Corpse in the Campus Read Online Free Page A

are you sure that what you are telling me is true?
    —I can swear to you on the Bible, if you want me to. Besides that, all you have to do is ask them. Also, several groups of students saw me there, because they wanted to know when the showers would be working again. They play basketball there, and they are not very happy about having to come out all sweaty in the cold winter. They aren’t as tough as everyone thinks...
    Stevens gently dropped the stack of papers he had in his hands on the table. He felt frustrated, indignant and worn out.
    —I’ve got to check your alibi. If what you’ve told me is true, I myself will see that you can get out of here right away and that you don’t have any trouble in your job.
    Simpson was cofounded. He didn’t understand anything, but it seemed as if everything was going to work out as if by magic. That tough serious looking character he had before him would end up saving him. Suddenly he felt that a hot current of indignation was taking over his guts.
    —The truth is that I am grateful to you; you know I am infinitely grateful. But, why the devil didn’t your people begin asking me that question before arresting me?
    That was what Gordon was thinking as he was leaving the room and going to look for Karen and Ron. They met in the middle of the hall and the detective couldn’t repress his indignation.
    —Hell, how could you forget something so obvious?
    —Calm down, we still have to check that this man is telling us the truth —answered Philips, in a soft but firm tone of voice.
    —Karen, I guarantee you 100% that he has just told me the truth. I don’t have the slightest doubt —sentenced Stevens, trying unsuccessfully to repress his anger.

VIII
    T wo days after interrogating Simpson, the whole group investigating the case had the sensation that they were at a dead end. Leonard, the other maintenance employee on the campus, and the plumber that had been sent by the insurance company ratified without a shadow of a doubt the alibi given to Stevens.  Also, several students on the basketball team that trained at the McLeod Center confirmed that Jeff had been there all that Thursday March 6th.
    Gordon was attending a meeting held by Patrick Thomas, the local police chief. He was a tried but balanced man that knew how to keep cool. He himself, on the other hand was very angry, and thought that he wasn’t doing enough, and that they were goofing like rookies. However, in a sense he had never ceased to be just that: they had never before had to face a case like that nor even similar to it. Surely that which most shocked Stevens, that is, what made him uneasy was not that the group in that place on the whole were incapable of dealing with the situation; what really was torturing his mind was the idea that he personally were not capable of handling the situation, that he personally were to let that poor girl down, and for this reason for justice not to be done. He woke up at night soaked in sweat, and tormented by strange nightmares, which were the result of the cruelest and completest desperation.
    —According to the parents’ version, Sarah was a very much loved girl, who had no known enemies. This was an opinion shared by her teachers and acquaintances. Nobody wanted her death, and she had never received not even the slightest sign of a threat—mumbled Thomas, distracting the detective from his anguish and tribulations.
    —Excuse me, but it is evident that someone did desire her death, because it is a fact that she has been murdered. Another very different thing is that we have not been able to discover it —said Gordon, with a dry and fatigued tone of voice.
    That somewhat impertinent correction, though true, provoked a brief uncomfortable period of silence. The police chief, tested and sensible did not take this as anything personal.
    —Of course, Gordon. That is our responsibility. I am giving the acquaintances version, and that’s it. It is clear that somebody must