Innocence Unknown

Don't Lie to Us

A middle aged woman walked in, she showed no tiny sign of happiness, sadness, fear or joy, it was like she was made not to have emotions, actually maybe she was. Carlos recognised her, it was officer Sandy, the officer who arrested him. Carlos knew one thing, he was not going to make this an easy interrogation for her, he would make this time as torturous as hell for her, just like she had made five years of Carlos' life. According to Mrs Skiller, police officers are known as 'professional witnesses', meaning that it is expected for them to remain calm when testifying - they shouldn't have emotional breakdowns. Without being greeted, the officer sat in the chair opposite Mrs Skiller and Carlos, for some reason Mrs Skiller did not seem to show her soft side to Sandy, despite showing it to Mr Cooper and Carlos. Strange.

'Carlos this is officer Sandy, you many recognise her, she was the officer who arrested you and she did see the incident,' Mrs Skiller stated, showing an unwelcoming grin to the officer. 'So officer care to explain your side of the story?'

'I was on my daily patrol check, I had my good ear listening to the radio instructions from my operator, then I saw a woman in distress, from a distance so I immediately ran towards her, I saw two boys, one tall and one small, with knives holding her phone,' the officer began.

'Two?' Mrs Skiller questioned.

'Yeah, two.'

'What did they look like?' Mrs Skiller questioned.

'I dunno, I was watching from a distance,' Sandy did not show any sign of struggling with the pressure and intensity.

'Ok, carry on then,' Mrs Skiller responded, unconvinced. 

Sandy continued, 'So, I ran as fast as I could to chase down the boys, but they were too quick for me, they both ran round opposite corners, I decided to go for the smaller one, so once I turned round the corner, I saw Carlos, walking leisurely. He must have been confident that he had lost me, because he was in no hurry at all. I immediately went to arrest him, because he was small just like the boy I had seen, it had to be him. We managed to arrest the other boys and he is currently serving the same sentence as Carlos.'

'How could you be sure that it was me?' Carlos asked.

'Because I saw you do it,' Sandy smirked.

'But earlier when we asked you for the appearances of the two boys, you said that you didn't know them, because you were watching from a distance, so are you certain that the boy you saw was Carlos?' Mrs Skiller asked, eyes frowned and fists clenched, she was not playing any games today. 'Don't lie to us Sandy, we will catch you out.'

'I am sure, as I said before one boy was tall, the other was small, small like Carlos,' she responded, she used her hands to vigorously fan her head, which was starting to heat up after the pressure and intensity.

'I wonder how many small boys there are in this city,' Carlos knew that this woman was going to remain adamant, he needed to be devious and somehow catch her out.

'Well, I had to make a split second decision, I thought better safe than sorry, so I arrested him as soon as I could. I did not want to give him the chance to escape,' the officer began to hesitate and her legs began to shake.

'I could imagine you being in a very tense situation,' Mrs Skiller sarcastically remarked. 'You told us that Carlos was walking leisurely in no hurry at all, I can imagine you having bags and even suitcases of time to make a decision, but that's not the point. What I want to know is, why did you arrest Carlos if you were not certain?'

'Because there's more to it,' Sandy smirked, she loosened up a bit and exhaled a deep breath. 'The other boy, the tall one, called the other boy Carl, I'm sure Carl is short for Carlos and what is the likelihood of two boys both named Carlos, both of the same height, both in neighbouring streets?'

'It may be low, but are you sure that you heard the boy say Carl?' Mrs Skiller questioned, despite feeling confident before, this report from the officer could turn the whole case around.

'As sure as I could be.'

'Please could you describe what the tall boys is like in prison,' Carlos, was losing hope, but he had to try every trick in the book, he could not leave any stone unturned.

'Don't see the relevance, but sure, he's jolly and friendly with all the guards, staff and fellow inmates,' Sandy usually wouldn't have answered such an irrelevant question, but knowing that she was on top of the situation, she was in a good mood. 'He calls everyone pal.'

All of a sudden Mrs Skiller's face lit up, it was like someone had just electrocuted her, but her brain had suddenly woken up, hopes were low for her and Carlos, but they could not give up, Mrs Skiller was going to try one more plan and, oh boy, she was going to give it her all. She started, 'He uses the word pal a lot, I see, don't you think the words pal and Carl sound a bit similar?'

'No, they are two different words, I know what I heard,' the officer chuckled.

'Are you certain you heard Carl instead of pal?' Mrs Skiller once more questioned.

'Yes,' Sandy responded, adamant. 'Only a person with extreme hearing difficulties can't differentiate between pal and Carl and you certainly don't think that I have extreme hearing difficulties, do you?'

'Well, earlier you said you had your good ear listening to the operator, from your radio, am I correct?'

'Yes you are,' Sandy refused to admit that the lawyer was going somewhere with this, she was stubborn like a rock.

'What happened to your other ear?' The lawyer quizzed.

'I can't hear from it, it's a medical thing,' Sandy just brushed off the lawyer's words, nothing she said was going to change her opinion.

'Ok, got that,' Mrs Skiller got her hopes high again, she knew what to do next. 'You said that your other ear was listening on the radio to your operator, was it plugged into earphones, or anything?'

'Yes, it was,' all of a sudden, Sandy realised where Mrs Skiller was going with this, this wasn't looking good for her.

'So bearing in mind the tall boy uses the word pal a lot, which sounds like Carl, you had one ear occupied with earphones and the other not being functional and you were listening from a distance, how confident are you that you heard Carl instead of pal?' Mrs Skiller questioned, her hopes were high now. 'Sandy, don't lie to us.'

'Ok you got me, maybe he said pal, but remember I did see Carlos do it,' the officer took off her jacket; wiped the sweat of her forehead and took a sip of water.

'Ok, we are going back to this then are we?' Ms Skiller laughed. 'You really think that you saw Carlos do it, even though you told us you didn't know what the boy looked like.'

'Ok you got me.'

'So, how valid is your testimony,' Ms Skiller deviously asked, she glanced at Carlos, who enjoyed seeing this woman suffer.

'It's not valid.'

Mrs Skiller asked, 'What's not valid?'

'My testimony.'

'What is it not valid for?'

'The prosecution.'

'The prosecution of who?'

'Carlos Shapley.'

Mrs Skiller smiled in joy, 'Put it all in one sentence.'

'I, officer sandy, confess my testimony to be invalid for the prosecution of Carlos Shapley,' the officer reluctantly stated.

'Thank you for your time you may leave,' Mrs Skiller sarcastically remarked.

The officer angrily stomped off, almost knocking over her chair. 

'Well done to us, Carlos, we did it, this is a fabulous start, hopefully Mikey is doing okay with the police interview, you'll be doing that next,' she winked at Carlos, the two were relieved after a stressful interrogation. But Mikey really was right when he said that they could not have gotten a better lawyer, Mrs Skiller really was the top of the top.