text: [Themes: mystery / thriller, mystery]
  
  Your name is Taylor Grey and you are a Detective Inspector with the Homicide Department of the London Metropolitan Police. Respected for your analytical skills and long history of successful deductions you are called upon exclusively to solve crimes presenting baffling or unusual features. You are expected to solve assigned crimes quickly and successfully or lose your privileged status (and lucrative salary) as a master crime sleuth. So far you have always been successful through the careful use of your reason and logic. So far you have always been able to solve all mysteries you've been challenged with.
  
  So far...
  
  [Author's Note: In this medium-length Whodunnit you assume the role of a professional Detective having to solve a crime with a difference: not only do you need to identify the perpetrator of a brutal and gruesome crime but you also need to identify the victim too... In this one I've deliberately gone for a more grim and gritty "true crime" sort of thing than my usual stories so if you suffer from a delicate nervous constitution or are just a bit of a wuss then probably this story is not for you :)]
  
  > The Mystery of The Screaming Skull
  Inspector Habib's voice crackles down the phone line.
  
  "Good Morning DI Grey. We have just received a call reporting a probable homicide at House 66, West Campus of the University of London. An unknown individual has been found deceased in the maintenance room of one of the student dormitories."
  
  "Is the deceased female or male?"
  
  "It is impossible to say, according to the witness only two legs and some bone fragments remain. The body was burnt, probably post-mortem, and mostly destroyed by fire. The remains were discovered by one of the house's residents investigating a burning smell. There should be eight residents of the house but only two have been located so far. A crime scene has been established and officers at the scene have been instructed to wait for you before taking further action."
  
  "Thankyou, I'm on my way now."
  
  It is not a long drive from your home to the West Campus and you soon arrive at House 66, a two-floor rectangular rusty-red brick building marked off with police tape. Several squad cars, an ambulance and a large police van are parked nearby and patrolling policemen in blue uniforms encourage a crowd of the curious, mostly students from surrounding dorms (some in pajamas), to keep a distance. As you pull up and get out of your car Habib, climbs out of the front of the van and walks towards you.
  
  "I'm glad you could make it," she tells you. "We received a call at about 9:45 from Richard Williamson, a student who resides in this house in Room 3. He reported the discovery of human remains in the Maintenance Room on the ground floor of his building after he went in there to investigate "a burnt smell". Police units arrived on the scene at approximately 10:00 and confirmed that a crime had taken place. Williamson and his roommate, a Thomas Thorpe from Room 4, have been taken into custody for later interrogation, we have them in the van.
  
  It seems that there should be eight students residing in the house: on the ground floor Charlotte Costello in Room 1, Hannah Leppard in Room 2, Williamson and Thorpe in Rooms 3 and 4 and upstairs Amy Leech in Room 5, Ralph Lee in Room 6, Marcus Potter in Room 7 and Sarah Price in Room 8. So far Williamson and Thorpe are the only two residents that we have managed to locate, there has been no response from any of the other rooms, though Williamson tells us he heard at least one person leave the building earlier this morning before he got up. Apart from the two students that we have in custody the bedroom doors of the others remain locked, though the university's housing office has just provided us with the keys to get into them.
  
  Apart from a cursory examination nothing has been touched in the building before you arrived. On the ground floor, in addition to the four student bedrooms is the maintenance room in which the body was found, a kitchen and a bathroom. Upstairs are Rooms 5 to 8, a second bathroom, a second maintenance room and a dayroom or living room. The building is a fairly old brick structure, built in the 70's, and therefore the heating system for the water and pipes for each floor requires its own maintenance room."
  
  You nod as this information is delivered rapidly to you. As is usual in these cases you are free to make your own investigation of the crime scene, with Habib's help, and look for important clues that can help you understand this crime. When you are finished here you interview the suspects.
  
  > enter the House
  You reach the large strong-looking front door which Habib unlocks with the set of keys providing by the University's Housing Office.
  
  "Only the individual Students and the Housing Office possess a set of these keys," she tells you as she opens the door. "The Students each have two keys: one for the front door and one for their own individual bedrooms, the Housing Office usually has this full set which they keep in a locked drawer of their office, which is also locked outside of their 9 to 5 working hours. The front door and the Housing Office both showed no signs of forced entry but neither do they have CCTV or surveillance cameras."
  
