“Of course I know about the marketplace under the bridge, everyone does. It’s not some shady secret. The sellers there are really nice, actually. I was already a regular there because I live on their cheap aspirin. They don’t ask questions.”

She spoke slowly, like a teacher of very young and difficult children.

And in the other room Jin had muttered, “Ayer left almost all the stuff behind. You never looked for the roofies, and you only took his extra needles. I guess he expected fuck-ups, like the needles breaking or getting wasted.”

“I had to look up what to do to drug someone.” That was Tinsel, again. “But it was just dropping the sleeping pill in. I figured Rip put the ones he was planning to drink in the fridge. I waited for him in his closet. I was kind of hoping he’d just pass out in his bed, but he came in, had a snack - and a warm drink - and walked out. I guess his room is pretty hard to relax in…” She made a face, then smoothed it out with considerable effort.

Jin was too wrung out to express anything but despair. “I was actually going to leave when he left the room again. If he passed out back at the party, I wouldn’t have dared to try anything. But…”

“That’s how it happened. Nobody walked in on us, they were all in the dorm lounge. I washed my hands and walked out the back door after that.”

“If you don’t take the main entrance, everyone assumes you’re just someone who lives in the dorm and maybe didn’t want to party.”

“Triad sent me an email.” This was the point where Tinsel began grasping the tips of her too-tight sleeves with delicate fingers. “I’m not sure when he saw me, or if it was just a good guess, but he said he knew what I did to Rip. I was probably the obvious suspect, now that I think about it.”

“Because. I dunno. I was his roommate. I just felt so bad for that girl. The one Ayer…”

“Because he did it for me. I never thought I deserved that kind of attention before I heard him, I just wanted to sweep it all under the table.”

“It was a damn email. I got some time in the afternoon. I deleted it right away and then deleted it out of the trash. He said he knew what I did, something like that. He asked to meet at nine.”

“Becuase I wasn’t sure I would go. But then I thought, how could he know? I could just go talk to him and convince him otherwise before he went around telling everyone.”

Jin stared at his palms. “So I met him in his office, like he asked. It was the freakiest shit. He was worried about Ayer, I understood that much. Triad said I framed him. But he was also rambling about all kinds of other things…”

“I think he thought that I also went after Ace and Zed.”

“He even called me a - the fucking mastermind…”

“He also kept bringing up flowers. Big red flowers, he said, and that he would show me. He went to get something from the shelf and dropped it, but then he couldn’t find it.” Tinsel shuddered. “I don’t know what it was. He just wouldn’t turn on the lights. All he had was this almost-melted candle.”

“When I went for the door he grabbed me, and then he dragged me back into the room. I couldn’t understand what he was talking about at that point.”

“He’s a big guy. I panicked.”

“I grabbed some crap off the desk. The first solid thing I touched. Like a letter opener or paperweight… it was cold and sharp.”

“I hit him as hard as I could and heard this wet noise. He stopped talking, but he didn’t let go.”

“I kinda swung, like sideways.” Jin became muffled as he brought his hands to his face again. “And he finally put me down.”

“My hands were all wet but I couldn’t see anything. I smelled it, though. After that night with Rip, I knew what it was…”

“There was blood everywhere.” Jin let out a dry sob. Then, into his hands, “What’s that girl doing in the other room?”

“I left sometime after ten.”

“No, probably closer to ten thirty. I don’t know. There were still tons of people around.”

Tinsel tugged at her new jacket, almost in wonder. “I turned the thing I was wearing inside out and ran back to the Alumni House to get rid of it.”

Jin tried to disappear into his hood. “The clothes I was wearing might still be in the trash.”

“Was anyone there? No, of course I was alone.”

“Why won’t you believe me?”

“I don’t know why you keep asking me the same things.” Tinsel’s uncharacteristic force of will was finally fading. She fell back into her chair, looking constricted by her zippered coat. “Look, I didn’t want to say this, but you should know, a little before I left the office…”

“When Triad was on the floor and not moving anymore…”

“I heard you at the door.”

“I heard your boss come by…”

“You knocked once normally, and then again really hard.”

