The Music Teacher

Break your silence

Chapter Twenty Nine:
Andrew woke early to his phone ringing. It was the police. "Hello?", he answered nervously. "Hello, am I speaking to Andrew?", the man on the other end of the line asked. "Yes you are, is this about Lucas?", he asked leaving the bedroom. "Yes. We would like you and Layla to come in and give a quick statement", the man answered. "That's no problem. What time?", he answered as calmly as he could. "Ten".

Andrew walked back into the room. He shook Layla gently,"Layla? Come on you have to get up", she yawned and stretched her arms,"What's the rush..?", she asked in a very sleepy voice. "The police want our statements this morning", he said seriously. She looked up at him,widening her eyes. "Oh...okay..", she said quietly. She got up and began to get dressed. After a half an hour, Andrew was sitting in the living room, white shirt, black suit. He smelled strongly of aftershave. He waited patiently for Layla.

She came into the room and he stood up. She was wearing a red crop top and ripped black jeans. She looked at him nervously. "I'm your piano teacher. That's all they need to know", he said sternly. Layla walked over to him and looked up at him innocently, waiting for him to set their story straight. "I was coming over for a lesson, and he was there when I got there", he finished. She nodded slowly and pulled him into a hug. He held her tightly. "Come on. We need to go", he said pulling away.

They got to the police station five minutes before they were due to give their statements. The car ride was quiet. Layla was nervous. But she couldn't be more nervous then Andrew. If they found about him and Layla being in a sexual relationship, he'd go straight to prison. He parked the car and they sat in silence. He placed his hand over hers,"Don't think about it too much Layla... we'll be okay..", he said giving her a small, but nervous smile. She returned the smile as best she could.

They got out of the car and walked into the station. They walked up to the front counter and they were greeted by a young police man, probably in his twentys. "Hey, what can I help you with?", he was Australian. He had a friendly voice and he asked the question with a smile. "I'm Andrew and this is Layla, we were told to come in to give our statements at ten", Andrew answered as calmly as he could. The man smiled. "Okay...", he looked down at a clipboard,"Right yes. Layla if you wanna come with me and Andrew there will be an officer out to you shortly",Layla looked to Andrew. He gave her a small nod and she looked to the officer.

She followed him into a small room, looking back at Andrew one last time before the door closed. "Andrew Hamilton?", a voice called. He turned to see an older looking man, slim, maybe in his fifties. He looked like he was in charge of the place. Andrew followed him into a different small room.

"Take a seat Layla", he said pulling out a chair. She sat down. He walked around the table and sat down across from her. In her mind, she was screaming that she wasn't giving her statement with Andrew, but what else could she have expected. "My name is Colby", he started and he held his hand out for her to shake. She did, though very hesitantly. "I'm...I'm Layla, but you already knew that..", she said awkwardly. He gave a small laugh,"Layla it's okay. There's no need to be nervous. I just wanna know what happened", he said kindly. Letting her relax.

"Let's start from the beginning, how do you know Lucas?", he asked. "He's in my class. At school", she answered. "Okay, and would you have considered him a friend, before all of this happened?", she straightened up. "Not really, we went to a party together...as each others dates... but we don't know much about each other..". He wrote something down in a notebook. "What was he like at the party?", he asked. Layla took a breath. She had to think fast. If she mentioned what happened, Andrew would come into the story. But she could replace him with her friends.

"He was such a creep. My friends said they think he could've put something in my drink, he tried it on with me. My friends didn't let it happen though", she answered hoping this nightmare was coming to an end. "Why didn't you report it..?", he asked concerned. "Well....we weren't sure if he actually did it. And besides, no harm was done". He wrote something else down. "We rang your principal and he mentioned that Lucas put up pictures of you and Mr.Hamilton claiming you two were sleeping together, he was expelled because of it. Were you aware of this?", she tensed up.

"What is your relation to Layla?", he asked. Andrew took a deep breath. "I'm her piano teacher, I also teach her in school for one subject", he answered. "And why we're you at her house?", he asked referring to yesterday. "I was coming over for a lesson. He was already there with Layla when I got there". He answered, a bit too quickly. "And why has Lucas been claiming you and Layla have been sleeping together?", Andrew froze, his mind going crazy. 'Stick to the story Andrew', he thought to himself.

"He's jealous because I rejected him. So he made that rumor up".

"Layla apparently rejected him and he made up that rumor. It was dealt with in school".

Cobly wrote down what she said. "So run me through what happened yesterday", she relaxed a bit. They had moved on. "Um...okay I came home and he was there. He shoved me into my house and was threatening me. He threw my cat out and he dragged me to the sofa. Then he took out the knife and Andrew rang the door and Lucas brought me to the door and he threatened both of us until my friends showed up", she answered. "I texted my friends while he threw my cat out", she added quickly. "What do you call him?Your teacher?", Colby asked. Layla tensed, "Oh usually I'd just call him Sir or Mr.Hamilton..but you referred to him as Andrew...so-", he cut her off,"No I referred to him as Mr.Hamilton", she was silent.

"I got there for the lesson and the door was opened and Lucas was there holding a knife to Layla's neck. He made me come in and sit down. He kept going on about Layla. Her friends showed up and it was over", Andrew gave his story. "Lucas believed you two were sleeping together. He seemed to focus his attack on this", Andrew nodded. "We don't know why he made up that rumour. But like I said, it was dealt with in school".

Layla was lead out of the room,"Okay Layla, you're free to go. If you think of anything else, don't be shy to come and see me again", Colby said with a smile. Layla smiled and took a card from his hand which had his contact details. She sat down on a chair, the very small waiting area. She was worried that Andrew wasn't out yet.

Just then a door opened and Andrew emerged. They walked out and Layla let out a sigh of relief. "Did everything go okay?", she asked as they walked towards the car. "Just get in the damn car".