Red Tiles

chapter 6

*Jasper POV*

I was sitting on the cold metal bench of the holding cell, awaiting any sort of news on my situation. Around 5 pm, Tommy appeared, keys in hand. He unlocked the door, stepped in the tiny cage-like room, and sat beside me.

"Here," he offered. There was a sandwich wrapped in plastic in his hand.

"You must be starving." He set an unopened can of cherry coke beside me on the bench, as well. I set the wrapped sandwich beside the can, sighing.

"Thanks but I'm not hungry right now." He nodded, understanding. We were both silent for a few moments. Then, he broke the ice.

"Jasper," he said softly, placing his hand over mine.

"We're working with your team, doing everything we can to prove your innocence. We all know you didn't do it." I looked up at him.

"Thank you. I do appreciate everything you're doing. And, just so you know, Chance was my friend. I loved her. I'd never hurt her. When I saw her there, on the floor, all...dead...and marked up, I knew immediately that she fought. She fought for her life. She always said she'd never go down without a fight." I jumped a bit, noticing that Curby had been standing in the doorway the whole time.

"Dr. Kyle, you may retrieve your belongings. I have an agent ready to escort you home. She is waiting now." I stood, nodding. Tommy looked up at him and nodded in thanks to him. I held out a hand for Curby to shake.

"Thanks for everything, Ryan. You're not really the asshole I thought you were when we first met." He chuckled.

"Gee, thanks." We both laughed and we shook hands. I followed him out of the cell, over to the desk area. All the desks were empty, and only two others were here: a security guard, and a young female Agent who appeared to be about my age, maybe a couple years older, standing around 5'8. She was quite thin, I noticed, and exceedingly attractive.

"Hello, Dr. Kyle. My name is agent Lynx Darker, you can just call me Jinx if you'd like." She offered a hand, which I kindly accepted.

"Very nice to meet you, Jinx," I said softly, mentally cringing at the way her name sounded as it came out of my mouth. I noticed that she didn't have a badge on her belt like all the other agents did. I looked up at Tommy, who held a suspicious eye to Jinx.

"Hello, agent Jinx. I'm special agent Tommy James, I'm not sure we've met before. Are you new to the field?" She shook her head. "I told her she could call me Jinx. It's agent Darker, to you. And no, I work at precinct 11, over in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Only about an hour drive from here. I was recently transferred. Nice to meet you, as well, agent James." She turned to me.

"Dr. Kyle, I think we should go, you must be exhausted. Are you ready?" I nodded and gave Tommy a quick hug.

"I'll call you later tonight. Bye." With that, I turned and followed Jinx out of the building.