[center][h3]Jeremiah Dupree[/h3]
Physical State: Calming down, alert
Mental State: Sane[/center]

[u]“I'd gladly wait here with you. Well, not gladly per say givein the circumstances but...well, Im sure a man of your intellect understands my meaning.” [/u]That was certainly an answer that Professor Dupree didn't mind.

"I'd like to think so. In the future, you might want to consider the term 'willingly', if you worry about being misunderstood?" Even the guilt from being able to return to everyday concerns was starting to wash out from his mind like blood from cotton: a permanent stain left behind, but no longer on the surface of the garment. 

The police, it seemed, were not far away from the scene. Perhaps one of the spectators to the gruesome scene had called them after all, or perhaps there had been an officer close at hand. Jeremiah supposed it didn't matter, really, except that it did. Today would surely end up on the wall, but now it was a question of how much of today would. The officer's introduction was standard, and Professor Dupree was ready to assume the responsibility for the scene, until the officer recognized August.

Well. Today just kept getting more and more bizarre.

Jeremiah fancied himself many things - an intellectual, a brilliant man, an observant scientist. As Officer Lexington and August exchanged words, he couldn't help but feel that there was something going on between them - not a secret, no, Jeremiah was far too familiar with that sort of language to know what they shared was not particularly secret. It felt more like a private joke, and yet, the words were laced with arsenic to bring any shared laughter, private or public. The moment of guilt Jeremiah spied from August only furthered that notion. He merely shrugged his shoulders in response. The comment was a little disturbingly off the cuff, but it made sense in his mind August was so willing to shrug off the death. He hadn't had the dubious honor of witnessing Dr. Atkin's final moments, he was never a colleague of his (one reason Professor Dupree would hold no ill will to Dr. Steiner for the abrupt departure, as he clearly knew the man better than Professor Dupree had), and he had a niece to redirect his worry towards. Now, if it came up again while searching for his niece, then Jeremiah would allow himself the worry that this man might very well be mentally deranged.

"Regarding who's in charge, I suppose I should ask in what sense. I am a colleague of the victim, and was first on the ...incident scene?" Jeremiah tried to avoid police ever since he was young - the words used for addressing them eluded him. "Your friend August came afterwards, but has done his best to help preserve the scene." Why Officer Lexington needed to know who was 'in charge' also eluded him, but he still needed to say his piece at least.