Love, Lust 'n Geology (1ST DRAFT)

Chapter 41: The whole truth and nothing but the truth

This chapter is dedicated to Bushra_rahmani for her encouraging comments/PM's & her ongoing support :-)! While she doesn't show up to the story as readily as she used to ;-), I know it's because she's busy writing her own book, which is perfectly understandable :-)!

To say that Bushra & I got off on the wrong foot would be an understatement ;-)! I saw a flurry of votes come in from her which thrilled me at 1st, till I realized that they were posted so close together that she couldn't possibly have read the chapters - or so I thought ;-)! I proceeded to accuse her of voting without reading the book. She responded by outlining the entire story to me, thoroughly chastening me ;-)! I apologized copiously, of course, & learned that readers can read & cast votes independently sometimes. In any case, thank u so much for ur encouragement & support, Bushra :-)!

She is an author as well & has 2 novels on WP. Please check them out :-)!

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Chapter 41: The whole truth and nothing but the truth

Samina proceeded to wring her hands. Keeping her eyes fixed on them, she said, her voice quavering, "I ... I think it's important for everyone to be honest with the law."

It was a point on which the officers were unlikely to disagree with her. Their response was to raise their brows and exchange questioning looks. One of them went so far as to place his hands on his hips.

"I ... I didn't tell you the truth earlier. I'd like to, now," Samina carried on, monologue fashion.

The officer who'd been interviewing her said, encouragingly, "Go ahead, ma'am," wondering what she had in store for them now. This call had weird written all over it: weird, weird, weird!

"I was concerned that my boyfriend had been sending inflammatory texts to my assistant ..." Here she turned to nod in Chris's direction, only to find him hanging back a few feet from her. Chris had been mystified as to what Samina was up to. Feeling that he'd better keep an eye on things, he'd hurried to catch up with her.

"I took his phone from him to check, and, well, he was just trying to get it back."

"And that was why you were screaming, ma'am, and you and the gentleman were tousling?" The officer judiciously opted to leave out the part about her jumping up and down out of consideration. He glanced from her to Chris, who nodded mutely. What Chris couldn't figure out was what the heck was going on!

"Yes. I was trying to stop him from taking his phone back before I got a chance to check."

"I see. Umm, why didn't you tell us this earlier, ma'am?"

"Cause I hadn't read the messages. I didn't know what my boyfriend had said. I ..." Here she lifted her eyes to the officer's and admitted solemnly. "I didn't want to embarrass him."

"What about now, ma'am? Have you read the messages now?"

She nodded, her expression suggesting that she had gone into mourning upon doing so.

"Are any of them of a threatening nature?"

"No, no, not threatening. Just ... inflammatory."

"Sir?" the officer turned to Chris for confirmation.

Chris didn't reply immediately. Instead, he regarded the officer dully, and then Samina, whose eyes were turned expectantly on him, weighing his options. Threatening? Hmmm .... Well, according to his recollection, Tom had said, Fuck you! not just once, but twice, and in caps at that, so vehemently! It seemed to Chris that the verb 'fuck' coupled with the object 'you' could legitimately be construed as a threat to commit sexual assault! Couldn't it? Of course, there was the question of the missing subject, which was one of, '(I) Fuck you', '(We) Fuck you', '(They) Fuck you,' But still, it was a call for him to be fucked by some entity or the other! In contrast, his own outburst had been a relatively harmless Fuck off, which, devoid of an object, meant that he wasn't suggesting that anyone, in particular, be fucked!