The walls suddenly seemed to be getting closer, narrowing the room. I had to get out of here. I felt like I was suffocating, running out of air as sweat began to flow down my back. Is it possible that our little underground experiment has made me a little claustrophobic? Lucky me.

- 'Calm down. Why are you so nervous all of a sudden?' he asked as he got up.

- 'I can't stand confined spaces,' I said in a whistling voice, hands resting on my chest as I got up and tried to swallow a breath of air.

The panic began to win me over. What the hell was happening to me?

- 'You should have said it right away,' he said before rushing to open the door and gently push me to get me out. 'Here, take a deep, gentle breath.'

While repeating it, he led me into a large room where several offices were randomly arranged. At this late hour, they were all unoccupied, giving the place an empty and cold appearance, as if abandoned. He led me to one at the back, near the copying machine, stopped in front of the tidiest desk and sat me down on the chair in front of him. When I saw the sign on it, I realized it was his.

- 'Is this not where you should have recorded my statement, in the first place?' I articulated painfully in a breathless voice.

- 'I wanted to see your reaction under pressure, but frankly, I didn't expect that,' he confessed with surprise. 'Why didn't you tell me right away that you were claustrophobic?'

- 'It's never been this big before. Usually this only happens to me in elevators or rooms without windows,' I improvised and prayed that my lie would be credible, because he was already suspicious enough as it was. 'It must be the accumulation, with the stress I've been experiencing for three days,' I smiled unintentionally in front of the irony of my answer. 'Plus your aggressive behavior... It's starting to be too much.'

He did not acknowledge my last remark and looked at the form I had filled out about a century ago.

- 'Your friend disappeared three days ago and you're only reporting it now, why?'

- 'If I had come earlier, would you have done something?'

He looked at me without answering.

- 'That's what I thought, I was right to wait then,' I concluded.

- 'What interests me is where you've been yourself for three days?' he said, glancing at me with a piercing stare.

He stood up with both hands on the desk while leaning towards me.

- 'Do you know that this morning, one of my colleagues received a missing persons notice for two young women working at the Bruce Café. Their boss was worried because, and I quote, "they hadn't come to work for two days and it wasn't like them". And there, just as I was about to leave to interview the owner of the bar, who arrives like a fresh daisy at the police station?'

He smiled at me with a knowing look, stood up and began to circle around me like a cat playing with a mouse. I was shocked and tried to hide my shaky hands between my thighs.

- 'If you were me, wouldn't you find that a little suspicious?'

I kept my eyes fixed straight in front of me, trying not to show the panic that was gaining on me. Bruce reported us missing! That was the last thing I expected and it put me in an impossible situation. What was I going to invent to get out of it? No matter how fast I thought, I felt like I was totally brainless. I had to compose myself and get it together quickly. I understood his reactions better now, but it didn't really help me.

- 'So where were you then? And is that related to the stress you were talking about a few minutes ago, by any chance?'

He had sat down at his desk and stared at me again, when suddenly I knew what I was going to say to him. It was a little risky, but I had no choice. It was not very complicated to look upset and completely lost. I let all the emotions I had been repressing for three days emerge and threw myself into it.

- 'Actually, I don't really know what happened. I have no memory, except for going home after work and not finding Cassie there. But since she had left me a note, it didn't worry me more than that. So I went to bed and then... I don't know...'

I twisted my hands with an anguished look, while giving him my most beautiful damsel in distress look. Then I prayed that it would work, because I am usually a really bad liar.

- 'You don't know?' he wondered falsely, skeptical and suspicious.

I had to do better than that if I wanted it to work.

- 'No...' I stuttered. 'I came to my senses in a sort of cave that had apparently just collapsed, because I was wounded and covered in debris and dust. But I have no idea how I ended up there. No matter how much I've been thinking about it, I can't remember the last two days.'

He had not moved a single inch and was trying to keep his jaded look under which I was beginning to distinguish surprise, but above all, curiosity.

- 'How did you get out of that... cave?'

- 'I found some kind of tunnel,' I said. 'I crawled for hours, or so I thought. I thought I was never going to get out.'

I held my hand to my chest to simulate a new anxiety attack and took the opportunity to let him see my bandage under the sleeve of my jacket.

- 'Then I ended up in a forest,' I said. 'Afterwards... everything is confusing. I managed to get home by hitchhiking... well, I guess... and when I got home, I didn't find Cassie, I... I panicked and I came to see you.'

- 'It's a nice story, but a little unbelievable. Don't you think so?'

