Born to Die

Chapter three

"Why'd you do it?" Good cop, who's badge read officer Zeke Matthews asked with inquisitive rather than accussing eyes. I of course knew I'd get caught and I had no intention of running from the law, becoming a runaway fugitive outlaw anyway. "It needed to be done. It all had to go." He stafed at his shoes, shaking his head. "Look you've said that already. Several times! Just please give me a direct answer. I'll even make it easy for you. Just say yes or no. Was there anything in the house that you were hiding? Incriminating evidence of your involvement in the... accident?" I stared at him with disbelief. "No! I had nothing to do with that!" He did'nt look convinced, but he had moved on anyway. 'Bad cop' had bailed a while ago, when he saw we were not getting anywhere and he started to lose his temper. It was starting to look like 'good cop' might also soon need a break. He pressed his thumb and index finger to his eyelids. "Just tell me this one last thing. Was there a point in burning your house to the ground?" I thought the question over in my head. There was of course a reason, but not one that anyone would understand, so I chose the easier option. "No." He got up and left the room without another word. They of course could not let me go, despite not having sufficient evidence to incriminate me as there certainly was enough to at least hold me. I still had to get charged with arson. Although I knew this I couldn't help but wish I could be free, although I had no where to go, no one to turn to. Following Zeke,  relishing in my freedom with him for some reason deeply appealed to me. Maybe it was the warmth of his deep blue eyes or the kindness of his smile in contrast to the harshness of the world. Whatever it was, I liked him. The extent to which my fondness of him extended however was a mystery, and would remain that way, for just as I began unraveling it, he reentered the room with his partner and without making eye contact and walked over to where I sat. He placed a hand on my shoulder, gently pulling me up quite effortlessly. Half dazed, I stood without resistance. Someone slammed a pair of handcuffs on me. "Not so hard!" Zeke protested, but the handcuffs were not loosened. His concern warmed me a little, but not enough to extinguish the raging inferno within. "What is this?  What the hell is going on? Where are you taking me?" I screamed as they guided me out of the interrogation room, towards a part of the building I had not noticed earlier. "You are hereby placed under arrest by the state of Indiana, for arson and being the prime suspect in Mr Argondale's murder." Zeke's partner, Keith said, his voice rough and unforgiving. He then proceeded to recite the Miranda warning to me, shoved me into and cell and stormed off, leaving me and Zeke alone. To break the awkward silence that followed I tried to loosen the mood saying "well isn't he just a ray of sunshine?" Zeke looked at me in disbelief.  "Is this a joke to you? Someone died! Your father died! You burnt all possible evidence of your innocence or guilt of the crime to the ground! You could be facing some serious jail time here and let me tell you, from where I'm standing in ft doesn't look good." All the comfort I found in him suddenly diminished due to the stern, condescending tone he had adopted, but at least he had shut me up. When he spoke again, although strained, his tone softened. "I didn't mean to yell, sorry. I just want- need you to realise the severity of the situation." When I didn't answer he turned to leave, adding "the court hearing has been scheduled for Thursday morning, three days from now. As you can see there isn't much crime to fight in this town." He ushered towards the empty cells. I smiled a little. Just as the door closed behind him, he whispered almost unaudibly "I know you have didn't do it. I just know it." Then he was gone and all the warmth of his presence went with him, leaving me to drown in a paralyzingly cold ocean of isolation.