The leaves blew up and down the driveway as Det. Hill strolled up the hill to the front door. The home of Jason Gilbert was falling apart and least to say it was not home sweet home. The screen door was on the floor in a pile of rubbish to his left. Rider was sure that the family living at number twenty seven, redwood lane were not a family friendly family. He knocked three times on the hard wooden door, every knock made a new cloud of dust created from within. Not long after he did so, there was an elderly woman in front of him. She had short black hair and scar down her face, she had really dark blue eyes that looked as if they were going to suck his soul out. She just stared at him untill Rider spoke up.
"Um, excuse me, does a Jason Gilbert live here?" Rider was starting to question whether there was actually there.
"Jason Gilbert...Jason Gilbert" She spoke in a low monotone voice, she was very spooky and Rider wasn't sure whether to stay or not. Then she appeared to snap out of the trance-like state and answered him. "Yes, Jason is my son, he is right upstairs, i'll go fetch him. Please, come inside." The old woman was very creepy the way she spoke and acted, she led him through the house to a living room where she left him alone but Rider just ignored that and went on with the fact that his number one suspect was coming down the stairs.
The room was very old. The wooden floors squeaked with every footstep that was walked upon them. The curtains had been eaten away by moths and other insects and the couch Rider was sitting on almost as old as the house. It was a white couch with little holes that looked big enough for little creatures to crawl through and it smelt like off-milk.
The footsteps down the stairs echoed throught the house with every stride. Jason was a tall man with black hair, just like his mother. They both came down to sit on the lounge opposite Rider.
"Hi, Jason. I'm Detective Rider Hill from the Oxford State Police Department, and i'm here investigating the murder of one of your former teachers. Do you happen to remember Miss Mcdonald?" Rider grabbed out his notebook.
"Yeah, I definitely remember her. She was my favourite teacher in school, always used to make the lessons so much fun. I can't believe she's dead." He held his head in his hands in grief. "Um, I'm sorry but i don't really know her any more, i'm not really much of help." His mother rubbed his back and whispered something Rider didn't hear.
The next few minutes were filled with the conversations between the detective and his suspect. Jason hadn't had any contact with her since leaving school. Rider asked Jason to come down to the station with him and be questioned. He was hesitant but eventually decided to go with no fuss.
Leaving that house and lady was the best thing that had happened to Rider that day. HE got in his car with Jason in the back seat.
Back at the station, Jason was put into Interrogation Room three and Rider had begun the questioning. They were in the room for half an hour and no progress had been made. Jason had an alibi for the time of the murder, and they had checked it out so he was no longer a suspect. Jason had been at a restaurant with his mother and a waitress could vouge for him and he had the cheques to prove it.
Rider had his head in hands when his boss, Adrian, came over to talk about the case.
"Give me an update, who are our suspects and where are we on this toyota corrolla?" He was now sitting on the edge of my desk and i handed him the folder of students.
"I'm working down the list sir, and we got nothing from Jason and i'm still finding addresses for the other three after him." He started typing their names into the comuter data base.
"What about this Claudia person? Have you looked into her?" He didnt look happy that Rider had missed her. His boss didn't exactly understand that people have social lives as well as work ones.Rider tried explaining to his boss that Claudia was his girlfriend and that she wasn't a suspect.
"Nobody is 'not a suspect.' You investigate this girl even if it means breaking off the relationship with your murderess girlfriend!" And with that he stormed off back into his office. Rider sat back and sighed. how was he meant to explain this to Claudia. He knew she didn't murder this lady but he knew it was what she had to do. Rider gathered up his things and went home.
He walked up the stairs to where Claudia was sitting, she was so peaceful on the couch reading her book.
"Hey! What are doing home so early?" She got up for a hug but Rider put a hand gently on her chest, pushing slightly away.
"Um, something's come up." He looked down at the floor, feeling slightly ashamed that he had to do this, "My boss wants me to bring you down to the station for questioning" he continued to look at the floor, embarrassed he had to do this.
"Well, I guess I don't have a choice. And I don't have anything to hide so sure, it'll be fun. New experiences!" Rider knew she was putting on a brave face, but he also knew she would want him to go along with it.
So they jumped into his car. The silence was deadly so Rider decided to put on the radio to make it a little less awkward. Claudia didn't look mad she was just... silent. But silence is deadly.
...
The interrogation room was cold with stale air.
" So Claudia, where were you on the fifth of June between nine and ten pm."
Rider placed his hands in front of him on the desk.
"I would've been asleep in my house or working late in my store." Claudia didn't have a solid alibi, this was bad news, i hadn't realised before but she was in this and she was a suspect. Her teacher was murdered, her type of car was at the scene of the crime and she didnt have an alibi. This wasn't looking good. Rider couldnt lie to his boss and say he knew where she was on that night because he was there at work. Rider sighed once again and his boss came storming into the room.
"Rider, your turn is over, my turn to crack her" He literally threw Rider out of the room and closed the door behind him.
"Sir! Sir!" He knocked on the door several times but his boss didn't take the slightest notice of him. He listened and watched throught he one way glass.
"Miss, we know you did it" Rider was getting very angry at this moment and felt as if he was going to knock the door down and strangle his boss! Rider stormed out the room and back to his desk.
While Rider was at his desk the interrogation was still in process. Claudia was now in tears and her interrogator was in a rage. Time seemed to slow down for Claudia, every tear drop seemed to take several seconds to hit the metal table in front of her. Adrian took a deep breath and sat back down.
"Miss, did you like your eighth grade teacher?" He seemed to have calmed down, but he looked as if he was bursting at the seams, maybe he had thought of the perfect question to crack her, if there was anything to crack. Claudia was still crying.
"I didn't do anything wrong! But Yes! Yes, she was mean and I hated her as my teacher!" She was screaming and had just admitted to hating her. Adrian seemed pleased with himself and stood up and left. Claudia was left in the room with tears running down her face and her head on the table.
Rider was back in the room just to hear her last conversation, when Adrian came back in the room Rider bursted. He grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the glass.
"How dare you! How dare you treat her like that! She didn't do it!" He was ready to kill this guy now, he disrespected her and treated her like a dirty murderer. Rider kept pushing this guy against the wall.
"Get off him!" His colleague came and pulled Rider off Adrian. Rider fell through the air and hit his head on the edge of the snack table. Everything went black for Rider, the last thing he saw before blacking out was Det. Worden leaning over him.
"Rider, Rider! Are you okay? Sorry, dude, i didnt mean for you to hit your head but..." Rider didn't hear the rest of it because he blacked out.
...
Rider woke in the sick bay, still in the police station. Det. Worden was next to him and he was waving his hand in front of Rider's face.
"Woah, dude! You've been out for half and hour." Rider sat up and the world spun. The bed he was sitting on was extremely uncomftable.
Det. Worden explained what happened. Rider had been knocked out after his episode with Adrian. The paramedics had a look at him and fixed his up a bit. But the worst thing was Claudia had been put into a holding cell, and was now our number one suspect. This was not good.
