Agnis leaned away, feeling like she had missed an opportunity at more information. He was leaning away and she felt a little like she would be intrusive if she asked more questions. "Do you happen to know who will be working the case? Just in case any of the students report anything, or I see anyone suspicious.. Not to seem like someone who gets jumpy and clingy with the phone, of course. I just.. worry about the students here, and I'm around campus and the library somewhat frequently for work.." Agnis gave him a warm smile, trying to seem earnest and helpful instead of nosy.
She supposed that she was just being overly curious, the death of the boy on the steps wasn't anything she felt she should be overly concerned about but.. No, she was a professor here. It was more than healthy to be worried about the well being of her students, not to mention herself.
Officer Darcy seemed distracted by the other officer taking pictures, but looked back at Agnis to see her smile.
"Detective Harden is on this one. He was the first to the scene. He's been on edge since the Gilman case. I don't think the two are related, but he's jumped on anything even a little strange."
The bustle around the crime scene continued as looked like the officers were trying to finish up before any more students arrived.
A black Model-T ambulance arrived to transport the body to the morgue. The paint under the red cross on the side indicated it was from St. Mary's, the medical hospital near campus.
Agnis nodded, stepping back as she filed away the information where she could repeat it rapid-fire. She wanted to tell someone, literally anyone from her group, what was going on before they started hearing strange rumours from people who had heard it three mouths separated from the scene. "Thank you, officer. Have a nice day, thanks for all your help!" She smiled again and then stepped away, moving through the crowd once again and letting her eyes wander. Looking for anyone that seemed a little devastated, like someone who might have been around when the body was found, or someone who didn't look quite like they were a gawking onlooker.
Post by The Storyteller on Mar 3, 2016 5:05:13 GMT
With the body being loaded into the ambulance, the crowd was beginning to disperse. The sun was climbing higher, and classes were set to begin soon.
Agnis looked around at the students, hoping to identify someone who might have seen more. She wasn't able to find what she was looking for, however the next best thing bumped into her.
A pair of students turned from the scene, evidently back on their way to class. Agnis heard "I've got to go to my history class. I hope the police find out what happened soon. Frank was just fine the othe-" The student was cut off as he turned directly into Agnis.
"Oh! Professor Ward! I'm sorry Ma'am. I was just heading to class!"
Agnis recognized the young man as a student in her "Mediterranean Civilizations in the Greco-Roman Period" class, coincidentally where she was going before she encountered the scene.
Leigh gave a moment of silence to Evan's thousand mile stare mentioning the war; to Albert's comment, Leigh gave a small flick of the eyes and took another bite of food, choosing to ignore the old man's attempt at riling him up.
| | | The Next Morning | | |
"Fuck t'all ta hell, windin' alarmclock's lazier than a -- wha th'devil?"
Leigh squinted at all the cop cars and people crowded around the library. But of course there would be a commotion when he was already running late; it was the nature of his life these days it seemed. Always on time for an interview but late to the rest of life, he thought, something maybe a little bit like pining for lost opportunities flitting across his face as he finished the nearly-spent cigarette between his lips. The feeling was gone right quick, however, when Leigh spied Agnis at one edge of the stairs, speaking to a police officer. Well, well, what's all this then?
He hurried to cross the street, but had to stop for a series of automobiles. By the time the traffic passed, the officer was already walking away from Agnis and they were loading (presumably, due to the speed of their actions) a corpse into a transport vehicle. With a growl of frustration, Leigh finally just put a hand on his hat and dashed across the street, yelling an incoherent slur back at a motorist that honked and yelled. He slowed down a little bit, seeing a student literally run into Agnis. It looked like she was going the ask the kid some questions so he sidled up to them, adjusting his hat and attempting to be both a little authoratative but also welcoming... someone to be confided in, without negative consequences.
He watched the student very carefully while attempting to look casual, "Good mornin' folks; wha's all th' commotion about?"
