Investigating

Alyssa woke up in the drawing hall of Majorica's house. Investigations were still going on. Tanya's body lay on a stretcher as the nurses and doctors hauled her off. Majorica was lying on the couch, silently weeping. Parker was comforting a shaking Basil. Karson, Eliza and Mark were on the other couch, debating over the issue. Lyra was on the floor with her face in her hands, shaking slightly. It was six in the morning. Alyssa had been oblivious for at least three hours.

The house had been surrounded by police officers and none of them were allowed to leave.

Alyssa's phone rang up almost at the same time as Karson's did. He glanced up at her, lips pursed, and immediately left the room. Alyssa looked at the caller ID. It was Jaden.

"Hey," she whispered into the phone wearily.

"Are you okay?" his voice sounded sad. And did she detect fear? Alyssa clenched her fingers tightly to keep them from shaking. Parker must've already told him what had happened, then.

"Yeah. I wish I could leave, but they're not allowing us to!" she sighed. She didn't want a second Liarane haunting her nightmares.

The stench of the dead was already filling her nostrils and she hated it!

At that moment, the detective who was overseeing the investigation entered the room.

"I'll talk to you later," Alyssa whispered into the phone, before hanging up. By then, Karson was back too. Alyssa looked up at Mr. Moyer. He was a clever looking, young man in his late twenties, with a careful, professional appearance and sharp eyes. He assessed all the teenagers present in that room. When his sharp eyes fell on Alyssa, she heaved a great sigh on relief to see that there was no glimmer of recognition.

"We found a window locked from outside, and since the room is on the first floor, it does seem rather clear, doesn't it?" He cracked a smile. Holy Gods, Alyssa wanted to gag. What kind of a person in his or her right mind smiled in a situation like that?!

No one uttered a word. No one showed a single motion. Except Majorica. She jumped up and screamed, "I want justice for my sister! I want the murderer caught now!"

Eliza and Mark had to restrain her from doing anything unwise. Mr. Moyer's eyes flicked to her only once. "I want a private audience with each one of you. No one leaves this house until they've met with me."

***

One hour passed by when Mr. Moyer's assistant called Alyssa in. Majorica, Lyra and Mark had already met with him. Mark and Lyra had left long ago. Basil was now sleeping lightly, and Parker was on his phone, intently talking with Jason. Karson had again received a phone call, and immediately left the room.

Alyssa wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans as she went into the room where Mr. Moyer was waiting. He had his back to her as he leaned against the table between them. His posture was casual, unlike her tense one.

"Have a seat, Miss. Taylor." Alyssa took a seat, rubbing her forehead. Mr. Moyer finally turned towards her, seating himself.

"How're you holding up?" His face was void, even as he spoke.

Alyssa merely nodded.

"You know, I'm not asking about what happened today. We'll come to that later." He propped up his chin on his wrists, staring at her unblinkingly straight, like a camera recording its prey.

Alyssa finally looked up. She was tired of crying. No tears fell now. No curiosity rose up in her mind as to how he knew. Because sure, he was a detective from the same agency from where Mr. Davis had come and investigated her case. Her throat was strangled. No noise was coming out.

So she nodded again. She wouldn't tell him the real truth about her feelings to a complete stranger. Never.

Mr. Moyer continued, despite her coldness. "I happen to know a friend of yours, Brodey Anniston. He's graduating this year and I offered him internship at our agency. He told me about you just after I'd received the call to investigate this case. He had been there with me."

Alyssa knew what the man was doing. He was trying to surprise her into talking. He wanted to ask her something. But she wasn't surprised. In their last video call, Brodey had told her all about his internship.

"Unless you can tell me something about Ken Evans, I don't know why we're having this conversation," she said, her voice shaking slightly.

He let out a chuckle. "You really haven't moved on, have you? Else you wouldn't have been acting so defensively just now."

Oh... so he was trying to unnerve her first. Too bad for him, she was too numb to be unnerved now. Even the pain had been buried behind the numbness.

"So," bracing his hands on the table, he got straight to the point. "Tell me. Who do you think it could be?"

"As you very well know, Sir, I'm new here. I don't even know half of them well."

"Yes, but don't you have any personal suspects? Every-one seems to have at least one. I've got some pretty interesting names too."

He gave another of those nonchalant smirks oh his.

"I can't imagine who did it."

"Did you know, that you're a suspect, too?" he asked gravely, before quickly saying, "Dismissed. Tell my assistant to call in Parker Davis, will you?"