Anything But Neutral (House of Gold mock-up)

5

The station was busier than it had been before. There was a homeless-looking man sitting in one of the chairs by the door that led to the holding cell hall. There were two women quietly arguing next to him. There was a teenage boy sitting next to a teenage girl holding a bic lighter. Danny walked up to the front desk. The receptionist was the same as last time, and she looked at the two of them with a bleak smile before waving them into a room down the long hallway.

"A case worker will be with you in a moment." She sighed and left, closing the door behind her. Drew sat at a table with only one chair, and Danny stood next to him. Drew sighed and looked around the room, chewing the side of his mouth anxiously.

"I have to tell you something," Drew looked down at the table and rubbed his thumbs against each other. Danny looked at him intently, arms crossed.

"I," Drew sighed and moved his arm up to rub his temple.

"What is it?" Danny stared down at him. Drew shook his head.

"I think I know who did it." Danny stared at Drew silently, before uncrossing his arms and looking around the empty room. Drew looked up at him, but Danny refused to look him in the eye.

"God damn it, dude." Danny finally spoke, with a slight tinge in his voice. He pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth before finally looking down at Drew, angrily.

"Why do you always wait for the worst possible time to tell me everything important?" Drew looked back down and rubbed the back of his wrist, where the bruising was most prominent. There was a knock on the door, and Drew raised his hand at eye-level with the door, to notify the person knocking that they could come in. Danny crossed his arms again and began swaying side to side.

"Hello," a young man with square glasses and a burgundy tie walked in, sighed, and set a short stack of folders on the table. He then put his finger up, stepped back outside, and pulled two foldable chairs into the room. Danny took one and the man set the other one on the opposite end of the table.

"You are Drew Gooden," the man spoke without looking up, filing through the yellow folder with his name on it.

"Yes," Drew says softly. He had that same sad hoarseness in his voice. The man stopped filing, set the folder down, and looked up at Danny.

"This is Danny, he's my....friend." The man nods.

"Danny, were you at the scene of this crime? Did you see these men attacking your friend?" Danny nods slowly before clearing his throat.

"Yes, I saw two men holding him down and physically attacking him." The man nodded and opened the folder.

"I have here the results of your blood test." He looked intermittently between Drew and Danny.

"How," Drew sighed. The man rested his gaze on Drew.

"Sorry, I mean, doesn't it take more than a day?" He cleared his throat and adjusted his position in the uncomfortable chair. The man nodded and folded his arms across each other on the table.

"Yes, typically these tests take several hours. Yours was an exception. The tests seemed to match that of a man already in our records," Danny pats Drew on the shoulder. The man flips through papers in the file before he reaches several poorly-printed photos in black and white. One of them is the mugshot of a man with scars on his face. Drew releases a deep exhale immediately.

"Do you recognize this man?" The man asks.

"I do," Drew hesitates before responding, slowly and quietly. The man nods and leans back, resting his arms behind his head. Danny leans in and examines the man's face. He does not recognize the black and white photo.