The Art of Lying [Jai Brooks]

-chapter 10-

Jai Brooks

Five Days After

We sit in silence as Ackers hums quietly to a song I vaguely recognise. As I'm hauled off to the police station for the second time in the space of five days I realise that the chances of my life going back to anywhere near normal anytime soon are very slim. I glance over at Roni; she's tapping her fingers nervously on her knee, starring out the window as we cruise down Sunset Boulevard. Apprehension consumes me as we draw closer to the station. Ackers clearly sensed out fretful states as he decided to prolong our journey by stopping by a gas station first, hence the trip down Sunset. As the seconds drew out the angrier I got, Ackers was doing this on purpose, and he wanted to make us simmer in unease, afraid as to what this could be about. My mind plays with all sorts of questions like, what if they found evidence of us visiting the crime scene?

Did they see us leaving this morning? What if they found out about the fight between Rachel and I?

I quickly dismiss all thoughts realising that it was only contributing to my angst. Besides I double checked the area we stayed and ensured that there were no traces of us being there. The light drizzle of rain during the night was enough to rid of any possible footprints.

"Hey" Roni whispers, she turns to face me, the look in her eyes is so distant and cold that it makes me shudder "I'm scared" she admits

"Don't be" I reassure her, she smiles at me gratefully before returning her gaze to the window "he just wants to scare us" I say loud enough so that Ackers can here. He quickly shuts off the radio so that he can listen to our conversation.

"Jai" she warns

"What?" I raise my brows. I see Ackers glance back at us in the rear view mirror. "He wants to scare us. He wants us to admit to killing Rachel, he wants to catch just a slight slip of a word that could link us to killing her. He wants to find something that doesn't match our statements" I growl, I pause for breath "but given that we're innocent he ain't getting shit"

"Brooks" Ackers shouts "I warned you about your language, listen-" he begins but gets quickly interrupted by Roni

"Just tell us why we're here, we gave you our statements Friday, there's nothing more to say, neither of us killed her, we know nothing about what happened that night so what could you possibly want?" she barks, stamping her foot in frustration.

Ackers ignores us and continues driving; he turns off the radio and forces us to sit in silence. Both Roni and I sit perplexed. Fear and apprehension consumes us. Finally Acker's pulls into the police stations car park. He gestures for Officer Denby to leave, the officer obliges and when he's no longer visible Ackers to face us. He pulls back the sheer plastic screen separating us and pokes us head through the gap.

"There have been some developments in the case. The press is forcing us to release to information" Ackers reveals. He pauses for a few seconds as if it would make more impact on what he was about to say "this means that we have been forced to release a list of suspects, you two being prime. Of course with Mr Kay being so adamant on having everything revolving the case publicised, it could prove to be difficult for the both of you to stay in the local area" he sighs "I truly am sorry, up until now your suspect status has only been speculation, now it is about to be confirmed"

"What does that mean?" Roni asks narrowing her eyes in frustration. Suddenly I become fearful of his response, would he hold us in a cell as murder suspects? My mom could never afford to release me on bail.

"May I suggest a brief trip away from ULA, preferably as far as possible, it should give you a chance for the dust to settle before you return" this time his voice is sincere and his eyes soften with sympathy. Does Ackers think we're innocent? His tone is so different from the stern, cold voice I've grown used to. "Maybe you both should take this chance to visit family for a week or so, we will make sure that it's settled with your professors, we can arrange for work to be sent to you" he gives us a brief moment to let everything sink in. Our lives are about to change and we have no control over it, we have no choice but to accept being blamed for something to we didn't do.