Something Wicked

Something Wicked [chapter 3]

Chapter 3

"Please, Mr. Wickham, we need you to try harder," the deputy pleaded for the umpteenth time in the past hour. "Can you remember anything at all about the suspect? Any defining features? Hair color? A scar, a mole, maybe?"

And for the umpteenth time, I sighed in exasperation, sinking even further down my seat. "I already told you - it was dark, I was panicked, the guy was wearing a hood and he had a freaking knife. Why the heck would I pay any attention to his hair color?"

I aimed an annoyed glare at the deputy but he seemed to simply shrug it off and returned to scribbling something in his notepad. It had been only two hours since Dinah had reported our little adventure to the local police force. To be fair, they responded fairly quickly, taking less than twenty minutes to pick us up along with our assailant who had yet to wake up from the brutal beating two girls subjected him to. But holding you down at their headquarters to question you for an hour when you're not even a suspect was really trying someone's patience.

The deputy opened his mouth to speak, presumably to ask yet another question.

"Don't you even think about it," I said through gritted teeth. A hint of irritation gleamed in the young man's eyes, which I merely smirked at.

A shadow loomed behind me as a rough hand gripped my shoulder. "That's enough of that."

"We're not done here," the deputy protested.

"Actually, we are," I challenged, standing up. "Unless you're charging me with something, I have every right to leave."

"Now, listen here-"

The young man didn't get the chance to finish as another deputy appeared to calm him. Ignoring them, I spun on my heel and started walking away from his desk back to the waiting area. The man who had gripped my shoulder followed, putting a hand behind my back in an assuring gesture...or maybe it was to make sure I didn't turn back.

"If you knew that, then why did you stay?" he whispered.

I shrugged. "No particular reason. I'm very sociopathic - you know that."

The hand moved away from my back and landed a smack to the back of my head.

"Hey!" I protested, glaring at the other deputy, who also happened to be my uncle.

David Brady, my uncle from my mother's side of the family, gave me a patronizing glance before gripping my shoulder and steering me into a corner to face him. He wore a very grim expression that was most probably meant to make me shut up and listen. I returned the expression but was probably not as successful. In a lot of ways, my uncle and I were pretty much the same. We both shared the same brown unkempt hair and brown eyes, although both of his were darker; we were almost of the same height; we shared the same tastes in food (meaning we didn't care what it was as long as it was edible); and we were both vying for most introverted person on the planet, which I was obviously winning. Maybe that was why living with him has been so easy ever since he was instated as my legal guardian four years ago.

"Listen, I know you've had a bad day, but I would appreciate it if you didn't start any trouble," he said meaningfully.

"He started it," I replied childishly. "Besides, it's not like I was doing anything wrong, was I?"

"Nothing illegal but..." David drifted off, his forehead creasing in thought. "Let's just say everyone's been a bit tense for the past few weeks."

"Why, did something happen?"

David opened his mouth to speak but paused midway, craning his neck as if looking for someone. "Just take a seat and wait for Dinah. I'm getting off pretty soon anyway so I can take you two home."