“I was shitting myself. I thought for sure I was wheezing loud enough to hear...”

“And then, you left.”

Jin shrugged. “That’s how it all happened.”

“I’m sorry that it did.” Tinsel certainly did not look proud. “But that’s it. What are you going to do with me now?”

—

Sao left Jin in the room with a cup of warm water and a promise that they’d sort things out. Rai had already come out of his third or fourth examination of Tinsel in her separate room, and was leaning against the wall waiting for him, arms crossed.

“Their stories are still matching up.” Sao took up a post on the opposite wall. “They both gave the same details about the times, Rip’s room, Triad’s email and office.”

“And I did knock on the door around ten. They even got that part right. The cop who was here has gone to check up on the Professor now.” Rai chewed his lip. “Imagine, Triad could have been dying on the floor when I was at his door and I never noticed…”

“You’d never have ignored him if he’d called out, or if you had known. And how were you to foresee all of that?”

Rai nodded. He had a curious, shifty sort of expression, one not nearly as annoyed as Sao had been anticipating.

Sao folded his arms too. He suddenly felt cold. “It’s almost like they were there at the same time.”

“If Triad was trying to validate some suspicions he wasn’t sure about, he could have emailed both, met them both. They could have crossed paths somewhere. But the kicker is, each one says they were the only one to meet him. And stab him.”

The air seemed to grow colder.

“They both came at the same time to turn themselves in.” Sao tried to massage out his memory of the sleepy walk he’d taken to the station; the dreamlike fog where he found himself flanked by Tinsel and Jin before pushing through the doors. “And they came from different sides of the street. Tinsel came from the direction of the campus, and Jin was standing by the theater - maybe he’d been here a while and was reluctant to go in alone? They didn’t acknowledge each other.”

“We know they aren’t total strangers, since they met when we nabbed Ayer. But confronting Triad and taking the fall for each other?”

“Love at first sight, again?”

He was a little impressed that Rai did not leap to a snide lecture at that. “Who knows. But those kids shared information somehow. Or someone else shared it with them.”

His tone was level but Rai’s stare was blazing. His eyes, over the dark rings of eyebags, were oddly bright as if he were trying to illuminate something distant. Sao wanted to follow his gaze, but the gaze had in fact been locked on him the whole time.

Sao’s hand instinctively shifted to his face, to make sure he had remembered to cover up.

“You look fine.” Rai redirected his burning focus to the lobby. “So you got some rest?”

“I passed out on Marsh’s couch a while, yes.”

“Good. I need your eyes and ears for this… nonsense we have going on.” Rai was still throwing cagey little glances at him while trying to avoid eye contact. He seemed to be gravitating towards Sao’s left shoulder. “Hey, about earlier–”

They were interrupted by the return of Sergeant Liyu who was now accompanied by a member of campus security with the results of their check at Eggers Hall.

—

Sao read over the relevant lines of the sheet they had been given. And he did so again, at least a dozen times - there were only four.

The sheet contained a record of scan-ins to Eggers Hall. At 3:49 in the afternoon Triad had entered. At 6:00 sharp, the cleaning staff. At 8:57pm Jin’s ID had been recorded, then Tinsel at 9:20. There had been none in between, and no more lines for the rest of the night, until the police had gone in, less than an hour ago.

Slouched over one of the slim seats in the lobby, Rai was finishing up a telephone call with his usual enthusiasm. “I can’t expect anything more out of you tonight, then? Fine. I’ll be here.” He jammed the phone into his jacket. “So we know when they got in, but not when they left. Campus Security has to go wake up someone from IT to get to security camera footage, and we’ll probably be waiting a while for school admin to wake up and sift through their deleted emails. Who did Triad really ask to meet? Who walked out covered in blood? Those two pieces of proof should wrap this up easy.”

He wasn’t very convincing.

Sao sighed. “Did they estimate how long that would take?”

“Nope. We might be here until morning. Which we were going to be, anyway.” Rai put his heavy black shoes up on the table full of safety leaflefts, a futile attempt to look relaxed. “You can leave, but I think I’d better stay. Liyu is out checking the hospitals and it looks like this place is completely unattended without him.”

