Lilia sat in the dimly lit room alone. A two-way mirror mounted on the wall in front of her. She walked over to the mirror. Coline had stepped out momentarily, leaving her to sit alone in the interrogation room. Her heart pounded in her ears. She stood and slowly walked to the mirror. Her clothes were stained with Nero’s blood. She took shallow breaths praying he was okay. It took everything she had not to pull off her shirt. She looked down to see her pants were also soaked. How did this even happen? Nero said everything would be okay. Her face dropped as she stared back at herself. Her eyes seemed empty. She had used up her emotions and tears. There was nothing left. I don’t see things going well for me. I killed him and nothing will change that. Maybe I… I should just admit defeat and take my punishment.
Suddenly the door swung open pulling Lilia from her thoughts. Her empty eyes look toward the door. Coline and Officer Dail walked in. “Would you please take a seat?” Lilia said nothing and slowly walked across the room to sit in front of Dail. “Okay. I know you’ve waited a long time. I do apologize for the wait.” Dail sat a file down on the table. “It is my understanding that you have never shot a gun before. Is that correct?”
Lilia stared at him curiously but nodded all the same.
“I need you to answer verbally.”
“Yes. I have never shot a gun before today. I’ve only recently been exposed to guns.”
“And why is that?”
“Well. My dad didn’t believe in guns, so we never had one. Ren has one for Nero’s protection so the first time I saw a gun that wasn’t on the TV was the first day I met Ren.”
“And for the record, that day was?”
“It was Monday, November 6th of last year.”
“So that would make it four months ago?” Dail questioned.
“Roughly. Yes.”
“How did you become his fiancé so quickly?” Dail’s eyes widen in shock.
“It was arranged by our parents. We just didn’t object to it because neither one of us wanted to see anybody, but our parents wanted us to get married and have children.”
Dail scratched his head. “Um. Is that…”
“What’s wrong with an arranged marriage? In many countries, the parents arrange the marriage of their children.”
“It’s just a surprise that an American would accept those conditions.”
“Look, at first, I was against it, but after a few weeks of thinking and discussing it over with my father I decided that it really didn’t matter who it was as long as they didn’t interfere with my work, I didn’t mind it. I don’t really have the time to date and it's not like I’m getting any younger. I’ll probably want kids and by then it will be too late to find somebody. This fits both of our lives.”
“I see. If you wanted to back out, could you?”
Lilia looked at Coline with her mouth a gape. “Do I have to answer these questions? They don’t have anything to do with why we’re here.”
“I suggest you answer him. He’s probably just curious why somebody would do something like this outside of the Asian community.”
“If I wanted to leave, yes, I could. If I wanted to. Granted I don’t know everything about Nero, but him and I… We aren’t done yet. I have so much I need to know and he hasn’t gotten to know everything about me.” Lilia linked her fingers together as the anxiety welled up inside her. “I need to know more.” Lilia looked down feeling the guilt rise into her chest.
“So, you love him?”
“What!?” Lilia’s eyes widened at the thought. “I don’t love him. I just… He saved me. I need to know why he would do that. I’m nothing. My father is in debt and I’m just a doctor. I replace bones!”
“Calm down. No need to get defensive.” Dail smiled knowingly. “Okay. Why did you pull the trigger?”
“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted it to end. Nero was in front of me… Ren was trying to shield Nero. It was easier than I thought it’d be.” Her face pales. Her eyes focus on the metal cuffs around her wrist. “I thought it’d be harder to pull the trigger, but it was so simple. I killed a man. And it was easy.” She looked down at her shaking hands. “Just a gentle finger pull.”
“What happened exactly? What led up to Nick getting so angry he shot Nero?”
“Well, technically he was shooting at me. Nero just got in the way. He kept saying that I was better off by his side, but I knew better. Nero and him are completely different. I mean, Nero took a bullet to save me.” Lilia pointed her hands at her chest. “Nero saved me. I doubt that Nick would save anybody. He’s a killer. He didn’t even hesitate!”
“Are you a where that Nick has ties to the Mafia group called Aurora?”
“Aurora? What kind of mafia name is that?”
“Apparently, it's to seem nonthreatening.” Dail moved his hands as he spoke unsure of why he was divulging this information he continued. “And you’re sure you had nothing to do with that group?”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Well, he did mention something about joining him on the other side, but I didn’t know what he meant by that.” Lilia lied.
“So, you were unaware of his connection?”
“Yes, I did not know he was connected to the group. Why would he want anything bad to happen to Nero, though? That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“Well, I mean Nero is a very wealthy man. Not only that, he has power. Maybe he wanted to exploit that.” Dail opens the file and spins it so Lilia can see it. “Have you ever seen any of these people hanging around?”
Lilia looked carefully at each person’s photo. Only one stood out to her, but for the life of her, she could not remember where she had seen the woman before. Lilia slowly points to the woman, “I’ve seen this woman before, but I can’t remember where or when I’ve seen her.”
“Was it before or after you met Nero?”
Lilia shook her head, “I’m really not sure. I’m sorry.”
“No, that’s okay. And you’re sure that you haven’t seen any of the other people?”
Lilia looked straight into Dail’s eyes and nodded. “I’m sure.”
“Okay, have yo—”
A knock on the door interrupted him. “Dail, sorry to interrupt, but you need to come here.”
“I’ll be back.” Dail stood up and walked out the door firmly shutting it behind him. “What’s going on?”
