HIS SCENT IS A MOON LIT LIE

Chapter Thirty seven

Jordan's POV

Elara's face lingered in my thoughts.

The last thing I remembered seeing before the cops had dragged me out of the hallways was her expression, one of anger, confusion, fear and panic.

Tears formed the corner of her eyes and her mouth was slightly open like she wanted to scream.

Her friends held onto her, they tried to get her to calm down, something I could not do.

Now, sitting in the back of the cop car, silence fell between me and the man in the front seat. His eyes occasion drifted to the rearview mirror.

"I am Uncle Fred, a friend of Elara's." He said. "She told she is your girlfriend."

The word "girlfriend" felt too heavy, my chest rose at the mention of it, the label was a lot to own up to at the moment.

Clearing my throat, I responded in a dry tone. "We are...we are just friends."

Uncle Fred or rather Mr Fred chuckled. "Funny because she seems to think otherwise."

I remained quiet. What was the point anyways? What I was mostly worried about was how I got entangled in something as critical as this. Why was I even being arrested? What evidence pointed me as a suspect?

"Look, Jordan..." Mr Fred's voice interrupted my thoughts, his tone remained calm. "I am not here to be the bad guy. I just want you to open up fo me, everything about Elara's grandfather. I want to know."

"I do not even know why I am being arrested or what evidence points me as a suspect." I said stiffly.

I was not a big fan of Mr Fred's overly friendliness, the goal was to clear my name of ever accusations so I spoke in a serious tone. "I will talk when we arrive at the station."

Those were my last words for the rest of the drive.

We eventually arrived at the station. It felt colder than my expectations. There were a few officers lurking around, all busy with one case or the other, no one had actually noticed me walk in.

They led me into a small room, just one chair and one table with a white bulb dangling above my head.

I was left alone in there for a few minutes before Mr Fred came in with a folder clutched tight to his hands.

He sat on the chair opposite mine and slowly opened the folder as if waiting for me to say something.

I had nothing to say so the silence remained between us.

"So, Jordan." Mr Fred started in a calm tone. "Where were you the day Elara's grandfather disappeared?" He asked.

My expression reminded stoic. "You do not expect me to tell you anything if you are not going to show me what evidence you think you have against me."

He leaned back in his chair and released a heavy sigh. "I was hoping we would do this the easy way."

Raising a brow at him, my hands pointed to the folder. "Show me what you have got."

Mr Fred reached into the folder and pulled out a tablet. It was a blurry footage, like a security camera from a cheap store.

But something caught my eyes, the movement, the face.

It looked exactly like me, but it was not me.

The figure who apparently looked a lot like me was standing in front of Elara's grandfather's house. He walked in, some minutes passed and he walked out again, except with an evil grin that upset my stomach.

Uncle Fred's voice jolted me out of my thoughts. "This video was dated the same day Elara's grandfather went missing. Her mum received the video from an anonymous sender."

Anonymous sender? I felt chills run down my spine. Someone was clearly trying to ruin my image.

"And this." Mr Fred placed a small object on the table, a black wristband. "This was found at the scene yesterday after we received the video from Elara's mum yesterday, you were wearing this in the video."

I sat upright. "That video is clearly fake. Someone is setting me up."

Mr Fred said nothing but the doubt in his eyes made it clear that he was not convinced either.

I wanted to defend myself more but the door suddenly opened.

A tall man dressed in a neat uniform stepped in. Uncle Fred stood once and addressed him respectfully as the chief.

"I will take it from here. The streets need patrol Fred."

Uncle Fred nodded and stepped out.

The Chief stared at me in silence, it was that he was either trying to access me or he had nothing to say.

"Is everything okay?" I had to ask after many minutes of silence.

But then the door flew open wide again.

Surprisingly, Gabriel Cross walked in, besides him was Elara's mum.

My heart raced. "Is Elara okay? Please---"

"Do not dare speak my daughter's name." Elara's mum snapped, right before I could even complete my sentence. Her voice trembled with rage but I could not help but acknowledge the striking resemblance between her and Elara.

Gabriel stood besides her, his arms crossed and his entire body composed as always.

"We have questions for you Jordan."

I spoke hastily. "I swear on my life that i did not do it. That video is fabricated. Someone is trying----"

"I know it is fabricated." Elara's mum cut in sharply.

I gulped a lump down my throat and watched her continue.

"I know because we are the ones who fabricated it."

My breath was caught in between my throat, I glanced at the chief of police and he did not look surprised by Elara's mum's confession.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Like Gabriel said earlier, we have questions and that will determine your freedom."

I found myself nodding my head slowly, although deep down, I was still confused by all of this. Why was Elara's mum internationally framing me and why were the police in her favour?

"First of all, what is your connection with my daughter?"