Caged

Chapter 2

A digital drawing of Evelyn Waters in the multimedia section. Drawn by me :D

I tug on my moss green coat while I stare at my slumped form in the mirror. Sighing, I notice the shoelace on my left boot has untied itself. Before long, I have it tied and find myself waiting in the kitchen for any sign of Finn showing up.

Mum is in the lounge talking on the phone in a hush tone. I peer through the crack in the door so see her stretched across the end of the couch, holding the phone between her cheek and shoulder. In her hands is a folded up news paper, she taps her mechanical pencil on it. Her fuzzy hair is tugged into a loose ponytail, making it splay out above her head.

I back away from the door at the sound of the gravel in the driveway crunching. I look out the window to see a pastel blue half-ton pick up truck parked in my front yard. I'm about to go outside to greet him when a Police Cruiser pulls in the driveway behind him. Great.

Moment's later we are all seated in the living room, with the police officer sitting across from him. Well we are all seated except for Mum, who is flitting around the room like a bird. 

"Would you like anything to drink? Tea? Coffee?" She asks the older man in front of me. Mum can't keep still.

"No ma'am, would you like to sit down?" The officer calmly gestures to the couch, but she declines.

"Alright. I will just get to the point. I am here to let you know that we are closing the case on Graham Waters death. It was a mugging gone wrong, and nothing more. The culprit is more than likely long gone. Probably in a different town by now." The officer scratches at the whiskers growing on his aged chin. 

I can't believe what I am hearing. Dad's death was no accident.

"You can't be serious, that was no mugging, he didn't even try take anything!" I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes. This isn't right. 

"Calm down Evie, the poor man is just trying to do his job." My mother tries to reign me in. Ava just sits in silence, staring straight ahead. 

"It's quite alright ma'am, everyone has their own way of grieving." The officers kind eyes settle on me. "We really are sorry, Evelyn. Your father was a respected member of the community, there's just no motive for it to be a murder." The words slowly sink in.

"Okay, I understand." I bite back the urge to break down. I stand up and start heading up the stairs to my room upstairs

Once I am in my room I begin pacing. My palms are clammy so I wipe them on my jeans just as Finn appears in the door.

"They are wrong." My voice rings shaky through the room.

"Evelyn... There is nothing you can do about it now." He speaks so quiet I can barely hear him. Even then I can't believe what he's saying. 

"I'll do it myself then." Ideas start forming in my head about how I can get justice for my dad myself.

"How? You don't even have any leads." Finn steps towards me.

"I'll break into the police station then, get the file."

"Woah Evelyn, stop. First off that's a bad idea for many reasons, and secondly they don't have anything. The file won't have what you want." He's right. They are writing it off as a mugging gone wrong.

But it was much more than that. 

"He looked him straight in the eye, Finn. Like he knew him. He shot him and then was gone again. He didn't try take anything. It was calculated"

Finn studies me for a moment, mulling something over quietly in his head. 

"Okay, I will help you. I know people, someone might know something."