“I won’t be getting much sleep with those two on my mind.”

“I think you can manage, if you have to.”

Sao took one of the chairs across from Rai’s.

Whatever had been stuck to him that had gotten Rai staring before was gone. Rai was now looking out the glass doors onto the darkened street. The theater’s last screening had ended and a handful of people were spilling out onto the front steps.

“I saw something about a film called Nuts on the signs,” Sao said.

“It’s a period drama about nut farmers in love.”

“You’ve seen it? It doesn’t sound like your cup of tea.” Sao squinted. “Is it a stealth slasher film?”

“It’s not. And no.”

Yet, Rai was firing out a grin at the unaware crowd as they dispersed into the dark. Everyone exiting the theater seemed to be accompanied by somebody else. Nobody was alone. Sao liked that.

“What the hell are we still doing here?” Rai muttered.

“We’re helping on a case. Nobody’s died. There’s no confirmation yet.” Sao bit his tongue for permitting that last word to sneak in.

“As far as this place is concerned, nobody was ever drugged, stripped and bitten either.” Rai pulled his feet off the table. “Maybe Triad was really just shooting his shot at two random suspects. Asking them to meet him for office hours, about half an hour apart.”

“They do both have motives for going after Rip. Both would be finishing Ayer’s plan for vengeance. Tinsel finally advocating for herself.” Sao frowned. “Jin was a little less clear on his reasoning. Maybe he felt strongly for Ayer’s case after helping him so long. Or maybe he picked up a flame for Tinsel too.”

“Assuming Triad made appointments with both, it’s possible one attacked Rip, but the other attacked Triad.” Rai stood and started to pace. “Triad was on edge all day. He got randomly physical with Rip too.”

“And…”

“And me. Yeah, yeah.”

“I can hardly fault you for being… apprehensive. You went to visit him on your own, after hours.”

“Make no mistake, I wouldn’t want to be grabbed by him in a dark hallway. He’s a giant. Fast runner, too. Stronger than you’d think with those skinny arms and all those meds in him.” Rai had done one loop around the sitting area. “And he’s probably fine. In bed at home and not in the mood for talking.”

Another shaky theory. They both looked out onto the street. The moviegoers had gone, and a fine snow was falling once again on Murnau. It felt like relief.

“Maybe Ayer can get in touch with him.” Rai stopped mid-stride. “At a normal hour. If we still need him by then.”

—

Liyu returned to the station alone with no further news and told them they were better off waiting until morning. He even kindly gave them a few recommendations for hotels. He admitted that they could not hold the two students in the interview rooms, but the school had promised that they would be available once one story or another was confirmed.

The sergeant was apologetic and Rai did not force the issue. He even seemed to have some fondness for the man, perhaps because he was so deferential despite outranking Rai as a formal officer.

Liyu permitted them one last talk with both students before he would inform them of their release.

Sao wasn’t sure what remained to be said, but Rai went into Tinsel’s room with a question on his mind. “Do you know the kid in the other room? Jin?”

“No. Not really.”

“That’s interesting.”

“What’s he been saying?”

“Exactly what you’ve been saying. Except he said it was all him - the attack on Rip, the meeting with Triad, going home, then suddenly feeling guilty enough to turn himself in.”

“He’s lying.” She had taken off her thick waterproof jacket and now sat thin and pale in a simple wool dress. But there was an unusual hardness to her posture, a sense of strength they hadn’t seen in her until that night. “I don’t know what he’s thinking, maybe he feels sorry for me. But he’s lying.”

Rai was boring holes into her with one of his caustic stares. It was commendable she held it for more than a few seconds.

“Triad’s condition is worrying,” Rai said when she looked away. “Whoever got to him could be in for serious legal trouble.”

“I know that, of course. He’s one of the school’s heroes. The founder of the Philanthropy program. But he’s as bad as Happy and the others.”

“Hm. I don’t think you need to worry, though. We’re unlikely to keep you here much longer. I just don’t think you have the physical ability to do what you said you did.”