Last Edit: Mar 8, 2016 3:03:21 GMT by Leigh Sharpe
She put her hands up as another frame turned into hers, Agnis' fingers clutching at shoulders and steadying the figure as they took a brief step back. It took a moment to recognize one of her students, but as soon as she did Agnis made a small gasp. "Mr. Addleson! That's quite alright, I'm a bit late myself." She glanced towards the scene behind them, mouth opening to continue speaking as another figure pushed into the group.
Agnis looked up at the semi-familiar voice of Leigh, the corners of her lips tugging up into a small (somewhat sheepish) smile. "Good morning, Professor Sharpe." She motioned to the commotion behind them, the corpse being loaded and the front steps of the library. "It looks like there was an incident here last night, involving a few students and an attacker.." Agnis summarized the events, not wanting to perturb the student (or make it seem like they were not being paid attention to).
Her attention returned quickly to the student that had bumped into her, a small worried frown creasing the previous smile. "Mr. Addleson, this is Professor Sharpe. I assume you knew the poor boy on the steps?"
Post by The Storyteller on Mar 18, 2016 1:51:05 GMT
The student hesitated, but when he realized the professor was just curious, he spoke up, to Sharpe first.
"Pleased to meet you Professor." The student looked around awkwardly for a beat, never having taken a class from Sharp. He then turned back to Dr. Ward.
Not well Ma'am. He is in my Latin class. We don't really hang out with the same crowds..."
The second student seemed anxious to leave, and so Mr. Addleson motioned to permit him to leave without him, since he knew he couldn't be late to class as long as Professor Ward was right here too.
Post by Werner Hoganmüller on Apr 2, 2016 17:29:02 GMT
His frustration was starting to show as 3 or 4 more students shuffled into Werner's greenhouse space late. They were only a few of most of his class who had been arriving intermittently. Things were made worse in that no one seemed to be paying attention to him - they all were whispering to neighbors in an excited fashion.
Werner sighed, "Alright. Clearly some news of import has occurred that has escaped my knowledge - would someone care to enlighten me so we can get on with the class?"
One of his more giggly students chimed in, "There was a body found outside the Library this morning, it was the most gruesome thing!"
Shocked, he replied, "Do any of you know whom this person was?" Negative replies were abound. He motioned to the girl who provided the information, "Danke, Miss Hunter. As we are all aware of the situation now - I move that we continue with the class and inquiries into the situation can be made afterward." He continued on to re-start the lesson, talking of the various types of plant tissues found in typical angiospermae.
Werner worried some about the body belonging to one of his fellow professors with whom adventures had been had, but kept thoughts at bay for the lesson. He decided to seek out one of the group as soon as he had a break in the day.
Agnis felt the curve of her brow quirk upwards for a brief moment. "I'm afraid I don't keep tabs on my students outside of their paperwork and field studies," she gave a polite smile, "what kinds of crowds did ---" Agnis paused then, lips pursing for a moment. "I'm sorry, I don't think I picked up the name of the student earlier, they are?.."
Post by The Storyteller on Jul 18, 2016 2:07:11 GMT
"Frank, Frank Charlton" the student said, shifting in place. "Sorry Ma'am, I really don't know too much about him. He was always out with those Bohemian types. He'd always run off to that coffee shop after class... What was the name? Sorry Ma'am, I can't recall. You're going to need to ask someone else. "
Agnis nodded her head and then waved her hand, briskly, as if waving him off. "That's fine, don't worry about it. Just curiosity getting the better of me, really." She glanced in the direction of the building where she held her classes, then to him. "Go ahead and get to class now, I`ll be along shortly." As soon as he had turned and left, body disappearing among the crowd, Agnis turned towards Sharpe and shrugged her shoulders. "I can ask around a bit, but you might know more about bohemian coffee shops than I do - or how to find their whereabouts. I need to head to class now -- if you want to meet up somewhere after classes are over I can attempt to gather the others?.."