  You nod and step inside a simple, small and empty carpeted lobby room. A flight of stairs rises up to your right while a second door stands before you.
  
  > end your investigation of the crime scene by leaving the house
  You walk back out of the front door of House 66, your work there done. You think over everything you have discovered, including any possible clues, as you follow Habib towards the police van and step aside as she opens the back door. Sitting inside on a bench to the left are two nervous young men in casual clothes, jeans and shirts, while a silent policeman sits opposite them on a bench to the right. Sending the policeman off you and Habib sit down opposite the boys and Habib introduces you to each other.
  
  Richard Williamson is a tall, handsome boy with black hair, a nervous smile and a generally fidgety manner. His companion, Thomas Thorpe, is even taller, practically a giant, and has to sit hunched below the van's low ceiling. He has red highlights in his brown hair, is looking fixedly at the ground and seems profoundly uncomfortable. Both young men also seem to still be pretty hung over from last night, exuding a strong smell of alcohol and smoke (despite Thorpe looking freshly showered) and both have grey tired lines under their eyes.
  
  "Alright, who do you want to start with Inspector?" Habib asks you taking out a tape recorder, clicking it on and reading out the interview details and time.
  
  > Interview Williamson
  Williamson licks his lips and smiles nervously at you as you turn to him.
  
  > ask Williamson what he did last night
  "Can you tell me about your movements yesterday evening?" you ask Williamson who nods. He proves to be nervous but garrulous and extremely chatty.
  
  "Me and Tom had dinner in town and got back to the House around 7. Everyone else was in the kitchen playing drinking games, bus stop, ring of fire, truth and dare, that kind of thing. We joined in. The boys were mostly drinking beer and the girls were mostly drinking wine. We were smoking... uh that is I was smoking cigars and Amy and Sarah were smoking cigarettes. The others don't smoke usually unless they get very drunk.
  
  Erm, later on around 9 we got onto the vodka and whiskey. I've got some 80% Finnish Vodka my cousin sent me, I got that out. I suppose we were all pretty drunk by the time we went to the club at 10, that's Chasers on the High Street, about ten minutes-walk from here. After getting drinks I stayed mostly outside smoking with Amy and Sarah. We usually sit outside together in clubs because we're the only smokers in the group."
  
  Williamson frowns as he tries to remember more. "We saw the others from time to time when we went inside to get drinks or they came outside to get air. I remember Tom came outside one time to tell me Charlotte wasn't feeling well and had gone home. Amy and Sarah headed off near the end of the night... I stayed outside smoking and drinking with some rugby friends until 3 when the club closed. Tom and Hannah came to get me, Hannah was really out of it. Tom said the others had gone already.
  
  We went back up to the house, we had to pretty much carry Hannah the whole way. We got her keys out of her handbag and helped her into her room, she was so drunk she flopped straight down on her bed. We left her to it and went outside to smoke, finish some beers and talk. I guess we were outside for about ten minutes. When we were out there, we saw Mark and Sarah come home. Sarah seemed alright but Mark was drunk, they were having a pretty serious conversation. They went into the kitchen, turned the light on and I guess they were in there for a bit. We couldn't see because the curtains were closed.
  
  Amy came back on her own, just behind them she went into the kitchen too. After a little bit there was some shouting and yelling in the kitchen. It sounded quite a bad argument. We heard some doors slam and someone run upstairs. It seemed to settle down after that. Me and Tom finished our beer and smokes and went to bed. I don't remember seeing any handbag in the corridor but I guess I was pretty far gone by then. I'm pretty sure Tom went to bed at the same time as I did."
  
  "Is that everything?" you ask. Williamson grimaces.
  
  "No. I was texting my friends to see if they got back alright when I felt sick. I er, went to my window, opened it and was a bit ill outside. A few times. I was kind of hanging out of my window like that looking down at the grass when I heard someone open the window of the Maintenance Room further down the building. I looked that way and saw a hand push it open but I didn't see who it was. I remember thinking it was funny someone opening that window because we it was never open.
  
  A little bit later I heard a sort of strange crackling sound. I think I know what that was now... it was... I think it was...er..." Williamson shakes his head and takes a deep breath. "I think it was something being burnt in the Maintenance Room... erm... someone. Oh my God, what am I saying?" He pauses to take a few deep breaths. "Soon after that I heard a door click shut quietly somewhere and then a second door clicked shut and... or... er, maybe the same door twice? I don't know. After that I felt better so I closed the window and I er... I just went straight to bed and went to sleep and er, that's all. Story over."
  
