It's my best friend Leon Hunt.
"Cameron! Didn't I tell you writing crime novels would get you in trouble someday? Someone is copying your novel!" He slapped my arm with a fake stern look on his face as the corners of his lips quivered. He burst into laughter.
I frowned. I'm about to be thrown into prison and here my best friend is laughing his ass off. "What's funny about that?" I crossed my arms, "And I know they just showed me the photos."
Leon catches his breath, "I kept telling them there's no way it would be you but they insisted on interrogating you."
Interrogation? They treated me like I was a war prisoner. "That wasn't an integrotion room... it was a torture chamber." I pointed at the bruise on my jaw, it's probably a hundred shades of purple by now. I fixed the collar of my shirt.
Leon shook his head with a crooked smile on his face, a finger scratching his temple, "Out of all the other detectives they let Cain do it. I can't believe this." He looks around then whispers in my ear. "Sue the shit out of the department."
I waved my hand dismissively; I like to avoid confrontations and lawsuits as much as possible. Besides suing them would probably be bad on Leon, they'd blame him for not convincing me to not take legal action.
A random thought that crossed my mind during the interrogation came back to me, "Leo, You know when you're showering or right before you sleep how you sometimes think of scenarios and how you'd react?" I asked.
"Yeah." He narrowed his eyes at me.
"That's exactly what happened. I thought if I was being interrogated for a crime I didn't commit and beaten up like those people in movies how would I react? I heard they call this feeling jouska. When you think of scenarios that didn't happen."
Leon stopped in his tracks and shot me a dirty look, I mean, he was just practically laughing at my situation a few seconds ago. He can't stop laughing when I joke about it. That's not fair.
"Is this what you're thinking when you're literally a murder suspect."
It's not my fault that I'm in this crazy situation. I don't know what to think. I cope using jokes and laughter and he should be used to it by now.
"Hear me out. So I thought I'd try to act cool like the people in the movies and say something like 'Even if you torture me near death I won't confess to something I didn't commit.' And guess what."
"Here you go again. Enough with the jokes."
I raised my chin in the air while a smirk formed on my lips, "I actually said it." I cross my arms continuing to walk ahead; I could feel Leon's glaring at the back of my head as if I were a mad man.
"You feel so cool huh?" he smiled, shaking his head. I'm happy I have a friend I can joke around with like this. If I didn't then I don't think I can easily get through things like this. They'll find the real criminal and take care of him. Then my name will be cleared and I can go back to my normal life.
"Totally." I wave my hand, "Besides that, why didn't this Cain guy lose his job yet? If he keeps beating up suspects won't he lose his credibility?" I wonder if I'm the first person he beat up like that; I doubt that because the room kind of reeked of the smell of old blood. How many people did he coerce into giving false confessions? What if one of them is in death row right now? I shiver at the thought even if I'm falsely found guilty I doubt killing one guy would land me in death row.
The flat screen in front of the police front disk was turned on but no one was there to watch. It's such a waste of electricity. It seems like they have brought someone to comment but I missed the introduction so I have no clue who he is. He seems to be a respectable figure to say the least.
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"Yet another incident of hate crime has occurred. To pile up on the countless racist and discriminatory incidents that occurred this month.What do you have to say about this?" the news anchor begin leaving the floor to the man in the blue suit.
He adjusted his seating position then cleared his throat. "Well, Authorities seem to be undermining the scale of the problem but they have to address it soon as the pressure has been increasing on them. It seems that not only the police has been failing to protect us but our whole justice system is. Everything needs to be reset. It's not working at all. We need to fix the inherent problem with our system if we want to even have hope in maintaining peace and prosperity in the near or far future. To do that we need to establish clearly what this problem-"
"Cameron are you listening to me?" Leon shook my shoulder.
I bring my attention back to him pretending to have been paying attention. "Ah, yes where were we?"
"Cain was has been my superior for three years. He doesn't do this often but when he does, he makes up for it so they let him off the hook with community service and suspensions. I know it makes no sense. I think he's a parachute."
It's unbelievable that to this day people are still being hired through nepotism. We've barely advanced as a society and it's sad.
"Do you guys have any other suspects?" I asked. I can't possibly be the only one they have. If so this criminal managed to get rid of every single trace of himself and it's making my blood run cold. I can't believe someone is cowardly enough to make someone else take the downfall.
"Until now they only came up with your name. But I think it's probably one of your diehard fans."
That makes the most sense or maybe some one with a grudge against me and the victim so he decided to murder him and frame me as it's most convenient way to get rid of the both of us.
"Most probably. Or someone with a grudge. What type of fan does this though? He must be crazy if he can't differentiate between fiction and reality."
We finally got out of the police station. The wind is chilly and an eerie ambiance blended in with each blow that hit my brittle bones.
"He made your story into a reality though. So in a weird and twisted way he is your best fan." Leon raises an eyebrow, his chin between his index and thumb as he stroked his imaginary beard. "Who would have a grudge against you though? You're like an angel." he says bluntly but I can't tell if he's being serious or just teasing me.
"Hey? What do you mean angel stop making fun of me. And I mean if there was a fan like that then he should take responsibility, why should I serve a sentence for him?"
He chuckles and slaps my back. "We'll find him don't worry." he reassured me with a small smile plastered on his face,
It would be nice if they would find him but it's not only me who doesn't trust the police or their abilities. They have the capability, at least most of the time. The problem is with the mentality that has been ingrained into them since their trainee days.
My hand turned into a fist of determination, "I'll find himself and teach him a lesson."
Leon nods. He shoves his hands in his pockets; the wind is biting cold. "I'll help you. For now keep eye on your surroundings, if he's really just trying to frame you he might try to put some incriminating evidence on or around you."
"I will."
"Take care. I'll go back before I get in trouble.See you tomorrow." he goes back inside. It's really late but he still has to work. I guess they're busy because they might have a real psycho serial killer on their hands.
The moon is high in the sky. I would say it's about midnight. Clouds casted their shadows on the ground and I mistook them for figures of people in the darkness. My eye caught something moving behind a tree in the distance.
A person?
In the blink of an eye the figure disappeared behind the sea of trees. I rub my eyes and looked back again but there was nothing any more. I shook my head. I'm probably just imagining things again. I almost trip over my feet as I descended down the stairs of the police department but I managed to grab hold of the
handrail just in the nick of time. I rub my hand on my pants as you never know who or what touched this rail. Unfortunately, I don't have my little hand sanitizer on me so that was the best I could do for now.
They didn't keep me for long but this warrant business is a pain. I mean they could've just taken me in for questioning in the morning. I wasn't going to run away anyway. It's not like I would've imagined this happening to me in a hundred years.
"Cameron Rose stop right there."