[ Highest Rank #101 in Mystery/Thriller ]
Time has passed. Things have changed. Isabeth, Benny, and Faith aren't quite the same. They have blood on their hands, a code they honor, and secrets they keep locked away. The Psychopath Maker knows this an...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Clayton Anderson with his cocky attitude, his broad jaw, and his deep baby-soft, ochre skin stood in front of the Dawson Prep scholars.
No one spoke a word.
Sheriff Edmonds went over the thought in his head. Should he let Clayton question them? Would their parents blow up on him if he allowed an FBI agent to interrogate their children without a quick-talking, court-case shot-calling lawyer by their sides?
"You can ask us anything you want," Alex responded before Sheriff Edmonds could answer.
Malachi dropped his head. Isabeth let Harper go as she dried her face with the tissue Sheriff Edmonds fished out his back pocket. Faith shivered in disgust thinking about where that cloth might have been.
"No!" Sheriff Edmonds assured. "You don't have to do that Mr. Lemen." His wrinkly, spider-veined hand began to shake.
Clayton looked at Sheriff Edmonds. "I just want to do my due diligence. " He said squaring his shoulders staring at Isabeth as she scooted closer to Alex and he draped his hand over her thigh.
Alex patted her thigh, flashed her a consoling smile, "Regardless of which we have nothing to hide."
Clayton nodded. "Well then." He pulled a pen from his coat pocket as Preston sulked in the chair with his stomach swirling. Clayton flipped open his notepad, "Let's start easy. What were ya'll doing here last night?"
"Catching up." Dalton wedged himself in the chair's corner hiding his eyes behind his hand. "Filling me in."
"Did ya'll all come together because I counted two cars out front?" Clayton looked at the front door as if he could see the cars parked in the driveway.
"Alex and Faith came with me." Isabeth rubbed her eyes; a tension headache was brewing.
"The Bugatti's mine" Preston blurted then pressed a finger to his lips hoping that didn't come out cocky. " And Harper rode with me."
Clayton scribbled in the notepad, "So Malachi, I guess Fiona came with you?"
Malachi huffed scratching at a nonexistent itch on his neck. "I don't answer questions without a lawyer present."
"His car is at the main house—" Alex answered as Malachi beamed at the back of his head sending him a telepathic reprimand. "And no, Fiona didn't arrive with him."
"Then how did she arrive?" Clayton inquired.
"With a knock at the door." Isabeth chided. "I didn't see a car nor did I hear one."
Clayton kept scribbling in the notepad. Faith leaned over wishing she could see what he was writing. What was he putting down about them? "How did she seem?" He asked.
"Reserved." Dalton pulled down his hand covering his mouth, shielding a yawn. His breath was still oniony since Tom and Shawn forbid them from leaving the living room.
"Reserved how?" Clayton flipped to a clean page.
"Fi has a big personality." Dalton straightened himself. "She commands attention and lights the room ablaze. She's a rambler with never ending stories and adventures. But last night all she talked about was T.V."
"Besides her mood being reserved; what else about last night stood out?"
Dalton's eyes danced, "I guess alcohol and fried food don't mix because I'm drawing a blank after the toast."
"Me too." Isa echoed.
"We toasted?" Harper asked dropping the handkerchief from her blushing face.
"Yeah, right before I went to the bathroom." Preston stood stretching his limbs. "I came back—" He paused looking pass the living room. "Wait." He held up his hand. "I don't remember leaving the bathroom." He apprehensively laughed.
"I don't remember you going to the bathroom." Alex blinked uncontrollably rubbing his forehead trying to wake up his brain.
Clayton clicked the pen. "No one has any recollection of anything after the toast." They shook their heads. Clayton made another note on his pad. "Okay, let's fast forward to this morning. Did y'all wake up separately or at the same time?"
Alex raised his hand, "I woke up first."
"Then me." Preston pointed to himself.
"Who found the body?" Clayton scratched at the stubble he didn't get to shave this morning.
"Don't answer that!" Malachi blurted with a thunderous clap hoping to pull them out the trance they've stupidly fallen in.
"I agree!" Hans declared standing in the hallway with disheveled hair, khakis, and a hoodie.
"And who are you?" Clayton clicked his pen again. He grimaced at Sheriff Edmonds. Clayton deliberately told him to block off the property. No one in. No one out.
"Her Uncle." Hans pointed to Harper as a vein bulged along his face. Harper chewed on her bottom lip, twirling a curl around her finger "I'm responsible for him too." Hans pointed to Preston then snapped at Preston and Harper to get up. They leaped up like jackrabbits. Hans waved them to the door and the teenagers scurried out.
"I'm done with them." Clayton approached the skyscraping tall man.
Hans stopped him. "Yes, you are." He pulled out his wallet, fished out a card. "If you have any more questions, call me." Hans tucked the card in Clayton's suit coat pocket.
Was Malachi right? Should they have kept their mouths closed without a lawyer?
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
