The curious case of the missing Mr. Cooper

Chapter 5

I felt the vibration of the cold metal move underneath my elbows when the detective made a fist with his hand and slammed it on the desk out of frustration.

"Where were you on the day of the victims disappearance?"

He asked in a husky, raspy, low toned voice after fixing his grey thin hair into place from all the sweating and table banging. How he fixed his hair kind of reminded me of how a boxer fixes his hair while in the boxing ring during their time out. Not that I watch or know much about boxing, but maybe it reminded me of boxing because this detective looked like it was me he wanted a few rounds with in a boxing ring.

It kind of terrified me a little when he slammed the desk, even though I think I kept my cool in terms of him seeing that I was terrified. "Why is this guy shouting at me and interrogating me like he thinks I had anything to do with this? I was the one who came forward about what I heard that day, and yet it's like this old guy thinks I'm the one who played a part in all of this.

"Lunatic". I thought and laughed a bit when I said the word under my breath and noticed that he didn't hear me.

"Must be because he's getting old." I thought to myself, trying not to smile and laugh after that very intense shouting moment he had just demonstrated.

I gathered myself up and looked him in the eye

"Look, sir, I don't know what is going on with you or who it is that you think you are to be talking to me like that. If you're not going to actually charge me with anything, you can't keep me here to keep yelling at me as if I did something wrong. I have told you everything I know and have fully co-operated with the police department and the law. So if you don't mind, I would like to leave now if we're done here. Oh, and I'll be with my lawyer if you still feel the need to question me more, detective.

The detective kept his cool, and then he took in a deep breath and a sip of his coffee. He then merged both of his hands together, fingers intertwining with one another as if he was a CEO at a big firm, behind a big conference room table giving orders to his staff and employees. Then he smiled, letting his grey moustache cover his thin, pale, dry lips as he said

"Thank you for your cooperation. We'll be staying in touch.".

"Thank you." I replied as I zipped up my jacket and stood up from my chair to leave the interrogation room. I never thought I'd ever get to actually see one in person. I always saw these rooms in movies.

As I touched the cold door handle and slightly opened the door, I saw the bright, warm yellow and white lights of the grey carpeted hallway.

"Oh, and in case I forgot to mention it, don't take any unexpected out of town vacations until we let you know otherwise."

I know he was just doing his job, but how he said that was clearly a way of him trying to show me who's in control here.

I turned my head around and saw that he sunk into his chair slouching, and that he had his arms crossed on top of his belly.

"Will do detective, You enjoy the rest of your day now."

I said as I briefly looked at him and closed the door behind me.

I walked down the corridor and into the bathroom, closed the door behind me, and started to take deep breaths to calm myself down. I splashed some water onto my face. My face felt hot. And the cool water hitting my face made me feel like I was in the sun all day instead of a cold, low lit interrogation room. I gathered myself, controlled my breathing, dried my face and took one last deep breath, and exhaled as I left the bathroom. I then got into an Uber and went home.