Sharpe nodded briskly, a couple ideas in his head already about which 'bohemians' to approach. "A coupl'a names come ta mind; one in this class an' anutha in my afternoon darkroom. I'll ask aroun' about Frankie and see what I can suss up. As fer meetin', you'cn call and leave a message with th' Communications Department desk girl. She'll get it ta me." He nodded goodbye to her, took one step down the stairs, but then paused, turning back around: "Ya know, som'thin in my gut tells me tha' Latin class is importan' -- or at leas' not just a coincidence." He gestured to the library, the stairs and then the cop cars before tucking the papers under his arm and putting his hands in his pockets, turning away to leave again: "Somethin' feels queer heah, Miss Ward, I bet you feel it too. Keep ya eyes peeled an' we'll seeya tonigh'."
Post by The Storyteller on Jul 21, 2016 2:26:15 GMT
The news of the murder spread over the Miskatonic campus like a plague of rats spilling out of a Bubonic-tainted ship. Though only a few witnesses saw the murder scene, they spread from class to class telling the story. In the morning, there were quiet, pre-class whispers in the ivy-covered halls. By the afternoon, rumors about Frank were in full blown discussion in the open areas of the university.
A low simmering sense of dread hung over the students, and there was no explanation to put their fears at ease. The police were tight lipped, and their professors didn't know any more than they did.
By 1 PM, phone calls went out from the administration office to the various departments. The news was simple. Out of respect for the slain student, and to aid in police investigation, classes were canceled for the rest of the day. Undergraduate students who lived in the west dorm on campus were instructed encouraged to return to their dorm rooms for the night in case the police needed to contact them, though the students knew that there was nothing legally binding. Still, very few wanted to risk tarnishing their image in the eyes of the facility.
Agnis, sitting in her small office during her open door hours, learned that she was free sooner than she had expected from a passing student. She consulted her staff directory, and saw that, assuming none of the other professors had plans she was unaware of, she would be able to set up a meeting by 2:30.
She picked up her black candlestick phone and began rotating the dial.
Agnis started her phone call by reaching out to Werner, thumb anxiously rubbing along the phone's long handle as she pressed it to her ear. She had hoped that they might have reached out to her first -- asked her anything about what was going on or showed some sort of interest. Being the one to go after others continuously was not something that was, apparently, socially acceptable. But, in this case, when there were strange things happening on their campus -- it was alright, wasn't it? Agnis' lower lip quivered for a moment before she caught it between her teeth, waiting for Werner to answer.
For this call she was not nearly as jovial as she had been before, her voice quiet but audible. "Ser Hoganmüller, this is Agnis. I'm sure you've heard already of the body found on the steps this morning? I spoke with one of my students and professor Sharpe this afternoon about the events, and I would like to host a gathering at my place this evening so that we might all talk about it. Sharpe believes that something strange is going on and --" Agnis paused for a moment, taking a small breath as she focused her thoughts. "I have to believe so, as well. Sharpe mentioned looking into the situation a bit, so he may know more."
She waited for a break before she continued, addressing some of the facts at hand. A body had been found on the steps of the Library, and a young girl avoided an attack by the same person (or so they suspected). She continued on, covering the other details of the scene from this morning, and then posed a time frame for an afternoon meeting. "Does 2:30 sound alright? If you can get to my place, I'm located at [address]. Second floor, just buzz at the door and I`ll meet you there. I will be inviting the others as well."
As soon as she ended the call with them, Sharpe dialed the number for the Communications Department and chewed her lip nervously. As Sharpe had stated, a young sounding girl chimed a sweet hello into the phone - Agnis left a quick message asking Sharpe to meet her at her place, gave the time. It was brief, but she assumed he would know what the meeting would be about.
Calling the other two was a quick affair, Heiss and Wildstrom given the same information she had given Werner (and, Agnis, also, politely requested that they join the group at her place).
Last Edit: Jul 21, 2016 23:34:19 GMT by Agnis Ward
OH NOES
