A Gun In The House

Chapter1: Interrogation

"So Mr. Winters, any idea what the market value of the house is?" Detective Shane Gory was short of questions to ask Paul Winters. After more than an hour of interrogating him, he still couldn't get any information that would help him understand how the gun found in the house of Paul's wife, Emily Winters got there.

"I'm not into real estate." Paul replied

"Ye well, a rough estimate, like a 100k, 200k? I mean a number. Just give me a number." Shane was desperate for answers but Paul wasn't cooperating with him.

"Numbers? Well like I said, I'm not into real estate-" he was cut short by Shane getting a little nervous

"C'mon Mr. Winters, I want the numbers. Now are you going to give it to me or not?"

"Easy officer, I 'm telling you I can't give you numbers when I don't know the numbers." Just then Shane's colleague Alisha came in. Shane looked at his blue-eyed female colleague. He knew whenever she came in during an interrogation, it meant he had to end it.

"What is it Alisha?"

"Can I talk to you outside for a minute?" she asked him. Shane looked at her, and then looked at Paul. He got up and told Paul he was coming back. While Shane was interrogating Paul, Alisha had taken Emily into another room for interrogation and wasn't having much luck with her.

"So Mrs. Emily Winters, any idea how much the house is worth?" Alisha had asked her. Emily looked at her and smiled.

"A house is worth the amount of love you put into it, the warmth it gives while you live in it and the happiness you get because of the freedom you have inside which you don't get outside." she said still smiling at Alisha.

"Mrs. Winters, I was asking how much it could be worth on the market if it was put up for sale?" Alisha cleared her throat while adjusting herself on the chair she was sitting.

"It has a value in numbers that I don't know. A real estate agent would be a better help." Alisha ran the pen she was holding in her hand through her hair. Emily wasn't cooperating with her and this bothered her a lot. She got up and went to meet Shane. When she called Shane out, she took him aside and talked to him.

"How is it going on your end Shane?" she asked looking into his eyes.

"Nothing, he's not telling me anything. You?" he told her

"Same on my end." she replied. They both stared at each other.

"So what are we missing here?" Shane asked.

"Nothing, we're interrogating a very cooperative couple, perhaps." she said

"Might be true. The husband can't give me a rough estimate of how much the house could be worth."

"And the wife talks of love, warmth and freedom and doesn't know the numbers too." replied Alisha.

"Great then." Shane remarked.

"What?" Alisha asked.

"Let's do a change and see what comes up." Shane said.

"Sure you want to do that?" Shane nodded. Without saying another word to each other, they switched places with Shane going to interrogate Emily, while Alisha went in to interrogate Paul.

When Shane went in, Emily turned to look at him. When their eyes met, Shane froze. He knew whom he was about to interrogate, and he was almost about to regret it. Emily spoke out.

"Shane Gory, is it you?" Emily asked equally surprised. Shane slowly closed the door and walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulders.

"Yes, it's me Emily Page."

"Emily Winters for your information." she immediately replied back. Shane gave out a faint smile and took his seat.

" Sure. But I remember dating a woman named Emily Page. She decided I wasn't good enough for her." he reminded her.

"You only wanted her body, Shane. Not a life with her." she replied

"And so you hooked up with that guy while we were dating,right?" he asked her. Emily looked away when he said that. She felt a sense of guilt rushing through her veins.

"Well at least he promised me a life together with him. You, what did you promise me?" she asked still looking away. Shane looked seriously at her wondering if he should go back into the past or stick to the case before him. He had to interrogate her.

"A life together?" Emily nodded managing to look him in the eye.

"Look where you are now; being interrogated for possible murder." he shrugged as he said that. Emily stared blankly at him.

"And the surprising thing is, it's my case." Emily adjusted herself in her seat as he said that. She sighed as Shane focused his gaze at her.

"It's my life now and not ours, Shane."

"I know, but this case is going to bring me back into your life. And that means I'll be in touch with you like old times. The only difference is, I'll be investigating you and that man you call your husband."

"His name is Paul, Paul Winters." she answered.

Paul saw Alisha walk in and wondered why the sudden change. He felt there was a mix up and questioned Alisha.

"Hope you're not in the wrong room are you?" he asked

"No. Infact I'm taking over from my colleague." she replied back

"So that means he's out there with my wife, right?" he asked with a worried look.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Paul sighed as he knew Emily meeting Shane would spark memories of the past. He didn't want that.

"I just have to bear it." he replied bending his head and closing his eyes. Alisha sat up and looked at him wondering what he meant by that.

"Anything you'd like to tell me?" she asked.

"No nothing. I'm just being reminded of the past that's all." he said giving out a faint smile.

"Well I'm here to talk about the present." she said. Paul bent his head forward towards Alisha and lowered his voice.

"Then I'm not sure you'd like to hear a little side detail." he said

"Say it." she told him. Paul looked at her rigidly. He was about to take the decision of revealing something he had long kept a secret. And the urge to do so while sitting opposite Alisha was strong.