Crime (h.s. au)

Chapter Twelve

Ava

I'm in the room alone with Alexander Cross, his fingers attached to the polygraph test. His eyes have been staring at me since I've sat down. The two-way mirror in the room is behind me, Harry, the Chief, and the polygraph reader watching the interview from inside.

"Thank you for agreeing to the test. We're going to look back on the previous questioning and continue," I explain, Alexander nodding his head. He hasn't spoken much to us since we arrived, more than likely due to the fact he's under fire again.

When Bernadette came in yesterday, providing us with a recording of her encounter with Alexander, I've grown incredible suspicious of Alexander Cross. We had taken photographs of the bruises on her arms prior to her leaving, potentially using those photos as evidence.

"I'm going to ask you more questions about your whereabouts of last week," I explain, his eyes rolling.

"I've done this with you before. Don't understand why you needed to hook some machine up to me this time," he says, annoyance laced in his words. I choose to ignore the attitude he's presented and continue with my questions.

"What day did you arrive in Manhattan?" I ask, his head leaning back. I'm sure this interview will be full of irritation from him, but I need to conduct such measures to find some type of evidence. Anything that strays away from the truth can be detected and I'm intrigued to find out the results once this is over.

"I got there on Tuesday," he tells me, my head nodding. I'm not taking many notes today, only holding what I've already taken down as what I find important. I'll take notes when necessary.

"What day did you leave?" I ask, his free hand fisting as it lies on the table in front of him.

"Thursday," he tells me. He's sticking with his story, but Gabriel's does not align with it. I make the decision to further interrogate him later on.

"Give me a play-by-play of everything you did while in Manhattan?" I continue, and Alexander sighs.

"I arrived at Gabriel's late afternoon. We hung out, caught up, and I crashed on his couch. The next day, I met up with a few other coworkers, went to a few stores to pick up parts for my car, and then went to Bernadette's place," he tells me, my lips pressing together. This is the first I've heard of him going to the store.

"What did you buy at the store?" I ask, his eyes glaring at mine.

"Is it necessary to know what I bought from the store?" he groans, and I look at him with the same intensity he has when looking at me.

"Yes. Please answer the question," I encourage, his body sitting up straighter in the chair.

"I bought a tire iron and a new headlight for my car," he tells me, and I write it down.

"While you were at Bernadette's family's home, what was the night like?" I ask, watching him closely.

"We just had simple conversation. I spoke with her aunt and uncle about their yard, since they knew I worked for a lawn service. They had mentioned they were going to start expanding a garden and I told them I knew a few of my coworkers that could help," he informs, and I feel my mind start to click together certain pieces.

"Do you know if Gabriel had worked on their yard?" I ask, and he shrugs.

"No clue. I don't work in the area anymore so I don't care enough to find out," he states.

"We spoke with Gabriel and he mentioned he worked in fertilization. What is your area of work?" I continue, keeping close eye on his body language.