Dreaming Is for the Free

Seventeen

"Ladies! I'm glad you came in. Follow me please."

Detective Henderson's voice is mellow with a hint of amiability. She knows we lied, but she's playing along anyway. And I really respect her for that. I hope she senses that we are here for a reason, and the officers in the front could care less. I should file a complaint against them but that's just me being petty.

Detective Henderson leads us down a hallway and through a door. Behind that door is the area you see on every cop show. This is where all of the detectives are. This is the most exciting part of the whole building. There's a bunch of tiny desks filled with files. It smells like coffee galore. Everyone is occupied with a task. Voices are mixing from all over the room. I can barely make out one conversation. And although it's cramped, the area is surprisingly neat.

Towards the corner of the room, there's another hallway. That's where we end up. This hallway has many doors but there's no way of knowing what each is for. There's no signs except for one and it's our destination. It's a private waiting room with a couple of chairs and a TV hanging on the wall. It's bare to be honest.

"Okay, so what is this "something" you have to show me that's related to the Cooper case?"

Detective Henderson wastes no time at all. And neither do we. Maya and I pull the three notes out of our pockets and extend them to Detective Henderson. Her eyes expand as she grabs the pieces of paper out of our hands.

"Did you take these out of the diary? This is evidence." She lowers her voice slightly.

I want to say "no shit" to her last statement but I refrain from doing so. Instead, Maya speaks up.

"No, someone gave us those notes."

"When?" Detective Henderson asks as she picks up a chair and places it in front of us before sitting down.

"We both noticed a note inside our top the day after the Smith Street party. The other note was taped to our door a couple days later." I state.

"We don't know how those notes even got in our tops. We were drunk." Maya adds.

"Which ones were those?" Detective Henderson asks.

"The note that says, "You're gonna wish you were my friend instead of my enemy" was inside my top." I respond.

"And the one that says, "I wanted to like you but since I don't, just know I'm watching", was inside of mine." Maya finishes.

"So what makes you think this is related to Charlotte Cooper?"

Detective Henderson is trying to sound indifferent so that she can gather more details but her poker face faltered as soon as she saw those notes. The paper they're written on is a dead give away that they are indeed related to Charlotte because they came directly from a journal that has her name written on it.

"The notes look like they were written on paper from a diary. I found Charlotte's diary. We put two and two together. It all makes sense. Does it not?" I question.

"So walk me through the night of the party." She completely ignores my question.

"Me and Halo were together the whole night." Maya says.

Which is true. We were glued together. We went to the bathroom together. And even when we played hide and seek, we were always in view of each other.

"I need details, and I'm gonna separate you two just to make sure your story checks out." Detective Henderson declares.

Maya and I share a quick glance and simultaneously shrug our shoulders. It wasn't planned, but I know that there's no need to lie about the night of the party. We'll tell Detective Henderson everything we remember. I hope it helps.