Chapter 2: Chapter Two
The body has been identified as Ellen Parker, 16 year old Westerville High School student. She was found dead in an abandoned truck at the roadside. She was raped too" Pat announced, while showing us a series of images on the projector. I cringed in disbelief. I actually knew the girl. She was Alex's classmate.
"The police is saying that her boyfriend is a suspect since he's gone missing since then" Tasha chipped in.
"Yeah it's always the boyfriend" Nathan added. We all turned to him. "Whenever a case like this occurs, the boyfriend is always a suspect. Don't you see it. I wonder when the police will learn to dig deeper and not always look for an easy person to use as the prime suspect" He explained.
"Well, that's why we're here, remember. It's our duty to dig deep, like you say. Okay, who's the boyfriend?" I asked, directing my question to Pat.
"He's Jake Fieldman and check this out, he's actually not missing. His elder sister in Ohio give birth and he went to see her and probably spend time with her and the baby" She replied, and I smiled.
"Good. Now, we bring him in for interrogation. Who's conducting it?" I asked.
"Nathan is!" We all turned to our Assistant Director Charles, who just walked in. It was obvious he'd been filled in already. I looked at Nathan and grinned. Since he obviously thinks the boyfriend is not a suspect, then he should do the questioning to prove it.
Nathan just nodded and we dispersed.
I kept going through the details of the case, trying to see if there were any connections. My phone beeped with a message from Pat and I quickly rushed to her lab; the rest of my team Mayes were there.
"The police have arrested Jake already. Charles managed to speak with the director and they'd send him over. Meanwhile I managed to get his prints"
The rest of us tensed up
"Okay??!!" I prompted.
She turned to look at us "They're a match, which means he raped and killed her"
We all sighed in defeat.
Just then the doors opened and he walked in, alongside to police officers.
"Mr Fielding" Charles said, and led him to the interrogation room.
He then came out to meet me. "Laura, I'd like you to take the interrogation instead"
I looked at Nathan and he smiled, indicating he was cool with it. I quickly went back to my desk and gathered as much files on the case as I could and went to the interrogation room.
"Hello Jake. I'm Special Agent Anderson"
"Alright please can you tell me what exactly is going on here?? Because I need answers and the police is also telling me they need answers too and I'm clueless. Please don't tell me you also need answers too. My sister called me and told me she's in labour and there's no one with her. I rushed there and took her to the hospital. I was driving her back home after she's given birth when I read the news that my girlfriend was raped and killed. How's that even make sense??!!" He asked, feeling confused.
"I'm not asking you for answers. I'm only going to help you get them. When last did you see Ellen?" I asked.
"Right after I broke up with her" He said and looked away.
"You broke up with her? Why?"
"She was cheating on me with a ghost"
"What do you mean by 'a ghost'?"
"I stumbled upon a conversation with she and one John Paul. He even said he wanted then to meet on Sunday night by 8pm. I planned to follow her out on the date and even possibly deal with the guy, but then that was when my sister called me she was in labour and I couldn't just ignore her. I sent a break-up message to Ellen and told her never to call me again. When I got to my sister's place, I kept thinking about the guy and I searched up the name online and found out that there was no one with that name. I kept digging but found nothing" He explained.
"Interesting"
"Yeah and I tried to explain that to the cops, but they were all hell-bent on arresting me"
"When did you go to your Sister's place?" I asked.
"On Saturday"
"Okay, and Ellen died on Sunday at 10:15pm. If we can prove your whereabouts on that day and be sure that they were not in any way tied down to Ellen, then you're free. We'll focus on tracking down her real killer instead, okay?"
"Yeah"
I went out to meet my teammates.
"Okay. We called his sister. She confirmed that he was at her place since Saturday" Pat said.
"And the security cameras in his house actually confirms that he left the house on Saturday" Nathan added.
"I followed up on Ellen's profile. She has a best friend Lila. Lila was online at 10:30pm on Sunday and she posted on her Instagram profile that 'When haters seem to be stealing your joy, get rid of them' and that was 15 minutes after Ellen was found dead" Charles stated.
"Ellen was found dead at 10:15pm, but that was not the exact time she died, that means, the time actually aligns if Lila was actually responsible" I replied.
"It's high time we brought Lila in for a chat" Charles said and walked away.
"I swear to God... I was in my room on that night" Lila said, with tears in her eyes. I'd been talking to her for over 15 minutes but she still insists that she knows nothing about her best friend's murder. I asked her about her post on Instagram at that time and she said, it was just a random post and it was coincidental.
"You better start talking right now, because all evidence points to you. Stop lying!!" I slammed my hand on the table so hard. My phone beeped again. Pat's got something.
I looked up at Lila, and stood up. "If you're found guilty, I promise you that I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life in jail"
"I hacked into Lila's phone and discovered that she actually has the Tinder app, and that's just the beginning of our victory" Pat said with a smile.
"She has an account on Tinder and her name is registered as 'John Paul'
"Wonderful" Nathan exclaimed. "So Lila, for reasons known to her, created a fake account on Tinder and started dating her best friend online, and possibly lured her out on Sunday night and killed her"
"But for what reason?" I asked.
"Ellen has a great boyfriend, or rather, had; She has wealthy parents, with everything at her disposal, but Lila lives with her sick old grandmother in a dilapidated building, she struggles to get good grades and lacks most things. That's a plain reason"
"You lied to me, Lila!!" I stated plainly in the interrogation room and then brought out everything. We'd sent every information we got to the cops and they'd released Jake immediately. We managed to get footage of Lila at the place where she killed Ellen. There was a guy with her, who had an axe with him. These poor kids didn't know to avoid the cameras and it recorded everything. It turned out the boy ID'd as Palmer Carlisle, asked Ellen out, but she rejected him and went on to Jake, who Lila had a crush on. So the both of them- Lila and Palmer, teamed up to deal with Ellen in the best way they could. After Palmer raped her to unconsciousness, Lila hit her on the head with the axe and she died.
I showed all these to Lila and she started wailing uncontrollably. I stood up to leave, because the cops
"It wasn't my fault. Ellen and I are step sisters"
"If this is a ploy to get out of jail, you're really failing" I said to her.
"That's the truth; you can go confirm. Her father impregnated my mum and abandoned her, leaving us to suffer alone. My mum died few years after I was born. And since then I watched how Ellen kept on enjoying the things that were also mine and it hurt so badly. It hurt so badly, and that was why I did what I did"
I sat down.
"Whatever happened, happened between your parents, not between you and Ellen. It was not your fight. You deceived her by pretending to be her best friend and then killed her, so what?? Her father would own up to his mistakes and accept you?? Things don't work out that way. Your actions are inexcusable. Goodbye Lila"
I walked out instantly.
"Great job Laura!!" Charles said to me and I looked around at my teammates.
"It was a joint effort"
"Jake's really thankful to y'all for clearing his name and Ellen's parents are grateful too. Palmer has been arrested. He was trying to escape and he'd be arrested alongside Lila for murder. It's been one hell of a day guys!!! Go home and rest. Have a great night!!" He smiled at us.
I looked at the time and it was past 7pm already. I exchanged a few pleasantries with my team mates and then headed out to my car.
I couldn't wait to get home to my children.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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