Chapter 26: the </body>
I tried to get more contact with Scott as we waited for the police and paramedics to come. Derrick came through when he found my side of the bed empty. When Darren finally arrived, after forty minutes, he spent his first ten minutes trying to talk to Chad Moreno. He didn't get contact with him. The man was dead.
Then he just strutted right into Scott’s house, without showing his badge or anything. He then cuffed Scott and said he was arrested for attempted murder. Scott was in no position to protest so I had to do it for him.
“Chad is a part of a human trafficking ring! He probably came to snatch me!” I objected and screamed, but nothing worked. Darren was hell-bent on taking Scott back to the station.
“He was trespassing! Chad Moreno was trespassing!” I yelled as they brought him into the Black Maria. Darren turned around, with such an angry look on his face.
“That doesn’t give you permission to shoot someone. There’s always room for one more if you keep on yelling,” Darren warned. “Chat Moreno was unarmed. A police officer killing an unarmed civilian, black to boot, doesn’t look great.” I imagined the news would be all over this case now. I could see the headlines. “Previous leader of Bashor investigation kills unarmed black man”. They would make Scott look like some kind of monster. Make him look like the bad guy, the big bad wolf.
I wondered if they had talked, or if Scott just shot him. That didn’t seem like Scott. He didn’t seem like that kind of person, capable of just killing a man in cold blood.
I realised for the first time, that I didn’t know Scott all that well. I had fabricated this image of him in my head. An image I didn’t even know if truly existed.
There was definitely more going on under the surface. Things I couldn’t even start to picture.
Scott had some kind of strict sadness about him. A firmness. It probably came from the rough upbringing.
Chrissie was leaning against the boot of her car. She was following us with her eyes. They were covered by sunglasses, but I could feel her eyes on us. She slightly smiled when I glanced at her. It wasn’t the taunting, victorious smile I expected. It was pitying, almost sad.
I walked up to her, stomping my feet as hard as I could as I walked. I grabbed her collar and shook her.
“Stay away from me,” I growled. She nodded, still frightened of my anger.
“Get away from the car,” Darren shouted at Derrick. Derrick was standing by the car, grabbing the door handle in protest.
“I’m not leaving Scott with you pigs,” he shouted at them.
“I’ll arrest you too if that’s what it has to come to,” it was all chaos. Another cop car pulled up to the house. A few officers stepped out and dragged Derrick kicking and screaming away from the car.
Police took pictures of the crime scene and scribbled things in their little black notebooks. 702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVkiGaLSycZ
After a couple of hours the police left. Scott was sitting in the back of the car, alone and probably terrified.
We were left alone for the rest of the day. Neighbours didn’t even come to ask what all the commotion was about. I was sad and scared. Now, I was an easy target for Ubel.
“I mustn’t sample the merchandise,” I muttered to myself. I sat on the porch, waiting for Scott to come back. I couldn’t believe he was arrested. I couldn’t believe he had killed a person. I couldn’t believe he’d done it to save me. Because I knew he had. That was the only logical explanation.
We sat on the porch until dark. No one said anything. We both half expected Scott to come any second. After many tedious hours, Derrick finally shook his head and went inside the house. I didn’t see him for the rest of the evening. I knew he was tired of waiting. Waiting for what probably wasn’t going to happen. For Scott to be here again, innocent.
I sat there alone in the dark. My hands were shaking and I bit my lower lip to keep the sobs back. I needed someone to talk to. Someone who could understand. So I sent Jen a message.
Scott’s been arrested. I don’t know what to do…
Almost immediately I got an answer in return.
Come over to my place, we can talk about it.
I thought about it for a while. I didn’t actually want to drag Jen into the mess that was my life, but she had been a great friend. I needed to confide in someone, and Jen was a good a person as any. Maybe even better than most.
Come pick me up. I’m at Scott’s.
I wrote that after carefully thinking it through.
I’ll be there in an hour.
I got inside and started up my computer. The Extra Wiki had a new link in the people tag. It said Document10. I went back to the site and found the site about me. The number of people watching the videos and viewing the pictures had gone up. You needed to sign in to view the comments and the transactions. I tried with the old password, but it didn’t work. I tried with other variations of my name, even nicknames only I knew about, but nothing worked. Frustrated, I closed my computer and let out a huff.
It was half an hour until Jen would come. I heard a car drive by. Hoping it was Scott, I ran to the window. The car just drove by.
I sat down in the kitchen and started writing on a piece of paper. I left Jen’s phone number on the kitchen table, and wrote Derrick a short note that explained where Jen lived and that it wasn’t far away from my flat.
I then stepped out in the dark to wait for my ride, not knowing that this was the beginning of the end…
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