  Williamson smiles very nervously at you.
  
  > ask Williamson what he did this morning
  Williamson thinks for a minute.
  
  "I woke up about 9. Someone went out and let a few doors slam behind them and that woke me up. I felt pretty rough after last night's drinking, still do actually. After a bit I went to the kitchen to make myself some toast because someone said last night it's a good hangover cure - they lied by the way. I went to cut the bread but found the big bread knife was missing. I don't know where it is because it's the one we all always use for cutting bread. I used another knife instead and went back to bed. I think I saw some blood marks but they didn't really register. I ate a little but it didn't make me feel better so I stopped.
  
  I stayed in bed for about half an hour. I heard someone moving about in the house, I think, I'm pretty sure, that was Tom having a shower. After he was done, I went out into the corridor. I was going to use the bathroom but I was still feeling pretty shaky and had to stop and lean on the wall because I felt like I was going to throw up. That was when I first noticed Sarah's handbag and also some bloodstains on the floor and that puzzled me. I was thinking about it when I noticed a strange horrible burnt smell in the corridor. I think it was there when I first went to the kitchen but I was so out of it I didn't really notice it then.
  
  This smell was really bad and I was trying to figure out where it was coming from. It seemed to be coming from the lobby end of the building so I went down and had a look in the lobby but it was empty. I opened the Maintenance Room door and that's when I saw... erm, I saw... well, you know. I really hadn't thought it was coming from there because we never go in there, there's just an old boiler and some plumbing in there. Well, it was horrible.
  
  I think I shouted or yelled or something cause Tom called out to ask what was up. I told him to come out into the corridor and told him what I saw. He didn't believe me till he had a look himself and then we both couldn't believe it. Well, I called the police and they told us to wait outside so that's what we did. You know the rest. Since then I've been sitting in this van and now, I'm talking to you. You know, I still can't believe this is real."
  
  Williamson tails off into silence and he sighs deeply.
  
  > ask Williamson if he can identify the body in the Maintenance Room
  Williamson grits his teeth, looks at the van floor and shakes his head.
  
  "Well there's not really much to identify is there?" he asks after a long pause. "All I saw were some legs, erm, some feet and er, a head, well not even... not even...not even that." He grits his teeth and resolutely shakes his head.
  
  The usually talkative Williamson has nothing else to say about this.
  
  > Interview Thorpe
  Thorpe is an extremely nervous giant who has trouble making eye contact and mostly gives short answers to questions and looks at the floor. He seems very shaken up by the morning's events.
  
  > ask Thorpe what he did last night
  Thorpe coughs to clear his throat and talks in a low, quiet voice.
  
  "Went into town with Richard for dinner. Got back and had drinks with everyone. We went down the club about 10. Dick went outside with Amy and Sarah to smoke. I went upstairs, spent most of the time at the bar with Charlotte and Hannah, Char and Han. They had Malibu, I had Heineken. Sarah drank with us for a bit, otherwise it was mostly just us all night. Char didn't feel well, went home early. Didn't see much of the others. Stayed at the bar till it closed. Went home with Will and Hannah. Han was pretty bad, needed both of us to help her walk home."
  
  Thorpe takes a deep breath as though he is finding this difficult.
  
  "Got Hannah safely into her room when we got back and went outside for a bit with Dick. We were outside about twenty minutes. Mark and Sarah came back, went into the kitchen. Amy came back just after them. There was some argument, some shouting. Some doors got slammed and someone ran upstairs. We waited for it all to settle down and went to bed. Definitely didn't see any handbag in the corridor when we turned in. Must have been put there later."
  
  "Is that everything?" you ask him quietly. Tom grimaces, fidgets and finally glances up at you.
  
  "No. I didn't sleep for a bit, was watching some videos on Youtube. Later on, quite a bit later on, I heard some doors opening and closing. Suddenly there was a hell of a loud smashing sound from the kitchen. There was silence after that for a bit then a few more doors opened and closed and then it was quiet again for a while. A little while later someone else came out of their room, went into the bathroom and was sick several times, I heard it quite clearly cause my room is next to the bathroom. Whoever it was finished throwing up, went back to bed and that was it."
  
  You smile and comment "Sounds like quite a lot of people were moving around last night."
  
