Shifters: Chapter 16

Chapter 16

A soft knock reverberated from the door. My body instantly went into defensive mode, ready for any potential plans of Ben’s. It’s only when I heard a distinctive cough that I let myself relax.

“You can come in,” I called. Tony installed himself more comfortably on my bed.

Greyish hair peeked into the room, followed by Nicolas’ kind face. “Am I interrupting?” he asked.

“Not really. Tony was just showing me how to summon a weapon.” I proudly lifted my sword before me. “Her name’s Fulgora.”

He entered the bedroom completely, crossing it to me. Lifting his palm, he silently asked permission to hold it. I handed him the hilt, watching his face for any reaction as he inspected it. As much as I wished to simply brush it off, deep down, I really hoped he’d approve of my weaponry choice.

Finally, after skimming over the blade one more time, he puckered his lips and nodded. “She is a thing of beauty.”

I could practically feel the enormous smile gather on my face. “I know, eh? I-“

Before I started on a long speech about its appearance, Nicolas cleared his throat loudly. The kind of loud that means something needs to be said right then. I shut up, knowing it had to be urgent for Nicolas not to be able to wait a minute longer.

He glanced to Tony, who’d been quiet so far. His attention veered back to me. “Would you care to walk with me?”

“Of course”

***

I drew my scarf tighter around my neck. “What’s wrong?” I asked after what had felt like the millionth minute of silence.

He must’ve noticed the worry in my voice. “Nothing terrible, I assure you.” He lifted his legs over a fallen branch that cut across the forest’s path. “The police believe they have discovered your parents’ murderer.”

I froze to the spot. “Wh-What? But I thought-“

He stopped as well. “I know. That is the reason why I said the police believe so. Who am I to doubt them?”

I smiled, my feet restarting their initial pace. “That’s sneaky.”

His face turned into one of genuine disapproval. “I prefer to view it as trusting our fellow man,” he said with a wink.

I laughed. “If it makes you feel better, think that way.” I kicked at a pile of gathered leaves.

“I shall.” He took in a deep breath. “However, this is a little more problematic, I must say. The detective in charge insists on meeting you and having you look at the suspect.”

“What am I supposed to do then?”

“Tell the truth, or the most of it, in any case. You know of no enemies of your parents nor who murdered them, and so on.”

“But I do know; it was a pixie. You said so yourself.”

“That I did, but we can never identify for certain which pixie did the deed, so you are not, in truth, lying.”

I shrugged. “I guess.” I ducked under a low branch. “What about the suspect, though? We can’t let him pay for something he didn’t do!” My stomach churned at the mere thought.

“Of course not. The only evidence they have against her is a hair on your mother’s clothes, which proves nothing as she is a co-worker of your parents and could have easily lost strands on them. Nevertheless, she was given an excellent alibi, I hear, by some distant...cousin of hers. Thus, if ever it is asked of you, you have never laid eyes on that woman before. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” But something he’d said kept pocking at my mind. After thinking over what he’d said, I finally caught on. “You wouldn’t happen to be her distant cousin, now would you?”

“Nonsense. I have no kin, save you, here.”

“Ah, so then you only posed as one?”

“Now who would ever do such a thing?” he said seriously, although you couldn’t mistake the soft grin on his lips.

I held in the urge to laugh. Who’d have thought the man was so...sneaky? “When does he want me there? I’m guessing I have to go down to the station.”

He nodded. “As soon as possible were the detective’s words.”

“As soon like now? Right now?”

“If you wish to, yes, we could go immediately.”

I checked the time on my cell phone. 7:08. Although I didn’t want to, it was still early enough. Plus, it was better to do it quickly and not procrastinate about it. “Let’s get this over with,” I said with a gulp.

***

“Are you sure?” the short, plump man asked me, taking a sip of coffee before setting it back onto the table.

“Yes! How many times do I need to tell you? I’ve never seen her before!”

The detective shrugged. “I’m only trying to do my job, Miss.” I was used to this detective – Detective Devereaux – calling me miss, but lately I was getting the impression it was more of an insult than an actual courtesy.

He took the pictures of Carla Santos, the suspect, and put them back into the case file paperwork. “I don’t know what to tell you, Miss Evans-“

“Neither do I, detective,” I cut in dryly.

“-Other than this is looking very bad for you.”

That took me by surprise. “Oh? How so?” I crossed my arms over my chest, as if angry, but it was to hide the shaking of my hands.

He took the crime scene photos from his pile, slowly, methodically, laying them before me. “Our team searched your entire house.” He placed the last picture. “In the exception of Mrs Santos, who seems to have a valid alibi, there are no traces of anyone else. Except you.”

“That’s normal since I live there,” I said through clenched teeth.