“Well…” The man handed Dail a folder. “Forensics just came back on the gun. And you’re not going to believe the results.”
Dail raised an eyebrow and looked down at the folder. His mouth dropped open as he read. “Get me a gun residue—”
“Next page.”
“Are you serious!? How is this possible? Neither of them are positive. What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know, but whatever’s happening isn’t good for us.”
“Has the autopsy come back on Nick yet?”
“No, we are still waiting.”
Dail sighed deeply, “What am I supposed to do with these two in the meantime? They both claim that she pulled the trigger.”
“It’s possible she did, but the safety was found on. So, most likely…”
“Somebody else is the shooter and they are just witnesses. Shit!” Dail slapped the file against his hand. “We need to figure out a game plan. Now we’re back at square one.”
“I think we are at square negative one. Before we had a suspect now, we don’t.”
“Shit, shit, shit! This is so bad. Agh!” Dail rubbed his head violently.
“Want me to question Ren some more? Maybe find out what he isn’t telling us.”
“We need to regroup.”
“What about them?” The officer said pointing to the interrogation rooms. “They’ve been in there for three hours already.”
“We can hold them up to seventy-two hours. Let’s just take some time to figure this out.”
“Isn’t that just cruel? That woman thinks she killed somebody. Shouldn’t we let her know?”
“I think that they are hiding something still. We need to get them to tell us the truth.”
“Well, to be fair. I don’t think they’re going to tell you. Nero is said to have mafia connections as well. Though, we can’t prove anything.”
“Well, we have to figure out why somebody would have wanted Nick dead. We need more information.”
“You know we can’t get everything in a day. These things take time and patience.”
“Mr. Duranta is lying in the hospital fighting for his life and Nick Sevros is dead. And we have zero information.”
“I know that you’ve never been in charge of a case before. And I know that it’s frustrating, but it’s a slow process.” He placed his hand on Dail’s shoulder. “Just remember one step at a time.”
“You’re right. I just don’t know where to start.”
“Tell you what I’ll be your wingman. We should start by contacting Nick’s family and getting to know more about his life.” The officer’s hand slowly pats Dail’s back. “You can do this. You just need to slow down. Think about the information you need to gather.”
Hours passed as Lilia sat in the room. “What is taking so long? Shouldn’t they just arrest me already?”
“Calm down. There’s no need to panic. They are just trying to make you sweat. It’s a normal tactic and they use it to get more information from you, but you’ve already told them everything so there isn’t anything to worry about. We’ll work out the details of your release and you should be able to make it to the hospital soon.”
The door suddenly swung open, and Thomson stood before them. “So, I need you to tell me the truth now. Who shot Nick?”
Lilia was puzzled by the question. “What are you talking about? I shot him. I’m sure I’ve made myself plenty clear.”
“Look. There is no way to shoot somebody with the safety on. You are clear. There was no gun residue on you or the gun.” Thomson walked over to the table and slammed his hands down, making Lilia jump. “Now tell me the truth!” He growled.
“I really have no idea what you’re talking about. There wasn’t anybody else there. It was just us.” Lilia said, staring at Thomson.
“You need to tell me the truth. Nick was shot from behind. What is it that you’re hiding?”
“Nothing,” Lilia said shrinking.
“You have to be hiding something!”
“I’m not.”
“Tell me!”
“I’m telling you the truth. I’m not hiding anything!”
“Tell me again what happened,” Thomson said taking a seat.
“I told you already. Nick said he had a gift then when we got there, he pulled out a gun and tried to get me to come to his side. When I refused, he got mad. Told me he was better than Nero and could get me whatever I wanted. I told him that he was wrong, that Nero was better than him and he tried to shoot me. That’s when all hell broke loose. Nero got shot twice and I shot Nick. That’s what happened. Nobody else was there. There isn’t anything else to tell.”
“You have to be missing something think back. Did you hear the gun go off? Did Nick move forward after you ‘shot’ him? Why couldn’t we find a bullet?”
“I don’t know!” Lilia screamed holding her ears.
“Enough! You can’t be like this. You said she is innocent then we are leaving. Let’s go!”
“Please. I need to know.” Thomson said leaning across the table and grabbing Lilia’s hands.
“Those are things you are going to have to figure out. She isn’t a cop. She’s a doctor and she has done nothing wrong. We’re leaving.”
“Please…” There was sadness in his eyes. Something that made Lilia feel his desperation.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know anything. I only ever met him twice. Once when we first announced our marriage, and the second time was today.” She sighed. “I’m sorry, I wish I could help, but I don’t know the answers to your questions,” Lilia said standing up.
“You don’t have to say anything more.” Thomson tried to speak, but Coline put her hand up, “And clearly, you have no reason to hold my clients anymore so I would like both of them released.”
“She’s not going anywhere until I have answers!”
Dail grabbed Thomson by the shoulder and pulled him back. “We have no reason to detain her. They don’t know anything. It’s our job to figure out the rest.”
“Fine! Fine.” Thomson sighed, “I’m sorry.”
“Come now Mrs. Duranta.”
“I really do hope you find who did this. Sorry, I couldn’t be more help.” Lilia said as she was dragged from the room.
They met up with Ren outside the police station and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Lilia. “I’m glad you’re okay. Did they tell you, you’re clear of all charges?”
“She’s in the clear. Call me if they start harassing you.”
“I’ve got it from here. Thank you Coline.”
“I just did what Mr. Duranta pays me to do. No need for a thank you. Now, don’t you have other things to do?”
“Yes, we do.”