Guarded

20

“How could you honestly think she was anything other than in trouble!?”

I recognized that voice. It was my aunt’s voice. I heard her shout something else at the officers in the room before the door opened to the holding cell I was in and she burst in. “Thank God! Did they hurt you? I swear, if any of you laid a finger on her, our laywers will be up your ass so far with a lawsuit the whole LAPD will be out of commission!”

“Aunt Stacey, I’m fine. Can we just please go home?”

“Oh, dear,” she said. “Of course.” She hugged me and pulled me up. We filled out the paperwork for my release and went to leave the station.

“Ma’am, Detective Haywood would like to have a word with you before you leave.” A tall officer with dark hair said. He looked close to my age and seemed slightly nervous when talking to me. His voice was soft and sounded almost Southern. His uniform fit him well and he seemed quite built. I stared into his blue eyes.

“Ma’am?” he asked again, revealing his perfect smile.

“Yes? Sure, okay, fine,” I replied. I glanced up at my Aunt who sighed reluctantly. “Let me go find Orla,” she said. She went to go find our lawyer Orla Benson who had met my aunt at the station.

The officer led me into another room, similar to the interrogation room I had been in before. “You’re Archer Grey, aren’t you?”

“Congratulations for being able to read,” I replied sarcastically. I don’t know why I was being so rude, he was just trying to make conversation.

He chuckled nervously. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, I’m a big fan of your show. My little sister makes me watch it with her every week.”

I offered him a half smile. “Thanks. I’m sorry. I’ve just had a long day.. a long week, actually.”

“I can imagine. I’m –“ He was cut off by Detective Heywood. “Thank you, James, that will be all.”

He sat down at the table across from me and handed me a cup of steaming liquid which I assumed to be coffee. I peered at the cup and had to remember I was no longer held captive anymore. My aunt Stacey and Orla appeared a few minutes later and we all sat around the table. The coffee tasted like watered down hot chocolate but it was the caffeine I craved. I wasn’t sure of the time or what happened to any of my belongings from the hotel room. All I wanted to know was if they had caught Carissa and if I could feel safe once again.

“We checked out your story,” he began by saying.

“And you obviously found out my niece is not the criminal here!” My Aunt Stacey interrupted. Orla calmed her down and gestured for the detective to keep on talking.

“We went to the hotel and sure enough there had been a room rented out to a woman named ‘Carissa Lemoyne’. Since the room was cash only, the motel owners have no record of identification from the woman, only the description of her matching the one that both you, Annaliese, and Stacey have provided. But when our officers got to the room, no one was in there. And your Land Rover was missing as well as your cell phone.”