Foxblood: Rise of the Hellion (WattyAward 2012 Finalist)

Part Eighteen

Sebastian gasped. “Excuse me! The what? You can’t be serious officer.”

The policeman’s eyes never deviated from Connor, now fully dressed and tucking his wallet into his back pocket.

“You don’t seem surprised, Mr Lovell. Care to tell me why.”

“Nothing surprises me anymore,” said Connor. “You wanna cuff me?”

He was giving himself up. Why? He didn’t do it. He couldn’t have done it…could he? I’d seen first-hand what Connor was capable of, and it hadn’t been pretty. But the murder of an innocent girl? No. I wouldn’t believe it.

“Cuffs won’t be necessary, as long as you cooperate. As I said before, we’re only making initial enquiries, but Miss Parker is not the first girl to have met her demise after spending time with you, is she, Mr Lovell?”

Marie! He was talking about Marie!

I couldn’t let him leave without protesting. “You can’t do this. It wasn’t Connor.”

The policeman rounded on me, his face inches from mine. “You know that for a fact, do you, miss? Have any proof?” He paused. “Perhaps you were with him last night?” he asked, rather sleazily.

My peripheral vision spotted Connor watching, and the baboon flashed its bum in my face again. I stood strong, out-staring the policeman, and trying not to wretch on the smell of his breath. “Tell him, Roc. Tell him he’s got the wrong man, that he’s making a mistake.”     

“No can do, Sophie. The attack has all the hallmarks of his kind.” I knew a look of warning had crossed my face at his candour. “Oh don’t worry, Sergeant Miller here—and Officer Cole for that matter (he nodded in the direction of the policeman stood in the doorway)—are fully sworn in members of OD13. They’re experts in cases such as these.”

Sergeant Miller stood down, sporting a cock-eyed grin and beckoned Connor to follow him.

I felt tears pool inside my eyes and I blinked them away. “If they’re such experts, why are they arresting the wrong man?”

Connor grabbed a jacket from the back of the door as he passed by me, then he paused, stepped back, took my face in his hands, and kissed my blubbering lips. At that moment, everyone else in the room ceased to exist and there was only us.

A tear spilled over.

“Don’t worry,” Connor whispered. “They can’t prove a thing. They’ll have to let me go. Be strong.”

And then he was gone.

Roc gestured to the departing men. “I’ll just be a few minutes here. Meet you back at the station, lads.”

My legs buckled and I slid down the wall, no longer able to stand. I was in shock. I was hurt. But most of all, I was angry. “How could you let them take him like that?” I wasn’t aiming the question at anyone in particular; they were both guilty in my eyes.