinda and Carol, and her boyfriend Mark. They also interrogated other students residing in Prime Falls apartments seeking some witness or evidence that should guide the direction the investigation should take. Unfortunately, everybody seemed to say that they hadn´t seen her since the previous day in the morning, and that nobody had seen her since then at any point of the campus.

  Around mid afternoon on Friday, the local police and a psychologist had had a long conversation with Sarah Brown´s parents seeking to get to know the missing student´s character more in depth plus her own personal situation. She seemed to be an average girl, a good student, sportsperson, and with a boyfriend she had been with for a few years, and she also dedicated her weekends to charity work. She had never before disappeared, and had always had a close relationship with her parents, whom she usually called twice a day, and visited at least once monthly. She didn´t take drugs, nor did she get into any trouble. For them it seemed absolutely impossible for her to have disappeared of her own free will. Somebody mus
t have kidnapped her and must be holding her somewhere.

  Late on Friday evening, the local police chief had a clear idea about two things: that he should seek the county sheriff´s office´s help and that Sarah Brown would probably be found dead sooner or later.

  On Saturday morning March 8th, several search parties were organized. Each one of them was made up of a local police agent, a handful of students, and some Cedar Falls residents that had heard about the case and that had come voluntarily. People were very nervous, and everyone was already imagining the worst.

  Not long before the middle of the day, the group led by policewoman Karen Phillips stumbled on Sarah Brown´s dead body. It was at the center of a few trees, located at the end of the southern portion of the university campus. She was totally dressed and lying face upwards with her eyes open. One could see clearly a hole streaming with blood in her left temple.

  The area was immediately cordoned off, and the county sheriff was informed. He assigned a detective to the case.

  Detective Gordon Stevens had just mentally reviewed all the essential points of the police report that Karen had prepared, and that would make up the base for the report that he himself would have to draw up later.

  He sighed with relief, almost a sort of a snort as he loosened up his tie knot. The sun was already setting over Waterloo, and at that time on a Saturday, the Sheriff´s office was usually halfway empty. He peered through the narrow window in his office and he wished that that damn row of buildings would be removed so that he could once again have that beautiful view of the majestic beauty of the banks of the Cedar River. He thought of young Sarah´s parents and about their strife stricken faces as they had been questioned. Maybe he was just another modest detective of a small city lost in the middle of the United States, but heaven well knew that he was going to do everything possible to find out who the devil had killed Sarah Brown.

  III

  The small meeting room in the Cedar Falls local police department was packed with people. Gordon Stevens and the local police chief, Patrick Thomas was trying to keep order and start the information session. Everyone was very nervous.

  —Okay, guys, I understand that this situation is overwhelming, because I am feeling the same as you —started out Thomas —, but we should be able to deal with the situation. I have summoned you here so that we can share all the information we have at the moment, and so that we can get to know each other. Deductive Gordon Stevens, with which many of you have dealt and even been classmates, has come from the sheriff’s office to lend us a helping hand.

  Suddenly there was silence. All the people that the chief of police had considered that were adequate to form the main work team for the Sarah Brown case were congregated there: eight agents, among whom were Karen Phillips, another to investigate, and also Patrick and Gordon.

  —Thanks —mumbled Stevens, taking the floor— the first thing I want to tell you is that I am as broken down and distraught as you are. After all, Waterloo and Cedar Falls are practically one city, and I myself studied in the University of Northern Iowa; therefore it is as if the person killed were my companion or neighbor. I already know many of you and it is an honor to be a part of this fabulous human team. We are having to face a terrible incident, which fortunately we are not accustomed to, and I know that you are going to give the best you have to clear up this horrible crime. You are going to give up your own hours of sleep, and time with your families. However, I consider that above all is the purpose of restoring confidence and calm to our community, and that is what we will not have until we solve this case.

  The local police chief came up to a wall where there was a plastic blackboard and a cork bulletin board pannel running from the ceiling to the floor.

  —In order to get organized here, we are going to set up a copy of all the evidence and proof that we have obtained during the investigation. There are already a couple of reports, some photographs of the victim, and a campus map on which the place where the body was found has been marked, and the apartments where they lived, and where she has been seen for the last time.

  —In order to avoid this turning into a total chaos, agent Karen Phillips is going to be in charge of writing on the blackboard and placing a copy of the most relevant evidence on the pannel. None of the rest of you should do this. All of us can and should contribute however we can, but in an orderly fashion —dictated Stevens.

  Suddenly someone knocked on the door. It was the local police chief’s secretary.

