The heartstopper

Chapter 28

Most people had been escorted back to their rooms that afternoon. Apparently, security was going to thoroughly examine the hotel and the crime scenes which had all been closed off. They were still searching for a strand of DNA left at the scene of the crime but the criminal must have thought ahead and been sure to cover their tracks.

The Paris squad, minus Imogen, were in Tao, Isaac, Nick and Charlie's room as the others had gone back to find the rest of their friends after security told them to head back to their rooms. Hopefully, no one would mind if they stayed in the boy's room for the time being, even if their room was twice the size.

"What happened to Imogen?" Darcy questioned, only now realizing that she wasn't with them.

"She probably went to hang out with some of her other friends, we just didn't notice," Tara shrugged.

Darcy's realization didn't sit well with Nick, he was already on edge from the night before. Charlie could see the panic behind Nick's eyes and grabbed his hand for comfort.

"I haven't actually seen her with her other friends that often recently," Elle noted. This was not comforting for Nick either.

"I think she's realizing their true colours," Isaac agreed.

"It's about time," Tao muttered before Elle shoved her elbow into his side.

"What? I said what I said,"

"It's not really our business who she hangs out with," Charlie piped in, wanting to change the subject for Nick's sake.

"Well if she's going to hang out with people like Harry Green..." Tao began, creating an unsettling silence at the mention of Harry's name. Yes, he was a horrible person, but he was now dead and it wasn't something they should be smiling about.

"Anyway, a conversation away from homophobes, Nick, Charlie, what happened last night? Didn't walk in on any murders, did you?" Darcy asked, changing the topic.

Charlie shifted awkwardly in his spot. They had just gotten Tao and Elle to drop the subject before their other friends had entered.

"No," he mustered out. He hated the questions.

"Darcy!" Tara scolded.

"What? I was kidding," She put her arms up in defence. "It's just, I'd hope that I'd be the first person they'd turn to after finding a dead body," She joked.

"Maybe it's not the best joke to make after... you know?" Nick let his voice trail off.

"Sorry! I make jokes at all the wrong times," It was true, it's how she coped. She'd always have plenty of jokes to make about her horrible parents that she'd share with Tara whenever she'd leave her house to sleep at her girlfriend's instead.

"Right," Nick awkwardly coughed. "Well, " He paused, not knowing what to say. By then, all of his friends had figured it out. The Email that was sent out by their teachers had stated that "Another student of ours has been murdered, the body was found last night". Their two friends had arrived late looking traumatized, it didn't take a genius to conclude what could have happened and no matter how much they wanted more details, Nick and Charlie weren't ready for that.

It took until around two-twenty before there was a knock on the door, Elle, being closest, went to open it.

"This is Nickolas and Charles' room, correct?" A lady asked, standing just out of frame so the others couldn't see. "I told them last night that either myself or someone else would be around to speak with them at some point today,"

"Yes, it is," Elle opened the door up a bit farther, eyeing the woman wearily.

"Officer Mulligan," Nick greeted, standing up, Charlie following his boyfriend's lead.

"I did come around just before lunch but I reckon you'd already gone down to eat, shall we go talk?" She motioned them to follow her. Of course, they weren't down eating when she'd come around, they'd fallen asleep but they didn't bother to correct her and followed without a word, avoiding looking at their friends who gave them a questioning look.

The squad knew their suspicions were correct and the officer backed that point up unless they were actually in trouble, which Darcy had voiced her opinion on, of course, the opinion was meant to be said jokingly, not taken seriously.

Nick and Charlie followed the lady, they headed to an empty hotel room which looked like it had been turned into an interrogation room of some sort, probably because they were trying to stop even security from leaving the building. It made sense to have some sort of setup that wasn't the stairwell, with the elevator being out of order, the stairs were quite busy. There was still one elevator open that stopped at each floor but one elevator for a large hotel filled with bored guests wasn't going to be functional for long.

"You two may take a seat. Water?" She offered.

"Oh, um, no thank you," Nick replied.

"No thanks," Charlie spoke.

"Alright then," She sighed, sitting down across from the two boys. "Before we get into any more depth than last night, I'd like you two to both know, neither of you are in trouble," Hearing that from her mouth was not reassuring. For Charlie, he wasn't sure if it was because of the nasal-sounding Parisian accent. The lady was intimidating. The boys stayed silent, waiting for directions.

"How this is going to work is I'm going to send one of you out into the hall to wait with another officer, Officer Peterson. At the same time, I'll be speaking with the other one of you, and then we'll switch. After that, you two can head back to your friends," She explained. The boys nodded indicate that they understood.

Nick was the first to be interrogated. While this happened, Charlie leaned against the wall in the hall, across from him, the male officer, officer Peterson, stood. He didn't seem nearly as intimidating as officer Mulligan, he kind of wished he had been the one to interrogate him, not the female officer.

Either way, after standing in silence for what felt like a long period of time, officer Mulligan opened the door, letting Nick exit.

"Charlie," The lady nodded at him, signalling for him to enter.

As Charlie passed Nick, they made eye contact. They both looked terrifying. Whether they had anything to do with the murders or not, it was still a very stressful experience as they could only sit there as an officer repeatedly asked questions about their locations that night, if they recognized the girl, whether or not they'd been with each other the entire time, etc...