Upon arriving home, I met a county patrol vehicle parked in front of our house. "Is that your house?" The cabman asked while pointing a finger at the house.
"Yes," I said and handed him his fare, "here is your money" I alighted from the car.
"Thank you, and take care" he said and drove away.
Take care? I should be telling him that. He was so annoying, wanting to know every little thing about people. Next time, I wouldn't be boarding a non-company car or at least not his. I huffed and headed into the house.
The moment I stepped into the sitting room, I saw two sheriff deputies interrogating Jessica, while aunt Vicky stood speechless. One of them was female and the other one was male.
"Hey, dear... you must be Laura, is that correct?" The female officer asked, smiling at me.
"Ye...s, that's my... my name" I stuttered.
"Nice, can we... you know, have a small conversation here please?" – Small conversation with me? What did I do? I wondered, speechless. "Look, I am not saying you are also a suspect," she said seeing how puzzled I was, "so don't freak out. We just want to know something. And if you help us, your sister might be free. Or don't you want her to be free?"
"I... I do" I muttered.
"Good!" she said, "Now, what do you say? Here or upstairs? In fact, you can choose anywhere"
"Here" I muttered after glancing at aunt Vicky and reading her expression, she obviously preferred the questioning to be done in her presence.
"Alright," the female officer said and then turned over to aunt Vicky, "Mrs Harold, I would like both you and your daughter, Jessica to give us some space" she requested.
"I thought you were going to question her in our presence?" Aunt Vicky uttered, she was obviously surprised.
"It doesn't work that way, we don't want your presence to influence whatever she has to say" The officer said.
"Alright Lorraine," Aunt Vicky stood and then left. She headed to the kitchen, not far from the sitting room though and she might be able to hear our conversation if she pays more attention.
"How about you?" The officer pulled Jessica out of her trance, the rude girl stood and headed straight to the stairway. The sounds of her steps, climbing the stairs hard made the officer to shook her head, probably in annoyance. "Sit please, Laura" She gestured to me to sit where Jessica stood from.
"Okay" I said and humbly obeyed.
"Good" she heaved a sigh and cleared her throat before turning the small recorder in her hand, "So, Laura," she started, "have you heard about the recent incident involving your cousin, Jessica and her friends?"
"Yes, I was apprised by her mom yesterday" I unhesitatingly responded.
"Before then, were you aware Jessica and her friends sneaked into a Jewelry store during festival?" she asked, this time around I was reluctant to respond, "Were you aware?"
"Actually," I gulped and continued, "she discussed about going there with me and her friends..."
"You knew her friends?" she cut in,
"Well, I didn't know them before. We met during the festival, she introduced me to them" I said with my heart beating vehemently. I was scared, you know? I didn't want to end up being jailed together with them.
"Alright, so, you made mentioned of being informed beforehand about the whole thing, can you continue from there please?" she wrinkled a brow at me.
"Okay," I cleared my throat, "when I heard about it I quickly shoved the idea because I was scared. However, she and her friends were okay with it"
"What happened next?" The other officer chimed in.
"We got separated and I returned home. Hours later she sent me some pictures through GreenApp, showing she and her friends taking pictures with different ornaments around them. I was shocked. I warned her about the gravity of what they were doing and even advised her to leave the store immediately but..." I paused, scared of uttering what would pin Jessica further.
"But what?" The female officer asked in a soft tone.
"But they weren't done taking pictures yet," I tried to hide the fact that she – Jessica was stubborn and even threw tantrums at me for trying to talk her into leaving the store, "I didn't hear from her again until later in the evening"
"Why didn't you tell Mrs Harold, or were you trying to cover up for your sister?" The officer queried.
"No, no... I wanted to be when I checked my GreenApp again I found out the pictures have been deleted. I can show you our conversation, here..." I quickly swiped through my phone and launched my GreenApp, thus I went to our chat and showed her the deleted message.
"Okay, so," she returned the phone back to me and continued, "did you heard her or any of her friends talking about jewelries? Or did you see any of them with an ornament that didn't belong to them?" she asked.
"No, negative... I didn't see or heard them talking about any stolen jewelries, they were preoccupied, they had a lot to around the streets and pictures to snap in their costumes" I responded.
"Right? Like what and what exactly? Sneaking into other stores and taking pictures with their items? Is that what you are trying to say?" The officer bespoke.
"I... I don't know," I said, not willing to expose everything to them. I had joined them in Downey's Clothing Store, you know? If I should expose that, I would get myself into trouble. Vivian had one of the gowns there torn, what would happen if the police find out we were the ones? "I mean," I continued, "just like other people around, they wanted to have fun too. Seriously, officers, I don't think Jessica and her friends stole those missing jewelries. It must be someone else, I could remember when someone snatched my phone away too while we matched on the streets. I had to chase the assh*le to a dead end. Have you guys analyzed the CCTV cameras? You will find your answers there"
"We checked everything, nobody entered the store after your sister and her friends" she said and stood to her feet, "Thank you for your time, Laura. We will call on you when we need you" she smiled at me and then left together with the other officer after summoning Aunt Vicky and biding her goodbye.
