Mystery Loves Company

Chapter 24 - File #4.4: The Civilian Job

Rhett

I was anxiously waiting for both of my friends to come out of the doors. During interrogation, Chief Snell liked to trick everyone into telling something that was actually irrelevant, and would use that against them to make it somehow relevant. This was the thing that I didn't want to happen: to drag my friends into my problem. I already told the Chief that I was responsible for the case, but he still wanted to hear the whole story from the other two witnesses that were more dependable than me.

Knowing Avery's nature, she could just talk straight to the point. Oh, yeah, Rhett just told me that the poker club case isn't really done. You know, because Hal told him that. I could hear her voice saying it out loud. She hated being in a police station—or interracted with the police—so she would say anything to satisfy the Chief and get out of here as soon as possible.

Ugh. I shouldn't have told them about my meeting with Hal.

"What were you and Harold Holt talking about the other day?"

I choked on my own saliva that I coughed until my throat hurt. Chief Snell was standing before me.

"Chief!" I called. "Aren't you supposed to be interrogating my friends?"

"I have subordinates. I don't have to do everything on my own," he said. "So, answer my question. You're not gonna keep that to yourself, are you?"

"You've asked me ten times before, and this is my eleventh time refusing to answer," I smiled.

"You know that you can be charged for lying to a police officer, right?"

I grimaced. It wasn't that I didn't know about it, but the Chief's face looked like he was ready to do it any time. He was tired of forgiving my erratic behavior. Maybe he actually couldn't wait to see me becoming an inmate.

"You asked me a question and I didn't answer. That's not lying," I grinned.

"But that's what we call obstructing a police work," he smirked. "That I can charge you for."

Ah, seriously. Okay, just give him what he wanted. "It's, uh... Hal didn't want me to tell anyone about that because..." I gulped. "Because he didn't want his girlfriend to find out."

Chief Snell didn't see that coming. "What?"

"He asked me to get rid of a... a secret stash of magazines about... you-know-what," I stuttered. "He's about to get married. If that was me, I would want to do the same thing—not that I have that kind of magazines. I swear, I don't."

He laughed while patting my back. It was too strong that I felt like my back was electrocuted. "I know you, Rhett, you're not like that. Although, it doesn't surprise me if you have a dead body hidden under your bed."

I chuckled. "That's not funny, Uncle Dave. Seriously, no."

He then sat next to me—one of the rare things he would do if I was around. This only meant he wasn't satisfy with the answer I gave.

"Seven minutes was too long for just chatting about that, wasn't it?" He folded his arms, while resting his body to the wall. His eyes were staring at the ceiling, but I had a reason to believe that the poor ceiling would soon be caught on fire. "I am a Police Chief. Do you think I would ever get that position if I believed that kind of story?"

He still didn't trust me enough that he timed my meeting with Hal. He probably already checked out the surveillance camera and regretted why he didn't also bug the room. Just like Aunt Ella said, his curiosity had no limit.

"You could've put a recorder in the room, but you didn't. Instead, you went through a more impossible process of asking me to tell you about that," I stated.