The Beautiful Minds

Chapter 4

I dedicate this chapter to WannaFlyHigh . She is an amazing writer. Please check out her books if you already haven't :)

Rachel and Angela were shaken.

They sat next to each other in the interrogation room. The girls sat on one side of a table while Ronny sat on the other side. Patrick was watching through a glass enclosure. For some reason that Patrick didn't understand, Ronny wished to question them together.

Meanwhile, Rachel felt more miserable than ever. She would be the last person in the world who would want Richard dead and she had no clue how to prove it . The tongue and the bloody graffiti had only made it worse.

She looked around at the place. It was quite similar to the inquiry rooms she'd seen in Castle and Mentalist. It was pretty dark with a dim bulb glowing right at the top of her head. A fairly huge table with weak legs were in between, separating Angela and her from the Chief.

Ronny cleared his throat and smiled at them. "You look a little anxious. Would you like to have a chewing gum?" He said and handed each of the girls a boomer. They looked at each other, puzzled.

"It's just to calm you down" he assured with a friendly grin and the girls accepted the offer.

"So, Rachel, tell me, how do you know Richard?"

She sniffed. "He was my classmate"

"Was that all?"

Rachel looked at him, in the eye. "We were in love"

"Has he annoyed you? Anytime?"

"Well, yeah. But those were trivial. Like, being late for a date and not replying to messages. Otherwise, he was very understanding"

"Hmmm" said Ronny, itching his moustache. "If I'm not invading your privacy, why did he break up with you?"

A tear trickled down her cheek. "I don't know"

Ronny shot a suspicious glare.

"I swear I don't know. He came up to me three days back and said he wanted to break up. I know this sounds crazy but this is what happened..." She peeped into his badge, "Chief Jones"

"You didn't ask him why?"

" I did. But, he wouldn't say"

"Fine. But ,you should know that we have enough evidences to claim you guilty. You lie, it'll end up as a snare against you"

"For heaven's sake , she is not lying" interrupted Angela.

Screw her, murmured Patrick. This girl was such a bomb.

"I'll come to you ma'am . I'll come to you" said Ronny as patiently as possible.

"So, Rachel where were you last night?"

"In my home, in my room"

"Anyone to corroborate it?"

"Me" chimed Angela. "I was with her"

Rachel glared at her for a brief second and Ronny took notice of that.

"All right, so Angela, you being like Rachel's sister, can you describe how she was and how she felt when Richard broke up with her?"

"She was shattered. Torn into a thousand pieces. I've never seen her so hurt before. That guy broke her heart"

"So, you killed him as an act of revenge?"

Angela stared daggers. Patrick couldn't curb a smile.

"Excuse me?! Neither Rachel nor I would do something as cowardly as that, Chief Jones. If we really wanted him to pay for what he did we'd do things boldly when the sun shines, in front of a thousand people and not in darkness and quiet."

"But Richard 's cut off tongue and blood were in your kitchen. Our DNA tests confirm that it's Richard's blood. How do you explain that?"

Angela lightened up, like something supernatural had dawned on her.

"Maybe it was Derek" she said.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Him?"

"Yeah that guy is such a crazy stupid creature. He'd do this"

"And who is that?" Ronny asked taking a deep breath.

"He is another guy from our college. Captain of the basketball team. He had a crush on Rachel and wasn't okay with the fact that Richard and Rachel were dating"

"Hmmm alright , so this guy is another suspect. Yet , your reasoning doesn't explain Rachel's last message to Richard . What is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?"

Rachel let down another tear. "It is an inside joke. I nicknamed that Oak tree as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because that's where he first said that he loved me"

"So, none besides you and Richard would know it, wouldn't they?"

"Oh come on, Mr. Jones" intervened Angela. "If Derek could kill Richard and sneak into our house to keep his tongue inside the oil jar and do some graffiti on the door, wouldn't he be bold enough to sneak into our room when we were sleeping , check out Rachel's conversations with Richard on her phone , find out what the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is and do the trick? Besides, if Rachel was the killer , she wouldn't be so dumb to leave the message undeleted! Don't you get it sir? She's been framed!"

Ronny stroked his moustache for a moment and then shrugged.

"I don't think so. It's more like you're trying to put the blame on him"

Angela let out a deep breath. "Yeah? Then, why don't you go ahead and prove it?"

For a long moment, Angela and Ronny fought wars with their eyes. Rachel's eyes darted between the pair of them wondering who would back off first.

Ronny smiled but his eyes didn't waver. "I'll question Derek anyway. Thanks for cooperating "

Rachel and Angel got up relieved. When they were about to leave the room, Ronny said, "you can use the trash can at the corner if you want to spit the chewing gum"

Rachel shot Angela a bewildered look. Angela shrugged, rolled her eyes and and spat the gum in the trash can. Rachel followed her.

Ronny noted where exactly each one's gum fell.

Ronny was still sat inside deep in thoughts when Angela caught sight of Patrick.

"Give me your number" she said.

"What?" Patrick asked, taken aback.

"What what? Don't you see we need protection? Chief Jones is a very busy man. So, we'll call you if we encounter any danger..." She peeped into his badge "Mr.Johnson"

Patrick knew he had no choice. He handed Angela his number."Thank you" she said and got into the car with Rachel.

He watched as the car departed. There was something about Angela that didn't make him feel normal. Right from the first time they had argued, first time they had eye contact, this girl had proved to be a bomb.

And Patrick Johnson had a beautiful mind.

********
So, hey guys!! That brings us to the end of this chapter!! I want you know that this book won't be about murders and investigations alone. You'll find sentiments, love and friendship as well because it is these things that make every life complete.

So, what do you think will happen next? Will Patrick fall for Angela?

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