A Condemned Haven

Chapter 11

*Do not forget to like and comment guys. Thanks for reading!*

Jack had gotten picked up by another officer and brought to the station only minutes after Clarke. He had been in an interrogation room for about an hour just sitting there and sweating. He never really liked being in trouble at school. He'd never been to the principal's office, never got in trouble with the teacher, and never with law enforcement. He didn't even know why he was in the station and though he hadn't done anything wrong, he was sweating bullets. A man walked in with a suit on and a very slim file in his hand. He had a bottle of water and tossed it to Jack who almost dropped it.

"Thank you." Jack had been dying of thirst since he'd been here, so he cracked it open and chugged.

"Jack North I'm detective Mitchell. Do know why you're here?"

"Um no sir, no one has really told me anything."

"Well you seem like a good kid. You don't get into any trouble it seems." He had the file open and was practically looking at nothing.

"No sir."

"Where were you between the hours of 11 to 1 last night?"

"I was at home sir."

"Was anyone with you?"

"Yes sir. My mom and Clarke."

"What is a boy like you doing hanging out with someone like Clarke Holden?"

"We're just friends sir."

"You make it a habit to be friends with convicted murderers Jack?"

"No sir."

"Then I'm going to ask you one more time. What are you doing hanging around someone like Clarke Holden?"

"I don't think she's a murderer sir."

"She was convicted. You think that the entire justice system that prosecuted her is wrong?" Detective Mitchell was laughing at Jack and Jack wasn't appreciating it. He may not have known a lot about Clarke, but that didn't mean he was a kid whose thoughts could be laughed at.

"Detective Mitchell, sir I respect you because that's what my mom taught me. I think protecting people is very noble and very hard, but someone was killed last night in the exact same way as last year sir. Clarke Holden was with me during that period of time and was completely incapable of even hurting a fly."

"What do you mean incapable?"

"Someone jumped her right outside of my house last night. She didn't tell you. She could barely walk last night."

"There is no police report or hospital records."

"I was there sir. She was beat up really badly."

"Who's to say they aren't wounds from Francis trying to save his own life? She killed him and then needed an alibi, so she called you. When she got to your house, her injuries started to catch up with her and she needed help. She couldn't go home, and she asked you not to call the police or the hospital am I right? Why do you think that is?"

"She couldn't go to the hospital sir because then she would have the police called. I probably wouldn't want to call the police if they had wrongly convicted me either sir. I get you're trying to do your job, but you can't blame her for something she obviously didn't do."

"Why is it so obvious to you that she didn't do it?"

"I don't know a lot about Clarke sir, I just met her, but she doesn't seem like the kind of girl to do something like this."

"You expect us to think she's innocent because you don't think she did it. Don't ever be a cop kid." Mitchell couldn't even believe the words coming out of this kid's mouth.

"I heard something interesting. You got into an altercation with Francis yesterday. Is that right?"

"It wasn't really an altercation. He wanted me to find out something and I told him no."

"What did he ask for?"

"If I could find out if Clarke really killed Brandon or not."

"I heard you had an argument with him at the diner last night." Jack flicked his eyes to the detective. How could he have known that?

"Not really. I was just doing my job and he poured and entire glass of water on me for no reason."

"And what did you do?"

"The smart thing. I walked away."

"You weren't mad? I find that hard to believe."

"I mean of course I was mad, but there would really be no point to yell at him. It was better for everyone if I just walked away." The detective gave him a peculiar look that Jack didn't exactly appreciate. He looed suspicious, but everything Jack had said had been one hundred percent truth. Mitchell mumbled interesting as he stood up to exit the room. He went to talk to Vale who had just gotten out of interrogating Clarke.

"You find out anything interesting?"

"This girl is a piece of work. Very spunky." Vale kind of liked how strong-willed she was.

"I'd say for a murderer she's got a lot of balls."

"She didn't do this, but someone is sure as hell trying to make it seem that way."

"What do you mean? She killed Brandon Williams the same way this kid was murdered. It has to be her. She might even have done it for that Jack kid in there. Francis was picking on at the diner last night."

"I'm not so sure she killed the Williams kid either."

"I closed that case myself, she did it."

"Get me the case file for Brandon Williams death, I want to see all the evidence reports."

"That was a big win for this station, if you do that, you're gonna make a lot of enemies." Vale already knew this, but if he could find the real killer of both murders, he would fight them every step of the way.

"Give me the case files now. I'm in charge of this investigation detective."

"Yes sir." Vale would get the files, but he could already see the defiance in the other detective's eyes. This was not going to be easy.