Unfamiliar (Unfamiliar Series #1)

Chapter 26

"Hello, Kara, I'm glad that you could make it here today to speak with me again," Officer Marshall says as she smiles at me from across the interrogation room table.

Did I have a choice, is what I want to say, but instead, I smile back and nod, "I just hope that I can set the record straight."

"And how do you suppose that you'll do that?" she inquires as she leans forward in her chair.

Her hair is done up in a tidy bun that is pinned on the back of her head and her makeup is immaculate and scarce, making her look all the more like a concerned third party in this investigation. There's a sudden knock at the door and I feel a sense of déjà vu from the last time, though instead of a man in a lab coat, it's a younger woman in business casual who nervously pokes her head into the room.

"Did you want coffee?" the woman asks Officer Marshall.

I feel like the question is orchestrated, a way to get me to calm down and loosen up, and if I were guilty, maybe slip up when the attention is turned back to me.

"Sure," Officer Marshall says as she waves her hand dismissively before she looks to me, "did you want anything?"

"Um..."

I pause as I think about the fact that I had skipped breakfast after Ms. Laroche had knocked on my dorm room door as soon as I woke up this morning. She had been there to let me know that Officer Marshall had wanted to talk to me again and that there was a taxi arranged to take me down to the station. I had dressed immediately and rushed downstairs, needing to make myself look as innocent as possible by making it to the interview on time rather than linger.

As if on cue at the mention of coffee, my stomach makes a low growling noise and Officer Marshall offers me a timid smile.

"Perhaps a donut too?" she suggests.

"Yes, please," I murmur and she nods as she gets up and steps out of the room and shuts the door softly behind her.

Although I'm still on edge, this interview feels different, I don't feel like the spotlight is on me and that they're maybe beginning to think that I'm innocent. Though I'm not going to let down my guard anytime soon, especially since I had snuck into the morgue and I'm afraid that Officer Marshall may somehow know.

I suppress a shiver as I remember Finn's scream, the second and last time that I'll ever hear him make a sound.

The door clicks open again and Officer Marshall steps inside, a cardboard carrying container for coffee cups balanced in one hand and a small box of donuts in the other. She sets both items on the table and opens the box to reveal four donuts inside. I nervously select a chocolate one with sprinkles and grab a napkin from inside the box and place it next to me before Officer Marshall pushes a coffee cup in my direction.

"We don't believe that you're responsible for Finn's murder," she says calmly and I can't help the fact that I go limp with relief.

"Okay, so why am I here?" I inquire as I nibble on the edge of my donut, not wanting to smear chocolate on my face.

"Paperwork, I need a second interview to make sure that I got every detail," she says as she taps the folder that has been sitting on the table since I first got here.

I take a sip of my coffee, the warmth of the liquid bleeding through the container of the cup and warming my palms as she clicks a pen and opens the folder to reveal a few documents that look like the ones from before.

"When did you leave your dorm?" she asks.

"Eleven-fifty maybe."

"Did anyone see you leave?"