Despite what Frank said, I kept staring at the pictures, one after another. And when I was done, I pressed the power button and heaved a sigh as the screen's light goes off. Just then, the driver announced that we had arrived. Thus, I raised my head up. It was Cornfield's Sheriff's department.
Frank and I alighted the vehicle the moment the driver parked at the parking lot close to a Mainland patrol vehicle and three Sheriff's vehicles. The Mainland patrol vehicle reminded me of Trevor, I had promised to connect him with Jessica but now I think that's not going to happen unless if the crazy girl is willing to change. Would she ever change?
Frank and I went into the station and met Lorraine standing at the corridor talking with some of her colleagues and some other officers from the Mainland. "Hello!" Frank waved at them as we gently approached them, "Good afternoon to you all" he greeted them.
"Afternoon!" They chorused, "Laura, is that you?" Lorraine asked, staring at me. I didn't expect her to ask though, or was she surprised seeing me with Frank? Haven't she seen us together before? I wondered.
"Yes, where is Jessica?" I asked, eager to see the malevolent girl. "Where is she?" I asked again the fact that she was hesitant to reply mu question. It wasn't as if I was going to do something bad to the girl, could possibly do that? I would never because I was that kind of a person. Besides, you don't harm someone while trying to talk senses into them.
"She's in her cell," Lorraine responded and then assigned one officer to usher us in. "Make sure they don't try anything selfish" she commanded the officer in what seemed like a whisper, oblivious of the fact that I heard her.
"Okay" The officer uttered in acknowledgement and led us into the main building. He was holding the keys to the cells, perhaps he would open the cell for us to talk to her.
While trailing behind him, Frank whispered into one of my ears that he left his phone in the car. Was he supposed to bring it with him? I thought to myself before asking him the same question. "Were you supposed to bring it in?"
"No, I mean... not really. Just that I don't want to be far from it, I am a business man and you know that" he said.
"Yes, I do. But you don't need to worry about anything, we left people in the car. They will take care of everything before we return" I said trying to calm him down.
"Hopefully" he huffed.
As soon as we arrived at Jessica's cell, the crazy girl looked at us weirdly. I intended to show her her mother's pictures right that moment but Frank gestured to me not to, probably because there was a cop in out tail or it was too early for me to do that.
"Hey, Jessica" Frank called her name in a calm manner. "How are you doing?" he asked her.
"How am I doing?" she glared at him and scoffed, "How exactly do you think I am done?" asked wrinkling a brow at him. And before he replied her, she continued, "Perfectly fine, of course!"
"Even with aunt Vicky unconscious in the hospital?" I chimed in glaring at her.
"What do you want me to do, cry all day?" she rolled her eyes at us, "Mom knew she what exactly I wanted, but yet she kept trying to end that dream"
"What exactly do you want, is it about Oxford?" Frank was curious to know.
"Tell that officer behind you to leave and I will tell you everything," she said referring to the cop that ushered us in.
Thus, both Frank and I turned staring at the officer. He acknowledged what we meant by the strange looks we gave him, hence he chuckled, "Come on guys, you both know that's not happening. I was instructed to keep an eye on you, so why should I leave?" he said.
"Nobody is asking you to leave, sir, we only need some space to talk about something personal... please" Frank implored him.
"Something personal like what exactly?" The officer glared at us, "Don't tell me you plotting on how to get her out of there" he said, and some how I found his last statement funny.
"How is that even possible? Can we get her house of this cell without keys? Even if we do that, the station's entrance and exit has cops around with guns right?" I queried and he nodded his head positively, "Good," I continued, "Then how do you expect us to bust her out without being caught? We have no guns to fight with you guys, and even if we have we won't be that stupid to fight with the officers of the law. That would certain means jail time for us, and probably death sentence should any cop dies trying to repel us"
My words touched him, he stood silent for some seconds before heaving a sigh, "Okay, fine. I give you people two minutes" he finally agreed to give us space.
"Make it five, please" I implored.
"Five? No, that's not going to work. Just twois okay" he protested.
"Why not five? Five alone, and we are done" I assured him.
"Fine then, fine!" he said and walked away.
"Wow, bravo!" Frank beamed at me.
