Detective Crawford

12

Naomi was working in her apartment, so Megan rang the intercom.

"Hello?" Came a pleasant female voice.

"Hello, Naomi, I'm Megan Crawford, detective, and I have a few questions for you."

The door opened and Megan went up to the floor she needed. She knocked on door number 41. Looking at her wristwatch, it was 1:38 p.m. A pleasant woman answered. Looking at her appearance, Megan assumed Naomi was the same age as herself. Naomi was blonde like Megan, had green eyes and a charming smile.

"Hello again."

"I'm sorry, but I'm expecting a visitor any minute, so I suggest you come inside and wait a while if you have anything you want to know."

Megan was surprised. Something wasn't right. The city was buzzing with news that Stella had been murdered, yet her psychologist was still waiting for her. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened. There was a murder out of every hole, and the person who was most definitely close to the victim didn't know she was gone. Megan was on alert. She needed to sniff around, she thought as she tucked her ID back into her jacket pocket.

"Okay," Megan smiled back, friendly.

Walking into Naomi's house, she felt as if she were in a hospital. White walls, minimalist style. It scared Megan a little. Naomi led the "visitor" into the living room and sat down across from her on a white chair. Megan sat on an equally white couch. A little snow-white dog ran up to Megan. Everything was crazy white and shiny. There were no cobwebs, no dust particles. Megan called the dog to the couch, next to her, and the dog jumped up with its clean paws and sniffed Megan.

"Oh, that's Jesse, a very smart dog."

Megan just looked at Naomi with bulging eyes and a silly smile. The psychologist was sitting up straight, her legs turned slightly to the side, her arms folded, and her head held high with a Hollywood smile on her face. Megan felt like she was sitting in an insane asylum.

"Ahem..." Megan cleared her throat, "May I ask who you're expecting?"

"A visitor was supposed to come." Naomi glanced at the wall clock. "Probably some problem that's delaying him."

The crazy smile disappeared from Naomi's face. Her eyes darted around the room, afraid to meet the detective's. Megan studied the psychologist's face carefully. Licking her dry lips, she finally asked:

"You know, although I'm not a psychologist, I can tell you're lying to me. Well, are you going to tell me? "

"Why did you come?" Naomi finally looked at her.

"It's my duty. Besides, I'm asking the questions here, so you'd better answer them. Start by telling me why Stella Nolan asked for your help."

"I can't tell you about my visitors. I'm not at liberty to do so."

"I'm not a police officer, but I work for the police, so it's in your best interest to talk about it. I promise you complete anonymity and safety, so just tell me."

Naomi exhaled and said:

"She came to see me three months ago. At the first session, she told me she thought someone was following her. I assured her that wasn't true, and we worked through it. Then a month and a half ago, she came to a session and started telling me that someone was trying to kill her."

"And you didn't believe her, of course?"

"I'm not a detective to check whether it's true or not. I assured her that she was just making it up. There are cases when a person with psychological problems starts to make things up."

"That was very unprofessional of you, you know that?"

Naomi began to get even more nervous. Her eyes darted around the room again.

"I can tell you're hiding something. If you don't tell me now, you'll tell me later, in front of a judge. So how long do I have to wait?"

"He came to see me last night."

"Who came to see you?!"

"I was sleeping and woke up to Jesse barking at someone. I opened my eyes, and he was standing in front of me. I couldn't see him because he was all black, wearing a hoodie, threatening me with a knife. He said that if I said anything to anyone about Stella, he would find out and kill me. And then he put a rag to my nose, and all I remember is that I felt dizzy, and I must have passed out. I woke up this morning with a terrible headache." Naomi's phone rang. "I'm sorry, it must be the clients calling." She picked up her smartphone and went to the bathroom.

As she looked around the apartment, Megan noticed a white handbag hanging near the entrance with something peeking out of it. This piqued her interest, so she quietly walked over to it and gently opened it. Megan found two photographs inside. One was of Whitney's house and the other was a mangled picture of Naomi. However, they had something in common, on the back of both photographs was a bold lettering that read "Next." At that moment, Naomi came out of the bathroom and caught Megan holding the two photographs.

"What are these?" Naomi asked, looking surprised.

"I should be asking you! These photos were in your bag!" She showed them to the woman.

