Mystery Loves Company

Chapter 52 - File #6.7: The Unlawful Hour

Rhett

I was excited when the Chief called me to his office on Saturday, expecting a discussion between us and us only, but the huge smile on my face was immediately wiped off when Detective Evans was already sitting in front of the Chief's desk.

"Whatever this is about, please count me out," I said to the Chief, but of course, that annoying man wouldn't let me slide that easy.

"Come on, Rhett, if it weren't because of us, the case wouldn't have progressed," he responded.

"Excuse me—us?" I laughed. "I found the witness. I caught the suspect. I brought him here. See, there's so many I's, and 'us' or 'we' or 'you' is nowhere to be found."

"I don't know what kind of quarrel both of you are in, but can we please put that behind for ten minutes?" Chief finally came in between. "Rhett, where is your friend?"

"She's not feeling well, but trust me, you don't need her," I replied. Telling Avery not to come here was a good idea, but even if I begged her to come, she wouldn't want to for obvious reasons.

"What friend?" asked Detective Evans.

"None of your goddamn business," I replied curtly.

"Rhett," The Chief emphasized. He looked so serious so I better hold myself. "I gathered both of you here to discuss the future of this case. I usually don't do this with a civilian, but I admit that you helped a lot, Rhett, so you earned that place. Take a seat, please."

"No, I'm good," I refused. Chief David Snell just freaking complimented me, put me in the very position I've been dreaming of, giving me the recognition I've been needing, but I didn't feel happy or relieved at all.

"First, I need each of you to brief me about what you've found," he ordered.

"I'll start with the witness," Detective Evans tapped a folder he had prepared on Chief's desk. "His name is Stuart Henry Davis, 23, a Biology student in Bensworth University. On October 23rd, at approximately ­­3.20 pm, Mr. Davis bumped into someone who was running from the alley behind Peter Jennings' campaign office. Two other people who were there that time saw this encounter. I followed up and showed them this sketch, and although they briefly saw them, they could confirm that it was indeed the man on the sketch."

I stretched my neck out and saw the copy of my sketch there. God. Chief really handed the most important part of the case to the traitor—I really wanted to call him that but so far I didn't have any physical evidence towards it, which was why he was still so confident around me.

"Care to explain how you got the sketch, Rhett?" asked the Chief.

"I knew about Stuart Davis from my friend, Laura. They were together that time, but Laura was in the car, so she didn't see it at all. I asked to meet him, he described the man, and I sketched it," I explained.

"Are you saying that he came to you, instead of the police?" The detective looked puzzled.

"Why would he come to you for getting his coffees spilled?"

"Wait, I'm a bit lost here," the Chief cut. "You said you asked to meet him—how did you know that it had something to do with Norris' murder?"

I sighed. "His girlfriend told me. She was a journalist for our campus newspaper so she followed all the news and found out that the time matched. She'd let me interview him if I could arrange her to interview my sister."

"So, his girlfriend also knew, but you chose to keep it to yourself when we were all in vain because we couldn't find more clues about the case," the Chief sneered.