Ten

The man who brought Lilith to the police station reeked of coffee and chocolate. Under normal circumstance, she wouldn't have found either scent irritating, but in the moments she spent sitting behind him the in the police car, the thought of either item made her stomach knot up.

He had seemed nice enough at first. Lilith had walked into the living room, trailing behind Marlene and casting a nervous glance around the room after catching the officer's eye. He had just smiled, introduced himself as Officer Carter Nadeau, and asked if she would follow him for some questioning. He followed this with a reminder of her Miranda Rights and all of it was said with a faint accent.

His smile had been meant to make her feel at ease, but all it did was unsettle her as she left the house.

She could have said no, she realized. But the opportunity to do so had passed and turning back now would make her look suspicious. So when he held open the back door to his patrol car, she nodded like she was expected to and sat down on the hard leather.

"Will this take long?" she had asked just as he was about to shut the door. He hadn't replied.

He had opened the door again when they got to the police station, then put his hand at the small of her back and guided her inside the building. They passed the main room, comprised of many desks and many more computers, and into the hallway at the back. Officer Nadeau stopped only to check in with – Lilith assumed – one of his colleagues before he came back to her and opened the first door in the hallway, to the left. A table and three chairs were waiting for them.

"I will be right back with Officer McKinney," Officer Nadeau said before leaving the room. Heart in her throat, Lilith stepped closer to the table and looked around. The walls were all dark grey and undecorated. The table looked to be either wood or rusted metal, and in any case the blue paint was chipped. The chair on the far side of the table were screwed into the floor.

This... looks pretty serious.

Lilith took a deep breath and, with shaking hands, sat herself down in the far chair. Then she folded her hands over the table and laced her fingers together.

It's just questions, right? What could go wrong? It's not like they actually think... she trailed off when the door opened again and an aged black man stepped in, followed once again by Officer Nadeau.

"Hello, Lilith," said the new policeman, whose hair was cut short and whose legs seemed just a bit too long for the rest of his body. He stooped down and sat down on the chair to her left.

"My name is Officer McKinney. You've already met my colleague, is that right?"

Lilith nodded, focusing all of her will on keeping her hands from shaking.

"That's good." Officer McKinney waited until Officer Nadeau sat down next to him before looking Lilith in the eyes. "Before we begin, I want you to know that we're not charging you with anything and that you're not in trouble. We would just like to ask you a few questions. Furthermore, you have the right to remain silent. This means that you don't have to say or write anything if you do not wish to. You don't have to talk with any of us or answer any of the questions that we ask you. Choosing not to speak with us won't hurt you, either. You won't get punished if you got up right now and left."

Lilith nodded. When she swallowed, her throat felt dry. "I understand," she replied after a moment. "It's about Ms. Longsly, isn't it?"

"Er... yes."

Officer Nadeau pulled a paper from his shirt pocket, unfolded it, and slid it forward to her. A pen followed afterwards.

"What's this?" Lilith asked.

"It's a Miranda warning," Officer McKinney replied. He was in the middle of setting down a tape recorder when he spoke. "It's just so our higher-ups don't yell at us later."

"Oh."

Lilith uncapped the pen and signed her name in jittery, barely legible hand-writing. Her hand shook so much that she thought it would fall off.

"It's alright, Ms. Johnson," Officer McKinney said. When Lilith looked up, he was smiling at her. Unlike when Officer Nadeau had done it, Lilith could tell Officer McKinney meant her well.

"I-I'm sorry. I j-just... it's been a-a rough w-w-week," Lilith replied. Her tongue felt thick inside of her mouth.

"It's okay. We understand. We just want to ask you some questions, okay?"

"Okay."

Lilith laced her fingers together, waves of heat washing through her body. When she closed her eyes, stars danced in her vision. Officer McKinney pressed one of the buttons on the tape recorder.

"Right. To start off with, Ms. Johnson, do you know who Anika Longsly is?"

Lilith gave a nervous cough. "Yeah. She is – no, was, my therapist."

Officer Nadeau wrote this down.

"And when was the last time that you saw her?"

"A couple of days ago. I had a-an appointment with her. I got home that afternoon and heard she was dead that night. You can imagine my surprise when I heard the news."

"I see." Officer Nadeau looked at her from under his glasses as he wrote. "And how many times had you visited her before this?"

Lilith squeezed her eyes shut. "Once."

"Very good, Ms. Johnson. You're doing a great job," said Officer McKinney. "Can you tell us why you were seeing her?"

Oliver... "I... I was going through a rough time. I don't want to explain it." Lilith turned away and focused on the corner of the room. She swore she could see cobwebs gathering.

"That's fine. Just relax, Ms. Johnson."

"Ca-can you call me Lilith?" The way Officer Nadeau said her name, and even the way that Officer McKinney did, set her on edge. She separated her hands and dug her nails into the table. Instead of her nails sinking into old wood, her nails clinked against old metal.

"Alright, Lilith. Do you know how it was Ms. Longsly was... er..."

"Murdered." Lilith raised her head. "I don't remember the details, but it wasn't pretty. She was found in an alley." She looked Officer Nadeau dead in the eye and didn't like what it was she saw. "But I haven't watched the news since that night. I prefer not to reflect too long on the dead."

This was the moment that Officer Nadeau decided to set down a manila folder on the table. He opened it, flipped a couple of pages, and cleared his throat.

"Except for..." He traced a finger over the page and stopped half-way down. "Your brother committed suicide about four months ago." He looked back up at her, glasses glinting.

