The Iron Quill by Shelena Shorts Page A

afternoon. What can I do for you?”
    I wished they were both there, because I’d always gotten the vibe that Officer Wright was the more sympathetic one. Officer Petty has this accusatory look in his eyes. Like when you talk, he tilts his head back slightly as if he’s trying to get a better angle as he dissects each word.
    I shook off the feeling that he was seeing through to my core, discovering my previous lives or how I’d saved Wes or the secrets I now held. Instead I tried to focus on the here and now. The most pressing matter: Tim Walters.
    I cleared the itch in my throat. “I have some information on Mary Payne’s murder.”
    His eyes widened and he nodded his head. “Well then, let’s go to my desk and talk about it.”
    Within minutes we were seated across a desk with papers sprawled out all over it. Even though there didn’t seem to be a method to their arrangement, he uncovered the file with ease, opened it, and said, “Alright, let’s see, I last interviewed you a few weeks ago and you knew nothing. What’s changed, Ms. Slone?”
    “Well, I found out that a boy I used to work with witnessed the murder. His name is Chase Chambers and he said Tim Walters killed Ms. Payne, because he had a vendetta against me. Tim is Andrew Walter’s grandson, and he blamed me for his grandfather’s death, then created an opening at Healey’s so Chase could work there to basically torment me and seek his revenge.”
    I was talking so fast that I wasn’t sure if any of it made sense, but Officer Petty nodded and leaned back in his chair. “So you
are
involved?”
    “What? Me? No. I’m not involved. I just—”
    “Relax, Ms. Slone. I meant that we figured it was not a coincidence that two crimes occurred around you. So now that we know we were correct in our assumption, let’s get this on paper.”
    I told him everything Chase said in his video, and everything was going well until he asked me where he could find Chase. That was a problem.
    “Um. He’s actually not living anymore . . . he’s . . . dead.”
    “He’s what?”
    “He killed himself last night.”
    He raised a brow and pulled the pen out of his mouth.
    “You mean Chase Chambers is dead, too? Three people you know?”
    I opened my mouth to speak and then snapped it shut.
What was he suggesting now?
    He finally spoke. “Look, Ms. Slone, this is getting deeper and deeper every time I see you. If Chase is no longer with us, then how am I supposed to proceed with this new information?”
    That was easy. I pulled Chase’s phone out of my purse and put it on top of the highest mound of forms on his desk. “He mailed me this before he died. It’s a video message. A confession, actually.”
    “Hmm. Alright. Let me take a look.”
    After a silent viewing, the officer looked up at me and pressed his lips together before parting them to release words I’d heard too many times on TV. “Ms. Slone, this is not enough to prove anything. We can’t arrest anyone based on a dead person’s video message. Not to mention the fact that we can’t prove he wasn’t coerced into saying these things. Or the fact that—”
    “Listen,” I interrupted. “I’m just the messenger here. I’m not in the business of arresting anyone or saving the world from criminals. But this guy is a murderer and he’s after me. I don’t
want
this guy locked up. I
need
him locked up. My life depends on it.”
    And it did. It wasn’t a lie. Wes’ life depended on us finding him, and his life was my life, so yeah,
my
life depended on it. I stood up gaining more confidence. “Now, I have given you solid proof and if you went out there and looked into half of what Chase says on here, you might not just close your case, but you could save a few more lives.”
    “Alright. Alright.” He put his hand up. “I won’t make promises, but I will look into it. That’s all I can say.”
    I shook my head and felt my eyes watering, so I just turned around and walked out of there with