Red String (CAMREN)

Chapter 3

"Do you happen to know Lauren Jauregui?"

"No, I don't." Ally said quietly as she kept eye contact with the brown skinned woman. She found the force to ask, "Was it her who hit our car?"

"Unfortunately no. We've questioned Ms. Jauregui and we found that the car was reported stolen two weeks ago by her. According to Ms. Jauregui and other witnesses, the night when you were crashed, she was at her office." The dark haired detective replied.

"We've asked for Mr. Bracey's statement too and there's not much of it." Detective Hamilton began, "Do you remember anything at all from the accident? The characteristic of the person behind the steer... anything that'd help us." She asked softly, hoping what Ally was about to say would give her a clue of the driver.

"Well, it was quite dark when our car hit the tree; I was awake for a minute. I vaguely remember seeing someone from the rearview mirror—tall, wearing a black hat—I didn't see much, only the back side of the person." Ally explained with a quietly tone as the detective scribbled it on a note.

"That's it? I need you to remember more, Ms. Hernandez." Detective asked again, trying to gain more information out of the hospital-dressed woman. Ally closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.

"How about you tell us why the car was burned?" Camila questioned rather impatient, seeing Detective Hamilton seemed inconsiderate that her friend was lying in bed, possibly tired and definitely in pain, yet here she was being questioned.

Detective Hamilton turned her attention to the brunette and said, "As of now we still don't have a clue as to why the car was burned. It could be another accident that caused the explosion, thus the fire,"

Camila cut her, "You're assuming, detective. My best friend was hospitalized for God's sake. How come you didn't have a clue?" She exclaimed. She began to feel aggravated by this as Ally reached her hand, giving her a little squeeze to calm her down.

"It's called making possibly scenarios of a case. We're working based on facts which are evidences," Detective Hamilton justified in a calm tone, sighing. "Look, ma'am-"

"It's Ms! I'm not married yet."

The detective rolled her eyes, "Look, Ms," She said again, emphasizing the word Ms. "I understand you wanna know what happened and who the driver was exactly as much as we do, trust me. We're doing an investigation. Our forensic team has already gathered as many evidence as we could from the scene; finger prints, DNA, foot prints, records, anything that could give us a lead."

Finally feeling a bit calm, Camila nodded. She realized she acted ridiculous; the officers were working their best. The least she could do was to not give the woman a hard time.

Seeing the brunette had calmed herself, Detective Hamilton said, "Here," she said, holding a card for Ally. "You can call me on this number if you remember anything else."

—

The next day went by slowly. Camila came early as usual, did her morning routine before the class started, even though she always made a point of leaving the class as tidy as possible. The students were engaged in class as she gave them the day's lesson and assignments that eliciting groans from students and a few heads fell on the desks.

It was after the fifth period that Camila headed to cafeteria. She didn't pack anything for lunch, so she decided to just grab something from there and got back to class for she had stack of papers to grade. Walking down the hallway, entering the cafeteria, the sight of students across the room and lined up to order their meals greeted her—to which Camila joining in the line.

Camila was in a conversation with a couple students as they waited for their turn. It felt good having her students talk to her, open up to her. Because she knew not every students could do the same with their teacher. She tried to understand her students' mind and what a better way than by talking, but she also tried to not cross the boundaries.