Hushed Confessions | ✔

{15} Interrogations

Sajdaa Taha

"Tell them what you told me Ethan," pressed Officer Cole. 

Malik and I were sitting behind the glass that separated Ethan and us. We were overhearing parts of the interrogation. Malik believed it was necessary for me to be present, so he brought me with him.

Officer Nathan stood at the corner of the room, besides Officer Cole. There was a long metal table between the officers and Ethan. He sat in an orange jumpsuit with a heavy frown on his face. The stubble on his chin grew longer. It was untamed. 

Ethan growled, "No."

Officer Cole kept the stern look on his face, his voice surprisingly calm. "Now Ethan, you are being recorded so even if you don't tell me I can always rewind it and use this moment as evidence against you in court for not cooperating."

Ethan grunted in response. 

Cole leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. A slow smile was playing on his lips. "I'd suggest you repeat what we went over then."

Ethan looked away. Visible traces of sweat lined the sides of his face, slowly dripping down. He twiddled with his fingers, flinching at Officer Cole's clipped tone. 

"Ethan, I'm waiting." 

I turned to Malik, who was eagerly watching the interrogation before him. "Cole knows how to scare the crap out of people," I said. 

Malik chuckled, "That's why I told him to do the interrogation."

We turned our attention back to the interrogation. Officer Cole tapped his pen against the table. Officer Nathan's face was blank. He was giving Ethan the cold look he gave me when we first met.

I guess if one was a police officer, they'd have to perfect controlling their real emotions. Officer Nathan was glaring down at Ethan with his cold blue eyes, in fact he seemed like a completely different person. If looks could kill, Ethan would be dead.

Exhaling a sigh, Ethan mumbled incoherently. 

"Speak up," demanded Officer Cole. 

"I know who a possible suspect could be."

Malik and I were silent as we leaned closer to the glass, wondering if we heard him right. Officer Cole gestured for him to continue. 

"A man came up to me a couple days before the first murder. I was stoned out of my mind, but I remember that I sold a heavy drug to him," he recalled. 

"What was the drug?" asked Officer Cole. 

Ethan scratched his partially bald head, trying to remember. "I don't know."

"Bullshit," spat out Officer Nathan. "Tell the truth."

Ethan's eyes narrowed. "I am telling the truth, you bastards. I was fucking high out of my mind, I don't remember."

Officer Nathan chuckled, bitterly. 

"Nathan," warned Officer Cole. "You're disrupting the interrogation. Shut up."

"I actually have some useful information," said Officer Nathan. His blue eyes were trained on Ethan, who was wiping the sweat off his forehead. Ethan had dark bags under his eyes and as he looked at Officer Nathan, they seemed to get worse. 

"Enlighten us, Nathan."

Officer Nathan pulled out a folder, He placed it on the table, allowing Officer Cole to look through it. He flipped through the stack of papers before his hand stopped. Jaw clenching, Officer Cole pulled out the paper. It was a fingerprint analysis from Dylan's crime scene. I couldn't read the contents, but I saw two fingerprints on the page, both bold and clear.