The Interrogation Room

~

Detective Thomas Parker patiently waits at his desk, tapping his finger in a jittery manner on the label of his coffee as he impatiently watches his screen. In hindsight, the caffeine infused water would only make his jitters worse, but it was late and there was no way he'd be allowed to leave. Shame on him for taking the graveyard shift.

But that didn't exactly matter now, a murder happened at the local library and it was all hands on deck. Dozens of witnesses, hundreds of square footage to investigate, yet talks of only one suspect. A woman, in her late twenties, the only person near the deceased when the first witness stumbled upon them both.

Half of the force was already dispatched and the Captain told Thomas that he was supposed to interview the suspect. He pondered over all of this as he gulped down the last few drops of his coffee, which had gone cold a long time ago.

Thomas turns around to see the suspect shuffled into the interrogation room. Her hands were roughly forced into handcuffs, him taking notice of the red rims that were left just below her hands. She fruitlessly tugged at the handcuffs, then flipped her long dark hair out of her face, revealing her overall strung out appearance. Her eyes were red and they bulged out from her dark circles, her nose was flared, probably involuntarily from her fatigue, and her whole body was shaking.

"Parker, you're up." The captain says, peering through the two way mirror. Thomas stands beside the captain, looking over the suspect.

"Right, sir. What's the suspect's name? What do we know about her?" He asks, tossing his cup in the trash can a few away.

"Rosalyn Spier, twenty-seven, found standing over the victim, Emma Sharpe, twenty-nine. A few feet away from them both, what we think is the murder weapon, we're sending it in for testing." The captain explains.

Thomas nods. "Wouldn't this be enough to book her?" He asks, twitching. Thankfully, the captain doesn't notice.

"Yes, but you know that interviews are protocol. Watch out for this one though, she was screaming in the back of the squad car according to Roberts." The captain says.

"Wouldn't she need a psych eval?" Thomas asks.

The captain shrugs. "Eh. We'll get her one in the morning, then you can reinterview her again, see if her story changes."

Thomas rolls his eyes, but doesn't say a word. Cutting corners wouldn't get them anywhere except a lawsuit, and based on Rosalyn's appearance, she could've been on any number of substances. But, it was his job, so he was going to interview her and hope for the best.

Thomas walks into the interrogation room, closing it right behind him. Silently, he pulls out the chair, the only noise in the room being the persistent buzz of the lights and the scraping of the metal on the tile.

Rosalyn cocks her head and gives him a cocky smile.

"Detective... Parker. It's nice to meet you." She says, raising her hand to shake his but her hand abruptly stopping only a foot in the air

"Rosalyn Spier? I'd like to ask you a few questions." He says, his face emotionless.

She shrugs. "Go right ahead. Go ahead and persecute me because no one believes me anyway."

"Rosalyn, I'd just like to get a sense of what happened tonight." He says calmly, leaning forward.

Her eyebrows raised. "Who said you could call me Rosalyn? I'm not mad about it, just wondering why you're so forward."

"If it's all the same to you, I'd like to continue the interview." Thomas says quietly. Rosalyn shrugs and nods, her eyes going to the floor.

Thomas clears his throat. "Would you like anything? Water?"