“And that boy out there, he looks like he’s got the muscle for it? Him? Really?” Tinsel recaptured Rai’s gaze with a sudden fury. “Pig. You’re just as bad as the rest of them.”

Rai sat perfectly still. “Okay. Then where did you take Triad?”

She sat, shaking her head. “What are you talking about now?”

“You heard me knock on the office door. And you left after that. Where is Triad?”

“I already told you. Haven’t you bothered to check?”

“The school is going to pull security footage and emails and figure out who did it, if you don’t tell us. I’m just giving you a chance.”

She thought about this for a moment, then straightened the hem of her dress and crossed her legs. “I don't understand this trick you’re trying. Let me go, then. And take that other boy. You’ll regret it.”

—

Rai went in knowing exactly what he’d say.

“How well do you know Tinsel?”

Jin raised his head off the table, pulling down the hood that had ridden up around his neck. “I know her from the other day. I’d have to be braindead to not recognize her after that whole confrontation you had with Ayer about her.”

“She just said she didn’t know you.”

“Well, attention was kind of on you guys and Ayer at the time. She might not have noticed me.”

“Oh, I think she did. She just tried really hard to act like she didn’t.” Rai clamped his hands together and flashed Jin a nasty smile. “She’s telling us the same story you are, only she says she was the one to take down Triad. All on her own.”

“I don’t know why she would do that.”

Rai waited. “That’s all?

“I’m telling the truth. If you don’t want to believe me, then go arrest an innocent girl. Or… whatever.” Jin dropped his head into his hands again, fingers pressed to his temples and distending his eyes into slits. “I’m so tired. Let me go or don’t, I don’t care anymore.”

“Would you really let her take the fall for you? You’re not being very convincing either way.”

“I just can’t think straight. I’ve been awake for like thirty hours.”

Stress, sleepiness, love, lust, panic; if it wasn’t one excuse it was another. Rai tried not to be irritated, but he was. The things humans thought they could get away with. The things he had to let them get away with because of biology.

“Where did you take Triad, Jin? After I knocked on the door and then left, what did you do?”

Jin was gripping the sides of his face like he was planning to crush his own head. Or shield his ears from any further questions. “I just left. Is that so crazy?”

A tiny spark was flaring at the back of Rai’s mind. “Hey. Jin, can you look at me when we’re talking?”

Jin looked up, head still in hands.

Rai stood and circled the table. “Can you take your hands away from your head?”

Hands came off ears and flipped upward, to shield himself or show he was surrendering. “I-I’m not armed.” Jin’s sagging eyes flicked to Sao for help. Sao was standing by the door, stone-faced and probably hating all of what he was seeing. But he wouldn’t do anything, unless Rai overstepped.

Rai leapt. “Take off your sweater.” He already had one hand on the hood.

Jin wriggled out of it, larva-like, and unlike Tinsel, seemed to shrivel when out in the open. He was wearing only a sweat-stained white tee underneath, and the lumpy garment had been hiding a paunch. It also masked just how tall he was. He curled his long body back onto the chair, hugging himself, willing himself smaller.

As for the hoodie itself, there was nothing to see. No wire, not headphones, no tiny speaker or paper or prompter. But as soon as he pulled the fabric close for inspection, Rai knew.

“It was you.” He draped the thing, almost gently, over the back of a chair. “You were the one in Rip’s room.”

—

“You shouldn’t be doing this.” They had managed to get Tinsel as far as the lobby. She stood with both boots planted flat on the tile, her coat over her arm, with no intent to put it on. “You’re making a mistake.”

“We have to let you go,” Rai explained. “Unless you can tell us what you did with Triad.”

“I stabbed him and left him in his office!”

Rai shook his head. “That’s not it. We have to let you go, then.”

“What about Rip? You’re keeping Ayer here because of what he did to Zed and Ace. I did the exact same thing as he did - maybe worse.”

“That one who did that was Jin.”

“You’re deaf or something. How can you be a cop and ignore a confession made right to your face?”

“Jin also confessed,” Rai said. “And he had the proof on him. His sweater smells like weed.”

