Chapter Eleven

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She sat upright, strained fingers grasped a small purse in her lap. Black hair flowed past her shoulders, framing a delicate face. Miss Delwin's grey eyes darted between Arden and I as she fidgeted with the clasp of her purse.

"Miss Delwin, do you know why we called you in here today?" Arden spoke calmly towards the woman who sat opposite us.

"No, I don't," She paused, "Is everything alright, did I do something wrong?"

"No, Miss Delwin-"

"Ashley" She quickly interjected.

"Ashley, we've called you in to inform you about your sister."

"Mara? Why? What's happened?"

"She's..." Arden struggled to continue.

"Ashley," I spoke up, filling the silence Arden had created "I'm so sorry for you to hear this but your sister has been murdered."

Ashley shook her head.

"Her body was found last night, and we're working as best we can to find the person responsible."

"No," She kept shaking her head, "She's not dead, she's not dead!" her protests quickly turned into sobs as her head fell into her hands.

Arden moved over to beside Ashley, putting an arm over her in an attempt to comfort her.

I lost track of time how long Ashley cried for. I felt so guilty, having to break this woman's heart. She didn't deserve this, no one did.

"If you need anything, just let us know" Arden stood up.

"Thank you" Ashley turned her head upwards to face Arden, her eyes reddened and lips still curled as she struggled to pull a smile.

Arden and I exited the room. We walked along the hall to the main office

"Well we can most likely rule her out as a suspect, she was distraught. If she had anything to do with it she would have had to act at least." Arden broke the silence.

"We'll have to give her a few minutes to recover, we can question her then. We can't waste time though. The longer we sit around the more likely that killer is further away from being apprehended."

We stopped at the entrance to the office.
I turned to face Arden "You didn't think you could break it to her could you?"

"I know, I'm sorry"

"Don't be, it's understandable. Even after having done it for so long, it still hurts to break it to someone," I paused, "And honestly, I don't think it'll get any easier."

"Thanks Dustin" Arden brightened up a bit.

We had returned to the small room where Ashley sat, and found our places on the seats opposite.

"Do you need anything, a coffee perhaps?" I suggested, trying to be helpful.

Ashley nodded.

I left the room and returned shortly with a silver tray. Three cups of black coffee, a milk jug and few spoons balanced on top as I carefully set them down on the small table. We all reached for a cup and altered their contents to our liking.

"Ashley, I know you're not in the most comfortable position here, but we would like to get as much help from you as we can," Arden sat her coffee cup down "If you're willing to answer some questions that would help."

Ashley looked up from her coffee, she had both her small hands wrapped around the cup, grasping it very firmly.

"Okay, what would you like to know?"

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