Mirror, Mirror on the Wall ✓

6 | As the Sky Clears Up--or Does It Become Cloudier?

For Mellow_Supernova, who took the time of reading my book and leaving awesome comments! P.S. Do check out his fantasy novella 'Ascension: The Rise of Heroes'. It has a great plot and well-executed characters.

Chapter 6: As the Sky Clears Up—Or Does It Become Cloudier?

Sergeant Clark was confused. Never had he seen such a convincing liar in all the years he had been in the police. He was not sure what to believe. Was he lying like all criminals do? Or was there truth in his cries? He somehow felt things were not how they seemed to be. Something was off. But the detective was smart. A bit cocky, but smart. He would get to the bottom of it.

~

Later that day, he met Detective Sanchez. 

'Sir, I don't feel good about this Sanders guy.'

'Why, he's a typical criminal.' Sanchez started to type something on one of the station's two computers.

'But something's off. I-I can feel it in my gut. He was crying yesterday. After the interrogation. He didn't—he didn't seem like a criminal.'

Sanchez stopped typing abruptly. 'You know what, Clark? I felt the same. But I brushed it off. Now that you say it, it must be something. All these years, I have felt nothing like this. This is the first time.'

'He said something about not meeting his mother before his arrest. I think we should go and talk to her. What do you say?'

'Yeah. Okay. What did you say was the address?'

~

Sanchez and Clark were soon standing in front of a six-storey apartment building. 

'Third floor, number thirty-two,' Clark announced. They both made their way towards the lift.

Soon they were standing in front of number thirty-two. Sanchez rung the doorbell. The door opened a minute later and a tired-looking, mousy lady was standing in the doorway. 

Sanchez flashed his police badge. 'Mrs Maylee Sanders?'

At the sight of the police badge, terror sparked in her eyes. She said in almost a whisper, 'Ye-yes. I assume your visit has something to do with my son's arrest. Please come inside and have a seat.' She motioned them to come inside and after throwing a few nervous glances outside the doorway, she closed the door.

Sanchez and Clark made themselves comfortable and casually took in the surroundings. Suddenly Mrs Sanders exploded, 'Officers, my son is not the criminal type. I don't know what charge you have put on him but he is the sweetest lad you'll ever meet. He won't hurt a fly. Please try to understand, officers. He has never stayed away from me so long. Please just investigate further before sentencing him. Please...' She broke into tears.

Clark cursed under his breath and thought why did he ever suggest Sanchez they come here. 

Sanchez, the one in charge, said, 'Look, ma'am, we have evidence against your son. We can't do anything but wait for any new clue to crop up. That's why we are here in the first place.' 

Mrs Sanders stopped crying and looked up. 

Sanchez continued, 'So Mrs Sanders, do you know where your son is employed?'

'Yes. At some antique store. He always tells me everything—' she broke off. Luckily, she didn't break down again.

'So, did he ever tell you about a rival in the town?'

'No. Never.'

'I see.' He added after a pause, 'Have you heard of someone called Scott Morris?'

'The name strikes a bell. I—I just can't put a face to the name. Give me a minute.' They sat in silence for a few minutes until Mrs Sanders burst out, 'Yes! I remember now! He's one of Ross' friends.'

Clark's mouth fell open and he was almost going to shout out loud when he received a stern look from Sanchez. His hands flew to hide his facial expressions just in time. Sanchez raised an eyebrow and said, 'Friend, you say? Did you ever meet him?'

'Yeah, just once, at home. He had dropped in at the wrong time. He came, introduced himself and asked for Rossie. I thought he was too senior to be Rossie's pal but I didn't question him. My son's pretty friendly with everyone. Anyway, he was at work at that time. I told him so and he said that Ross was supposed to give him something for repair or so. I took him to Rossie's room and told him to help himself. Now that you ask about it, I recall I had forgotten to tell Ross about it.' Her eyes widened. 'Officers, does it have anything to do with his arrest? Oh no. If it's my fault that my son got arrested, I—' she broke off in mid-sentence and looked away.

Sanchez and Clark sat listening in disbelief. This time they made no effort to hide their surprised expressions. If what they heard was true, this was not an open-and-shut case as it had seemed.