  —What’s the matter, Susan?—Thomas asked in a worried tone, since it was strange that his assistant should interrupt him in a private meeting.

  —A student has arrived at our reception. She says she has something important to tell us. She feels that she can determine the time of the murder.

  IV

  The young woman was waiting for them in one of the local police interrogation rooms, biting her nails nervously. When she saw the police officers come in, she twitched nervously.

  —Calm down. You are in the best of hands. We are happy that you have come to us.

  The local police chief had decided that only three persons should question the student: detective Gordon Stevens, who after all was in charge of the case, investigator Ron Davies and agent Karen Phillips, who was their spokesperson. Everyone seemed to agree that the student would be more comfortable with a woman, even though this all may have been an old male chauvinist attitude.

  —I’m sorry. I’m a little scared. I knew Sarah. We weren’t friends but I knew her...

  The young woman began to sob, and Karen held out a Kleenex.

  —I understand. It’s something that’s going to be hard for all of us to assimilate. What’s your name?

  —Maddie —answered the student, almost in a whisper.

  —Great, Maddie. They have told us that you have come to tell us something. Anything that you may have seen or heard is very important, and for this reason I want to thank you on behalf of everyone —said Karen, who was talking to the student in a soft and agreeable voice tone.

  —I have asthma, you know....

  —I understand.

  The detective and investigator looked at each other puzzled, but allowed their police agent to go on, since she was handling the situation masterfully. The girl was truly shocked and a witness in this kind of situation is extremely vulnerable to any kind of remark or reaction which could provoke multiple interpretations.

  —On Saturday morning at two thirty, I woke up with an asthma attack. I was able to grope for my inhaler to catch my breath again. I’ve always got it on my bed stand in case of emergencies.

  —That very sensible, Maddie. I’m sure you are a very responsible student.

  For the first time this student broke into a slight smile. That was a good sign. She finally seemed to feel comfortable.

  —That’s what I think. Thanks.

  —Then —said Karen, who didn’t want to get off the track of the conversation previously started— you woke up and were able to get back your breath. It was around two thirty in the morning on Saturday...

  —Yes. That’s it. I remember that clearly because I looked to see what time it was on my radio alarm clock. Whenever I have an asthma attack at night I look to see what time it is.

  —And what happened afterwards?

  —I stay at Hillside apartments.

  —On Jennings Drive on the edge of the campus—confirmed Karen, avoiding confirmation that precisely in the trees across from the apartments Sarah Browns body had been found.

  —Exactly. What happened is that I got up and opened the window to feel a little relieved.

  —Did you see anything?

  —No, the truth is that I didn’t see anything suspicious. Everything was calm. The air was very cold, but I needed to breathe. I didn’t see anything, but I did hear something that sounded like a firecracker. At least that is what I thought at the moment. However, later when I found out what had happened...

  The student started sobbing agai
n, even though she was trying to suppress her emotions.

  —Take it easy. You found out what had happened, and what did you think?

  —Well, I thought that it really must not have been a firecracker. Nobody lights firecrackers at that time and less probably on the campus. I understood that it must have been a gunshot, do you understand? I heard the gunshot that killed Sarah, and that is horrible!

  After calming her down, agent Karen Phillips took the young girl to another room to fill out the paperwork and for her to sign her statement. In the meanwhile, Gordon Stevens and Ron Davies stayed on to comment on what they thought about what they had just heard.

  —What do you think, Gordon?

  —I don’t know what to tell you. If what this student has just told us is true, and what she heard was the gunshot that killed Sarah Brown, we can start to draw a timeline.

  —Yes. I’m following you. She was missing from Thursday morning. She was not killed until early Saturday morning.

  —True, Ron. And in that case, who the devil and for what reason on earth had her retained for nearly 40 hours? And what is equally important, where the hell did they keep her hidden for all of that time?

  V

  Gordon Stevens spent all Monday morning interrogating student residents at Hillside Apartments along with police investigator Ron Davies. They were seeking to find some kind of testimony that should ratify what Maddie had said in her declaration. This operation should be managed astutely since at this point everybody could be considered potentially suspicious, and any hypothesis considered by agents could be a possible alert to the murderer or murderers.

  Around noon, they had interviewed around 50 students, and none remembered anything worth mentioning. Almost all of them had been sleeping soundly at that time, and another significant portion of them had left that Friday for their weekend at their respective homes away from there.

  Gordon and Davies decided that it would be good if they took a walk from where Sarah Browns dead body had been found to the place where she had been seen alive for the last time: Prime Falls apartments, which was precisely on the other side of the campus on the extreme north edge.