Daniel and Johnny made the trip to the prison where the accused one was held. Johnny got the details from the prison guards about the whereabouts of that person beforehand.
Daniel stood before the cell. He saw a man slumped to the corner of the cell facing the ceiling in daze. Daniel’s eyes roamed around the cell and the scribbles at the side of the prison wall. The prison guard who accompanied them opened the cell for them.
Hearing the noise the man slowly shifts his eyes from the ceiling to the people before him. His eyes are sunken with heavy dark circles. His hairs are long, almost reaching his eyes and short stubbles covered his chin. He looked young probably around mid twenty, Daniel thought.
The guard pushed the chair for the chief and left them alone for the interrogation. Daniel seated with his long legs one over the other and looked at the man silently for a minute.
“Diego, aren’t you?”
The man didn’t respond but looked at them blankly.
“A graduate in social work, worked as a volunteer in a welfare organisation for three years before joining as a caretaker in Gaston’s orphanage. So now tell me why did you take blame for something you didn’t do?” Daniel questioned him.
The man still didn’t open his mouth but looked at them with annoyance evident in his eyes.
“I know it's not you but Gaston” Daniel smirked when he saw the trace of vengeance passed through his eyes when he mentioned that name.
“How many times did i want to repeat myself, it's not him but me. I am the one who assaulted her, I am the one who blackmailed him for money, I am the one who spread the rumours”
The man continuously shouted at the top of his lungs and launched forward to hit Daniel. But before his hand would reach him Johnny who stood beside Daniel moved forward and held both of his hands and twisted it behind him and pressed his head to the floor.
Daniel seated there unfazed by his sudden attack, “Let him go Johnny”
Johnny released his grip and moved backwards a little but on guard ready to defend if he attacked. He may look lean and weak but he didn’t spend all those years in the police academy in vain.
“What do you want? Didn’t I already confess everything” Diego yelled in frustration
There are people who come daily in the name of interrogation to force him to accept that he was the one who sullied the young girl. At first he refused to back down and wanted to bring justice to the little girl, but when he thought about that particular day his body shivered in fear.
“So you are admitting that you are the one who assaulted the little girl” Daniel stated in a calm voice.
Diego kept silent. He was tired, very tired from all those tortures he had been experiencing from the day he was imprisoned. But most painful was the thought about the little girl. He lowered his head and a single tear slid across his cheek and dropped to the floor.
“Yes, it's me. It's…me” he said as he burst into tears and banged the floor with his hands in helplessness.
“Do you think if you accept this crime everything will be alright. That girl Hazel… she is not in the orphanage”
Diego was shocked and shook his head continuously in denial, “No No.. you are lying. He…He said he will not do anything to her if I accept it”
“She was dropped in the orphanage two weeks after her stay in hospital. But when the cops went there to get her statement, the incharge said that she was brought to the Gaston’s house for recuperation in the name of changing the environment”
“Now she is in Gaston’s hand, still refusing to say anything” Daniel raised his brows with a solemn expression.
Diego hesitated for a moment but when he thought about the little girl in that beast’s house his hands clenched at the side.
“It was a month after I joined there. Hazel was an orphan but a cute and silly girl. She always said even if she lacks parents she has more siblings by her side who love and care for her. She is always cheerful and sees good in bad” he smiled when he thought about the little girl who jumps around his side calling him brother sweetly.
“But she grew silent, locked in her room and isolating herself from others. Her smile faded day by day and was almost nonexistent. I accidently saw little bruises on her arms and immediately knew something was wrong and asked her about it. She… cried”
“She cried loudly saying that it hurts. She was just a little girl who knew nothing about the world. I coaxed her for days telling her that I will protect her from the one who did it. After a lot of coercion she opened up to me”
“My blood boiled when I heard that name. I couldn't believe it but the bruises on her body were cruel. He behaved like a moral and gentle man on the outside but he was nothing but a piece of shit. I started to collect evidence against his crimes”
He wiped his tears and looked straight at Daniel, “Do you think he ran the orphanage because of his kind heart?. No, there is something going on. I checked the records in the orphanage and found that some children went missing, especially girls. But it was before I joined there, so I contacted the caretaker who worked at the orphanage before me”
He was silent as tears slipped from his eyes.
“What did you find?” Daniel urged him.
YOU ARE READING
The Last Spade Master
RomanceIn a dark narrow and abandoned subway, a man stumbled his way, holding a half-finished alcohol bottle in his hand. His stubbles longer, hair messy and ungroomed. His eyes are bloodshot and swollen from continuous crying. He wobbled and fell down. A...
