Diary of a Detectress - 27th Jan 18 – First steps towards suspects

This is the fictional diary of Sophie Dayton. Two days ago she was kicked out of university for no reason, and she has turned detective as she searches for the truth behind this riddle.

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Dear Diary, 

After drawing a blank at the uni admin office, I went back to Shane’s and spent the evening watching TV with him. Somewhat unwillingly, I might add. That boy sure loves football, and due to the fact that the couch was my bed, I was sort of forced to watch just as much of it as he did. But technically I’d be homeless without him, so beggars can’t be choosers. Luckily, I was saved in the early evening by the return of Jade, who apparently outclasses even football on his priority list at the moment. They went into his bedroom and I stuffed my ears with cotton wool. It didn’t help much. 

Early this morning (I’m telling you, Jade has a serious waterworks problem) I gave up on any more rest and grabbed my things to come and sit in this café for my first non-chutney based meal since the expulsion, and in order to think things through. Here are the conclusions I have so far drawn:

1. I still have no idea why I was kicked out of university.
2. The university now has no idea who I am.
3. Hopefully this also means that the student loans company has no idea who I am? Thank god this happened after my payment for the semester had already come through. I’m ok for money for a while at least. And now that my study career has been cut short, I’m going to save thousands on my coffee bill!

Ok, enough with the jokes. I have to be serious for a few moments.

I figure that unless there was a freak computer error that somehow happened to erase my existence from the uni records but left all other student records untouched, it’s clear that this must have been a deliberate act. But by whom? My mind involuntarily goes back to the hot guy I saw grinning at me outside the admin office yesterday. I find it a little suspicious that such a good-looking guy would be hanging around, smiling at random girls who come out of the office, unless he knew something about why they were there in the first place… He’s definitely on my list of suspects. And since I have no other leads whatsoever, it’s a very short list. So let’s call him my number one priority. 

My second priority should probably be finding the chief nerd in town (No, it’s not because I have a hankering to watch a sex-god vs nerd king fight-to-the-death, although I have to admit that would be interesting). If my uni records were deleted then there must be some kind of electronic trail, right? I need to find a competent hacker who could access the uni computer system and help me find out who and when and why. I have no idea where I might find a hacker, so I’m going to go with finding the man who knows everyone in town. I’ve never met this person, but I’ve heard about him. He’s supposed to be the ubiquitous “guy-who-knows-a-guy” and can hook me up with the nerd hacker of my dreams. It’s Saturday night, so I’m pretty sure the Blue Zone nightclub is the place to go to start my search. 

I couldn’t be bothered to go and search through all my things in the storage room, so I went and bought an outfit for the evening and nipped back to Shane’s to leave any unnecessary items (meaning everything except the clothes I’m wearing) there. 

It’s still pretty early when I arrive at the Blue Zone so they let me in without a cover charge. There are a couple of young guys wearing shirts and ties at the bar. They look like they probably just started working in an accountant’s office or something, so I go over and let them buy me a drink, allowing them try out their pick-up lines on me in return. After an hour or so, they’ve moved on to the next place, and this club has filled up somewhat. It’s time to start the real search for my quarry. I choose a likely-looking group of fairly drunk guys and make my way over there. 

“Hi!” My dazzling, 150-watt smile would put Barbie to shame. 

“Hey sexy girl!” the drunk guys are just drunk enough to believe themselves to be irresistible.

“It’s really nice to meet all you wonderful people, really,” I dodge the nearest guy’s clumsy attempt to grope my breast and accidentally-on-purpose elbow him in the gut. “I’m really interested in finding a supplier, know anyone I can talk to?”

“I can supply everything you need, baby!” calls out the drunkest of them. What a comedian. They’re obviously too drunk and I’m about to try my smile on the next group instead, when a thin guy wearing a brown jacket touches my arm. 

“You need anything, talk to that guy over there – he points into a dark corner where an older man dressed in black is leaning against the wall and surveying the room. He almost looks like a white version of Blade, except without the sword. “Tell him that Eric sent you,” the thin guy continues. 

“Thanks.” I’m about to pull out of his grasp and go over to talk to Blade-wannabe-guy, but then my eye is caught by a flicker over by the entrance to the club. A familiar dark-haired guy is poised there, just about to leave. As if he can feel my eyes on him, he turns his head, shooting a familiar grin my way. It’s the mystery guy from the union gallery yesterday! My Priority Number One! Shit, I’ll have to come back and find Blade Guy another time. I hastily push my way through the crowd after the retreating back of the smirking stranger. 

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This is an original piece, written for Steemit by @Victoria-Kelly. Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this installment of Diary of a Detectress, please let me know by commenting, and watch out for the next installment coming soon

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