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Jordan was rushing his breakfast, he knew Sabine was about to knock on his door any moment. The night before they’d arranged for her to pick him up at 9:30am and Jordan already had the impression of Sabine that she was unlikely to be late. Just as he gulped down the last of his fruit juice he heard a car horn outside his apartment. Grabbed his wallet, phone, keys and Sandi’s journal that he’d printed out. Opened his front door the before stepping out quickly turned round and grabbed a pair of sunglasses. Waved to Sabine with one hand whilst he closed his door with another.
‘One of the many plus points this job has over being in the police is the no uniform situation,’ Jordan said as he got into Sabine's car wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, long shorts and a pair of battered, old trainers. ‘Especially when it’s as hot as this.’
‘Can’t argue with that, even though I was out of uniform for most of my police career there were still dress codes I had to stick to,’ Sabine’s just above knee length skirt and white vest top would have been a no-go in her police days. ‘Anyway, enough fashion talk. Can you believe that journal? Looks like you’re starting with a big and bizarre case,’ she added as she started up the car and set off driving.
‘I was hoping to ease my way in with a few missing pet cases, but what the heck. Have to be honest with you, I fell asleep last night, somewhere around mid March, looks like jet lag caught up with me after all.’
‘I’ll let you off just this once.’
‘Thanks ever so much. So what did I miss?’
‘Just more of the same. Did you get up to that big party she went to?’
‘The one with all the high rollers ringing her up after it?’
‘Yeah that’s the one.’
‘That’s where I got up to before I finally fell asleep properly.’
‘Just amazing that someone can have a life like that and hide it from so many people. Everybody we have spoken to so far on campus is convinced she is a quiet little angel.’
‘So did she ever get round to mentioning any names? Or was it just a bunch more ‘contacts’?’
‘No names at all I’m afraid, so no easy leads. Journal stops in June when College breaks up for the summer.’
‘The only name we have is that lecturer guy,’ Jordan pointed out.
‘That’s true, although from the little we know about him I really don’t think he’s the killing type. Massively creepy and sleazy but not killer.’
‘We’re still going to have a chat with him though?’
‘Oh hell yeah, coercing girls into having sex with him for better marks might not be classed as rape but it’s definitely very wrong. At the very least it should ruin him professionally.’
‘Not sure the written testimony of a probably dead girl is going to be classed as conclusive evidence.’
‘Me neither but I’m thinking if he did it with Sandi he probably did it with others, so if we ask them the right way we might get one or more of them to speak out against him. Oh by the way the blood in the room all matches Sandi’s and there’s only one persons blood there.’
‘Forensics done already?’
‘Yeah Fred phoned me this morning, only one set of fingerprints as well. They also said that there was approximately six pints of blood there and nobody could lose that amount of blood and survive.’
‘Looks like a murder then.’
‘It most certainly does.’
When Sabine and Jordan got to the campus they found out which class it was that Chad was Sandi’s lecturer, then got a list of all the females in that group and went in search of those seventeen girls. After a couple of them not being in their dorm room and a couple telling them that they hadn’t had any such sexual contact with the lecturer, Sabine and Jordan knocked on Shannon’s door.
‘Hi, are you Shannon?’ Sabine said as the young girl who looked like she’d just got out of bed opened the door.
‘Yeah,’ she replied whilst rubbing her eyes.
‘Well I’m Sabine and this is Jordan, we’re private investigators looking into the disappearance and probable murder of Sandi Lords.’
‘Oh right, okay, erm, come on in then.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Thanks Shannon,’ Jordan added.
‘Sandi Lords, do I know her?’ Shannon seemed to be asking herself more than Jordan and Sabine.
‘You were in the same ancient history class with her first semester of last year,’ Sabine said.
‘Slim girl, mousy brown shoulder length hair, wore plain clothes,’ Jordan added.
‘Oh yeah, I know who you mean. Nice girl, hardly knew her though,’ Shannon appeared to be getting a little defensive.
‘Don’t worry, you’re no where near being a suspect or anything like that,’ Jordan said.
‘Yeah that’s right,’ Sabine added. ‘We’re really here to ask you about the lecturer in that class, Chad Johnson.’
‘What about him? I hardly know him either, he’s just a teacher.’
‘Well according to Sandi’s journal he was a bit more than that to her,’ Sabine said.
‘How do you mean?’
‘Well he persuaded Sandi to perform several sexual acts on a few occasions in return for him giving her higher marks,’ Sabine explained.
‘You don’t look too shocked,’ Jordan said.
Shannon put her hands over her face for a moment or two then ran them through her hair. ‘Not shocked, not shocked at all.’
‘Did he have the same deal with you?’ Sabine asked.
‘Well not quite,’ Shannon couldn’t look at her inquisitors anymore, she stared out of the window as she talked.
‘Look Shannon,’ Jordan said. ‘I’ll be honest with you, we’re not after you at all, we’re after him. If he did what Sandi say’s in her journal then he’s the bad guy. So whatever you say we promise that we’ll do whatever we can to make sure you don’t get in any trouble.’
