Working the Case

6

𖤍𝙵𝚒𝚗𝚗𖤍

I swallow thickly as I'm forced to stare down at the picture that's slide over to me.

Someone I thought of as a little sister, laying dead and bloody in a familiar spot. She's fully covered with blood. I can't even tell what happened to this girl.

"What do you think about this picture?" Agent Mills hums quietly, eyeing the picture curiously.

I look away from it. "Can you put it away? Please?" I breathe. I can't look at that.

Agent Mills sighs. "Balker, a woman was found strangled to death behind your inn, right below your window." She declares. I drop my head into my hands, pressing my palms into my eyes.

Right under my window. I could've helped her, maybe. I thought about going outside to scare whatever animal I thought was out there off so I could get more sleep.

I should've gone outside. I got distracted on the way down.

"Did she piss you off?"

"No!" I scoff at the question. "God—" I shake my head. "No."

"There's so much rage here." Agent Mills points out. "Two broken ribs, a punctured lung—"

"Please stop." I try. She's not going to stop. It's her job not to stop.

"Broken nose, bruising around her neck from when you wrapped your hands around her and squeezed as hard as you could."

"No, I didn't do that." I insist. "I—I couldn't have done that." Who would do that?

"Where were you last night?"

"In bed." I breathe. I just need to breathe. "I woke up in the middle of the night because I heard something and I went downstairs with Agent Hopkins."

"And the night Hannah was murdered?"

I tilt my chin back as I try to catch a breath that's big enough to fill my lungs. "In my room at the inn." I tell her.

"Don't you need to ask me what day that was?"

I almost scoff. "I know what day it was because it was the talk of the damn town." I reason. "No one's ever been murdered here. It's all anyone could talk about."

Agent Mills straightens. She looks down into a file and takes a new picture out. She slides it over to me, showing one I haven't seen before. Hannah.

"Fuck," I blurt, looking away again. I groan and bring my hands to my face, putting pressure on my eyes like I'll be able to burn that image out of my head.

Agent Mills shifts around. I hear her, but I don't dare look at her. She might show me something more.

"Please," I breathe, sounding like a broken record. "I don't want to look at those." I add. "Ask me as many questions as you want. Accuse me of whatever you want. Just please don't show me those."

Agent Mills is quiet for a long moment. There's some more shuffling before she speaks again. "Okay," She agrees. I hesitate, but slowly drop my hands.