A Just Cause.

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

It was cold in the interrogation room. It was dimly lit inside, and the air was thick with tension. I had never expected myself to be sitting here, on the other side of the table. How the tables have turned now. I could feel the tension behind the reflective glass between all the other officers and detectives discussing how I was to be dealt with. It was going to be a long day; I could already feel myself being worn out by all the lies I had to keep up with.

"I'm telling you, I had to do it! You think I would've done this out of free will?" I yelled out in frustration. I realized the key to lying was to believe you weren't.

"Calm down, Armstrong, no need to raise our voices here." the officer replied back. This just made me more frustrated.

If I counted correctly, around 8 hours had passed before I was released from the interrogation room. It might've been the most dreadful hours of my life. However, I was allowed more privileges than any other criminal since I was an officer who had a reason to do what I did.

From the time I had called the police to notify them of what I'd done, I had already developed a story to stick by.

While the scene of it all was chaotic, I knew that I could stay alive through it all if I had played it smart. I was trembling in fear when four police vehicles showed up, with all of the sirens blaring. I remember the exact screams from the officers, demanding me to get on the ground. This was an experience I thought I would never go through, getting arrested by my own coworkers.

The story I had formed out was complex, and I was quite proud of how well it worked. Since Sarge had told me to only trust her during the investigation, I decided that she would be the one not to be entrusted. Which was a strategic move in the end, considering she was going to mess up my whole plan. My original plan was to frame another student, preferably Lucas. I thought of him as the perfect fit. However, as Sarge became more of a problem as time passed, I realized I had to replace Lucas's position with Sarge's. While I was inside the interrogation room, I explained that Sarge had utterly fooled me the whole time and had me do all types of things to cover up the murder she had committed rather than investigate the case. I supposed the only exceptional explanation for it was that I had been fooled by her in the beginning, thinking that I was in the position to complete her orders, but it turned out she was using me as a tool the whole time.

"Well, just continue to wait here, and I'll come back in as soon as we have something to make a verdict on," the officer told me as he was walking out of the room, "you need any water or anything?"

"No, I'm all good; thank you, though," I replied innocently.

As I sat there, with my arms placed on my lap, I was worried. My heart had been racing more and more as the interrogation went on. I was sweating bullets. Some people tend to let their bad habits out when they are nervous, and mine was picking the skin around my fingers. I waited and waited, anticipating what could possibly be the outcome of this situation, picking on my finger. Around four hours had passed when the door swung open once again; when the officer came in, a tall man followed. The first thing I noticed was how tight his pants were; they were almost like leggings. He wore a brown overcoat and formal clothes, which meant he wasn't just another police officer. Although I was even more worried now, I knew some of the tactics already, which meant it was just up to how well I could keep my composure.

"Pleased to meet you, Charlie," said the man in the coat with a friendly smile, "my name is Thomas Killian." He had his hand out, and I could notice they were worn out, similar to working hands.

"Nice to meet you, too," I replied.

"You probably know why I'm here, isn't that right?" he asked in an annoying tone.

"I suppose so, Thomas. Have you heard what I've told everyone else in the other room yet?" I inquired.

"Yes, of course, I have," he said, "but, however, I would like to hear it from the man himself before I move on and make any important decisions."

"Uh-huh," I mumbled, showing suspicion in my body language, "you know– it feels like you guys actually think I'm the bad guy in the situation– I mean, come on- I've been telling you, people, for hours now! How about you go digging on Sarge's tracks!" I yelled confidently.

He took a deep breath, creating so much tension that I wanted to get up and tear this man apart into pieces. His face is blank, which I had expected to be. It was just a way to make the criminals that sat on this side of the table feel more pressure than they were already feeling. I was pretending to be in shock still since any average person would've after killing their closest mentor. I had to sell this, or I was going away for a long time.

He begins to spread the file he was holding in his hands, revealing photos of Sarge's dead body, still sitting in the driver's side of her vehicle.

After a long pause, Thomas starts to speak again.

"Come on, buddy... let's be realistic here. You killed the Sergeant, stabbed a hole in her neck, and you are now telling me that the Sarge had been threatening you to cover up her murder of a high school student?" he said, as his voice got louder and louder, "do you think we are out of our minds?" I despised when people thought they were always one step ahead of me. They would always pretend like they had everything figured out and got too cocky. A group of fools was what I had thought of them.

My planning had always been perfect, and if they weren't as impeccable as they were, I would've gone away a long time ago. Ever since I had called Sarge a couple weeks ago, sitting by the bench near Brownsville High, asking about the undercover role, I had calculated all the possibilities that could have occurred, even the ones that weren't a part of my original master plan.

I was in possession of the murder weapon, the one that I used for the killing of Julian, the student. I had it in my apartment the whole time and used it to filet that salmon I had purchased from the fish market, now that I remember.

"I want a lawyer."