Tethered Hearts | ✓ | Books 1 & 2

Episode 66| Happy As Can Be

Sophia's P.O.V.

Baring a stark expression, I held back the emotions bubbling at the surface of my mind. I hoped that this wasn't a trick, created purely to see what my reaction would be after hearing about Remy's missing person's case. The tone the officer used gave off the impression that he was waiting for me to open up and take responsibility. This could be my oversensitive paranoia speaking, now that I think about it.

I had every right to be paranoid. I just figured out that Grayson was a cop, meaning that there was far more suspicion behind Lora's death. I would have to ask Bryce about it. I was on high alert, second guessing everything and anything.

"When was the last time you spoke with Mr. Annenberg?" Officer Johnson questioned, hovering his pen to his lined paper. His opposite hand was on the edge of the table as though he was preparing for impact. My answer was monotone, bleak and erased of any true concern.

"I saw him at the hospital not too long ago."

He set down his pen. "Were you alone?"

"No."

"Who were you with?"

"Bryce Matthews and one of his friends."

"By any chance, was that friend Conner Blackwell?" He picked up the writing utensil, angling the tip of the ballpoint pen to the yellow notepad. I nodded. "Why were you there?"

"We were visiting Conner's girlfriend in the hospital." I answered appropriately, fiddling with my thumbs on my lap. "Remy was there with his mother. You can call her. They were on their way to lunch."

"We will call her." He scribbled something on the paper. Since the notepad was at a certain degree – facing away from me – I couldn't see what he had written.

Officer Johnson asked me a couple more questions, unfazed with each answer I gave him. The questions revolved around my last encounter with Remy and what I knew about his life. I thought Bryce was the holding champion of having a stoic, unreadable sheet of armor. Officer Johnson was a close second, if worse than Bryce when it came to interpret his unreadable glances.

"That's all the questions we have for the time being." Officer Johnson clipped his pen on to the notepad and slid it into a blue binder. "You're free to go, Miss. Álvarez."

I got up while he reopened his binder, and for a short second, I saw the words H.A.N.K. printed out on a folder, tucked inside. Underneath the large header, it read: Harboring And Necessitating Knowledge, Operation #0018

"W-what's that?" I staggered backwards, eying the officer as the puzzles slowly moved in place. "What is H.A.N.K.? Does that —"

"It's none of your business." He rushed to shut the binder and motioned to his partner. "Please escort her out. Seems she can't do it on her own."

The broad shouldered, stocky man coiled his hands on my elbow, forcefully ushering me out of the interrogation room. "I saw that, dammit. I saw that."

"How about you keep your mouth shut?" The officer manhandling me muttered into my ear, releasing me once we were on the steps of the police department. "If we have any more questions, we will contact you."

Massaging the spot on my arm he had a heavy grip on, I cursed to myself while I reached the bottom of the steps.

"What the heck was that?" Nicolas got to me first and Bryce wasn't not far from him. He got off the hood of his car and walked up to me. "Are you hurt, Soph?"

"No, I'm not." I gazed back at the front doors. "I saw something that I shouldn't have seen."

"What is that supposed to mean?"