Page 97 of Diluted Truths

I slowly opened my eyes. I still had Violet in my arms, where she was sleeping soundly. I yawned and looked around. Fai, Sarah, Goldie and Oliver were standing just outside the office doors looking in, concerned. Kai and Theo looked at me, the same look filling their eyes.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to fall asleep there.”

“It’s okay. You needed it.” Kai looked at Violet in my arms. “You both needed it.”

Theo picked up her daughter and sat in the seat next to me and Kai sat himself in Jackie’s chair behind her desk.

“How did it go at the station?” I asked the two.

“Good. The report has been filed. They have someone at her house now and someone coming here to interview all of us.” Kai hesitated for a moment. “They want to talk to you.”

He was holding something back from me.

“Okay? I assumed they would.”

“No, Will,” Theo continued. “They think you had something to do with her going missing.”

I sighed, resigned to the whole situation. “I assumed they would,” I muttered as I rubbed my face, hoping to wipe away the exhaustion. “Significant others are always the first suspects. At least once they rule me out, they can move on to actually finding her.”

“You’re taking this better than I thought you would,” said Kai as he eyed me, almost suspiciously.

I shrugged. “Honestly, I am too tired and too worn out to care about anything other than Jackie right now.”

“You really love her, don’t you?”

I nodded to Kai. “More than I have ever loved a person. She’s my everything. My world. My reason. She’s it for me. If… if she doesn’t come back I don’t think I’ll survive.”

Missing for Four Days

“I didn’t do anything to her. She left my house that afternoon, we planned to meet up that evening, when I got to her place she was gone,” I stated, again. They had been questioning me for over two hours now.

“If you tell us the truth now, the consequences won’t be as severe.”

I sighed. The officer questioning me now was, wait for it, Officer Assface. Apparently his name was actually Henderson, but the longer we talked, the more Assface suited him.

At least we weren’t at the station. They opted to question me in Oliver’s office. Henderson’s partner was currently going through Jackie’s.

“Once again, I. Didn’t. Do. Anything,” I responded, enunciating each word.

Their questioning was completely pointless. They weren’t going to learn any more information from me. I had told him everything I knew about the case, about Griffin, and the cult. He immediately dismissed it as a conspiracy. Fai and him would probably agree on that.

We were interrupted by his partner.

Good, Officer Assface was getting on my nerves.

“Let me take a turn,” she said to her partner. I hadn’t met her earlier. She was young, most likely younger than Jackie, and her hair was an untamable bun of dark curls on top of her head.

Assface glared at me for a moment before nodding and standing to leave. The woman took his empty seat and looked at me for a moment.

“I don’t think you did anything,” she finally said, breaking the momentary silence.

I rolled my eyes. This was probably some good cop bad copy kind of situation.

“Great,” I responded in a sarcastic voice.

She sighed in response. “I know our questions may seem counterproductive, but we are only a few of the people working on Ophelia’s disappearance. We have people at her house, people calling Joey and Griffin for information. We are checking on every possibility. You just happen to be one of them.”

I knew she was right.