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Dwelling

    Cole and I are in his car on our way to his residence. It's been a while, an hour maybe since we left the airport.

    "We're here!" Cole exclaims as we come to a stop.

    "Finally!" I say showing the same amount of enthusiasm.

    As I look out of the window, I see a standard, white, two-story house. It's in adequate shape.
  
    Since we have been driving for a while, the busy city of New York is out of sight. Now, there are only trees as far as the eye can see.

    I open the car door and step out. I take in a deep breath of fresh air. I then turn and look at Cole, who is across the car from me.

    "Welcome to my dwelling," Cole pauses, "make your self at home, I'll get ur things."

    "Thanks," I mostly say to myself as I look around.

    Cole then gets my suitcase out of the trunk, then walks to the front door of the house. He unlocks it and waves me in.

    Following him, I'm assuming he's taking me to my room. We walk thew the narrow entrance, living room, then the kitchen until we reach a hallway. Walking about halfway down, he stops then turns to me.

    "Here we are, your room is right beside mine, so, if u need anything I'm right there."

    "Thank you again, Cole, for everything you've done, without you I don't know where I'd be right now."

    "Your welcome Max," he smiles, "freshen up, the bathroom is the last room down the hall, we gotta go to the police soon."

    He hands me my bag, and I take it.

    "Okay, got it."

  Cole opens my room door for me, then walks over to his room.

    I enter the room, there's nothing special, just a bed, a nightstand with a lamp, and a closet. I set my suitcase on the bed and change into some new warmer clothes.

    I then, walk to the end of the hallway and enter the bathroom. I turn on the faucet and splash water on my face.
As I'm drying my face, I hear a sound in the kitchen.

    To no surprise it's Cole, he's making some sort of food to eat.

    "Whatcha doing?" I ask.

   "Making me a sandwich," he holds up a sandwich, "want one?"

    I take the sandwich, then take a hefty bite of it.

    "Slow down," Cole said laughing, "are you that hungry?"

    "Nervous."

    "That, my dear Max, was my second guess."

    I finish my sandwich, then wipe my mouth. Cole Finishes his sandwich too, then cleans off the countertop.

    "Let's get this over with," I say wearily.

    Cole then takes the keys out of his coat pocket, jingles them, then walks toward the door. I follow behind him, out the door, and into the car.

    Cole starts the engine, then we're off to the police station.

     About fifteen minutes later we arrive.

    "Don't stress too much Max," he laughs, "if anyone should be scared, it's me."

    "Whys that?"

   "Your not much of a suspect, you were all the way in Kansas during the murder, but me, I was here, in the same neighborhood."

    "You have a point," I agree.

    "So let's go shall we?"

   I exit the car, then head toward the station. I take a deep breath, then enter.

    It's not the fact I'm scared I'll be a suspect. It's that speaking with the police will make things feel more real. And I know they're gone, but I want to take things slow.

    As I enter, I walk to the front desk. Stopping at the desk the receptionist looks up at me.

    "Name?" the receptionist asks.

   "Max Adams, ma'am."
 
    "And the boy?"

   "Cole Ochre," Cole says almost interrupting her.

    "Alright, officer Ross has been waiting to speak to you two, last room on the right," she finalizes.

    "Thank you, ma'am," I say then start off to the last door to the right.

    As I open the door, there sits a scruffy middle-aged man at a deck.

    "Come, please sit!" Ross offers.

    I walk in then take a seat, Cole does the same.

    Since Cole is a close family friend, he can stay and listen to all the confidential stuff.

    "Alright, so straight to the point," Ross explains, "here are some papers you need to sign off, and I'll need to ask the two of you some questions."

    "So I'll start with you first, Cole, right?"

   Cole nods.

    "Great, while she signs those, let's get this over with, so, Cole where were you around three o'clock last night?" Ross asks.

    "At my friend, Asher smith's house."

    "Okay, you have an alibi, that's good, what exactly were you two doing last night?"

    "Drinking, and playing video games."

   "Hmmm...," Ross pauses, "well that's all I have for you really, but first, let me call this Asher guy."

   Ross then looks up Asher's personal info on his computer, then picks up the phone and dials.

   "Hello Asher, this is officer Ross, I would like to ask what you were doing last night around three o'clock?"

   There then was a long pause.

   "Alrighty, thank you, have a nice day."

   Ross then looks at Cole for a long hard minute, then smiles.

   "Well, Cole, it checks out, he told me the exact same thing, but don't get too comfortable," Ross said with a smile.

    I finish up all the paperwork and hand it to Ross.

    "Alrighty, miss Adams, not much to ask you but, did you have any contact with your family around the time of the murder?"

    "Not around the time of there deaths, but I called my mom the day before, and all we talked about was me returning."

    "Welp, that's all I got for questions," Ross explains, "but I must give you the facts about your family."

    "Okay," I stammer, "what have you got?"

    "Well, based on the evidence we've obtained, there's no sign of forced entry, which makes us believe that your family must have known the murderer or murderers."

    "Oh," I say in surprise.

    "Not just that, all their throats where slit ear to ear, they were in the living room of the home, in what seemed to be in a circle, to be honest, it looked like a ritual to me."

    I feel a lump in my thought, "is that it?"

   "Nope, the thing is there is no murder weapon found, also whoever did this left no evidence, and I mean none."
 
    We sit in silence for a few minutes, then Ross says, "alright y'all, your free to leave, that's all I have for now."

    Cole and I thank Ross for everything, then head back to Coles's car.
  
     I enter the car, sit, and lean my seat back a little bit. I'm exhausted.

    Cole enters, then starts the engine, no questions asked, and we're off.