Eldritch

Chapter 3

Standing outside the principal's office, Daniel wrings his hands together in an attempt to suppress his nerves. He takes in a few deep breaths, closes his eyes and nods to himself. He gives the door a quick rap and pushes it ajar. As Sheriff Ryan greets him, he runs his hand along the nape of his neck, on which, beads of sweat are formulating and trickling into the long tufts of hair contrasting the short strands framing the front of his face. 'Hi Sheriff,' he says. 'You wanted to speak to me.'

'Hi Daniel,' he smiles. He makes a gesture to the chair opposite to his seat and Daniel slowly sinks into it. 'Just to set this straight, this isn't an interrogation. I just need to find out as much information as I can about Abi Prendergast so I may get some insight into what may have happened to her, that's all.'

Daniel nods in response, and resumes wringing his hands together. He conceals them underneath the desk and swallows as the Sheriff flicks to a fresh page of a jotter pad and clicks down on the pen in his hand. 'First of all, can you tell me how well you knew Abi?'

'Um, well, she was my girlfriend's best friend, but I wouldn't say we were close.'

Sheriff Ryan scribbles down, what appears to Daniel, to be some illegible jottings from the other side of the desk. He nods. 'And how often would you have talked to Abi?'

'Most days,' he answers. 'We would've sat at the same lunch table in the canteen pretty much every day.'

The Sheriff leans back in the office chair, holds the pen up and repeatedly clicks it up and down. Click, click, click. The noise grates on Daniel's nerves. He tries ignoring it, but all he can focus on is the aggravating, continuous clicking. 'There was an incident a couple of weeks ago involving Abi, Lisa O'Dwyer, Ella Neary, and your girlfriend, Charlene. You were also there when it happened?'

Why this again? he thinks to himself. He just wants to let the drama of his love life, girlfriends, and jealous exes rest. 'Yeah,' he sighs. 'As I said, Abi was Charlene's best friend.'

What a good friend she was, he thinks. He shakes the whirlwind of thoughts from his mind and continues on with his story. 'I had not long broken up with Lisa when it happened. She had told Charlene to stay away from me and an argument broke out. Ella stood up for Charlene and Lisa started slating her. Then, Abi took by Lisa by the arm. Lisa shrugged her off and went for her. Charlene cut in and then they all just started scrapping.'

He takes a pause, allowing Sheriff Ryan to scribble down some more notes. 'When we came across them fighting, my friend Sean and I got in to break it up. The principal had seen it too and we were all sent to his office for fighting.'

'Lisa and Abi initiated this fight?'

'Yeah,' he responds. 'Lisa was convinced I broke up with her because I had been seeing Charlene behind her back.'

The Sheriff starts clicking once more and Daniel brings his hand to the back of his neck to wipe away the sweat, which is now plastering his hair to his skin. 'Is that the reason?'

Daniel shakes his head fervently. 'No,' he declares. 'I broke up with her because she's a bitch.'

Sheriff Ryan flicks to a fresh page and hovers the pen over the page. 'Do you think Abi standing up to Lisa may have angered her and become the basis of a grudge?'

His heart thumping, Daniel hesitates. He knows he should answer honestly, but he doesn't want to make Lisa any more of a suspect than she already is. That could have repercussions for him and all his friends. 'It might have made her angry for a while,' he says. 'But not angry enough to kill her.'

'When was the last time you spoke to Abi? And did you notice anything strange about her behaviour?'

Daniel swallows. Do I tell him the truth? he thinks. No. No, I can't. It'll put me in a bad light.