Body, Mind and God

Chapter 20: Diana

Chapter 20: Diana

The officer's incessant questioning was beginning to bore Diana. It was all the boring, over-repeated questions that everyone was getting, and  frankly, Diana wasn't impressed at their ability to discern decent information. If she had been in charge, Diana was sure she would have had the necessary information an hour ago. But as it was. they were all still standing on the gravel road to the lake, slowly freezing as a breeze picked up, and waiting for something - anything - to happen to break the monotony. Diana checked her watch. 4.23pm. Parents would be expecting these kids home any minute now, unless they had already been told, which was unlikely given the disarray that the large group of students had thrown the police into.

"Miss Diana. Can you tell me exactly how you escaped the hut, please." Her interrogating officer, a balding man in his late forties with a clichè policeman potbelly, asked her. She sighed, and prepared to lie her way out of this. And then it hit her. She didn't have to tell him anything!

"What about my right to an attorney?" She asked petulantly, angry with herself that she hadn't thought of this earlier. The officer looked stunned,

"Considering the circumstances, and the fact that you are a victim here, why would you need an attorney?" He shot back at her.

"Who said need? I would like to speak to a lawyer, and you have no right to question me without one. I don't have to be here at all. There are no charges against me, and even if I was under arrest, you haven't read me my Miranda rights, which, if I'm correct, makes everything I have said so far invalid in a court of law. In fact, that makes everyone's statements invalid." Her rant ended when she saw defeat in the officers eyes.

"Damn kids and their CSI shows." The cop muttered, before admitting that she could dismiss herself, and going to speak to his supervisor.

Diana, relieved that she hadn't had to tell the cop any lies, walked over to Basira, who was stuttering through her interview, lacing the truth with lies in a web so complex that it would be damn near impossible to sort it all out later. It was impressive, but not really helpful.

"Basira." She interrupted her ally. The female officer interviewing Basira turned to her with a murderous glare. It clearly said 'shut up an leave', but Diana wasn't intimidated. When she didn't move, the cop finally spoke.

"What do you want?" She said, her tone cold.

"I want to talk to Basira." She told the cop, and started pulling her away.

"That's too bad. She is under investigation at the moment. Please leave." This woman wasn't giving up. Di turned to Basira instead.

"Did she read you your Miranda rights?" Diana demanded. Basira shook her head, no. "Then you don't have to do anything. She can't legally be interviewing you, so you can leave if you want." She stole a look at the cop and saw her jaw drop open. Had these so called 'professionals' really not thought of this already? She proceeded to pull Basira away without any more objection. 

"So you wanted to talk?" Basira asked Diana when they were out of earshot of the cops.

"Yeah. We need to get our story straight about what happened in the hut." Diana explained.

"Do Aren and Dulucie know already?" Basira asked, obviously confused as to why they wern't present. Diana shook her head.

"Not yet. I was just going to spring them too. Do you want to come with me, or wait here?" Diana asked.

"Wait here." Basira said. "You go sass out some cops for me though." They both laughed and Diana left to spring Duluice. Aren could wait. 

As she approached where Dulucie was being interviewed, she ran over what she would say in her head. But 'you don't have to talk to her anymore.' didn't sound as impressive as she'd like. When she reached them, she still didn't know what she'd say, so she ad libed.