Chapter Three
NOW
“Could you please state your name for the record.”
The woman’s voice was less than feminine, tinged with a lilting Spanish accent, and reminded him of the way steel would sound if it could speak.
He returned her question with silence, his eyes staring intently down at his balled-up fists which were nestled tightly in his lap. The room was quiet with the only noises being a ticking sound coming from the clock on the wall and the humming of the decades-old air conditioning that wasn’t doing its job too well anymore.
“Your name?” she tried again, more forcefully this time around—if that were even possible. Her irritating tone jarred him from his thoughts and he peered up at her from behind his long lashes.
“You know my name.” His tone was clipped and void of any emotion.
The woman shifted in her chair, but her eyes never left his face. Her partner remained fixed in place, unmoving and unfazed by his unwillingness to cooperate.
“Perhaps you weren’t made aware of the seriousness of this situation.”
“Am I being charged?” he asked. But he already knew the answer to that and the silence from the officers only confirmed his suspicions. His lips lifted into a smug smile as his eyes drifted back down to his hands.
The female officer proceeded to sift through the envelopes on the table, taking out photographs in hopes of jarring a certain reaction from him. But his eyes didn’t shift as she had hoped. Their colour seemed drained and dull, as if faded somehow. Even his skin had lost its summer glow and appeared almost grey in the fluorescent lighting.
“We’re investigating the deaths of four individuals. All young men under the age of thirty.”
Her hands flitted over four A4 photographs that she adjusted carefully on the table like images from some grotesque shopping catalogue.
Her partner leaned in, placed his forearms on the table that separated them, and steepled his hands under his chin. The officer’s sudden movement caused him to look up quickly.
“Sir, apparently—” He paused on the word. “We have reasonable grounds to suspect your involvement in numerous indictable offences, involving one case of manslaughter and three of murder.” The officer’s tone was direct and forceful, but questioning at the same time as if he himself didn’t believe his accusation.
He fought a slight lip quiver, praying that the officers hadn’t noticed his reaction. The smugness gone, he opened his mouth to respond but no words came out.
“Well. It looks like we have your attention now…”