The Silence

Chapter Twenty Five

Saint:

"I don't know how many times I need to them I didn't do anything."

"Relax, kid. They're programmed to believe victims first, which is the way it should be. OK?" My father's lawyer, Arthur, put his hand on my shoulder. "As much as it sucks. We'll work on proving your innocence." He paused. "If you are innocent."

"Of course I am." I frowned at him and sat down in the chair the officers had pushed me into when I'd gotten here. "I didn't touch him."

"Well then, this shouldn't take long at all, should it?"

When the officers came back into the room, the one who had been interviewing me pursed his lips at my lawyer but sat down on the opposite side of the table with a folder in his hand.

"Nicholas."

"Can you call me Saint?" I interrupted him. "Only my father calls me Nicholas." I grumbled.

"Sure. Saint." He emphasized it in a way that told me he found the name ironic. "Let's start at the beginning. Why did you assault Mr Malone on Friday night?"

"I didn't." I sighed.

"Then why would he tell us that you did?" The officer, Officer Carl according to his name tag slid a photo he pulled out of the folder and I blinked at it. In the photo, Landon was in a white room and he looked like a mess. His face was bruised all over, one of his eyes a deep purple and his lip a little swollen. Even along his arms there were bruises and his hands...

"I don't know why he would say that. I didn't do anything to him. I've never done anything to him." I sat back in my chair.

"Never?" Officer Carl raised an eyebrow.

"No." I scoffed and he opened his file again.

"So why do multiple students in your school, students in your class even, say that they've witnessed you threaten Mr Malone on multiple occasions to "Watch his hands."? Or ..." He flipped over another page. "Say that they've seen you two push each other around and get physical on school grounds." My breathing stopped and I tried not to get annoyed at how smug the officer looked.

"That was nothing. He was being a bully, so I set him straight. That's all."

"Is that what happened last night? Mr Malone was being a bully and you 'set him straight'?" Officer Carl made air quotations with his fingers.

"Don't answer that, Saint." My lawyer said.

"No, I...I didn't do anything to him! I was nowhere near him after the dance and he was perfectly FINE."

"Yes, everyone at this school dance did give accounts of an argument earlier with your girlfriend - "

"She's not my fucking girlfriend." I growled but he ignored me.

"And everyone did see you leave the dance early. There was even a witness who said she saw you two speaking."

"This is bullshit." I muttered and ran my fingers through my hair.

"That leaves plenty of time unaccounted for in which you could have assaulted Mr Malone."

"Look at my hands, huh. Look at them." I put them flat on the table in front of him. "Do these hands look like they fucked up someone's face last night. There's no way I could have smashed his jaw and not gotten a few bruises of my own. No way."

"Mr Carter." He sighed. "Saint." He amended. "Just tell me the truth OK? Did he do something to piss you off? Mess with your car? Touch your girl? Because if that's the case - "