❝Sometimes you need to run away just to see who will come after you. But it's the monsters you ran from who come.❞
☒
In which an accidental murder leads to accidental discoveries that should've stayed in the dark.
The small town of East Vienna is h...
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THE SILENCE THAT had consumed the room after he asked her why she had run crept into his soul and added an unbearable weight to his mind. Detective Knowles could feel his headache growing worse and a throbbing between his eyes becoming excruciating until he couldn't take it anymore. He began to fear his body language was mirroring Kiera Cohen's after staring at her intensely for so long–bent neck, loosened spine, locked ankles, and burdened eyelids.
Defeated.
But no matter how hard he racked his brain for a legitimate reason or searched in her eyes for a clue as to why the woman was dead, he was left feeling worse.
He had had enough and eventually got up from his own chair. Despite the way the metal creaked and his footsteps echoed the room, she gave no sign of attention. So to not grip on her wrists tightly and possibly cut off her blood circulation, he only spoke.
"Back in the cell," he ordered. In response, she nodded slowly but did not make any eye contact. "I'm going to remove the chains from the chair. No funny business." He felt apprehensive on the plausibility she would take the chance to hit him square in the jaw.
Instead, she gave a dry laugh, "Humor me."
He never worked in an asylum before, but he felt like he was in one for a split second before regaining his composure again.
After he released the chains, he allowed her to walk to the door by herself. She waited by the door and stared at the smooth handle that was so close to giving freedom yet so far for her. Mr. Knowles took out his large collection of keys and inserted the correct one on the first try.
Kiera and he exchanged a fleeting glance. He had a feeling that she, as the first person to enter this room today, would probably be the last too.
Mr. Knowles walked behind Kiera, but was close enough to make sure his strides were proportionally quicker than hers. The hall they went through passed by the empty room used to see what was happening in the interrogation space. They advanced to enter the waiting room adjacent to where the jail cells were, before someone on the other side of the door came bursting in.
"Knowles! Where are they? I need to see the people who killed my aunt with my own two eyes or Lord help me I'll–"
The young man paused when he made eye contact with Kiera. Her eyes widened in recognition and her mouth fell agape. His gaze shifted down to her cufflinks and Mr. Knowles with the demeanour of hovering near Kiera like a hawk trailing his prey.
His whole universe must've tumbled down on him because Knowles could sense the light leaving him in a matter of seconds. He brought his hands up to his ears as if trying to block out the dreadful, heart wrenching thoughts that attempted to flesh out the scene before him. He inhaled a shallow breath and struggled for another.