  "Guess so," Tom says and lowers his gaze again to the ground.
  
  > ask Thorpe what he did this morning
  Thorpe squirms uncomfortably.
  
  "I guess I woke up about the same time as Dick. Heard him go into the kitchen and back to his room. I got up and was feeling pretty rough so I went to take a shower. Saw there was a lot of blood in the bathroom, guess someone got hurt somehow last night. There was lots of blood in the shower so I... er... I rinsed it all out with water. I didn't know what it was about, didn't know that... erm... something had happened. I er, I just cleaned it all out so it was clean and had my shower.
  
  I just finished getting dressed when Dick started yelling to me to come quick. I went to see what was up and he told me he'd found something, in the er, in the Maintenance Room. Well, I didn't believe him so I took a look and... well... oh my. So, er, I told him he better call the police like right away. We saw Sarah's handbag was on the floor and blood all over the corridor but I told him we better not touch anything, just get out of the house right away and wait for the police to show up. The woman on the phone said the same thing so we waited outside and well, here we are now."
  
  You nod and offer Thorpe a smile but he just turns his gaze back to his shoes as though he has weights in his head.
  
  > ask Thorpe if he can identify the remains in the Maintenance Room
  "Do you know whose remains that is in the Maintenance Room?"
  
  Thorpe stares fixedly at the ground and just shakes his head slowly. He opens his mouth as though to reply, hesitates, takes a few deep breathes then resolutely closes it and just shakes his head again while you watch him closely.
  
  Apparently, that is all the answer you are going to get.
  
  > end the Interviews
  "Alright that's it," you tell Habib and she terminates the interviews.
  
  "What happens now?" Williamson asks.
  
  Habib glances at you and is considering her reply when there is a knock on the van door. Habib opens it to reveal a policeman standing outside with two nervous looking young ladies. One is pale-faced and slender with fair hair and very pronounced cheek bones set into a long oval-shaped face while the other is shorter and rounder with brown hair and looking even paler than her companion. Williamson and Thorpe call out "Amy" to the first girl and "Char" to the second.
  
  "Charlotte Costello and Amy Leech, Rooms 1 and 5," the policeman introduces them. "Turned up at the cordon line just now, said they went into town earlier this morning for a coffee and came back just now. I haven't told them what's going on yet."
  
  "Thankyou Constable," Habib tells the officer. "Boys, would you be good enough to go with Constable Gladstone to a Squad Car while we interview your housemates?"
  
  Thorpe and Williamson clamber out of the van and head off with the officer while Costello and Leech take their places. Both girls are very confused and neither you nor Habib enlighten them, telling them only there has been a serious incident in their home. The tape recorder is produced again and the interviews resume. With four of the eight residents of House 66 accounted for you feel more confident that you are making progress towards identifying both the victim in the Maintenance Room and that individual's possible attacker or attackers.
  
  "Who do you want to interview first?" Habib asks you after announcing the preliminaries into the tape recorder.
  
  > Interview Costello
  Costello, the roundish girl, looks exceptionally queasy this morning, so much so you ask Habib to keep the door of the van open for fresh air, fearing if you don't, she might be sick on the van floor. You consider what to ask her.
  
  > ask Costello what she did last night
  Costello looks puzzled by the question.
  
  "Erm, most of us had dinner at home and then we all started playing drinking games about 6. We always drink at home a bit before we go clubbing. I suppose I must have had quite a lot, I got out my old running trophy to show everyone! I felt alright though until after we went to the club. I went upstairs with Tom, Sarah and Hannah, my housemates, and me and Han had some Malibu. I don't know if the alcohol was bad or old or super-strong or what it was, it tasted a bit off, but soon my head was spinning. I felt really, really drunk and really, really tired so I called it a night and came home before midnight.
  
  I could hardly keep my eyes open and went straight to sleep when I got home. I think I slept for a few hours until just before dawn I woke up feeling really sick. I hurried down to the bathroom and threw up God knows how many times. I've never been sick like that before. I felt better after that and slept for a few more hours before my alarm woke me up at 8.30. I'd made plans to have breakfast in town with Amy the night before so I'd set an alarm."
  
  Costello looks at you as though uncertain she's said the right thing or not and still looks very confused.
  
  > ask Costello what she did this morning
  Costello frowns.
  
