Absentia: The Murder of Nefera

Chapter IV: Investigating Teens

It had been a couple of hours since detective Hall had caught the friends with the murder weapon. He had taken them to the police station, where he had planned to question them all. Even Jade, who he had questioned before. He was waiting on everybody's parents, Nora had reminded him that they could not be questioned without a guardian present. Maybe that's why he had questioned Jade first, maybe he knew she lived alone. Maybe he knew way more than he seemed to. Even he had a secret after all. Daniel hadn't forgotten what was written on his business card, 'private investigator'.

"Do you have a reason to arrest our children, detective Hall?" asked Veronica Thompson, Nora's mother upon arriving. Her husband, Peter, was a lawyer. She knew all the holes and cracks in the system and was determined to use them to get the four children home safely. Behind her were the rest of the parents. Dimitri and Celia Garcia, Daniel's parents. They were hand in hand, concerned, but also disappointed. It was just now they discovered who his friends were. Miguel and Alba Torres, Andrea's parents. They were accompanied by Lorena, Andrea's little sister. She was only fourteen years old, but acted as a translator for the couple, in case they needed it.

"Not yet, Mrs. Thomson" he answered. Though it was a big crime to hide evidence from the police, they didn't have proof that the teens had murdered Nefera. They had nothing other than a bloody knife.

"Then I suggest, we take them home. You can question them at a later time, when it is not 10 PM on a school night" Nora's mother fired back. After that, they all went home.

Andrea went immediately to her room once she got home.

"Mija, ven aqui!" her mother yelled. But it was no use. Andrea didn't want to talk about it. It had been bad enough that she had to deal with the grief, but being framed? It was too much. She let herself fall onto her bed and pushed her face against her pillow. Her little sister, Lorena came in and started rubbing her back a little bit.

"I love you Drea" she said. "I will always be here for you, I don't believe you did what they think you did." She got up and walked away. Andrea didn't even flinch or give an answer. She was emotionally drained. How had it come to this point? She got up and got the nearest notebook and pen she could find. She opened the notebook aggressively and sat down at her desk. She wrote one of the most important questions she had ever asked herself; 'Who killed Nefera Fouad?'

A couple of streets away, Daniel was being questioned by his disapproving parents.

"Are those your friends Daniel Garcia?" his mother asked angrily. They were mad his friends weren't the normal American gang every other teenager would have. He didn't know what to answer. Yes, these were his friends, but they would never approve. They would never approve of anything. Daniel knew his parents wanted him to get good grades, get a good job, have a wife, and get children. That's all they wanted. But that was coincidentally all he didn't want.

"Yeah, those are your friends, right?" Carmen asked. As soon as she heard drama, she was always the first to come downstairs.

"We're doing this project at school, that's all" he lied.

"With murder weapons?" his father asked. "That's it, you aren't seeing those delinquents anymore."

Daniel knew trying to reason with his dad was not going to do anything good. He nodded and promised them that he wouldn't see them anymore. They obviously didn't know he was lying. He had become extremely good at it.

After the thorough questioning of his parents, he followed Carmen upstairs.

"You and me are so over" he said to his sister.

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

"You'll find out."

He was done with her behavior. He was done with the backstabbing, with the betraying.