"Do you think I did this?! Why would I deface a picture of myself?! I don't know where it came from!" Naomi cried out in panic. "Maybe it was planted on me!"

"That man came to your house last night...maybe he planted it..."

"On the back of my picture it says 'Next', what does that mean?" Naomi's hands were shaking and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"Let's just calm down and think this through."

"How can I calm down when I could be killed?" she screamed.

Megan ran into the bathroom and panicked, searching for a tranquilizer. When she found one, she gave it to Naomi and led the woman to the couch. She stuffed the photos into the back pocket of her jeans.

"Sit down and I'll decide what to do." Thoughts swarmed through her head, making it impossible to think clearly.

"I want you to help me, please." She slid off the couch and knelt down in front of Megan, folding her hands in a pleading gesture. "I'm too scared to stay here."

"Hey, Naomi, get up." Megan lifted the psychologist, but she wouldn't budge.

"Please! He's going to kill me now. Take me with you.

"Naomi, calm down, no one is going to kill you."

"No, no, no. You don't understand. He's going to do to me what he did to Stella." Naomi cried and pleaded.

Megan was at a loss, she wanted to help the woman, but she had to be careful.

"Naomi, I'll tell you what, you cancel all your sessions, and I'll find you a hotel near the police station, and I'll make sure you're safe.

"Yes, yes. Thank you very much. I can't thank you enough."

"This will be a favor to you. You will tell me all the details of your sessions. Okay?""Okay."

"Then pack your things and tell me."

Naomi set to work and began to talk.

"The first session was 3 months ago." Naomi was running around the house and telling me. "She came to me for help because she saw the same person in the same cities she was in. I immediately realized that she was paranoid. I wasn't surprised, I've had many people come to me with this, so I prescribed her some antianxiety pills and continued our sessions. When Stella didn't go anywhere, she was calmer during the sessions, and her paranoia seemed to go away. But as soon as she went out with her friends and came back to the sessions, she would claim that someone was following her again. The worst thing happened a month and a half ago. After another night out, she came to the session and told me that someone wanted to kill her in a couple of...."

"Yes, I know the details."

"Well, I listened to her, thought that the girl was definitely not in her right mind. I gave her the number of a psychiatrist, but she didn't listen to me. So at the next session I took her to him myself. She passed a certain test, in other words, an assessment of her psychological health, and the psychiatrist concluded that Stella should go to the police. At each session I listened to her, gave her advice, encouraged her to go to the police or at least tell her parents, but she didn't listen to me. I don't know why, but she didn't go, I wanted to take her a week ago, but she didn't come."

"And that night the man came to you?"

"That's right, I was really scared." He put Jessie in a portable cage. "I stayed up all night thinking about how he got into my apartment and why he was speaking for Stella. I didn't think about it until I turned on the TV in the morning and heard the news about the girl's death."

"Is that all?"

"Yes, I told you everything."

"Really? You haven't forgotten anything?"

"No," Naomi replied with confidence.

"If you think of anything, here's my number." Megan handed her her business card with her phone number. "By the way, why did you say at the beginning of our meeting that you were waiting for someone?"

"He said that if a woman came in and introduced herself as Megan and showed her detective's badge, I should pretend to be waiting for Stella. And then say in ten minutes that I got a text saying she wasn't coming in today. If you ask me anything, I should deny everything."

While Megan booked a taxi and a hotel room, Naomi waited dutifully and canceled her sessions. When Naomi was picked up 10 minutes later, Megan decided to go through her things a little. The white and cleanliness stung Megan's eyes. Everything was just so sickeningly white. It was easy enough to search, everything was clearly organized in its place. Naomi was definitely a perfectionist and had an obsessive-compulsive disorder. But even among all this cleanliness, she unfortunately found nothing. Locking up her apartment, Megan looked around the floor and saw a camera. Going down to the front desk, Megan asked to see the video from the cameras. The night before last, a man had indeed come in, dressed in black. He was exactly like the man she had seen in Stella's photos. His gait was reminiscent of someone, but Megan couldn't remember who. When he got to the 4th floor, he picked the lock of apartment number 41 and quietly entered it and left after 6 minutes. After copying the video to a flash drive, Megan left the building and looked at her wristwatch.14 :58. She still had time to get to Bella's. Starting the car, Megan smoked another cigarette and drove to Bella's.