"You said you were asked to return the phone. Who asked you to return the phone, him?"
She keeps silent, thinking about her answer.
"Yeah."
"A change of heart, or because you told him?"
"I told him," she straightforwardly answers.
"Then he did not ask you to return the phone. You wanted to return the phone, because if you didn't want to, you wouldn't have told him otherwise."
Jason goes silent, waiting to see if Jane has anything to say, and when she doesn't...
Jason continues. "If you'd decided not to return it, would it be sold by now? Or by the weekend?"
She takes a deep breath. "I don't know."
"Okay. You could've chosen not to return it, but you did. Why?"
"What do you mean, why?"
"Why did you choose to return the phone? Were you scared that should the school start investigating on its own, they'll find out it's you who took the phone?"
Once more, she shakes her head.
I give her a hint that she's giving us the answers by her silence.
"Damn, Jane. Your mere silence provides us the answers to the questions you've left hanging in the air."
She still makes no sound. She has no more ideas on what to say that can't be used against her.
But Jason noticed something before anyone else in the room. Jane's eyes are welling up. She's gonna cry any moment now.
And she did.
She pulls a towel from her pocket and covers her face as she sobs softly.
Jason remains as cold as the room. "It's a last resort– trying to gain empathy from someone in the class."
My classmates, however, makes no sound or movement at all. Could be because they don't care or they don't want to join Jane in the spotlight.
She sniffs lightly, takes a deep breath, and finally speaks beneath the towel.
"I returned it because I pitied Maria. I regret having stolen the phone."
She swipes the sweat and tears mixing on her face.
Jason voices out his thought this time.
"I'm sure you do now."
Jane removes the towel and looks at Jason in a bad way, clearly trying to deliver something.
He speaks his mind once more.
YOU ARE READING
No Honor Among Thieves
Non-FictionA group of like-minded students gives their best to pull the thief hiding among their classmates into the light.
