Sarina Maxine

Tyler (Chapter 14)

"We need to act fast. If this phone has a tracking device, they can easily find out the phone was at the police station. They will take the boyfriend and his brother. We need to get to them first before they kill them."

"Kill them!?"

I looked at Sarina.

"This is the real deal. If you're caught by police, you are as good as dead", I said.

"Yeah...they don't play around", Remmy said.

"As soon as we have them, I'll skip over the scheduled interrogations so I can start on them right away", Miles said.

"Perfect."

"I'll head over to get the boy", Remmy said.

"I'll get the other guy", Josh said.

"Okay. Be safe. Things can go south quick", I said.

They both nodded before heading out. Miles also left to prepare for the interrogation. I got to work sending out officers to the houses of the two witnesses as well as getting someone to track down the numbers on the phone.

"Um...do I go home now?"

I looked up, I almost forgot she was still here.

"No. Just in case we need you to answer some more questions."

"Oh...okay, makes sense."

Quite a bit of time passed before I heard from Remmy and Josh. They've successfully apprehended the guys. Miles went to work questioning them. Miles is usually quiet and soft-spoken. He's a gentle giant but when it comes to interrogations, he scares just about anyone into confessing. I've only ever seen him do it once. He doesn't shout or use threats to make people talk, it's just something in him that scares people into spilling. He would even make me a little nervous and I'm not easy to scare.

As I waited, I took a moment to take a break. I haven't been taking care of myself lately. When I get assigned to cases like this, I end up putting myself last.

l leaned back in my chair again, letting out a deep breath. I could feel how stressed I am. It's not good for me to get too stressed, it makes it hard to keep myself together.

"Are you okay?"

"Hm?"

"You look tired so I thought...I was wondering if you were okay."

"I'm fine."

"Oh...okay."

She started humming quietly to herself to break the silence. I'm no social butterfly, especially with a kid. She doesn't seem like the type to get tangled up in this. I don't know all the details of how she got involved. It doesn't matter, she needs to find herself out of it as quickly as she got into it.

"Once we have what we need, I want you to go back to whatever you do. You have no business getting involved. It was good you brought this to our attention but...it's way too dangerous for anyone to be involved in. Just forget it ever happened."

She looked at me.

"It's easier said than done."

"Then make it easy", I did in a stern tone.

She stood up suddenly, looking me in the eye as she spoke.

"I can see it's time for me to leave. If you need anything, you can call", she said in a flat tone.

She then turned to head towards the door. I just sat there, watching her leave.

"Damn it", I whispered to myself.