Chapter five
1608 Words
The interrogation room was colder than I expected.
I sat across from Detective Daniel Hayes with my arms folded tightly across my chest.
There was a camera in the corner.
A clock on the wall.
And a glass of water I hadn't touched.
Daniel sat opposite me, a file opened in front of him.
For the last ten minutes, he hadn't said anything.
Neither had I.
Finally, he closed the file.
“Let's start again.”
I sighed.
“We've already done this.”
“We're doing it again.”
“I don't remember what happened.”
“You've said that.”
“Because it's true.”
Daniel leaned back in his chair.
“You were at Mia's apartment.”
“Yes.”
“You were drinking.”
“Yes.”
“You argued with nobody.”
“Yes.”
“You don't remember how Mia was attacked.”
“No.”
“And you don't remember holding the knife.”
“No.”
“But the knife was in your hand when the police arrived.”
“I know.”
“You were covered in blood.”
“I know.”
“Your best friend was dead.”
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
Daniel studied my face.
“Do you understand why you're our primary suspect?”
I laughed softly.
“Because I'm the easiest person to blame.”
His expression hardened.
“That's not what I said.”
“But it's true.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Then explain something to me.”
He opened the file.
“Why would someone kill Mia and leave you alive?”
I stared at him.
“I don't know.”
“Why would they put the knife in your hand?”
“I don't know.”
“Why would they leave no obvious sign of forced entry?”
“I don't know.”
“Why was your phone found on the floor?”
“I don't know.”
He leaned forward.
“Annabelle, you keep saying you don't know.”
“Because I don't.”
My voice cracked.
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth.”
“I am telling you the truth.”
He stared at me.
For a few seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then the door opened.
A forensic officer stepped inside.
“Detective.”
Daniel turned.
“What is it?”
“Can I speak with you outside?”
Daniel stood.
“Wait here.”
I watched them leave.
The door closed.
I lowered my head.
My hands were still shaking.
Mia was dead.
And I couldn't remember the last few minutes of her life.
How was I supposed to prove I hadn't killed her when I couldn't even explain what happened?
***
Outside the interrogation room, Daniel followed the forensic officer down the hallway.
“What did you find?”
The officer handed him a report.
“We finished processing the knife.”
Daniel stopped walking.
“And?”
“We found three sets of prints.”
Daniel looked up.
“Three?”
“Yes.”
“Whose?”
“Annabelle's. Mia's.”
He paused.
“And the third?”
“We don't have a match.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“Partial?”
“Yes.”
“How partial?”
“Enough to establish that it's not either woman's.”
Daniel looked back at the interrogation room.
“Could it belong to someone who handled the knife earlier?”
“It could.”
“Any idea when?”
“Not yet.”
Daniel studied the report.
“What else?”
The officer handed him another document.
“The autopsy report came back.”
Daniel opened it.
“And?”
“The medical examiner found something interesting.”
“What?”
“The injury pattern.”
Daniel frowned.
“Explain.”
“The angle of the wound doesn't completely match the position Annabelle was found in.”
He looked up.
“How far off?”
“Enough to make us question the original assumption.”
Daniel was silent.
“So you're saying Annabelle might not have done it?”
“I'm saying the evidence doesn't support concluding that she did.”
Daniel looked through the report again.
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
The officer lowered his voice.
“There were traces under Mia's fingernails.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Skin?”
“Small amount.”
“DNA?”
“Being processed.”
“Could be Annabelle's?”
“Possibly.”
Daniel nodded.
“Anything else?”
“The medical examiner also estimated that Mia had been dead for longer than Annabelle's apparent loss of consciousness would suggest.”
Daniel looked up sharply.
“What?”
“We're still refining the timeline.”
“So the timeline is wrong?”
“Not necessarily. But it doesn't fit perfectly.”
Daniel closed the report.
“Send me everything as soon as the DNA comes back.”
The officer nodded.
Daniel remained where he was.
Three fingerprints.
Two known.
One unknown.
An angle that didn't fit.
And a timeline that didn't make sense.
He looked through the glass panel of the interrogation room.
Annabelle was sitting alone.
Head lowered.
Hands trembling.
She looked exhausted.
Not like a killer.
But Daniel had learned a long time ago that appearances meant nothing.
He walked back inside.
Annabelle looked up.
“What happened?”
Daniel sat down.
“We're not done.”
“I know.”
He opened the file.
“Did Mia have enemies?”
Annabelle frowned.
“No.”
“Anyone who disliked her?”
“Everyone has someone who dislikes them.”
“Anyone specific?”
“No.”
“Anyone who had threatened her?”
She hesitated.
“I don't know.”
Daniel noticed.
“You hesitated.”
“I was thinking.”
“About what?”
Annabelle looked down.
“The messages.”
“What messages?”
“The ones I told you about.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“You received another one?”
“No.”
“Then why bring them up?”
“Because whoever sent them knew Mia.”
“How do you know?”
“They told me not to trust her.”
“When?”
“Before she died.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“What exactly did the message say?”
Annabelle hesitated.
Then she recited it.
Daniel's expression remained unreadable.
“Did you save it?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“My phone.”
“We have your phone.”
“Then you can check.”
“We already did.”
“And?”
“The message wasn't there.”
Annabelle stared at him.
“What?”
“It was deleted.”
“I didn't delete it.”
“Who did?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel watched her carefully.
She looked genuinely confused.
“Annabelle.”
“Yes?”
“Why would someone threaten Mia?”
“I don't know.”
“Why would someone warn you about her?”
“I don't know.”
“Why would someone kill her?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I don't know.”
Daniel leaned back.
For the first time, he didn't repeat the question.
Because he was starting to realize something.
Maybe Annabelle wasn't hiding the answers.
Maybe she genuinely didn't have them.
***
Two hours later, the police station was quieter.
Daniel sat at his desk, staring at the forensic report.
He read the same line again.
Unknown partial fingerprint recovered from knife.
He rubbed his forehead.
Then his phone rang.
“Hayes.”
“Detective, we've got the preliminary DNA result.”
Daniel straightened.
“And?”
“The unknown material from beneath Mia's fingernails doesn't match Annabelle.”
Daniel's eyes widened.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Whose is it?”
“We don't know yet.”
Daniel stood.
“Run it through every database available.”
“We already did.”
“And?”
“No match.”
Daniel looked at the file on his desk.
The unknown fingerprint.
The unknown DNA.
The unexplained messages.
The strange timeline.
None of it made sense.
“Send the complete report.”
“Already on its way.”
The call ended.
Daniel stared through the glass window.
Annabelle was still sitting in the interrogation room.
She looked completely broken.
He had spent years learning how to recognize lies.
But there was something about her that bothered him.
Not because she looked guilty.
Because she looked like someone who had just realized she had lost the only person who truly believed her.
His phone buzzed.
A message from the forensic officer.
There's one more thing.
Daniel opened it.
The third fingerprint on the knife isn't random.
Another message appeared.
It appears on another piece of evidence from a previous murder scene.
Daniel froze.
Previous murder scene?
His heart began to pound.
He immediately called.
“What previous scene?”
There was silence on the other end.
Then the officer answered.
“The Ethan Miller case.”
Daniel slowly looked toward Annabelle.
The woman everyone believed was connected to the murders.
The woman who claimed she was innocent.
The woman who had been receiving messages from someone she couldn't identify.
Daniel looked back at the report.
The same unknown fingerprint had appeared at Ethan Miller's crime scene.
And now it was on the knife that had supposedly been used to kill Mia.
For the first time since meeting Annabelle, Daniel had a different question.
Not “Did Annabelle kill them?”
But—
“Who is killing everyone around her?”
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