Deal With It

forty two

Chapter 42

I was escorted out of the small and rather intimidating room, being told my presence may be needed again for further questioning. I hoped I wouldn't be faced by Inspector Rodger if I did have to return here, although I didn't see why since I had nothing more to tell the officers.

On my way out, I bumped into Zach. Wow, they were fast. Got him here already?

"Zach. Hi," I said, not knowing what else to say. Should I apologise for giving his name in? Now the inspectors would be questioning him endlessly, and without the support of Daniel that I fortunately had, who knew how harsh they would be towards him?

"Arissa," he smiled, running a hand through his hair nervously. I could have sworn I saw a flash of guilt cross his features for a moment, but what for? "Sorry about Tyler," he said. "I really wish I would have told you earlier."

"Don't apologise, you did what you could," I heavily sighed. "You never did tell me how you knew—"

"Mr. O'Neill?" a voice sounded from behind us and I instantly recognised it despite having only heard it today. "Why don't you come in?" Rodger said. I clenched my jaw as Zach walked right past me without a second glance. I turned to look at the inspector who shot me a suspicious look.

Of course he was probably thinking we were getting our stories straight. Why did he seem to dislike me so strongly without knowing me at all?

I took two steps towards my car then shook my head, looking down at the ground. Without another thought, since I would probably negotiate myself out of it, I whizzed around and strode straight back into the police station. I needed to find out how Zach knew about Tyler being in danger. It could potentially lead to the assailant and I wouldn't stand back and remain clueless.

I had an inkling regarding who it was, or rather who had given the order, and was desperate to have my guess proven correct. After all, this was probably the one person who really had something against Tyler that would lead to such grave circumstances. Granted, he had pissed a lot of people off during his lifetime, became involved in many fights and broken the hearts of countless girls— I hated even thinking of the last one but couldn't fight the painful facts— but there was one individual who had a bigger motive than any of the others.

Jake.

I would be massively shocked if he wasn't the one behind everything. Since I had come to know Tyler better, it was always Jake behind most of his problems. He was the one person who would gain something from Tyler getting hurt.

"Why are you still here?" Daniel spotted me straight away, just before he was about to re-enter the room he was previously questioning me in.

"I'm waiting for Zach," I crossed my arms and began to tap my toe on the ground.

"You can't just wait here."

"Why not? If I leave now, I have no idea when I'll see him again and I'm not going to stand back and be kept in the dark. It's not like the police would tell me anything."

I sat down on a chair and placed my nervous hands in my lap. I tried to keep a strong and stubborn front to show him I wouldn't back down but my mind drifted back to Tyler nevertheless and it made me weak again. I wondered how he was doing. I hadn't been to the hospital today or received a call from anyone and it was killing me on the inside.

He frustratedly ran a hand through his hair, walking into the other room and slamming the door shut behind him.

It had been a good half an hour that I remained in the same seat, feeling impatient, worried and anxious. I was so curious to know what was going on in there. What were they talking about? I had sneakily tried to eavesdrop from outside but it didn't work. So I sat back down, waiting and watching as several officers moved in and out of the station since it was a much busier day than normal. I also had to endure listening to the receptionist complain about her boyfriend to someone over the phone. Surprisingly, nobody had removed me from the building and I almost felt like I was invisible.