Missing Footsteps

What an Interview

Warning: Mentions of death
September 9

Harlow
I did all I possibly could to try and make things as perfect as possible. I have tried to be a goody too shoes and never get myself into situations that my parents would be disappointed by. But they simply never cared, only focused on the consistent fights over our finances, mom's shopping addictions and the many nights that dad would spend outside of the house. I did all I possibly could to be the perfect student that my parents could be proud of by getting the most perfect marks possible, and by getting into the best in Windsor's gymnastics'  team. But no, I was not good enough and almost ruined my friendships with Calvin and Cas over the fact that they would always get better marks than me. And instead got a knee injury that I think I'll never come back from. Now my brother is dead, and I swear I SWEAR that I did everything in my power to try and understand him, to talk to him. But he would always remain distant from me. It always seemed like something was tearing him apart and instead of telling someone about what was going on, it seemed like he took his secret to the grave. And now I'm left wondering, what happened? What was going on? Is that secret that seemed to be destroying his every being, had him going back and forth to psychiatric hospitals and ended up getting him killed? Now I'm left here asking myself all these questions, while I'm drowning in my tears and sitting in this school's toilet waiting for second break to end instead of spending it with Ming and Cas.

Cassandra
Cassandra did not expect to spend her second break in one of the detective offices of the Annapolis Police Department. Actually, she never expected to be summoned to such a place. Rules are one of the things in this world that Cassandra follows religiously, so again the more time passed after Daniel's death - the wilder everything became.
"Hello Ms. Dos Santos, or should I call you Cassandra?" The detective asked as he walked into the office, closed the door and sat on the office chair behind his desk - facing straight towards Cassandra's direction.
"Yes you can call me Cassandra." Cassandra answered, as she began to feel small on the chair that she felt herself sinking into as the man on the other side of the desk exuded authority.
"Well Cassandra, I don't want you to feel nervous in any way. This is simply an interview not an interrogation." The detective said. "And you can call me Francis" he added.
"Alright" Cassandra responded.
"How are you today?" Francis asked.
"I'm good, I just never expected to end up here" Cassandra answered.
"Don't you worry. I have looked into your school record and I've seen that you're a straight A student. Top 2 in your class actually. And an award winning swimmer. Nothing in your school record arises any sort of unwanted attention, unless you have a few secrets" he abruptly said.
"Well, no. As you said I'm a straight A student and a swimmer that is focused on excelling at everything that I do." Cassandra stated, attempting to seem confident whilst also failing as she fumbled around with her fingers.
"Yes, yes. So let's go straight into the elephant here, Daniel" the man said as he sat forward on his chair. "What type of relationship did you have with him?" Francis asked.
"I barely had one. I have always just known his as Harlow's brother. And he was always a quiet person, a loner too so I never spoke to him."Cassandra said.
"Okay, is there anything about Daniel that ever seemed how can I say this, off?" Francis asked.
"Umm no not really. There are quite a few loners at Windsor, so that was never strange to me. At most, he would often get bullied by Trey. But that wasn't strange either because Trey bullies a lot of people and they didn't end up dead" Cassandra shrugged.
"What about your relationship with the Cliffords?" Francis asked.
"What about it?" Cassandra asked.
"Any arguments with them, any misunderstandings?" Francis asked.
"No never. I barely know Harlow's parents. I've gone to their house a few times, but only to spend time with Harlow and the occasional group gatherings and sleepovers." Cassandra said.
"And Harlow?" Francis asked.
"Me and Harlow are very close, and we have been for years now. Me, Alauia and Harlow grew up together. We've fought before but like typical friends" Cassandra answered.
"Okay. We're going to make quite a jump here. Where were you at the time of the murder?" he asked.
"Well I was at home, then went to school, had assembly, had a few classes then in first break we went to the botanical garden to celebrate Harlow's birthday and that's were we found Daniel on the grass." Cassandra answered.
"So you have a solid alibi?" Francis asked.
"Very much so" Cassandra answered.
"Well with that said. Do you know anyone that would have a motive to kill Daniel?" The detective asked.
"No." Cassandra answered.
"Or maybe you're the murdered." Francis laughed.
Cassandra stared at him with a face of confusion and disgust.
"Okay okay" he said whilst his laughter dumbed down. "Last question, may we look through your locker?" Francis asked.
"Yes you may, I have nothing to hide." Cassandra answered with confidence, knowing that the incriminating object was in her school bag.
"Great!" Francis said excitedly as he abruptly got up his chair.
"Thank you Cassandra, you have been very co operative. And I hope that I will not see you any time soon" Francis smiled and stretched his arm so that he could shake Cassandra's hand.
"Yeah, likewise" Cassandra replied, shaking Francis' hand.
As she walked out of the office she thought. If it was not for Calvin wanting his Accounting book back, I would have been absolutely screwed. Now there is no walking back on this, there is no way that I'm giving that phone to Schwartz or the authorities.