The Secrets We Keep

The Twenty-Ninth Chapter

Christopher

As I head into the station, I feel strangely nervous. I run a hand through my hair as I approach a woman sitting behind a desk. 

She looks up momentarily from whatever she's writing to peer at me from above her reading glasses. "What can I help you with?" She asks monotonously. 

"I'd like to see Detective Reyes," I say, wondering if I should've messaged the detective myself. I still have the card she gave me somewhere in my room. 

"Ok," the woman says, pointing at the metal chairs behind me. "Take a seat and I'll let her know that a... what's your name again?" She asks taking in my school's rowing sweatshirt. Her eyes linger on the letters spelling out Excelsior. 

"Christopher," I answer. "She'll know who I am."

The woman nods and I take a seat as she picks up an old cord phone. 

After a minute or two, she puts it down and says in a voice I can hear from where I'm sitting. "She'll be right with you."

And Reyes is. Not a moment later, I see the dark-haired detective round the corner. When she sees me, she puts her hands on her hips. 

"Mr. Wallace," she says and I stand up and walk over to her. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" 

While her words seem polite on the surface, I can see her detective's brain run a mile a minute as she tries to work out why I might seek her out. 

I clear my throat and tighten my hold on my duffle bag. "I came across some things that I think could help with Amelia's case. Can I show them to you in private?"

She doesn't pretend to hide her surprise. "Of course, this way," she says and waves at me over her shoulder. As I enter the next room, all I see are detectives sitting at pairs of overflowing desks. 

"I'm going to take you to an interrogation room, no cameras and no funny business. It's just quieter," Reyes explains as I step over case files lying haphazardly on the floor. 

"Ok," I say, not really listening to her as she shows me to a door painted a dark blue color. She holds it open for me and I take one last look at all the loudly talking, raucous detectives and officers before she shuts me into the soundproof room. 

"Isn't this better?" She says and pulls out one of the chairs. I take the one on the other side of the metal table and look around the room. It has one of those mirror-glass things in the center and I stare at it as I unzip my duffel bag. "So what do you have for me?" Reyes asks. 

Instead of answering her, I find Hayden's phone and type in the passcode she gave me before she and Nathan dropped me off here. 

With that done, I head to the recording app and play the most recent one. 

Reyes sits back with her arms crossed while she waits for whatever's about to happen. 

The voices start a few minutes into the recording and Reyes's bored face turns sceptical the moment the first voice starts speaking.

"Thank you for waiting for me. Although, I'm surprised you wanted to meet with me for extra lessons, Hayden. I thought you'd grown sick of me after all of your detentions."

"Hayden?" Her mouth forms the word silently and her face is the picture of confusion and, maybe, worry as she continues to listen.

"Thank you for seeing me. I'm really glad you made time for me. I know how busy you are." 

"Anything for you. But if there's one student who doesn't need tutoring it's you. In fact, I was hoping I could talk to you about helping some of the others out."