"Thank you," I said and then turned to Jessica, "now tell us. What exactly do you want? If it's not about oxford then what is it?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Of course it's about oxford," she stood from her small bed and walked over to us, "it's about Oxford for sure, but not just it. I don't want anything to happen to Reade because," she cleared her throat, "we have plans together. Allowing him to be jailed means all our plans would be shattered"
"It already has, Jessica. And I am afraid if you don't tell the cops exactly how Reade got that information about the store, you would be going down with him. And that won't be funny, you would have a criminal record and your sentence might be broad for concealing the truth from the authorities" I tried talking some senses into her but guess what? She laughed out loud and told me she knew all that.
"I know for sure I would be jailed, and that's exactly what I want. To be sent to the prison together with Reade, at least we can have new plans there" she said as I snapped at her,
"You moron, what happened to your brain? Don't you have sense anymore?" I said as she tried to cut in but I continued anyways, "Do you even know that your mom is in the coma because of your stupidity? And do you even know that, Reade has a girlfriend and a child?"
"A child?" she paused looking at me somehow, as if she was confused or something. "A girlfriend and... and a child?"
"Yes, I swear by my life. And even your mom knows it. I found out yesterday and I told her everything. I wanted telling you but..." I said as she cut in,
"No, no, no... this can't be. He told me he's single, he told me he broke up with his ex, and he never told me about a child. How did you even ended up knowing all these and why should I trust you?" she bespoke, I could see the fear in her face. She thought she was in love, but now I guess she would return back to her senses knowing that she was only obsessed... and with the wrong person.
"It's the truth, ask the police where they found him. I heard the apprehended him in his apartment at the Mainland. I knew the father of the girl he's in love with, the girl whose child he's fathering. I know you are confused now, but think about it. You can confess to the police now and I will take you straight to his apartment to question his girlfriend, or let me just say his fiancee because according to her father they proposed to each other already" I said, laying emphasis on each and every word I utter. And from the looks of things, she was confused. "Jessica, I know they told you your mom fell but loot at this," I pulled out my phone and began showing her the pictures of her mother in coma, "do you think she fell just like that and ended up in this condition?" I watched as she gulped hard speechless, "Well, by the looks of everything I think she had heart attack or stroke. And what causes that? I swear we were talking when she fell, and she was crying... she didn't know how to convince you to come back to your senses!"
My words touched her and she lowered her gaze. Thus, she walked back to her bed and fell wearily on it. Suddenly, she burst into tears. "Hey dear, it's okay. All you need to do is to just comfess to the police. Let them get you out of here so we can think about what to do next, okay?" Frank said in a very calm voice.
She was still in a state of shock, she kept crying to the extent we couldn't control her. The cop that ushered us in came back and asked what was going on. And before we could explain, Lorraine arrived as well with other officers. She told us the conversation was over and then ordered us to leave.
"That was epic" Frank said as he held my hand while we headed back to the parking lot.
"Epic? What was epic?" I asked even though I kind of know what he was talking about. He was talking about what happened in the station, and how we managed to bring Jessica to tears.
"The whole thing," he responded, "I really amazed by what you did. You tried, Laura, you really did" he commended my efforts.
"You too, you did great. And I appreciate it" I said and thanked him.
"You are welcome" he said. "Hopefully," she would return back to her full sense and confess to the police"
"I hope so too" I said as we arrived at the parking lot, "So, are you heading back home now?" I asked the fact that we were done with our whereabouts already.
"Well, what do you think? Or should I come and stay with you in your aunt's house?" he asked. It was a tempting question, a part of me wanted him around but another part of me was against it. After all it wasn't my house or my parents' house.
"I don't think it's a good idea, even though I would be scared to stay in the house alone at the moment. But do I have a choice?" I crooked a smile while glancing at him.
"Hmm, you can come with me to my place then. I can drive you back home anytime, or have you taken to wherever you want to go" he said and I really appreciated his kind gesture, but I still wanted to be in Cornfield.
Following him to his residence means journeying out of Cornfield, and coming back wouldn't be as fast as taking a ride from Aunt Vicky's house to the hospital where she was or the station where her daughter was. I rather stay back and manage things here.
"Thank you, but I would still like to stay back here. You can come anytime but, you won't be spending night here. I hate the kinds of neighbors we have, they are nosy and I don't want them to think differently. You know what I mean by differently, right?" I wrinkled a brow at him, albeit I expected him to know.
"Yes, I do" he muttered. "Anyways, no problem. It is well" he said as he opened the door of the car for me, "Let's take you home" he offered me a ride home.
"Okay, thank you" I said and gently hopped into the car.