Lilith curled her hands into fists. "I would rather you not bring him up."

"But you still reflect on him, don't you?"

Lilith flared her nostrils. When she leaned back, she stared down at her lap. "I refuse to answer that question."

Officer Nadeau wrote this down, too.

"I know that this is a tough subject for you, Lilith, and I appreciate your efforts," said Officer McKinney.

Lilith nodded. Anger burned deep inside her chest, wrapping around her lungs and making her heartrate uneven. For only a moment she considered channeling it through her fingers, into the metal. But magic is a flighty thing and would only make things worse...

So she rest her hands on the table and drummed her fingers against the painted surface. Her breathing slowed and she closed her eyes, pushing her energy out through her fingertips and into the minds of the men that sit before her.

We can't rule her out yet. There's something suspicious about her still – hey, what is she napping?

Officer Nadeau's thoughts shook her out of it. Her gaze snapped up to his and she channeled as much neutrality as she could into her expression.

Don't give them any reason to suspect you. There's no way that you could have done it, anyway... right? Right?

She turned to Officer McKinney. "Do you have any more questions for me or am I allowed to go?"

"Um..."

Officer Nadeau flipped through more pages in the file before looking up again. "Have you ever had violent thoughts towards Ms. Longsly?" he asked.

No more than I do for you. "No. Just mild irritation when we got on... touchy subjects." Your stomach would make a good punching bag right about now.

"Enough to consider murder?"

"Absolutely not." Smile. Put on your best face. Don't let your anger show.

Officer McKinney yanked his hands back from the table and it was only then that Lilith realized that the surface had heated up. She set her hands in her lap and sighed.

"It says here that you got suspended after assaulting a classmate."

"Yep. Not going to deny that. This kid named Tommy called my friend Jack a faggot and some other, more transphobic shit. A bunch of lewd things to boot. Fucking chaser. I socked him in the face... and the stomach. Gave him a run for his money." Now her words came out with a confidence she hadn't realized she possessed. The look Officer Nadeau gave her told her that he didn't like the prospect of her friend, either.

You're next on the list, asshat.

"It was a one-time thing. You fuck with my friends and you'll have hell to pay. As you can tell, though, I didn't kill the kid."

Officer Nadeau arched an eyebrow. "Do you wish you had?"

Lilith leaned back. "Absolutely not," she replied. "That would've been disastrous for every party involved. He simply needed to learn not to make fun of my best friend. Especially not with me around."

"I see."

Officer McKinney leaned forward and switched off the tape recorder. "I... I think that's enough for now. Thank you, Lilith." He rose from his seat, took the paper she'd sighed, and put it in his pocket. "Come with me, if you wouldn't mind. You can call your parents and have them come and get you."

"Thank you. It'd be nice to go home now..."

"I know. If we have any more questions, either myself or one of my colleagues will call and let you know. For right now, just sit tight. We're doing our best to work out the entire scenario."

Lilith walked out before either officer did. Before she got to the main room, a thought came to her. She stopped and spun on her heel.

"Officer McKinny," she said. "I have a question. There have been two cases like this already, for two other therapists... Did you ever find out what happened to them?"

Officer McKinny put a hand over his mustache. "You know, I don't know about that. I will look into it... which cases are you referring to?"

"My third therapist had her head smashed in with her bird statue. I had an alibi so I was never questioned. One of my other therapists was found dead a bit more recently... oddly enough, his head was smashed as well."

The look in Officer McKinny's eyes worried her, but not as much as the one Officer Nadeau was giving her. She turned on her heel and walked away, the hairs of her arms raising.

#

"You'll never guess where I am."

Lilith held her phone held in a death-grip in one hand. The last time she'd checked her phone, it was noon. She'd been sitting in front of the police station for an hour.

Her dad sighed into the phone. "Marlene called a bit ago and told me."

"Yeah? That's good. I'm at the police station right now, still."

"Is Marlene on her way?"

Lilith shrugged. "Yeah. No. I was going to go to Jack's."

Another sigh. "You were just there a couple of days ago."

"I know." A police officer walked past and Lilith flashed him a withering smile. "But it'd do me better than sitting inside the house all day."

"I would still rather you go home today, alright?"

"But—"

"Lilith, please... I just... I have to go back to work now."

Lilith scoffed. "Wait a second," she said after a moment's pause. "This is because I was called to the police station, wasn't it?"

"No, of course—"

"I can't believe this. Really, dad?" Her other hand balled into a fist. "What, you're scared that this will look bad for you?"

"No, it's not—"

"Whatever. I'll go home." She hung up before she could hear her dad's response. With the flare of her nostrils, she pinched the bridge of her nose and repressed the urge to scream. All of a sudden, the wall to her right looked appealing enough to punch.

No. Keep your anger in check.

Lilith looked to her phone again and dialed Marlene's number. The older woman picked up at once.

"Lilith! Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine. Listen, can you come get me?"

"O-of course!... Where are you?"

"Still at the police station. Apparently, it'd be ill-advised of me to leave the premises without an adult. Cops' words, not mine." Lilith waved her free hand in the air. "In any case, I'm sitting outside and dad said no to going to Jack's."

"I see..."

"Can you come get me?" Lilith repeated.

"Yeah, absolutely."

"Thanks."

Before Marlene could say anything else, Lilith hung up and shoved her phone into her pocket. The wind knocked against her, chilling her to the bone.