Murder in the hallway

The school was bustling with activity, after all the second siren recently had rung out, and everybody were in a frenzy, all attempting to get to their destinations with swift execution. However the teachers just walked to their required destinations with a calm demeanour, they did, after all, know the school like the back of their hands.

Daniel and Simon didn't have enough time to examine the map to find a simple path to their destination so they instead followed Mrs. Marane, she noticed that they were trailing her, but she didn't seem to mind and just continued in a mannerly fashion, not even attempting to take any unnecessary turns to lose her followers.

Daniel and Simon felt like they were zigzagging through the hallways as there were plenty of students rushing about, each one checked their maps at intervals of two seconds, they lost Mrs. Marane twice whilst swimming through the crowd.

The amount of students they had to pass by lessened as they approached Mrs. Marane's classroom. When they arrived they noticed a sign screwed on to the door just below the window at the top part of the door. The sign itself boasted the classroom's building and the number of the classroom itself, the number-letter combo was 'C-1'.

Then the siren rang yet a third time. Everybody, currently, were practically lined up outside the classrooms they were supposed to be at.

"Welcome to C-1," Mrs. Marane, "this is where we teach first year students the basics of Criminology. I, Mrs. Marane, has helped Tom to assign desks to each of you, so could you please sit at the desk that is assigned to you."

So Daniel and Simon entered the classroom and travelled to the desks which held their names on the front of them, their names were engraved on wood planks, obviously the planks get replaced every year, but some might be reused as many new students have the names as students that had previously graduated, of course this is first name only. There were two Tiffanys in that class so the initial for their last names which weren't the same last names and began with different letters were added on with a period between their first names and the initials.

"Great, I will now get your work." Stated Mrs. Marane after everybody was settled in. She went and searched through her books, but unfortunately she was unable to find what she was looking for. "Oh dear, I must have left your work in the bedroom that I sleep in at this school, I'll be back as soon as I can, but in the meantime, there are puzzles on the back shelf, so if anyone is interested in solving them, please feel free to do so, thank you. I will return as soon as possible."

Mrs. Marane then left, but then, only a few moments after she just left, a gunshot rung out in the hallway that Mrs. Marane recently transitioned into. Daniel, quite courageously, rushed to the door, which hadn't been closed properly, all the other students had curiosity as well but seemed reluctant at first but because of Dan's actions mentioned above, they too decided to have a look. They all discovered Mrs. Marane's deceased body, she was close to a junction, and she was quite close to the left wall. Suddenly a girl hiding behind a fire extinguisher connected to the wall directly ahead of them and directly opposite the right corner of the T-junction fled from the scene. Simon somewhat had a feeling that he had seen that girl previously, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Simon and Daniel left, they turned right around to face away from the victim and hurried across the school to the towards the principal's office, they got lost more then once on their way. They soon decided to use the map to prevent getting lost even more times. When they finally arrived they knocked on the door frantically.

After a whole minute of Daniel and Simon rapidly knocking on Thomas' door, the door finally creaked open, their fists were now tired and sore, they were red and throbbing, they were definitely going to bruise. The principal looked at them through the partially open door with an confused look on his face, as if he was wondering why they were there and why such an urgency that they were willing to damage their own hands just to get his attention.

"Sir," Daniel stated just after he caught his breath, "a murder recently occurred in front of classroom C-1, you must call the police immediately!"

"Yes, I already know," the principal calmly replied, "the hall monitor of the C area was at the scene of the scene, she and I already spoke and she imparted her knowledge onto me. I have already taken the liberty of calling the police and they should arrive in a few minutes."

"But why didn't you open the door immediately while we were knocking?" Simon asked.

"As it so happens I was still on the line talking with the police when you began knocking, it would have been impolite to hang up then and there without giving them as much detail as possible." Tom replied.

"Oh!" Simon replied, now slightly upset.

"Anyway, they'll be questioning everybody, including you."

"Well then, we'll just have to remain on campus until the criminal behind this homicide has been arrested." Dan remarked.

"But Dan, this could be your chance to show John Quin your detective skills," Simon suddenly stated, "after all, if you solve this case before the police do, you get to graduate the next time there's an assembly."

"Is that so?" Daniel replied inquiringly.

"All the details are contained within the school policy," stated Tom, "it says, and I quote: 'if any crime, no matter how petty or how sinister, be it murder, robbery or any other type crime, is solved by any student, no matter their age or experience, they will automatically graduate, even if the student refuses to leave the school.'"

"So you force them to leave the school, even if the students likes it here and prefers to stay?" Dan replied.

"Yes, as much as we like our students, we can't let them stay and keep their genius pent up when they can be using them to solve crimes all over the world, real cases, like the one we are facing right now."

"Oh, that reminds me, we'd better go"

"It was pleasant meeting you again." Simon stated, they both waved goodbye to the principal as the left.

They headed back to the crime scene, again they used their map as a guide. When they arrived there were people wearing hats embroidered with the letters 'YSCC' which stands for 'Yanaught Safety and Crime Committee.'

Police tape blocked the entryway into the area where the crime took place.

Suddenly a man wearing a yellow sash approached, there were letters embroidered on the sash, they spelt out 'leader' in capital letters.

"Hello citizens, I'm Jonathan Quin, a detective of the Yanaught Saftey and Crime Committee. I am sorry to inform you, but there was an incident this morning and nobody is allowed to pass the tape until everything has been resolved." Stated the man wearing the leader sash.

"But we happened to witness the incident when it happened." Stated Simon. "Our viewpoint was the classroom we were in when the crime occurred."

"Ah, your involved, everybody else who happened to be in your class are already at the canteen, I'll allow this once for you to pass through, but please watch your step." Mr. Quin lifted the tape allowing Daniel and Simon to pass through, they walked carefully through the scene of the crime, they were stepped cautiously to avoid disturbing evidence, they eventually made it through to the other side without even scratching a single piece of evidence.

As they traveled toward the canteen an announcement played loudly in the background. "To all students whom were in room C-1 at the time time of the incident, you can have the rest of the day without classes, and please don't worry, the YSCC will find the one responsible." Stated the female announcer.

So Daniel and Simon agreed that they had done enough that day, so they went to their dormitories and rested until the beginning of the next day.