  "This morning? I set an alarm to get up at 8.30 so I got up, got dressed and went into town to meet Amy for breakfast. We went to a nice café; Amy was a bit quiet but I suppose she was still hung over from last night. We chatted a bit, did some shopping for an hour and then came back to find our house has become a crime scene! I have no idea why... I suppose you'll tell us when you're ready. All the people I live with are really nice and lovely, I hope they're all ok."
  
  Costello glances from you to Habib and back with uncertain eyes.
  
  > ask Costello if she knows what has happened in House 66
  Costello shakes her head slowly.
  
  "I have no idea. We've never had any trouble and we've been living together six months now. I mean the boys can be a bit messy and a bit loud, Amy and Sarah often leave the Day Room smelling like cigarette smoke and Mark's a bit you know, weird, but we've never had any big problems. Unless something happened last night and one of the boys got into a fight? They're not really the fighting kind though and the girls are all really nice. No, I have no idea what's happened."
  
  She shrugs and looks apologetic.
  
  > Interview Leech
  Amy Leech is a calm and composed lady with pale Elfin features and almost wispy long hair. She chooses her words carefully and strikes you as perhaps the most intelligent out of the students you have interviewed so far.
  
  > ask Leech what she did last night
  Leech thinks for a few moments and answers slowly.
  
  "At 6pm we all started playing drinking games in the kitchen. Mark and Sarah had been drinking wine earlier in the afternoon in the Day Room. Tom and Dick were not there at the beginning, they joined us at 7ish. We all had a lot of fun. I didn't drink much. Char and Han - that's Charlotte and Hannah – drank wine, Sarah and the boys drank beer. I had about half a bottle of Chardonnay. I think Charlotte and Ralph got the most drunk, Char insisted on getting her running trophy and showing it to everyone.
  
  About 9pm everyone moved onto spirits and Dick insisted on getting his super-strong Finnish vodka. Nobody drank much of that. At 10pm we went to the club. I went outside with Dick and Sarah to smoke; I like menthol cigarettes and I'm a chain-smoking social smoker. I was out there for most of the night. Tom came out around 11 to tell us Charlotte felt bad and had gone home early. I decided to go inside and check on everyone. I went to the bar and found Hannah looking quite bad, I told her she shouldn't drink anymore.
  
  I think Ralph spent most of the night dancing with the same girl, I saw them making out on the dancefloor before I left, I'd say Ralph was well on his way to second base. Mark was sitting alone at a table, he had a lot of empty beer bottles before him. Tom was also fairly drunk; I don't think Sarah or Dick were too bad. I left with Sarah around 2.30pm, before the others but after Char. Mark came after us and asked to speak to Sarah in private. He was slurring a bit. I gave them some space and sat on a bench and smoked while they had a walk in the park for half an hour, I would have gone back but Sarah asked me to wait for her.
  
  Later on, I followed them when they went home but gave them some space. I saw Dick and Tom were still outside drinking beers and smoking when we got back. I went into the kitchen after Mark and Sarah but just as I went in Mark went mental. He grabbed the big knife out of the knife rack and slashed it across his left wrist. He started yelling about Sarah not caring about him and Sarah was yelling at him to calm down and grabbed the medical kit out of the cupboard. I ran out of the kitchen, went upstairs and shut myself in my bedroom. The sight of blood makes me sick, always has, and it took me a long time to calm down.
  
  I listened carefully and everything seemed to calm down after I left. I thought about calling the police or an ambulance but I think Sarah got it all under control. She knows how to deal with Mark. I went downstairs early this morning and saw Mark had dripped blood all over the kitchen, bathroom and corridor floors but I saw some bloodied bandages in the kitchen bin and in Sarah's handbag in the corridor so I figured she'd dealt with it. I went out to meet Charlotte in town for breakfast."
  
  Leech seems to search her thoughts to make sure she hasn't forgotten anything and deciding she hasn't looks at you calmly.
  
  > ask Leech what she did this morning
  Leech pauses as she considers the question.
  
  "I got up at about 8am and went downstairs. I saw blood in the corridor, kitchen and bathroom but also saw bloodied bandages in the kitchen and Sarah's handbag which made me think the situation was dealt with. I went into town and met Charlotte for breakfast around 9. She had felt bad the night before and hadn't quite got over it. We had a light breakfast and did some shopping. I tried phoning Sarah to check if she was alright but I got no answer, I suppose she was still sleeping. We came back here and found the house was a crime scene. Obviously, when I went out this morning thinking everything was fine I was wrong. I just hope things aren't too bad though I suppose you wouldn't be here otherwise..."
  
