Lexington And Fifth

Chapter 12: The Confession Part 1

The conference room for which Ella, Greg and Nina sat seemed to be suffocating Ella. She closed her eyes and took quick breaths to calm herself, trying to wrap her head around the fact that another former friend of hers was now dead. Not only that, but they had both been involved in the death of Andrew Ingram, and the other one was sitting just a few feet from Ella. She'd never been claustrophobic in general, but the stress of the situation seemed to be taking it's toll on Ella, and it was only with the reassuring squeeze of Nina's hand that she felt any sort of comfort.

"What's taking so long?" Greg mumbled, his head in his hands, (most likely nursing a hangover, as far as Ella could tell), and his body was perspiring in the small room, bring a rather pungent smell with him.

"Connor and our lawyer will be here soon. Once they get here we can try to help the police," Nina replied, staring ahead at the wall of the room and tapping her free hand on the large conference room desk.

"Why do we need that asshole's lawyer? We didn't do anything, so we don't need his help," Greg replied.

"Has that drinking fried the last of your brain cells Greg?" Ella asked. "First of all, never go into a police stationed to be questioned without a lawyer, even if you're innocent. Secondly, Kate and Raymond were both murdered, and the only connection they shared anymore was their past with Andrew's accident."

"That was eight fucking years ago. I'm so tired of hearing about that damn kid..." Greg began to say.

"Shut the fuck up Greg. You don't get to say his name," Nina spat, shaking her head and making Ella smile at her friend finally finding the strength to put Greg in check. Greg shook his head, and continued looking down at his feet, as if the floor held some fascinating artifact that he couldn't take his eyes off of.

"Ella?" a voice asked from behind them, and they turned to see Connor and a couple of lawyers standing behind him. Ella stood up and hugged Connor fiercely, never happier to see him than she was in that moment.

"I'm so fucking glad you're here. I can't believe this. Raymond..." she began to stammer as she clutched his nice suit in her hands.

"I know, Bryce told me when he called. I'm so sorry babe. Listen, Helen and Victor here are two of the best lawyers my company employs. No one answers a question without running it past them first. You guys have nothing to worry about, but we don't want any false accusations here, so let them do what they're paid for, and get through this. Understand?"

Nina and Ella nodded, while Greg mumbled something that might have resembled an agreement. Finally, the lawyers sat, along with Connor next to Ella, and a police detective walked in. She was breathtaking, and broke all the preconceived notions of what a female detective looked like, which she learned from years of watching police procedural s.

The woman, Victoria Ridley, was tall, with flowing black hair and warm brown eyes. Her half-Asian, half-Caucasian heritage giving her a fair skin tone, she wore a pantsuit and black boots with no heel. She walked in with an air of both confidence and remorse, as if sensing the air of trauma in the air.

"Hello everyone, thank you for coming down here. My name is Detective Ridley with the Anaheim Police Department, and I'm here to talk about the unfortunate deaths of both Kate Saunders and Raymond Decker, both of whom were former acquaintances of yours, am I correct?"

"That's correct," Ella replied firmly, after a nod from their lawyers.

"Well first off, let me say you have my heartfelt condolences. A death is never easy, let alone two. We'll try to get through this as painlessly as possible. Now, how long had you known the deceased?"