"Please . . . don't cry. You had to have known I'd do this at some point."
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Parker Sims is the class clown but that doesn't mean he's easy to fool. And that's just what Nola B. is good at - fooling people. She's got the whole school believing th...
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Chapter Sixty-Seven:
Douglas was not sure where to begin, so much had transpired that he did not know what to say first. "I guess to start things off I need to apologize."
Both Parker and Nola raised an eyebrow, unable to fathom why Mr. Harper needed to say he was sorry.
"I thought it would be smart to not arrest my daughter until I had received a confession from her." Douglas took a sharp inhale, feeling guilt wash over him. "She and I did talk, on the record. Camille admitted everything and when she was finished, I told her that I had to take her in. She informed me that she understood and deserved to pay for what she had done. She sounded sincere." Douglas shoved his hands into his front pockets. "I got up from the dining room table and said let's go," Mr. Harper gulped, "I turned by back to her and walked few feet into to the living room, where the coffee table was. I grabbed my keys and wallet from the table. I assumed she was following me."
Nola could see how Douglas was struggling to explain what happened.
"Once I had what I needed, I turned around," Mr. Harper continued, "and Camille was nowhere in sight. I ran around the house and searched for her . . . she escaped out the back door."
Parker was furious, "you let her escape?!"
Nola flinched at Parker's raised tone of voice. "Parker, please don't shout."
Parker looked at over at Nola with eyes blazing from his pissed off state, he quickly apologized.
He was still frightening Nola, even when Parker said he was sorry because he continued to look at her with a hard glare. She knew that he was not going to hurt her, he was just mad at Douglas. "Parks, you're scaring me," she admitted after a moment of his unchanged mood.
Parker closed his eyelids and focused on his breathing. He had not meant to scare Nola but he was feeling outraged at Mr. Harper. Parker knew from the beginning that it was a stupid idea for Camille not be arrested. However, he reluctantly agreed.
"I knew this would happen," Parker kept his voice low but the tone was dripping in anger. He directed all his attention on Mr. Harper. "I told you this would happen."
Douglas stared daggers at Parker, "I will find her. She will be tried for her crimes. This whole thing throws out her plea deal. She will be convicted of forty years to life in prison with no chance of parole, believe me. And, if it comforts you, another detective from a different station is leading the case in finding her. I have no involvement. In fact, my house is being searched top to bottom right this minute and will be kept under close eye until she is found." Douglas tried showing that he was not being taken as a joke in his department. "They will find her, believe me."
