I do not wait long before a large, brutish looking woman sits across from and glares for a mont. Her nose has obviously been broken nurous tis, and there are small scars around her mouth. Her shoulders are easily broad enough to play for any professional football team.Her shoulders are easily big enough for her to play on any professional football team, and even with my ability, I feel a little intimidated. The fluorescent lights above us hum softly, casting sharp shadows across the interrogation room. The tal table between us is bolted to the floor, scarred with scratches and faint initials carved by bored hands over the years. The air slls faintly of disinfectant and stale coffee. I remind myself that this is just a room, just a person, just questions. There is nothing supernatural about this mont. Nothing I cannot handle.
"Mr. Smith," she says, her voice gravelly and barely feminine, "your na has been popping up a lot lately." She studies for a reaction, but I just stare blankly back at her, forcing my breathing to remain slow and even. "When that happens, we here at the precinct like to call that a pattern."
Really? She’s going to treat like a child? I know I shouldn’t, but my mouth speaks before I can get my filter into place. "You an like how, if I see two circles and a square, followed by two more circles, the next one is likely to be a square?"
The scars around her lips tighten at my flippant tone, but she does not rise to the bait. Her control is impressive. "Why don’t you tell us where you were yesterday afternoon, Mr. Smith?"
"You an when those two lunatics were trying to kill ?" I ask. "I was ho taking a bath."
Her large fist slams down on the table with enough force to make the tal legs screech against the floor. The sound echoes off the concrete walls. I flinch despite myself and realize I had better cool it. "Don’t play gas with , kid. Four other students were hurt, and one of them is in critical condition. Witnesses, as well as nurous online videos, place you at the scene before you mysteriously vanished."
The weight of that lands harder than her fist. One in critical condition. I had been so focused on surviving that I had not allowed myself to think about the others. For a brief second guilt pricks at , sharp and uncomfortable.
For a mont, I consider telling her the truth. But after the way I have been acting, explaining that an alien experinted on , that two other experintal subjects tried to kill , and that the sa alien teleported to her ship before they could burn alive, and that I also have six kids with that alien, does not seem like a viable strategy. I imagine her expression if I said it out loud. I imagine the psychiatric evaluation that would follow.
"Look," I say, trying to co up with sothing quickly without looking like I am scrambling for an excuse, "I don’t know what happened. All I know is that I was walking out of Professor Jane’s class when there was a huge commotion. I ran outside to see what was going on, and those two attacked . Why don’t you ask them?"
"I did this morning," she replies, and I blink at her.
"I’m Special Agent Albrecht, in charge of tracking down the siblings who have been traveling across the country burning people alive. This morning, we caught them in the Arizona desert, hundreds of miles from here. The sick perverts were having sex in the desert."
She shakes her head in disgust, but her attitude does not faze .
She does not strike as the type of woman who enjoys much of anything. She picks up a thick folder from her desk and flips through it, the papers inside whispering as they shift.
"When we questioned them, they told us they were on a holy mission to cleanse the world of demon infested souls and that you sohow blocked their God given powers and led them into temptation." She folds her massive hands in front of her and fixes with a piercing stare. It is only then that I notice her eyes are two different colors. The right one is ice cold blue, while the left is dark brown, nearly black.
I have no doubt many suspects have broken under that mismatched gaze. It is like being judged by two different people at once.
"As I’m sure you can guess, we are very interested in talking to you. We already have one of your victims in lockup." She says the last part almost as an afterthought, but my mind imdiately starts racing. Victim? Who?
She must recognize the confusion on my face because she continues. "I hate n who lord their power over won, Mr. Smith, and you look like the type of tough guy who would do just that. Like that doe eyed girl in the lobby. Do you beat her every night unless she obeys you?"
"What? No!" I reply, genuine outrage breaking through my controlled mask. "I would never lay a hand on Tina."
"I’ve seen many won like her, always following their man around, afraid to be too far away, lest he punish them for not being available at his every beck and call," she continues as if I had not spoken. "So won choose to live that way, but when you rape a woman, leave her pregnant, and beat her, I won’t tolerate that."
My stomach twists. "You are wrong," I say, forcing my voice steady. "Completely wrong."
What the hell is she talking about? I know Tina has not been spreading lies. And while I can understand how it might look as though Tina were overly dependent, she is anything but weak. She chose to stand beside . There is a difference.
"Ha!" she nearly spits. "You’re so arrogant that you’ve already forgotten about the poor woman you mistreated." She stands abruptly and grips my shoulder painfully. Her fingers feel like iron clamps digging into muscle. "Why don’t we go back and visit her?"
She literally lifts by my shoulder, leaving with the choice of being dragged or walking.
Walking seems more dignified.
Do you need us to co get you? The question cos from my sister, her voice echoing faintly in my mind.
No. I need to clear my na and get this straightened out.
She leads down a narrow corridor toward the holding cells. The air grows colder. The fluorescent lights flicker overhead. A guard glances up as we pass but quickly looks away when he sees who is escorting . We stop in front of a cell where soone is cowering in the corner.
At first, I think it is a man, until I realize the cell contains only won. The hair is short and uneven, hacked off without care. The clothes are ragged, hanging loosely from a thinner fra than I rember.
"There." Agent Albrecht shoves toward the bars.
The girl looks up, then turns away in terror. If she still had her voice, she would have scread.
I recognize her.... or him.....or.... well, I am still trying to process that.
Lydia Scott, the person who was once Dan, cowers in fear inside the cell.
The last ti I saw Dan, there had been rage in his eyes and arrogance in his smirk. Now there is only panic and sothing that looks disturbingly like regret.
"Look what you did to that poor woman," Albrecht growls behind , and I feel my temper starting to slip, I grip the cell bars, my knuckles whitening from holding myself back from blowing up.
"Dan," I say through clenched teeth, stepping closer to the bars, "what lies did you spread this ti?"
She curls tighter into herself, trembling.
Albrecht’s grip tightens on my shoulder, and I know this looks terrible from her perspective. A terrified woman shrinking away from a man she accuses.
"Listen," I say carefully, turning slightly so the agent can see my face, "I don’t know what she told you, but she is a known liar. She tried to rape and kill the girl out there." I point toward the lobby. "I saved Tina from her. If she is pregnant, you will find that the child is not mine. I would never touch her." I et Albrecht’s eyes directly. "Why is she in there anyway?"
"She was caught shoplifting. She wrote down her story during booking. You expect to believe that that frail little thing tried to rape and kill another woman?" Albrecht asks incredulously.
"Yes," I say without hesitation. "Go ask Tina yourself."
She studies for several long seconds, then drags back to her desk and forces into the chair before storming out.
I sit there alone, staring at the gray wall. Damn Dan and the constant lies. I thought I had handled the situation before, but apparently I let her off too easily. I took away her voice. I altered her body. I thought that would be enough to end the threat. I underestimated her desperation. There is always another way for soone to hurt you if they are determined enough.
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