Today 15:00

"You are now free to go." The officer's voice inside my head feels so surreal. To be free feels so unreal. I grab my belongings from the bin labeled with my name and I pack them all up into my bag. I head out to leave when I hear a voice call my name and I stop to turn to face the person to the voice.

"Mary Roberts!" A man with a scruffy beard and a thin muscle structure runs over to me, but stops just about two feet away. "Hey! You came in with someone named Time right? It is a funny last name wouldn't you think so?" He comments with a snort and a giggle, he then pushes up his trusty, yet broken glasses that are still good as they begin to slide down the bridge of his nose.

"Hey Bob!" I smile at the man and give him a short and friendly wave. "Yes, I came in with them. Why do you ask?" I ask, adjusting my bag on my shoulder.

"Oh! Right!" He comments looking a little flustered. "My boss is questioning them now if you would like to come and watch. I know that we don't normally do that kind of thing, but I figured that you are a detective and all... so it should be fine.. Right?" He explains, looking at me with his wide eyes. "So... do you want to come with me to watch?" He finishes, sliding his glasses back up after they begin to slide down again.

"Uh.." I hesitate a bit, do I really want to see Charlie again? "Sure. Why not?" My smile grows slightly.

"Awesome! Now please follow me!" He comments swiftly with a wide grin and guides me to the interrogation room.

The room is about the size of a medium closet, it really is like a closet in some ways. The walls are painted in a dark grey colour and the floor tiles are in a lighter grey colour. There is a single beam light above which illuminates some light in the room, but overall it is simply just a dreary looking room. On the wall to the right of me is a window... except it is not a window, it is a one-way mirror. From this side we can see into the interrogation room, but the people on the other side can not see us. There are three chairs lined up against the wall to my right, that is about all the small room can fit in here.

I follow Bob into the room and we stand at the window to watch the interrogation between Charlie and another officer begin.

"So, miss Time.. is it okay to call you that?" The officer speaks, his voice is soft and calm. It is not the same officer that had interrogated me, but this officer did have a nicely trimmed beard and mustache like the last one had.

"That is fine. Today I suppose I am feeling more feminine." Charlie speaks, her eyes appear to be fixated on the officer as he speaks. Her hands are out and resting on the metal table in front of her and she wears handcuffs that are also restraining her to the centre of the metallic table.

"Alright, Miss Time, I will be asking you a series of questions and I will be recording this for the files. You may opt out of this at any time by requesting a lawyer or by pleading the fifth. And in that case, we will simply take you back to the cells until we can appoint you a suitable lawyer. Does that sound alright to you?" The officer speaks in a calm yet direct tone, his gaze is focused on Charlie and he has a smile on his face as well.

"Yeah. I guess that's alright. You can ask your questions now.. Or whatever. But I can't guarantee you'll like anything that I say." Charlie comes back with a sarcastic tone of sorts as she huffs and leans back in her chair. Her legs sprawl out in front of her and she does not appear to have any interest in being there right now.

"Okay. So let us begin, where were you the night in question?" He asks, his gaze focused on Charlie.

"I was out having the night of my life with my darling date, Mary Roberts." She speaks as though she had rehearsed that line over about a million times.

"Where did you go?" His tone is calm and unwavering. The intensity in the room grows as the two engage in an unintentional staring contest, with neither one wanting to give up.

"I do not remember. I drank too much and now it is all just a blur." Charlie replies, but something inside me makes me believe that that is a lie.

"Do you remember meeting Margret Jane? On the night in question?" The officer speaks, sliding a picture of the woman in question towards Charlie at a slow pace.

"No. I do not recognize her, nor do I recognize her name." Charlie comments as she takes about a second to glance down at the picture and then refocuses her gaze onto the officer.

"Do you wish to take another look? Maybe something will click if you look at it for longer than a mere second." The officer's tone begins to address a bit of anger. Yet his demeanor remains calm.

"No. But I suppose you want me to take another look." I can see her eyes narrow before she looks down at the picture in front of her. I can tell that she is trying hard to think about whether she knows the woman and whether she does if she wants to lie or tell the truth about it. "I do not know this woman." She looks back up at the officer and mimics his unamused yet calm expression.

"I see." He speaks and then he slides another image over to her, placing it next to the one already in front of her. This new image included the same woman from the first, but here, she is wearing a blue bow on top of her head, a blue tee shirt, and a black skirt. Except, in the new image, the woman is pictured on the floor and bludgeoned to death. "Does she look familiar to you now?"

