Learn To Love Again

Chapter 5

Relax...breathe...breathe...breathe...

"Mrs. Saunders?"

I looked up to see Detective Sterling staring at me with curious eyes. We were alone in a large room. The only furniture there was a wooden table with a few chairs around it where we sat.

"What?"

"I asked you a question," he said authoritatively.

"What's the question?"

"Are you even listening to me? I asked you where you were on the night of May 11th?"

"Isn't that something you should already know before you make an arrest, Mr. Detective?" I answered.

"Just answer the question!" He exclaimed, pounding his fist into the table and causing me to jump.

"I-I I was home."

"Really? You were home? Okay." He smiled, got up from the chair, and left the room, then returned a few seconds later with a laptop in his hands. He sat and placed the laptop on the table, then positioned it at an angle so that both of us could see the screen. He then hit a button and a video started to play.

It started with only a bedroom. It was large and tidy and looked like it belonged to a movie star. After the first few seconds, the back of a woman could be seen as she moved into the room, dragging something seemingly heavy. My heart accelerated as I realized she was pulling the bloody body of another woman. She pulled the woman's body to the side of the bed, leaving a trail of blood behind her, then lifted her and placed her on the bed. She then removed a blanket from a drawer a used it to cover her.

I looked away, not able to watch any more.

"So, Mrs. Saunders, are you trying to tell me that this is your astral projection, since you were 'home'?" He used air quotations when he said 'home'.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "What does this have to do with me?"

He sighed. "You just never stop, do you? Even when you are caught on camera you're still keeping up that stupid act."

I gasped as I realized what was going on. "That wasn't me!" I said defensively. "That doesn't even look like me!"

He laughed. "That's what they all say."

"I swear that's not me!" I rose from the seat, too anxious to remain seated.

"Sit down, Mrs. Saunders," he said calmly.

I sat and stared at the screen of the laptop again. By then, the woman in the video was on her hands and knees wiping the blood off the floor with what looked like a towel. I waited for her to face the camera, then hit pause. I then took a screenshot and used a trick I had learnt from one of Patrick's friends to improve the resolution.

"There. Does that look like me?" I said, placing my face next to hers.

He looked at us both for a while, then pulled away the laptop. "That doesn't prove anything, Mrs. Saunders. You could've just easily changed the face. And you're not supposed to be tampering with police evidence anyways."

I got up from the seat, my anger rising. "You know what, I'm leaving! You have no right to hold me here when it's obvious that I'm not the person you want!"

I started walking to the door when he said, "Good luck finding someone to unlock those handcuffs, Mrs. Saunders."

I sighed, then returned to the seat and sat down. "Whatever."

"I'm going to have our tech look at this," he said. "If it turns out to be someone else you're free to go, but if not..." His deep brown eyes met mine. "...you're going away for a very long time, Mrs. Saunders." With that, he got up and started heading for the door.

I got up and started following him.

"Where do you think you're going?" He said without stopping or turning. "You're staying here."

"What? No I'm not."

He paused in the doorway. "It's either here or a cell, you choose."

I sat back down. "I'll stay here," I said.

"I thought so."

He exited the room and shut the door, then I heard him lock it from outside.

I sat there, not knowing what to do. I thought about the many criminals that must've sat there before and cringed. I really needed to get out.

I got up and started pacing the floor, wondering how long it would take Detective Sterling to return.

I eventually sat back down, then got up again after a while and started pacing again. Something about the room made me uneasy.

*****
"Mrs. Saunders?"

I slowly opened my eyes as I heard someone call my name. I found myself sitting down on a hard chair with my head on a table.

Where am I?

Then it came back to me. I was at a police station, arrested for murder. How could someone fall asleep at a police station?

I looked up to see Detective Sterling looking down at me.

"How long have I been here?" I asked him.

He looked at his watch. "Well, it's almost 5am so about 8 hours."

"What?"

"I've got some really good news for you." He took the seat across the table from mine, the same one he'd been sitting in before.

"And what's that?"

"We found the person in the video." He said it like he was talking about the weather.

My heart raced with excitement at his words. "How?" I asked.

"After making sure you didn't change the picture, we sent out an amber alert and an officer from a station in Trelawny told us they got a call from a resident who claimed he saw her entering an abandoned building in the area. Turns out that's where she'd been hiding. A couple of us went over there and found her. She's here now."

"So I can leave?" I asked, relieved.

"Yes, but you can't tell anyone about this, okay?"

"How about 'I'm sorry for wrongfully accusing you of murder and making you sleep at a police station' then maybe I won't tell anyone," I answered.

He sighed. "I'm sorry for wrongfully accusing you of murder and making you sleep at a police station. Happy? Now would you like me to take you home?"

"I'd rather walk."

________________________________________________________________________

A/N:

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll update soon.

Please:
Vote
Comment
Add
Share
Follow

★It's Carmen. Love y'all!★