Ms. Revenge

Interrogation

Both of us turned to look, as Dela Lou walked into the low-ceilinged room. Immediately, I started to sweat. This lady was easily the most stunning person I had ever encountered. With a red sequin dress and short glamorous hair, Dela was a shock to the eyes. Against the stony gray walls, she was a firework of dazzle and sparkle. She had a beaming smile on her face, and flounced towards us, extending her hand.

"Dela Lou," she introduced. Her voice was surprisingly sweet. "It is truly a pleasure to meet you."

Arthur and I quickly stood up to greet her. Shaking her hand, Arthur introduced, "I am Detective Arthur Castro, and the pleasure is mine."

"I'm Detective Marcie Bennet. Please, have a seat." Dela shook both of our hands with the utmost excitement, and remained smiling when she sat down across from us.

"You know," Dela commented, her eyes roaming the tiny space. "I really love the design of this place. It gives off a very realistic aura, just like in the movies!"

I blinked. "You mean the interrogation room?"

Dela turned to look at me. "Oh, yes! I've always wanted to visit a real interrogation room. It's nothing like my chateau. Oh, and you've got such wonderful eyebrows."

I self-consciously reached up to touch my eyebrows. "O-Oh. Thank you?"

"You are very welcome." she preened. " I am very pleased that I came here today. It gave me a wonderful excuse to skip out on breakfast with Tiffany Flemming."

Dela leaned forward, conspiratorially. "She is a sweet girl, but lacks the light bulb, if you know what I mean."

Arthur and I exchanged looks. "Of course, that is completely understandable." Arthur replied.

"So, Ms. Lou, what were you doing the day of the murder?" Arthur asked. Interest renewed, I leaned forward in attentiveness.

Without hesitation, Dela replied. "I believe I was packing for my trip to Long Island," she sighed. "It was such a wonderful vacation. This whole 'murder' thing is a mess."

My eyebrows rose. Lack of sympathy and interest was exactly what we were looking for, and I couldn't believe we had hit such an obvious jackpot. "Was Mr. Princeton going with you on this trip?" I questioned

"Oh, no," she waved. "Just me."

Arthur and I waited for elaboration. Dela looked at us, and then seemed like she realized she had forgotten we didn't know anything about her trip. "Oh," she said. "How rude of me, I'm sorry. It was a trip to resolve a complicated family issue in New York. I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind."

I nodded. "Of course," There were plenty of cases of embarrassing family issues that were not relevant to the trial at all, but that didn't mean I wouldn't do a little bit of investigating later.

"How about before the trip?" Arthur continued. "Did Mr. Princeton tell you anything significant or out of the ordinary?"

Dela thought for a moment. I noticed that her nails were bright red, almost the shade of blood, as she tapped them against her perfectly pointed chin. "Well," she said slowly. "He told me that he loved me and that he wished my family well."

She shrugged. "He tells me he loves me often, so I don't think it's anything particular."

I looked towards Arthur. This could be a case of one-sided love, but we would have to ask more questions to confirm it. The right questions were all we needed to crack this case, and we had the perfect suspect.

"How often did you and Mr. Princeton go on dates?" I asked. "Movie nights, dinners, or even just some alone time?"

Dela shifted in her seat and said, "Well, we went on a delightful trip to Bisous a day before the incident. It was wonderful of him, truly. The sun was shining so brilliantly... you could imagine how devastated I was when he was murdered to following morning."

Beside me, Arthur nodded humbly. "We completely understand, Ms. Lou, it is quite shocking to lose those we love."

"Ah, well" she sighed. "It gets the best of us."

It was silent for a couple seconds, and Arthur looked towards me to ask the follow-up question. I felt his eyes on my skin- pictured the questioning look he gave me. But I could only look ahead into the glistening eyes of Dela Lou.

I remember the day before the incident; I had parked outside of a coffee shop a little ways outside of town, and had to scurry inside quickly. Just as I stepped inside the shop, I got a call from the deputy saying that there was a new case. Sighing, I had looked up to the rainy sky. Water drenched my boots, and filled the pockets of my coat.

"Ms. Lou, can you describe your experience at Bisous? What was the date like, and what did you say to each other?" I questioned. I couldn't believe our luck. Now, I just needed to ask the right questions.

Dela pondered for a few seconds. "I believe we had this date scheduled a week before, and I was ecstatic of course." She smiled with a reminiscent giddiness. "He drove me there in his car, and we were seated quite quickly. The waiter was very kind to us."

"Then, we each ordered a steak and chatted about my trip to New York. He was very understanding of my family issue, bless his heart," she said, still smiling.

Dela stared at a spot on the table, as if remembering the last time she saw her boyfriend. Awkwardly, Arthur cleared his throat. "Let's get back to the day of the murder. Where were you packing, if you weren't at Mr. Princeton's house?"

Dela paused for a second before responding. "I was at Albert Payne's house. He is a dear friend of mine, and was helping me pack since he lived in Long Island for quite a while. He gave me many tips on how to dress, and which restaurants to go to. I had the whole trip planned out perfectly, thanks to him." she said, smiling. Dela's red lips curled into a half moon, and I couldn't decipher the look in her eyes as she grinned at me.