Their Perspectives

Chapter 12 - Cold Shallows

Daniella Williams

The room was completely silent as we both looked at the teenage girl sitting in front of us. Hair with colourful highlights kept loose, at a height of five feet and four inches, she looked like a teenage rebel but she was 19 years old.

She was the one who had claimed to be the witness. I would have thought it wasn't true if not seeing her eyes. It held a different sort of emotion. Her body language and her words told she wasn't afraid but her eyes showed a glimpse of fear but hope in them.

The 19 year old Eleanor Roosevelt looked at us with uncertainty. Uncertain that we would believe her but her description was vivid. I could see her flashing the memories across her eyes.

"Ms. Roosevelt, you saw Stacey in the restroom of the station?" I questioned according to her statements.

"Yes, when I came out of the washroom, she was still there. But I know I had heard her go outside since only two of us were present when I had entered."

"It could be someone else who came and went. How would you know it was Stacey then?"

"I have particularly good hearing. I can identify an object by its sound. The weight of her footsteps was the same as the person who had exited. But the lady I saw when I came out of the washroom also had the same sound of footsteps." She explained.

"So why did you follow her and not the one who exited earlier?"

"The one who mattered wasn't that lady. The one still in the restroom had footsteps which sounded more like the one who entered. So I followed her, Stacey I think."

"How would you find her? If that lady was an imposter then Stacey wouldn't be taken away in public, she would have been dressed into someone else." I questioned Roosevelt again.

"Yes. Stacey did not exit the restroom directly. I heard her somewhere in the restroom itself. There must be a hidden exit. So I went from the real exit since I could easily find her by the sound of her footsteps."

"In a crowd?"

"It will be difficult but yes. When I eventually found her, she was going somewhere and was maybe looking at directions through the phone. It was a little far from the station and seemed isolated. I had kept a long distance from her. Suddenly she was shot from her right side." She explained.

"Stacey was killed on the spot. One thing was that I never heard someone near us." She continued.

"What about her body? Did someone come?"

"Her body was there on the ground as it is. No one came. Only when I felt it was safe enough I quietly went away."

"No one saw you?" Alex asked.

"I don't think so that person must have seen me. If so, I would have already died."

"Aren't you afraid?" Alex asked her.

"I would be lying if I say no. I am a bit afraid. But I don't have anyone with me so it doesn't matter."

"Do you want to stay with us?" I suggested her. Her background was clean. She needed witness protection but no one should know about her. It was the best if she stayed with either me or him.

"You stay together?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"It meant you could stay with either me or him. Choose."

"Can I stay with you?" She asked me.

"Are you sure?" Alex asked in confirmation.
"Yeah. Why not?"
"No wait. You need to stay with him." The criminal knows me. If she stays with me, she'll be in danger.