The Accused

Julie

I know what I saw. A man. In a large brown coat, with 40° weather outside. Dark sunglasses. If anything screams the word suspicious, its him. Of course Amelia didn't believe me. What did I expect? No one would. I'm insignificant. Unimportant. I have to admire her though. Real knack for getting her way. Always. Which is why she has a better chance with the cops than she thinks. And I don't stand a chance. The second I open my mouth, I'll be risking being handcuffed and thrown into a dark cold cell, charged with first degree murder with every word I speak. What a joke. Being locked up is second nature at this point for me. Nothing big though, mainly theft. In my defense, I'm black and racist cops run aplenty. I have been locked up unfairly a few times to say the least. And by all means my race won't come in handy in this case. One controversial word from me and it might as well be a guilt confession.
"Hello, miss."
Shit. I wonder how I should play this. Calm? Sarcastic? Innocent at all costs? Being "myself" isn't really an option. God, now the cop's looking at me weird. Hoping it's not too obvious, I pull myself together.
"Hello, officer."
"Now let's cut to the chase, shall we? Tell us what you know.", Mr. brown hair cop says.
"I know just about as much as you do officer. ", I counter. I hope I'm playing my cards right. Apparently I was, because this back and forth banter continued for a while before the officer finally moved on to question Amelia. I took a deep breath. Kathy had arrived by this time. She rushed over and hugged me. I hesitated then hugged her back. This was a bit too sensitive for our rough and tough Kathy. Then it hit me how selfish I've been. This is her store. An incident like this could stain her career forever. And if there's one thing I know about my boss is that she's talented. Very talented and she could do better than this dump as it is. I don't know what she'll do if this is stolen from her forever.
"I'm sorry, Kath." Shit, I'm tearing up. I catch a cop analyzing my every move with hawk like eyes. I quickly regain my composure.
"No, I'm sorry", Kathy says. "I know how horrible these people can be. And you're just so- "
She doesn't know. About my short trips to the jail once in a while.
"--nice.", she finished.
If only she knew half of me. I smile. Like I always do. And push all the things I'm scared of at the very back of my mind. Where they belong. I smile at Kathy again just to wrap up the whole process. I'm fine.