- 'Yes, I do too! Especially for me and my friend! Why do you think I didn't tell you right away? Because it doesn't make any more sense to me than it does to you. I don't understand it,' I moaned, shaking my head and to eventually put it in my hands.

In this case, there was no need to simulate, I really didn't understand anything.

- 'It's so crazy and confusing that I thought you wouldn't believe me and I was right. But I need help,' I said, raising my head and looking him straight in the eye. 'Are you going to help me or not?'

He held my gaze, before closing his eyes for a few seconds, visibly skeptical. He crossed his hands in front of him on his desk and stared at me again. Fortunately, only for a few moments this time, because I wasn't sure that my nerves would have endured more.

- 'Fuck! I can't believe I'm doing this,' he murmured almost for himself, nervously passing his hands through his hair.

He got up, before waving at me to do the same.

-'First of all, you will file a complaint for kidnapping, so that I can "officially" open an investigation. Then you will go to the hospital for an examination, then we will try to find the place from which you fled.'

I tried to suppress the fear that suddenly tied my stomach. Anything but the hospital. I was pretty sure I had to avoid taking any blood test these days, especially with the transfusion I just had. I had to find Jude as soon as possible. He could certainly help me find a solution to moderate the ardour of this overzealous cop. Not without giving me a hell of a lecture before, I could almost hear him from here.

- 'The hospital? That's not necessary. I treated myself and all my vaccines are up to date,' I said, jokingly, as I saw him approaching me with his frown.

- 'Are you a doctor?' he said annoyed. 'Show me that.'

- 'Because you are, perhaps?' I replied in the same tone, as he stretched out his hands towards me, without even taking my reply into account.

He rolled up the sleeve of my jacket and undertook to remove the bandage from my right arm. My first reflex was to avoid it, but my reason told me that it would only raise his suspicions and I really didn't need that. So I let him do it by unconsciously holding my breath. I hadn't yet seen the extent of the damage and didn't really know what to expect.

The inspector then made a small whistle and swore softly. The least I could say is that given the current state of the various burns and lacerations that covered my arm from wrist to elbow, I was lucky to have one left! I realized at that moment that without my new capacity for regeneration, I would have already died. I repressed a panic attack and tried to smile, with a reassuring expression, as I gently pulled my arm out of his grip to cover it hastily.

- 'See, I'm fine. It's in the process of healing. I'll file a complaint and we'll try to find the cave once the sun comes up. At night, it would certainly be a waste of time.'

- 'Are you serious right now?' he choked, shocked. 'That looks pretty serious to me. Is your other arm the same?'

He pretended to approach to examine my left arm. This time, reason or not, I backed away hastily, which he obviously did not fail to notice.

- 'No... The right one apparently took all the blow,' I lied clumsily.

- 'Then why don't you want me to see it?'

Given his suspiciousness, I guessed he was not the type to give up easily. I had to find the only dedicated cop in this crappy neighborhood.

- 'Because that's not the most urgent thing. As you can see, it's already almost healed. It must have happened to me three days ago. If it had to be infected, it would have already been so,' I said with an assurance that I didn't have.

He made an annoyed snap with his tongue.

- 'One thing is certain, you're not telling me everything. You'll file a complaint, then you'll go home and rest. I want you to be here at 10:00 am sharp tomorrow morning. If you don't come, I'll consider you a suspect and arrest you for questioning. A real one this time.'

His authoritative voice meant he wasn't kidding. I nodded and followed him to the reception desk where I filled out a blue form, before finally being able to head for the exit. As I walked, I felt the weight of Inspector Worth's gaze as he kept staring at me. Deep down, I began to think that it hadn't been such a good idea to come here. Even potentially catastrophic.

Outside at last, I took a deep breath and looked for my irritable companion. Obviously, when I needed him, no one was in sight. I shook my head, annoyed in spite of myself without really knowing why, and headed for the car. At least three blocks away, a shadow suddenly appeared in front of me. I went from fear to exasperation in a split second, when I realized it was Jude.

- 'Jesus, what's wrong with you?!' I grumbled, not wanting to alert the whole neighborhood.

I looked up and met his eyes. Saying he was furious would have been the understatement of the century. His eyes shot daggers at me while the whiteness of his fists showed his anger. No doubt, he had somehow witnessed the whole scene and he was in a deep rage. I swallowed painfully and moved backwards.

- 'We need to talk!' he said in a barely controlled roar, as a strong wind from nowhere began to rise.

It was at that very moment that I had the good sense to be afraid.