Tinsel blew out a sound like a deflating balloon. It wasn’t really laughter; Rai wasn’t sure what it was. “Half the guys in Murnau smoke,” she huffed.

“Jin’s room had no indication that he or Ayer did, though.” Rai motioned her to sit, and she didn’t. The old twinge of irritation flared up in him again, and he tried to keep his voice level. “Jin has two of those hooded sweaters. In this weird shared narrative you have, it’s one of the few factors that can only be in his version. He wore one sweater when he snuck into Rip’s room and hid in there, a room that is constantly saturated with smoke from his roommate.

“He definitely took it off after the attack, and put on the clean one. The clean one was the one he wore to the meeting with Triad. That one got seriously bloody, bloodier than the one he wore to meet Rip, if he got any on him then. So he switched them up again.”

Tinsel’s jacket had fallen off her arm and was now locked in an icy white fist, dragging on the floor. “That’s a stretch, isn’t it? I have a bloody coat in my own room. I can show you. I’ll bring it in.”

“You probably do. Because I believe you did go see Triad, and were there when he got stabbed, or at least afterward. But not because Triad called you over. His opinion of women was so low he probably never noticed you.”

“You entered the building after Jin,” Sao said quietly. He was behind the reception desk, pretty far away, like he knew what was coming. “And you were never strangers. You two undoubtedly knew one another before that meeting with Ayer yesterday. Tinsel – did Jin call you to Triad’s office?”

“Tin…” The door to Jin’s room creaked open.

Tinsel’s flame-red hair just about stood up straight when she heard his voice. She lurched back towards the hallway but was stopped by Liyu, who had wisely posted himself right in front. Her skinny hands actually made a swing at the sergeant’s face.

“Jin, don’t say anything else to them,” Tinsel bawled. “I’ll look for a lawyer for you.”

“But they already know.” Jin’s swollen face was half-hidden by the door. “I told them everything. Don’t do anything crazy, it won’t help.”

“No, they don’t know.” Tinsel teetered to the center of the room, and started yanking on her coat. “I promise, I’ll handle this” Zip, zip. “I’m not leaving you here. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“I know.” Jin sounded as if he wished he didn’t.

Tinsel had almost reached the door before she remembered one more thing. She turned on the squeaky rubber heel of her boot, and strode up to Rai. “You’d better not let anything happen to him if Happy and his cronies come by here again.”

“I won’t. You go call him a lawyer or something.”

He’d given her nothing to protest. She swiveled again and walked out the doors into the midnight snowfall. Rai wasn’t sure why, but he wished he was walking out with her. He wanted to get out of the fluorescent lights and feel the fresh snow underneath his feet. He didn’t want to hear from a lovestruck college kid again for the rest of his life.

A new voice entered the fray. “I can’t believe it.”

There wasn’t even a moment’s peace to be had. Rai braced himself and turned to see Ayer coming up the steps at the end of the hallway. The bruise on his chin was already fading and he looked oddly endearing in his long, loose pajamas. Rai wondered when (and why, besides them looking endearing) he’d been allowed to pick up the change of clothes.

“That was Tinsel. I can’t believe it,” Ayer said again, an echo of himself. “Did she really mean what she said?”

“She said a lot of things. But don’t worry - she wasn’t the one who went after Rip. As for Triad, though, we -”

“I don’t give a fuck about Rip.” Ayer’s pleasant features began to contort like gum. He blew past the topic of Triad. “She didn’t ask about me at all. Fucking Jin! She was only talking about Jin, wasn’t she? What did he say to her?”

Liyu, catching onto the danger Sao must have foreseen, scuttled a little down the hallway to block Ayer’s path. The interview room door slowly clicked closed.

Ayer stayed on the staircase, gripping the rail. “Right after I get put away, right after I tell him about her, how much I love her, he - he – he steals her from under my nose. Bastard - he was just waiting for this moment.”

He unclenched his hand once to slam once against the wall, hard enough to rattle the doors, and including the one Jin had just closed on him. But he didn’t try to go any further. After the tremors he’d released had stopped, he turned and slouched back down the stairs.