Where It Leads Us

Chapter Sixty-eight

I watch as Clarissa gets questioned as I stand and observe them through the glass. I eventually calmed down a few hours ago after that momentary mental spiral that almost held me captive.

After what occurred to me, Clarissa burst into the interrogation room, pushed and cornered Christopher against the wall, and I watch as two pistols were pointed at her. Clarissa sensed it was the beginning of something terrible while the detectives assumed I was simply daydreaming or overanalyzing the question that was being thrown at me. But now, everyone was aware of how much Clarissa looked out for me. I was almost afraid to think about how far she would go just to protect me and my mental being.

"I cannot and will not give you any information about my niece's sessions with her psychiatrist," Clarissa crosses her arms to her chest. Her voice was stern and her face just screams that she's had enough of all this crap. "And what does that even have to do with the case?"

"Ma'am, we need your full cooperation for this case to proceed—"

"And like I asked, what does it have to do with the case?"

Clarissa slammed both of her hands on the table, making me jump from the sudden action she took that was somewhat new to me. I watch as Christopher takes a deep breath, sighs, and continued.

"I worry that Ms. Sanders is being uncooperative on the case of her parents, and we need information about what she had shared with her psychiatrist about what occurred, which she appears to have forgotten since it triggers her psychological health."

Clarissa's eyes wander around the lack of interior of the room and its walls that surrounded her before looking back at Christopher, sighing then saying, "You can ask Dr. Nikki about this because only she knows everything about what Lauren had told her."

There was a riveting scene in there. They were both daring something with their gaze, and I watched as a tiny fire started between their shared looks. It was clear that it was a raging wrath of eagerness on the part of one and anger on the part of the other.

"Alright," was all Christopher said before standing up towards the door, opening it, and reaching for something. He slowly walks back to the conversation table, places a plastic bag on the table, and pushes it slowly in front of Clarissa for a better view of the evidence.

I watch her stare at it and for a moment, it caught my eye as it seemed too familiar to me.

"This is one of the other pieces of evidence we found to believe that was used for the attack," Christopher pulls the chair and sits down, "Do you happen to know this?"

Clarissa looks at Christopher, shaking her head, "I haven't seen that before."

Christopher nods his head, "But, this happens to be one of yours? Isn't that correct?"

"Are you accusing me of murder?" Clarissa stood up immediately, and placed both of her hands on the table to support her weight as she leaned in towards Christopher, staring down at him, "Are you implying that I used that to kill one of them?"

He shakes his head, "Your daughter, Zania, told us that this was a housewarming present for your sister," Christopher stares at the evidence, "Isn't it weird that you brought a present for your sister, years ago, but never even gave it to her?"

Clarissa snickers sarcastically and sits back down on the chair, "What's weirder is all the stories that you must've constructed inside your head about this case, just from a single piece of evidence, and it almost makes you want to believe them."

"Ma'am, all we need is a simple yes or no."

"Then, no," She says, "I may have bought something similar to that but, other than that, that is something new to me."

The knife has a cherry wood handle and a cutting edge that was so keen it could easily slice through anything and leave a permanent mark. It was wrapped inside the plastic bag, all cleaned up, as it seems.

Christopher grabs the plastic bag with the evidence inside, bringing it closer to him. He extends his arm and opens his palm for Clarissa to shake, "Thank you for your time. We will keep you updated about the case and for any more questions."

After nodding and shaking his hand, Clarissa quickly made her way to the door and left without saying anything else. Within seconds, Clarissa called me after the door behind us opened.

"Let's go home."

The words I needed to hear for me to finally take a sigh of relief.

❀

None of us discussed what occurred back there on the drive home. Since there were still television crews camped out outside our home, looking for us, Clarissa parked her car a few blocks away from the house, and we both made the decision to sneak and enter through the backyard.

After successfully getting inside the house, I tailed behind Clarissa as she walks in towards the kitchen. When she immediately turns to face me, knocking me out of my thoughts, she says, "Don't believe anything he says to you."

I swallowed the lump that suddenly formed in my throat as I found myself contemplating to her words.

"And don't question me about this. Do you understand?"

Her eyebrows were drawn together, forming a crease on her forehead while her eyes demanded something out of me that only grew curiosity deeper from within.

"Lauren," She calls out to me, placing both of her hands on my shoulders, "Do you understand?"

As she repeats the question, I felt only inclined to nod my head in response to her question, knowing that I would be doing the complete opposite of what she wanted from me.

***