"No. She does not." Charlie comments with a straight face, her eyes don't even glance down at the page to check out the image that was placed in front of her. I know she recognizes the girl, for I recognize the girl. It is the same woman that she thought I was meaning when I told her to look for something blue.

"Are you sure about that?" The officer speaks, "you did not look down at the photo, how would you know if you have seen her before if you don't look at it?" His voice raises slightly as his tone begins to sound a bit annoyed at Charlie.

"I am certain that I do not know this woman in this photograph!" Charlie snaps, pushing the papers off of the table with force and sending them flying towards the wall farthest from where I stand watching with Bob. "Don't you dare bring out another image of that woman! I will say the same thing I did for the other two. I do not know her and no amount of images or photographs will suddenly change that!" She growls with a raised voice, she glares directly at the officer as her posture is stiff yet proper.

"Fine. We'll move on. But you did not have to throw them on the floor." The officer comments in a soft tone, possibly trying to calm himself down as well. "This is Alex Ferret. Does he look familiar?" He asks as he pulls out a new image and slides it across the table towards her.

My eyes widen as I look at the image, it is of the drunk man from the club. I recognize him and so Charlie should too!

"I do not recognize this man either." She comments with a monotone voice. Her eyes do look down at the image in front of her, but her gaze does not stay there for long.

"Are you sure?" The officer asks again before he pulls out a fourth image and slides it slowly towards Charlie, placing it next to the third image that he had pulled out. "Does he still look unfamiliar to you? Or is this image clearer?"

Charlie looks down at the image and I can tell that she does in fact recognize the man, yet I can tell that she is deciding on whether or not she should tell the officer the truth. Because, in the second image, the man is shown decrepit on the floor with his neck slit open.

"This man does not look familiar to me either. And no amount of photos will change that either." Charlie speaks and pushes the photographs back towards the officer this time instead of whipping them off of the table like the first set of images that were placed in front of her.

"I see." The officer speaks in a calm tone again. "Then what would you say if I told you that we found your DNA on both of their bodies?" He leans forwards, casually getting closer to Charlie as his gaze intensifies.

"I would say that that is bullshit." Charlie speaks, also leaning in forwards to mimic his body posture and language. "That you probably planted it there to get a false confession out of me."

"Interesting." He speaks, "well then, how about the connection between you and Margret Jane and Alex Ferret."

"What connection? I told you that I do not know or recognize either of them. So what possible connection would I have to either of them?" Charlie comments, her voice begins to slowly rise a bit, annoyance begins to show in her tone as well.

"You see, we have noticed that you are rather fond of miss Roberts." The officer speaks, but Charlie cuts him off.

"So what? What does liking Mary have to do with any of this? Liking someone is not illegal! Otherwise I'm sure your mother would be arrested for liking your face that only she could love." She growls at the officer and I can tell that he is using everything that he has to not lash out at her as well.

"If you would let me finish." He speaks again, "we have noticed that you would most likely do anything for miss Roberts. Is this correct?" He asks, pausing for her opinion, possibly knowing that she would keep interrupting him if he did not pause and seek her input.

"Yes. I suppose. But who wouldn't die for their love? If you really love someone, then you have to really prove to them that you are worthy of their love too." She speaks, her gaze glances at the mirror, and for a moment I feel as though she is looking straight through the mirror right at me. Her gaze then shifts back to the officer and she lets him continue his statements.

"So, is it true that you killed both Margret Jane and Alex Ferret because both of them had done something mean to your love. And so, you got angry. You killed them because they hurt the one you loved and that made you angry, so angry that you were willing to kill them for it." The officer speaks, eyeing the now silent Charlie. "Is that true or is this now a whole bunch of bull crap that is being spewn to force you into making a false confession?" The officer asks, and deep in my heart, I know that they have got her.

"I am done answering your questions. I want a lawyer." Charlie comments with an unamused expression, her tone is soft, and I can see that she does not look happy.

"You know, only guilty people request lawyers." Bob speaks up, dragging my attention away from Charlie and onto him. "Which means we got her! No need to feel worried anymore, Mary! You should be safe from her now!" He comments with excitement in his tone.

I smile back at him and I nod, "Yeah. That is great!"

I turn back to look into the room, just in time to see another officer enter into the room to escort Charlie out of there and bring her back into the cells.

Charlie will be locked up. And I will be free. So... how come I don't feel good?

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Word Count: 2115