My Ex's Ex

ELEVEN (part II)

"I want a lawyer!"Mr Fringe screamed at Charlotte for the fifth time.

"And you will get one, just answer a few questions and..."Charlotte started before Mr. Fringe cut in.

"I am not saying anything without my lawyer."Mr Fringe said and looked away like an angry child.

Charlotte was about to say something, but James cut in. Before this, he hadn't said anything since they started interrogating Mr Fringe.

"Mr Fringe, I know you don't want to say anything before your lawyer gets here," James started, "and to be honest, that may be smart on your part. But I want you to fully understand the gravity of your situation. All evidence points towards you, and right now, you are at the risk of going straight to court with all this evidence. Now, you may say you want to wait for your lawyer and that's okay, but that just means this case will be taken to court and you will most likely end up in jail with the evidence pointing at you. Or, you could just answer our questions and we could decide if you're guilty or not."

Immediately, James was half-through his statement, Charlotte knew he had broken through to Mr Fringe. Once James was done, they only had to wait for 2 minutes in silence before Mr. Fringe eventually broke.

"I didn't do it!"he shouted frantically, "I know it looks bad, but I didn't do it. You have to believe me!"

Sweat was dripping down his whole face at this point. His eyes were bloodshot from stress. His lips were trembling. He was shaking badly.

To Charlotte, those were all symptoms of a guilty person who knew he was caught.

"Well, I want to believe you, Mr Fringe, but you have to give me a reason to. Why should I believe you?"James replied.

"Look, it's all, it's all really bad timing. I was not there when the murder happened. I left at 10:30. My wife found the body at 11. 30 minutes was more than enough for a killer to do his work. I had nothing to do with it. You've got to believe me."He said.

"If that's your alibi, it's not really good," Charlotte said, "where's your proof? "

"I swear! I swear on my mother's life! I had nothing to do with the girl's death. I swear it!"Mr Fringe replied, his eyes darting frantically between James and Charlotte.

"If we accepted swears as proof, everyone would go scot free, wouldn't they?"Charlotte replied.

"Look," James said, "we found your fingerprints in her house. Why is that?"

"Well, I was there that night, of course, it was there."Mr Fringe replied.

"They were in her bedroom."

There was silence for about a minute, and Mr Fringe stared at James before bowing his head in what Charlotte thought was defeat? Wait, shame?

"I made advances on Miss Lily," then quickly added, "months before the murder though."

Charlotte couldn't help the disgust she felt towards him at that moment. He was a disgusting old cheat. Oh, his poor wife.

"She just moved to the estate and she was always nice to me so I thought she liked me or something ", Charlotte mentally vomited as he said that, "so I asked her out and she thought I was joking so she laughed".

"Aren't you married?"James asked, voicing out Charlotte's thoughts. But Charlotte could sense an undertone in that sentence even though he tried to make it seem neutral; Disgust. Jealousy.

Mr Fringe just bowed his head in what Charlotte hoped was shame.

"Well, I told her I wasn't joking, so she said she didn't like me and started avoiding me. So one day, I went to her house and her maid came to the door and told me she was resting upstairs in her room so I went to her room but she was in the shower so I waited for her in the room and I looked around, so I'm sure that's why my fingerprints were there."

"When was that?"Charlotte asked

"First of this month"

It checked out with what Lily's dad had said. Lily probably met Mr Fringe in her bedroom and got angry, hence why her father saw them arguing on the staircase. Mr Fringe was disgusting.

"Why were you in her house the night of the murder then? Did she agree to your advances?"James asked

"No, she didn't. I went to try for the last time, and she sent me out."

"What you've told us is still not enough to prove your innocence, Mr Fringe."

"But I swear, I'm telling the truth. I really am."

"Look," Charlotte said, "You'll be offered a reduced sentence if you just confess now."

Mr Fringe burst into tears.

"Please. I'll lose everything. It's not me, I swear. If I knew something, I'd have told you, please. "

"You should call your lawyer," James said calmly, " You'll still be detained here for a while. Well, at least till you confess. "

"Please! Please! It wasn't me! My wife! Please! "Mr Fringe screamed as James and Charlotte left the interrogation room.

"So, do you think it's him?" Charlotte asked James as soon as they were out of the room.

"To be honest, I can't tell, just that he's a disgusting old man."

* * * * * *
James sighed heavily as he lay on his bed to sleep. To be honest, he didn't just want to say anything to Charlotte, but he believed the man was innocent. He was a creep, sure, but James had a gut feeling that told him the man was innocent.

As he picked up his phone from his nightstand to scroll through, he saw the paper the server from this morning at the cafe had put in his package, the paper containing her phone number.

James had an internal battle within himself that lasted 30 seconds on whether or not to text her and "text her" won.

James: Hey. Um, idk if you remember, but you gave me your number this morning

Dazzle: oh heyyy. Ofc i remember. I don't give my number out every day, yunno lol.

James: yeah ofc, how are you?

Dazzle: I'm alright. How are you too? How was your day?

James: Great, thanks. My day was a bit hectic, but at least it's over now. How was yours?

Dazzle: it was great, too. It was nice meeting you today! I thought you looked really nice so I wanted to get to know you more.

James: it was nice meeting you too. Thank you! You looked great, too.

Dazzle: Thank you. Umm, I'm off to bed. But will you be dropping by the cafe tomorrow?

James: I'm not sure, but I doubt cos tomorrow will be hectic.

Dazzle: Oh well! Guess I'll see you another day!

James: Of course!

Dazzle: All right, good nightt.

James: night.

Another chapter up! Do y'all ship James and Dazzle? Or James and Charlotte. Let me know in the comments below!

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