Innocent

Chapter 10: The Phoenix

"In order to rise from its own ashes,  a phoenix first must burn."

-Octavia E. Butler

        I could feel the sun on my face. I saw the trees all around me, the scent of honey-suckle filled the air, and for once I felt content. I have escaped the chains that once ensnared me. I am now free to be my own person, no longer am I just a single drop of water in the ocean. I am a different ocean in a single drop of water. I walked to school, I was determined to make this a good day. I had bandaged Emilia's wounds and told her to hide out in my room. The bugs in my house had been shattered, and for now my house bug-free. Emilia should be safe for now, I sighed. I quickly put my stuff into my locker and headed to class. Thirty minutes later, Agent Collins came in. "Isabelle, I need to speak you in private." He said looking around the classroom. I looked up, and raised an eyebrow at him. I quickly dismissed him.

        "Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of the class." I motioned to the class, who were all pretending to do their work, but I knew they were listening. Three seats away, Matthew focused himself on me and his father. He slapped a file on my desk, the cover said CLASSIFIED in bold red letters. I opened it, trying to act indifferent, but the curiosity was killing me. In it there was a file of Emilia, her prison records, her social security number, everything you could ever find on her was there. Compartmentalized in a neat little file. I kept my face blank as I stared up at him, pretending to act confused like I had no idea what was going on. "Why did you show me this?"I questioned.

        "Isabelle, are you aware that Ben Castro is dead?"Agent Collins interrogated.

        "Who?" I asked with confusion.

        "Ben Castro? The warden?" He asked again, unbelieving.

        "Oh. Yeah. Him. He's the warden at the old prison. Shame he died. I never really knew him." I said, trying to act ignorant about the situation. "So, this file about this girl, Amilia-Emilia, however you pronounce her name,  what does she have to do with the Warden dude?" I questioned.

        "Ben?"

        I nodded.

        "We'll you see, Emilia Bay escaped prison yesterday and hasn't been seen. We think she may have been the reason Ben committed suicide."

        "How do you know you Ben committed suicide? And that Emilia was the reason for it?" I asked innocently.

        "Our Medical Examiner deemed it suicide, and Emilia was the last person Ben saw. He visited her in the cells."

        "Who's your medical examiner?" I asked, knowing I was probably pushing the line here.

        "I don't know. Just someone the Bureau sends in. Didn't talk much, just handed me a report that said suicide. He seemed okay though.Why?" He asked. I pondered his answer, could it have been the mailman who just drove off? I quickly came up with an answer to his question.

        "I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders, carelessly. "Watched some crime shows last night, it's always the medical examiner that's wrong. Just thought you know maybe..." I said acting dumb. Agent Collins was analyzing me.

        "Really? Because I talked to your parents this morning, they said you went to bed early." He said, trying to get me to confess. He thought he was going to win, oh

        "Did they tell that right after dinner, my parents and my brother went to Monday Night Bingo. They left me alone at the house, where I watched crime shows. I went to bed at one. That's why I'm so tired, and I had to walk to school. I missed the bus. You can check my record on Netflix, later." Note to self, when you get home hack into Netflix.

        Agent Collins shook his head, "You think it's a murder don't you?"

        I shrugged my shoulders. He had fallen for my trap, now I could FBI resources to investigate Ben's death.

        "What do you know?" Agent Collins asked.

        "Nothing. Just that this looks suspicious." I replied.

        Agent Collins looked at me disbelieving.

        "Do you know anything about Emilia?" Agent Collins interrogated. He probably knows that Emilia and I are friends. 

        "Yeah, she was my friend in prison."

        "Do you know where she is?"

        "Nope." I replied back. He gazed at me, murderously, as if he was trying to scare the secret out of me. Too bad, I'm not scared of him.

        "If I find out you have anything to do with this death, then I will personally escort you to jail." Agent Collins threatened.

        "Like you should have last time." I said dangerously, and I looked him in the eye.

        "Fine. Next question, do you know anything about The Phoenix?"

        "The Phoenix? What's that?" I asked. I had a feeling he wasn't going to let this go.

        Agent Collins sighed, and handed me a file from his briefcase.

        "The Phoenix is a high-level case the Bureau has been trying to solve for two years. On March 16, two years ago an art museum was robbed of a priceless piece of artwork. The thief then tapes a forgery of the painting he stole to the front door. Then he walks out. For some reason, he's never caught on camera, he never gets sloppy. We don't know how he does it. He replaces the artwork with a forgery, one that could pass as the real thing. The thief then paints the wall where the stolen painting was. He paints a phoenix, that's why the everyone calls him the Phoenix. It's funny, that the museums who had the phoenixes painted, actually leave the painting there calling it art. We need to know if you know anything about the phoenix, and if you could help us. Help us make the world a better place." Agent Collins finished. I could almost clap.

        "I don't think I can help you, nor would I want to." I said simply. The wound was still fresh.

Flashback:

        "Please believe me." The look in his eyes was murderous. "Let go of me." Agent Collins said lowly, his voice dangerous. "You have killed my best friend, you sick child psychopath, and you come to me demanding you're innocent. You have the indecency to lie to my face. And grab my arm, like your desperate and innocent. Well I hope you rot in prison. I hope everyone hates you. That you live the rest of your life, crumbling and becoming nothing that you live everyday on your knees, scraping for a morsel of food. In simple terms, for your deranged mind to understand, I hope you suffer."

         I could still feel the pain, the utter betrayal of justice. There was no way I could ever help this man, after everything he had done.

        "So you confirm that you know nothing about the phoenix?"

        "Yes. I know nothing about the phoenix." It isn't a complete lie, I thought. The thing Agent Collins was missing was that I didn't know anything about the phoenix.

      I was the phoenix.