  Leech goes silent and seems to be considering whether there was anything she could have or should have done.
  
  > ask Leech if she knows what has happened in House 66
  Leech sighs and looks down at the ground.
  
  "No, I don't know for sure," she says. "I could try a few guesses though. I do know that Mark is a manic-depressive, that he has had an infatuation – crush is too weak a word for it – on Sarah for the last six months. Last night's drinking and the time he spent with her might have pushed him over the edge if he felt she was leading him on, I think Sarah never really took him seriously enough. I am worried now that perhaps his self-inflicted injuries were worse than I thought, they certainly looked bad enough last night. Perhaps, perhaps, he might have bled out... but then why wouldn't Sarah have called for an ambulance? Unless she panicked..."
  
  Leech seems to hesitate for a moment before taking the plunge and continuing.
  
  "I am also worried about Sarah. She was not very drunk last night and it is not like her at all to leave her handbag lying around on the corridor floor. I thought this morning that perhaps she might have gone to bed with Mark in his room or hers... but she wasn't interested in him in that way, in the way he was interested in her...perhaps if he was distraught she might have done something with him because she's a very sympathetic girl... I don't know. I don't think it is likely that anyone else in the house is in trouble, though everyone was pretty drunk last night. It would be unfair of me to guess anyway in case I am wrong and besides, you probably know better than I do what is happening here."
  
  She looks back up at you with just a hint of defiance.
  
  > end these interviews
  "Thank you, I think we can end the interviews there," you tell the young women. Habib concludes the interview, stops the tape recorder and thanking Costello and Leech for their time you hand them over to the custody of a nearby Police Constable to keep in a Squad Car for a short time. You and Habib step out of the van and stretch in the morning air. You watch as a team of forensic experts slip under the police line and troop into the house to conduct scientific analysis on the evidence there.
  
  You are considering your next step when Constable Gladstone leads a tall, skinny, young man from the crowd. The man, who is smartly dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt and trousers, looks uncomfortable to be there but still approaches with a determined step.
  
  "This is Joe Bowers, owner and manager of Chasers Nightclub where the inhabitants of House 66 were drinking last night," Gladstone tells you both. "He heard that something serious has happened here and has come down to offer his witness testimony. He says he has information which he believes will be helpful."
  
  You glance at Habib and give a weary smile to her inquisitive look. "Alright, one more," you tell her and turning around you traipse back into the van with Bowers, who sits oppose you. After considering what questions to ask you signal Habib to turn on the recorder and go through the preliminaries.
  
  > ask Bowers if he can shed any light on the whereabouts of the missing Ralph Lee, Mark Potter or Sarah Price
  Bowers looks surprised by the question and scratches his head.
  
  "I know all of them pretty well because they come into my club most weekends. Mark, Sarah and Ralph were all there last night. Mark was sitting upstairs ordering beer most of the time. I didn't see much of Sarah; I think she was outside in the smoking area a lot of the time. Ralph got off with one of my off-duty barmaids Sally. They were getting pretty handsy on the dancefloor and I'm fairly sure they went home together."
  
  You and Habib glance at each other quickly.
  
  "Ralph Lee is one of the house inhabitants we have been struggling to locate," you tell him. "Do you have any contact details for this Sally?"
  
  "Sally Redman? Sure, I'll call her." Whipping out his phone Bowers quickly keys in some numbers and puts it to his ear. "Hi, Sally? It's Joe. Listen, did Ralph Lee go back to your place last night? He did? And he's there now? He is? No, no, I don't want to talk to him, I'm just calling for a friend. Huh? He did what? With what? No, I don't know how you're going to get rid of him. Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Listen, I'm with people. You can tell me all about this later when you come to work. Ok, good luck with that." Bowers hangs up the phone. "All fine, lovely girl. Yes, they got off and went back to hers last night, been there ever since and apparently he's still there. Does that help you guys at all?"
  
  You nod slowly.
  
  > ask Bowers if he saw anything suspicious involving the inhabitants of House 66 in his club last night
  Bowers' face tightens.
  