After leaving, Jessica walked downstairs and glared at me, "You shouldn't have told her all that!" she bellowed, it was obvious she evesdropped on our conversation.
"What did you just say? I shouldn't have what? What was I supposed to do? Lie to her?" I glared at her as well, trying hard to control my temper.
"If only you knew what you just did, I already told her the whole thing wasn't planned and that it was a mistake. Why would you tell her I planned it? You even went ahead to tell her I..." she said halfway as a hot slap landed on her face. It was from her mom. Yes, aunt Vicky slapped her. "Mom?!" she uttered unbelievably as she turned to her mom.
"I am tired of all the troubles you are causing, don't you even think before doing something? Laura narrated exactly what happened, right? How did you expect her to alter her statement to rhyme with yours then, when she didn't know what you told Lorraine? You must be sick!" Aunt Vicky scolded her.
Not knowing what else to say or do, the stubborn girl turned and glared at me before heading back upstairs. Just then, aunt Vicky apologized for the stress I was subjected to and told me Jessica had totally changed, "I don't know why she's this stubborn, and I don't know whether I can continue protecting her because she's already failing me" she added.
"Don't worry, aunt, everything will be fine. I am pretty sure she didn't steal anything from that store, and none of her friends did that. I just hope they, I mean the police, find the culprit and his accomplices too if any as soon as possible before the case reaches the Federal Investigation Bureau" I consoled her.
"I hope so too" she said, walked over to the couch and fell wearily.
Now that she's calm, I guess I should tell her about my employment. Perhaps that would further calm her down, at least she shouldn't sleep with her mind filled with unfavorable thoughts.
"Aunt," I called on her.
"Yes, Laura," she uttered in what seemed like a whisper, "is everything okay?" she asked.
"Yes, everything is fine. Just that I got a call from StableGrid today telling me I've been employed," I said, smiling broadly, "and that I am expected to resume work tomorrow"
"Hmm, nice. I am not surprised though" she said, wearing a crooked smile on her face.
"Really? Why?" I asked.
"Because that guy, Frank, he likes you. I saw it in his eyes, it was obvious. Hence, he wouldn't dare turn down your job request" she said.
"Wow, aunt, I don't even know what you are talking about" I sarcastically said, "However, I believe he's just being kind, he's actually a nice guy. He would do the same to Jessica, and anybody else. He has a very kind and loving heart" I defended him.
"If you say so" she heaved a sigh.
"Hmm, I am really happy. Can you apprise Jessica about it please? I can't go near her now because she's pissed" I uttered.
"You don't have to worry about her, I will do that for you!" she said.
"Alright, thank you aunt" I said and then headed upstairs to my room.
While in my room, I decided to call Frank and thank him. He really did great, and I knew I could never repay him. However, I would try my possible best to make sure I please him in the little ways I could.
As soon as I dialed his line, he picked and we greeted. Thus I thanked him for the job and also about everything. "I really appreciate it, Frank, I really appreciate it to be honest" I added.
"Do you really have to keep thanking me always?" he goggled, "Come on, it's a small thing. I can do more, for you. Just say it and it shall be done" he said, promoting me to blush.
"You are funny," I said, short of what to say, "By the way, I was told to report to work tomorrow. Does that mean I am fully employed and that my working days starts tomorrow?"
"Yes, or do you need some time to prepare yourself for the work? Although I would like you to report tomorrow because I missed you" he said.
"Hmm, okay, I will. See you tomorrow" I said about ending the call when he told me to wait,
"Wait, Laura. So soon?" he asked, probably not tired of hearing my voice. Funny, right?
"Yeah, I am... kind of busy now that's why" I lied.
"Doing what? Should I come and help you? Do you need help?" he bespoke, and somehow I nearly burst into laughter with the way he said those words. He was actually trying to sound like Nigel in the movie, Broken Promise. "What's funny?" he asked.
"Your words prompted me to laugh, you sounded just like Nigel Alexander from Broken Promise" I said, still laughing but lightly.
"You watched the movie too?" he asked, I could sense from his voice that he was surprised. He probably didn't know I was into romance movies too.
"Of course I did, I watched it in the summer of last year while I was still in the city. It was fun, although I was touched by how it ended. I didn't really thought Jennifer would ever forgive Nigel because he fucked up real bad" I said.
"Yes, however I am glad they did. I hope that one day, I will be glad to have..." he said as the network glitched, "in my life"
"Who?" I curiously asked.
