The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 11

Although I was anticipating boring student life, the first week of college was fairly enjoyable. Being a newbie and English, I was an interesting and exciting addition to the criminology course, being friendly and polite with everyone. Merlyn didn't seem to mind me meeting new people, as long as I didn't make public his true identity.

As I discovered more and more in my room, I found many materialistic things Merlyn had provided me. My wardrobe was full with clothes, from denim jeans and skirts, patterned tops and bomber jackets to Louis Vuitton bags and UGG boots. My bathroom was filled with MAC and Chanel makeup, as well as Dior and Clinique, and the new GHD straightener, curler and hairdryer. My kitchen was kitted out with new revolutionary kitchen equipment and foodstuffs.

After a few hours of revision and coursework on the Friday of my first week, I found my new iPod and listened to the two year old band 'My Chemical Romance''s new album 'I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love'. It seemed Merlyn even knew my music taste.

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The next Monday, my criminology group moved into a group assignment. I especially enjoyed group assignments when all my group contributed equally to the project (like in my astrophysics course), but I especially hated them when the opposite happened. I would usually be given all the work in the latter situation. Teachers sure enjoyed giving us group work.

Teaming up with the three people nearest to me who I knew best, I introduced myself to the group. We all seemed to get on well and acted civil with one another. I was with two guys called Blake and Matthew, and a girl called Anna. They all contributed in discussion and we had equal amounts of work to do, not just all the work left to me.

'So, what case should we look at?' Anna asked, her bubbly, high voice giving me strange chills as she reminded me of Harper.

'We could look at this case,' Blake said, sliding a portfolio of printouts across the desk. The headline 'COMMUNITY STUNNED AS LOCAL DOCTOR CHARGED IN HORRENDOUS CRIME' across the top of the article struck me, the slight yellowing a giveaway to its slight lifespan.

'This is an article from three years ago,' Blake continued. As he spoke, Matthew and Anna seemed to recognise the article. Inevitably, I didn't.

As I scanned the article, it read that the murder happened in Central City. That must be why they remembered it so clearly. It was horrible, but interesting. I knew that was going to hinder me in this course; I hated death. Not that I was scared, or anything, just that the victims of crime have families, an actual life and people who care about them. And then there's the blood, guts and gore.

Looking over the article again, I made mental notes in my head. He was a local doctor. Obviously important to the city. He murdered his wife. His 11 year old son claimed he saw the incident. The son claimed someone was trying to kill him.

And that struck me as strange. Very strange.

'Any thoughts on it, Aria?' Blake asked, shaking me out of my musings. 'I know it's nothing that special, but the case seemed like it could be used for our project.'

That was precisely what everyone thought. Nothing special. But it was. It was very special.

'How did you know we were doing this project?' I asked, clearly off topic. I needed time to think of a way to tell my group my thoughts. And also, I was curious.

'I knew we would need a case study,' Blake explained. 'Ya see, my brother did the same course. And my dad is a police officer,' he added.

'Ah,' I replied, nodding my head slightly. I was ready to tell them my findings. 'Do you mind if I tell you what I think?'

'Shoot,' Matthew joined in.

'Well, it's a bit odd that a respectable family doctor murders his beloved wife.' I started. 'But the police probably assumed he suddenly turned bad. However, one little boy can't just make up a story like that out of the blue. I think the boy was there. He saw what happened. And now the father is in prison for something he didn't commit.

'The son broke down crying. Little kids don't think to cover up and lie about something either. They say what they think. They're honest. He called 911 for goodness sake! That takes some guts, and if there was a stranger in your house, you would get help. Not try and get your dad imprisoned!'

Blake, Matthew and Anna just stood there, stunned, trying to take in everything I said. And then Anna quietly started to clap, the boys joining in.

'That was just... mind blowing!' Anna exclaimed, her eyes filled with awe and wonder. 'How did you think of all that?'

'I don't know, it just comes naturally,' I tried to explain without success.

'Im glad you're on our team, Sherlock!' Matthew exclaimed. As long as he didn't take advantage of my skills, I would be fine. 'So, you were saying...'

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Jotting down many points and notes in a clear, colourful mind map with my new pens and paper from Merlyn, I got down all our thoughts and knowledge on the case in order to deduce them afterwards. Soon, the whole page was covered in writing.

'So, we think the boy is... right?' Anna asked.

'Yes,' I said confidently. 'What was his name again?'

'Barry Allen.'