  "Well yes. I don't know about the others but when they first arrived Charlotte, Hannah and Sarah went to the bar with Tom. Tom was drinking beer but the girls ordered a bottle of Malibu. I don't know if Sarah had any because she went outside but I distinctly remember Char and Han were drinking mixers with that bottle, Han all night after Char went home early. After we shut at 3 me and my bar staff often have drinks for an hour or two, finishing off opened bottles of the good stuff. One of my waitresses, Maggie, began necking the rest of the Malibu, I suppose there was about a quarter left.
  
  Well, after she had polished it all off she complained about feeling dizzy and went off to the bathroom. Well dizzy is generally how you're meant to feel after a few drinks so I didn't think much of it but when she didn't come back for ten minutes I sent Pat, one of my other girls, to check on her. She found Maggie passed out on the floor of the ladies' lav. Now I don't know what was in that drink but someone definitely put something in that drink, probably a date rape thing like Rohypnol, Zolpidem or maybe some MDMA. It's not a common problem in my club but sometimes it does happen."
  
  Bowers sighs. "Well anyway it took two hours for Maggie to wake up and when she did she vomited everywhere, a lot. I was thinking of coming over here but I didn't know whether to leave it or not. When I heard all you coppers were here I decided I better come over and let you all know about this. I have no idea who spiked that bottle, it was unopened when we gave it to them. Tom was with the girls all night, Ralph and Mark were hanging around the bar quite a lot and Richard popped in once or twice, there were lots of other guys hanging about. Any of them could have slipped something in. Just thought it right I tell you what I know."
  
  Bowers sniffs and tries to look upstanding but is clearly worried about possible consequences for his club.
  
  > ask Bowers what he thinks has happened here
  Bowers seems to hold his breath for a moment and then sighs. "Truly?" he asks and waits for you and Habib to nod.
  
  "Truly, I think there has been a rape. I think someone put something in the bottle Hannah and Charlotte were drinking last night and after they got home, I think someone took advantage of one or... of one or the other of them. I need to tell you what I know but at the same time you must understand there is no way to prevent this kind of thing. Once our drinks are in our customers hands we can't monitor where they all go and what happens to them. We serve maybe two hundred people on a busy night, some of them several times. Obviously we can't be held accountable for things that happen off our premises, surely you understand that?"
  
  Bowers looks very imploringly at you both.
  
  > end the interview
  You signal Habib to end the interview which she does and Bowers gives a sigh and smiles.
  
  "So that's it? No repercussions? I've done the right thing, haven't I, coming here and telling you what I know and I'm very sorry that something like this has happened on my property. At the same time we took all the proper precautions and I don't think we can be held legally accountable over this."
  
  When Habib assures him that is the case Bowers grins, only remember to look suitably somber over the as-yet-unknown-but-clearly-serious thing that has happened in House 66. He is allowed to leave while you and Habib again return to the fresh air and survey the two pairs of students sitting nervously in the two nearby squad cars. You feel confident now that you have interviewed everyone, or almost everyone, that you can and consider over your earlier investigation of the house over whether you uncovered any important clues that you could now follow up on.
  
  If you have any clues now is the time to use them [hint: not all of them can be used right now]. When you have finished using them all, or if you have got nothing, click the Continue link below.
  
  > Continue
  You pace up and down slowly in front of House 66, completely ignoring the curious crowd and police officers nearby. In your mind's eye things are becoming clearer and clearer and looking at the squat brick building you mentally recreate what happened here over the last eighteen hours. In your imagination you see drunken young adults roaming in and out of the house and feel like you can almost peel away the roof and walls and see exactly what happened in the rooms within.
  
  "Detective Inspector Grey," Habib calls out. You glance up to see her pointing to the distinctive figure of Super Intendant Fowler, your immediate superior, who is striding across the campus towards you. An intimidating and punctilious officer he walks with ram-rod precision.
  
  "DI Grey!" he barks. "You have been here for well over an hour now. Do you have some answers for us?"
  
  "I do sir," you tell him as he halts in front of you and stands uncomfortably close.
  
  "Excellent," he booms. "Who was the victim?"
  
  > Charlotte Costello
  "WHAT?" Fowler explodes, his eyes popping so alarmingly you're worried they might explode out. "That individual is still alive! What the hell is wrong with you Grey? Your special status is suspended, your position with this force will be reviewed. You have most seriously disappointed yourself today Grey."
  
  He storms off leaving you with a crushing sense of failure and regret.