Panic Room

Chapter 14: 'Claire Clark'

Kira walked Juno back out of the interrogation room, the annoyance she felt at him making her petty enough to watch his every move. Along with her suspicions that even if they weren't involved with this murder specifically Leona and Juno weren't exactly good law abiding citizens.

As they reached the main room where everyone was now being held, she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

Leona seemed to be looking around at everyone, analyzing them slowly before seeing the detective, and merely smiling at her sweetly.

"That can't be good." Kira muttered glancing over at Juno who was also staring at the girl.

Kira tore her attention away from the two, seeing Officer Crystal was watching over them close enough for her to not worry. She scanned everyone, her eyes landing on Claire, who was standing a good distance away from Axel, the two seemingly having a fight made of nothing but silence.

"Claire, it's your turn." She stated loudly, grabbing everyones attention as Claire seemed to snap out of her glaring trance with Axel.

"Ohhhh I see, leaving your crush for last cause you don't suspect her at all. Great Detective work." Juno said, laughing a bit, Kira looked over to Officer Sachhi who nodded, quickly directing Juno over to where the other suspects were.

As Claire made her way over to where Kira was, she passed Juno, who gave her a small wink.

Kira blinked once or twice, wondering if she'd imagined it, then realizing she didn't when Claire shook her head, a pink tint on her face.

She looked away, masking her emotions quickly as Claire approached.

"Come on, this way." She said, trying to keep her voice as monotone as she could while leading Claire away, the other officers knowing Kira could handle her on her own.

As they reached the room, Kira held the door open for Claire, who gave her a weak smile as she entered the room.

They both sat down quiet, both seemingly not knowing what to say.

Kira sucked in a breath, looking over at the girl in front of her.

She hit the record button quickly, giving no warning.

"Claire Clark, you are a suspect for the murder of Zakou Rosales Mena. Anything you say can and will be used against you in this case as evidence for any reasons. Ready?"

Claire hesitated for a second, seemingly shocked before nervously giggling.

"Kira, are we really doing this? Come on, you know me. I'd never purposefully hurt anyone like that, let alone murder anyone."

"What was your relationship to Zakou, Ms. Clark?" Kira said, taking in a deep breath as she tried to ignore the partially hurt, and partially annoyed look on Claire's face.

"Kira you know-"

"Its Detective Kira, and please answer the question, Ms. Clark."

Claire stared at her, pushing some of her hair back as she scoffed slightly.

"He was my rival. We both would always go against each other in almost everything money and show wise. He put on plays, I sang. Honestly, it was good publicity, got us both more attention, which means more money. I had, and have no reason to kill him."

Kira nodded, writing down a note or two before clearing her throat a bit.

"Why'd you decided to come to this party tonight?"

"My friend Mimi convinced me, I'm not sure why I got the invite though. If I was to guess it would be to show people that he wasn't a bad person, inviting his rival and all to his 'exclusive party.'"

Claire seemed to pause, glaring up at Kira, but keeping her head low.

"Also because I heard an old friend of mine was going to be here."

Kira sucked in a breath, while she was used to Claire being petty, it normally wasn't directed at her. Claire then shrugged, flicking her hair back behind her shoulders.

"I guess I was wrong though."

Kira snapped her head up, both of them making eyes contact, Claire's eyes almost burning into hers it felt.

She felt a response waiting to come out and yet she held herself back again. She needed to stay professional, even with Claire.

"What's your relationship to Juno Castillo?" Kira asked, crossing her arms over her chest, watching to gauge Claire's reaction.

The short girl looked up to her, staring.

"Juno? I think I've seen him around once or twice, but otherwise we met tonight. I have no relationship to him." She said clear confusion seeping through her voice as Kira just watched her steadily.

"What are your feelings towards him?"

"Kira is this about him flirting with me while drunk? Are we still talking about the interrogation here?" Claire questioned, leaning back from Kira slightly as she shook her head a bit.

Shit. Kira didn't even realize she had got that off topic.

"I've noticed you two talking more than everyone else, I have reason to be suspicious of him, and with that, you too Ms. Clark."

"Right. Cause I'm just a suspect to you now."

Kira frowned at this, Claire was always frown for being a bit of a brat but this was a little out of hand.

"In this situation, yes Claire. Were talking about a murder here. We can let feelings get in the way of such an important case." She told her, only receiving an eye roll in return.

"Fine. My feelings towards Juno? He's strange. An interesting kind of strange, but strange nonetheless."

Kira hit the stop button on the recorder.

"Stay away from him Claire." Kira said flatly, jealously almost clear in her eyes.

"Why? I thought we couldn't let emotions get in the way of such an important case?" Claire said snarkily, huffing with her arms crossed as she looked away from Kira.

"Go back to the others."

"Wait, what?" Claire asked, her sarcasm vanishing as she looked at Kira with surprise.

"Kira-"

"We're done here. I have everything I need. Leave, you can walk back by yourself right?" Kira asked, refusing to make eye contact.

It was another few seconds before she heard the screeching of a chair being pushed back, along with quick footstep.

The room filled with silence as Kira was left alone.

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Unedited

Word Count: 1089

Ah! Were nearing the end of the story! I hope everyone is enjoying the ride that this books is! Make sure to vote and comment your thoughts! Id love to hear from you all! I hope everyone has a great day/night see you all next chapter! See ya!