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“Thank goodness this is an all-girls dorm” Dale, the bear shifter currently on Sampson’s protection detail said. Emma had gone back to the house they’d been put up in, and Sampson was glad for it. Currently, Dale, Jess, Chase, Detective Anderson – ‘call me Andy’ – Jane and himself were packed like sardines in the confines of the tiny elevator as they ascended to the crime scene.
“That's actually really gross, Dale,” Jess said, her face still in her phone. “You some kind of a pervert?”
“What? No. First of all, I'm super gay, second of all, I'm pretty sure they don't teach boys personal hygiene in high school. Have you ever smelled a boys dorm?”
“I'm, first of all,” Jess mocked, “I’m pretty sure being gay doesn't mean you can't be a perv. And second of all, I'm don’t yet know-how, but I'm pretty sure that comment is sexist. Girls can be gross if they want to.”
“What are you even fighting about?” Chase asked as the elevator doors dinged open.
“We're not fighting,” Dale and Jess said in unison.
“Settle down, children,” Sampson said as he stepped aside to let out a very confused, very terrified student who’d been completely overlooked in the press of bodies and heated words. The girl, who couldn't have been older than 18, squeaked a thank you at him, blushed furiously, and dashed away before the doors closed once more.
“Detective Jane. Isn't this an active crime scene? Why is the dorm still so active?” As if to prove his point, just as the doors slid open, a group of girls was making their way loudly down the hall towards the staircase, all of them in exercise gear. Another girl looked at them from the open hall window of what appeared to be a common room for the floor.
The small group made their way out and began walking towards the cordoned-off door at the other end of the hall. The police officer stationed outside the room gave a brisk nod of the head when he recognized Jane.
“Well, we can't exactly shut down the dorm. It goes five stories up and houses nearly 300 students. Classes are still in session, most of the kids that live here don't have family or other accommodations close. We managed to close up Ms. Nguyen’s dorm, and her roommate is bunking with a friend. But otherwise, the show must go on, so to speak.”
“Ah, the corporatization of education. How American.” Sampson smiled but it wasn't a nice thing, and it didn't last long.
“Something like that,” detective Jane agreed, unlocking the door and swinging it open for Sampson, Chase, and Jessamine to enter, while Dale situated himself on the opposite side of the door from the officer.
Chase and Jess held back, allowing Sampson to move further in. He took in the relatively dust-free have window ledge, the clean-swept ground littered occasionally by an article of clothing, a stray book, or a shoe kicked off in haste. There were two desks in the room at the foot of each bed. On one side there was makeup, paper, and specks of dried paint on the table beside art history books. There seemed to be little empty space on the surface, except for a laptop-shaped gap in the clutter directly across from the chair. On the other side of the room, Sandra’s side, the desk was relatively empty. There was a thermos of what smelled like days-old half-finished coffee, an empty smoothie container, and a nearly full, one-liter bottle of water. On the desk was a plant biology textbook, and an open notebook.
“The smells in here have been confused, and faded by time, and exposure.” There was a rumble in his voice as Sampson turned back to the doorway, his animal close to the surface. “Really, Jane, I'm not sure what good the DA thought the SID would do here. And I'm even less sure I like the reason she called me out specifically.” Sampson looked the man dead in the eyes. His amber meeting the detective’s blue.
“Yeah, I'm sorry Gale.” Jane shrugged. “I'm pretty sure you know why they called in the SID.”
“The SID, Sir?” Asked the not-so-subtly listening in officer standing right outside the door.
“The Supernatural Investigative Division,” Chase replied, absentmindedly as he compared something on his phone to something in the room.
The police officer standing outside of the door jolted and turned abruptly to study the well-muscled man he was adjacent to before whipping towards the room. Jess’s eyes glowed with magic as the officer stared into them, and he squeaked.
Detective Jane put his hand on the officer's face and shoved it back towards the hallway.
“Keep your assumptions to yourself rookie, and your nose to the ground. The people who climb are the ones who keep their mouth shut, their heads clear, and their eyes forward.” Jane said. “Not the ones who poke the bear.” Jane turned a pointed look towards Dale, who chuckled but didn’t deny it. The officer just nodded, though his eyes remained bugged wide.
Sampson sighed and shook his head. Jane should know better than to bring in people who didn’t have supe training, but knowing how short-staffed most police departments were, he'd let it slide.
“Listen, Jane, I'm not sure how much use my nose will be this far past the actual time of death. It's been days, and this entire building is full of conflicting scents, feelings, and impressions.” Sampson spoke truthfully to the man. In all probability, Jane already knew this. “Here’s what I can tell you. Sandra and who I’m guessing is her roommate appeared to be the primary scents in this room, but there has been a male in here at some point. He's mundane, and his scent is mostly restricted to the roommate side of the bedroom. Also, it's older, maybe a few days to a week? I doubt he's a lead, but I'm sure if you ask the roommate, she could tell you who he is.
“Other than that? You’ll need some divination to root out any magical interference. We can let Jessamine give it a try.” Sampson pointed to the mage tapping away on her phone. She looked up when her name was called.
Jane was about to respond when his phone rang, and he lifted it out of his pocket to look at the caller ID.
“Sorry, gotta take this,” Jane said as he looked back to Sampson, then to Jessamine, who had finally put her phone away, probably for the first time since they had left Seattle. Jane shook his head, a slight gesture that probably would have gone unnoticed if he wasn't in a room full of supes, before he picked up his phone. “Detective Jane,” he said into the receiver. He nodded once, then turned back to the group of supernaturals, and Chase all crowded into the tiny dorm room. “I’ll be right down.” He ended the call.
“Trouble?” Sampson asked. Jess had pulled off her shoulder bag and was now removing items from it and placing them neatly on the pale laminate floor of the room.
“No. Not trouble, help actually.” The detective said as he ran a hand absentmindedly through the short brown hair on his head. “I sort of figured you wouldn't be able to get anything really useful from the scene, so I called in some backup.” He took a deep breath and watched Jessamine work for a second, seemingly lost in thought. “Sorry, why don't you get on with your mumbo-jumbo, I’ll be right back.” he made to leave the room when Sampson’s deep baritone stopped him.
“Actually, do you mind if I come with? If best if there aren't other… conflicting powers in the area when Jesse does her, what did you call it? Mumbo-jumbo," Sampson said. Jane looked contrite, but Sampson waved him away. "I’ll leave Chase in the room, and Dale’s on guard near the door, if your rookie will be okay.” Though the look Sampson gave the young officer made it clear that it wasn't really negotiable.
“Sure, yeah, of course,” Jane said. “You might as well meet Aliya now. I get a feeling we'll all be working together quite a bit on this case if you end up staying.”
Sampson gave him a look, but at Jane’s continued silence he let the comment slide. He had no authority over this man, and he was rather curious.
“Lead the way,” Sampson said.
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