The Lure of the Lie: A Modern Detective Anthology (*On Hold*)

6 Rough

My first time in the FBI interrogation rooms was unplanned. Special Agent Parker and I had no time to discuss a strategy for our questioning or for me to observe the subject for some time to form a better psychological profile before charging in with our inquiries.

The boy was shaken up enough already from being handcuffed and placed in the back of the Special Agent's Bureau issued vehicle. He had been wide eyed and frantic ever since, professing that whatever this was about, he didn't do it. Parker hadn't said a word to him from the time we'd left the dorm room. I wasn't sure if that was part of protocol or if he was simply trying to formulate a plan before he did.

Now, we sat across from the boy in interrogation room C. Well, I sat and Parker stood at the end of the table, arms crossed and glaring down at the suspect. I said nothing. Parker was the one with experience in interrogations. It was better for me to observe for a time before I said anything myself. I knew there were potentially other people on the other side of the mirror to my left. I wasn't sure who they were or what they might be doing but the inability to see them had a marked effect on making the people in this room slightly more uncomfortable. The feeling of being watched always did well to heighten a sense of unease.

"Look man, I don't know what you think I did," the boy started again when the silence settled into discomfort. It wasn't the first time he'd tried this tactic. He shifted in his seat and I took note of his discomfort. The boy had been close to bursting into tears since we had led him out of his dorm. Was someone this terrified of interaction with law enforcement truly capable of cold blooded murder? "But can you please just take these things off?"

He held up his wrists where Special Agent Parker's shiny metal cuffs glimmered in the harsh florescent light. They clanked together and he winced at the sound. Psychologically, there was something so sobering about the weight of restraints.

"Why's that?" Parker asked in a slow drawl, leaning out over the table and resting his weight on his hands. "You can give but you can't take?"

"What?" Cody asked, confused. He looked to me when he continued. "What does that mean?"

"We found the restraint system hidden under your bed in your dorm, Mr. Aaron," I told him and waited for the realization to slowly dawn upon him. "Given your discomfort with the handcuffs that Special Agent Parker placed upon your wrists, you don't seem to be experienced in wearing such a restraint."

"And that's... why you arrested me?" he asked. "There's nothing illegal about me having that."

"Who'd you restrain, Cody?" Parker asked, pulled out the chair next to me and taking a seat as he did. He leaned forward onto the table and stared firmly at the squirming boy in front of us.

Cody Aaron's eyes travelled from Parker to me and back again. His mouth opened and closed but no words came out. We gave him the time he needed to formulate an answer and finally he spoke again.

"I don't see how that's relevant-" he started but Parker did not let him get any further.

"Chelsea Lucas," Parker spat.

The effect was instantaneous. Cody Aaron's lips parted in surprise at the name and he severed the eye contact between us, turning his gaze, instead, to the table. That was a nonverbal admission of guilt if I'd ever seen one. At least, an admission of an association with the victim.

"Look, Chelsea was into it, okay?" he started his defense again after a moment of contemplation. "We didn't do anything wrong so I don't know what you think you've got me on but-"

"She's dead," Parker interrupted. "We found her rotting in the river with ligature marks around her ankles."

"Wait, what? Chelsea's dead?" Cody's mouth fell open and he began shaking his head, staring down at the table as if he'd forgotten our presence entirely. He was shaking now, lips quivering in open shock. "No. No, that isn't possible. I just saw her a few days ago. She was fine. She left my place and said she was going home. She wasn't- She was fine."