Tears began to form in Shannon’s eyes. ‘He started on me right from the start of the semester, leaving me notes all the time. All his messages were saying the same thing, if I wanted to improve my marks then all I had to do was come by his office some time and, what was the phrase he always used? ‘Pleasure me’, that’s it, ‘Pleasure me’. I was sickened by it right from the start, I sort of knew that I should tell someone but I really didn’t think anybody would believe me. Then as time wore on I,’ Shannon stopped to take a few deep breathes and wipe her eyes. ‘I started to think that maybe it wasn’t that bad an idea, I mean he’s quite good looking and I knew I was going to struggle with the class. Oh God it sounds even worse when I say it out loud. Anyway when it got to exam time I was just so stressed, I knew my mark wasn’t going to be as high as my others and that my parents would not be happy. So the day before the exam I found him in is office and I set about ‘pleasuring him’,’ Shannon wiped away some more tears and looked thoroughly ashamed of herself. ‘Oh God you must think I’m such a slut, and you’re right. It’s just that I was so desperate for better marks. Then to make it all even worse, after I’ve made him come he just sits back in his chair and says: ‘Not bad, not good enough though. Think your marks will be staying the same. Feel free to try again next semester though.’ So it turns out not only am I a slut, but I’m not even very good at being one. If Sandi had an ongoing thing then I guess she was better,’ the tears and deep breathing had been replaced by a disconsolate, blank stare in the direction of her feet. ‘She seemed so cute and innocent though, just can’t imagine her being a slut.’
‘Look Shannon I really don’t know what to say,’ Sabine said. ‘You made a mistake, but you know that already. Doesn’t make you a bad person though, just keep remembering that he’s the bad person in this scenario.’
‘Yeah and well done for telling us, that must have been tough,’ Jordan added.
‘Thanks, for letting me tell somebody and not being too judgmental. It’s being gnawing away at me for pretty much a year now.’
‘We’ll be doing our best to make sure that at the very least the guy never works in any sort of education establishment again,’ Sabine assured Shannon.
‘That’s for sure,’ Jordan added. ‘Just one more question before we go. Do you know of any other girls that he’s done anything like this to?’
‘No I don’t, although I’d be surprised if it was just me and Sandi.’
‘Okay thanks Shannon,’ Sabine said. ‘You sure you’re going to be all right here on your own for now?’
‘Yeah, I’ll have a good cry then I’ll be fine,’ Shannon said and allowed herself a small smile.
‘That’s a good idea, a good cry can work wonders,’ Sabine said.
‘How would you know?’ Jordan asked. ‘You’re an icy bitch.’
Sabine smiled at Jordan’s comment then said: ‘Even the coldest ice can melt.’
Over the course of the rest of the morning Sabine and Jordan tracked down the rest of the young ladies who took that class. They found three more that told them they’d been treated like Shannon. Of the ones that said they’d done nothing like that there was a few that Sabine and Jordan found hard to believe. None of them admitted to being a regular visitor in the way Sandi had described.
Once they’d done all their interviews Sabine and Jordan went to present their findings to the head of the Campus. He was in his office and invited them in warmly, expecting to get an update on Sandi’s situation. Instead he heard the horrible tale about one of his teaching staff. As soon as Sabine had finished the brief version of the story the Head was on the phone telling Chad Johnson to come to his office immediately. Within a couple of minutes of the phone call Chad entered the office, looking concerned yet still somewhat arrogant and smug – in keeping with the image that had been portrayed to Sabine and Jordan.
‘Sit down Johnson and listen to what these private investigators have to say,’ the head spoke in a very firm and disappointed tone.
‘Mr Johnson,’ Sabine took on the role of explanation giver. ‘During the course of some inquiries we’ve been making we have been reliably informed by several sources that you offer female class members the chance for improved marks in return for sexual favours. We’ve spoken to the girls in question and they are all prepared to give evidence against you if it comes to that.’
‘These are extremely serious allegations Johnson, what do you have to say for yourself?’ The Head asked.
‘Is having sex with students illegal?’
‘You admitting it?’ Sabine checked.
‘No, just wondering.’
‘Let me guess,’ Jordan said. ‘You want us to say something along the lines of, ‘no but it is frowned upon’. Do you really think ruining young ladies lives is something just to be frowned upon?’
‘Can’t see how sex with me could be classed as ruining their lives, not that they’ve had sex with me,’ Johnson spoke with a disgusting arrogance.
‘From what we’ve heard it would be,’ Sabine said.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Johnson asked irritably.
‘She means that all the girls we’ve heard from that have had sex with you, weren’t in the least bit complimentary,’ Jordan said and gave Johnson a very steely glare.
‘At least you never took up too much of their time,’ Sabine added. ‘And on at least one occasion you couldn’t even finish yourself, barely raising anything, let alone her marks.’
‘That bitch Wendy said she’d never say anything about that,’ combination of Johnson's anger and ego got the better of him.
‘Wendy? Who’s Wendy?’ Sabine asked.
‘Don’t look so smug bitch,’ Johnson said.
‘Don’t talk to her like that,’ Jordan said. ‘She’s an icy bitch, get it right.’
‘Sure am,’ Sabine said.
‘You both know there’s no chance I’m going to be criminally convicted.’
‘Well what happens from now on really isn’t up to us, we’re just happy to have brought to light the fact that you’re a horrible, sleazy guy who takes advantage of young girls and you’re not even any good at it,’ Sabine told him.
‘I thought you guys were here to investigate that girl going missing or getting murdered or whatever.’
‘Is that your defence?’ Jordan wondered. ‘Bad news for you is that it turns out Sandi kept a journal and she wasn’t shy about what she put in there.’
‘Sandi Lords? I never touched that chick.’
‘Little late now for denials. The police will be around soon and you better hope you have a great alibi for Thursday night,’ Sabine said.
‘Seriously, she was not really my type, a little too plain if you know what I mean.’
‘Johnson,’ the Head barked out the name in a very attention grabbing manner. ‘In this crazy mixed up modern world I’m now duty bound to merely suspend you while we conduct a formal investigation. But I’m going to say fuck the crazy mixed up modern world, you are fired you sick son of a bitch. I’m hoping the door hits you on the ass on the way out.’
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