“True enough. But it was put to my attention that the day of your parents...demise, your grandfather appeared. Poof. Just like that, a long lost family member rediscovered.”

He glanced meaningfully to Nicolas, who sat quietly at my right. Since I was still a minor, he’d been allowed to come to this “friendly meeting”. But, as time passed, it became clearer and clearer that this was an interrogation, not just chit-chat. Thank goodness Nicolas and I had devised a technique, just in case. It was quite simple; Nicolas remained quiet, letting me talk, as if there was nothing for him to worry about. I, on the other hand, would be on the offensive, making sure I looked upset at my parents’ death and not guilty. It wasn’t much, but it doesn’t always take much to switch around a conversation.

Only now, Devereaux was making a direct attack on me, and the logical reaction to this would be to retaliate. Which Nicolas did. “I dislike what you imply about my granddaughter, detective. And you should be aware that I do not respond well to allegations cast randomly on people whom are dear to me.” He waved a hand to silence what the detective was going to say. “I am truly saddened that the one responsible for this crime has not been caught, but I will not sit here and tolerate you incriminating my granddaughter because you lack the skills to uncover the real criminal. Now,” he stood from his chair, “come Crystal, and let us leave this horrible place.”

I wanted to do more than that; I wanted to kiss him for turning around the tables like that. But I resisted the urge, getting off my chair, all the while watching Devereaux’ face turn scarlet at the insults. I followed behind Nicolas, and was stopped just as I reached the door.

“This isn’t over, miss. I know you’re guilty of something; it’s just a matter of time before I figure it out.”

I spoke to him, although not looking in his direction. “Best not be putting yourself in other people’s business, detective. Trouble gets even the best of souls.” And I walked out of the conference room.

***

I slammed my car keys onto the table. “I can’t believe that son of a-“

“Shh. No foul language needed.” Nicolas removed his coat and shoes, neatly placing them in the closet.

“I think he deserves it, actually. He took up three hours of our time for nothing! I could’ve been in bed by now!”

“Would you really?” he asked, scepticism in his voice.

I huffed. “I'm so tired I would've been had I been home!” I threw off my snickers.

He laughed softly. “Do not waste any more of your precious time thinking about him. We must simply be careful to not expose ourselves outside of the house; I have a feeling he will be watching us.”

“Yeah, I know,” I mumbled.

“Good. Now, if you will excuse me, I find myself craving a night snack.” He bent slightly and kissed my forehead. Good night to you, little one.”

I momentarily forgot about the evening. “Good night.” I smiled as he moved rather quickly to the kitchen. Guess he was really hungry. But that was okay, because I was really getting tired.

So I made my way up to my bedroom, realizing halfway down the hallway that the door stood ajar and the light was on. I made my way to the door, making sure to be quiet. When I saw Tony’s figure sprawled over my bed, talking on his cell phone, I let myself relax. For some reason I’d been really afraid it was someone there to kill me. Again.

But I hesitated to go into the room since I could hear Tony was into heavy conversation. I decided to listen in, instead. “...up? No, I won’t.” There was a slight pause. “Don’t even think about it... I don’t care what you what! Forget it! I’m hanging up now.” There was a distinctive sound of a cell phone flap closing.

Wonder what he’s mad about. Since he was finished, however, it was useless to eavesdrop. “You done?” I asked, coming into the bedroom.

He started, looking somewhat like a kid being caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “U-um yeah.” He lifted himself enough to sit cross legged.

“Who was it?”

“Aaron,” he sighed. “People are ridiculous sometimes. They just go through whatever plan they got without taking the time to think things over.”

“Oh?” I didn’t really know what to answer to that, not knowing what he was talking about.

He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter; it’s just some stupidities. So,” he turned on a let’s-change-the-subject smile, “how did it go?”

I decided to let him of the hook; I dropped the subject. “You knew I was going?”

He nodded. “Nicolas had warned me you’d need to go soon, I told him it’d be best to wait a little while still.”

“Oh. Well it went... okay, I guess.” I threw myself onto the bed, exhaling noisily.

He chuckled. “You sure about that?”

“No. It was long; he had me tell him the whole story twice, made me look at hundreds of pictures, asked me stupid questions and all for nothing!” My anger was back in a flash.

“It’s quite normal, actually. You can’t really expect them to start searching for UBs.”

“If I weren’t so exhausted right now, I’d ask you what an UB is.”

“If you weren’t so tired you’d realize I’ve already told you; unnatural beings.”

“Right. If you say so.” I crawled my way to my pillow.

“I do say so.”

I shoved my face into the pillow. “Oh, be quiet so I can sleep,” I muttered.

There was a shift in weight on the bed as he moved to whisper in my ear. “As you wish, Princess.”