"Do you recognize this girl?" She asked, sliding the photo toward me. The room we sat in was brightly lit with a strong fluorescent light above. It had bright white walls and wooden flooring, overly fancy for a precinct if you ask me, and a rectangular table surrounded by four chairs. Of which, I sat across from the detective.

"Yeah, that's my friend's sister, her name is Bailey Bloom." I said, looking at the image. It was a picture of her outside the school, standing beside my car. I wondered when it had been taken and why she was near my car.

"How would you say you're affiliated with her?" The detective asked, clearly gesturing to my car. I wondered if Bailey had done anything to my poor Linda, that green Toyota had taken me to so many places.

"I wouldn't say we're friends, more like acquaintances, kind of. I only ever talked to her when I went to Amy's house, she was always a little odd." I said, looking to meet the detectives eyes.

I can't tell if he's telling the truth.

"And Amy Bloom is her sister that you had a romantic relationship with?"

"I wouldn't say romantic, it was honestly more of a semi-platonic friendship, if I'm being honest." I said, hoping she'd understand what I meant without being too blunt.

How can a friendship even be semi-platonic? I tried not to laugh at her thoughts. She'd surely assume I did something if I burst out laughing out of nowhere. I knew my eyes looked amused though.

He doesn't look like someone who would stalk or even want to stalk anyone. I heard someone think, I wondered if it was the detective or someone behind the glass. So they brought me here because they think I've been stalking someone. Did they think I was stalking Bailey, because no. I wouldn't stalk anyone... except maybe Violet, but she likes me being around me, I hope.

"So you're saying you had no actual affiliation with Bailey." The detective raised an eyebrow as she watched me carefully.

If he glanced to the left before answering my question, he is lying. I decided to just look her straight in the eye.

"No, why would I? She was always busy with random guys anytime I was over at Amy's, I mainly avoided her if I'm being honest. She had this creepy vibe about her, like she was... I don't know how to describe it but if you ever met her, she comes across as... hungry?" I wasn't even sure if that was the correct way to describe it. When I thought of Bailey, I thought of chaos and those movies where something runs at you and scares the life out of you for no reason. Hungry, I guess that was a good way to describe her.

"Okay." The detective said, she snagged the photo away and slid a different picture toward me. "Do you know who this is?" She asked inquisitively.

My heart suddenly hurt for a second as the reality of the situation struck me. Ethan was gone... forever and there was no way of seeing him laughing with Amelia again or playing pranks on Violet.

"Yeah," I cleared my throat, feeling my eyes grow soggy as I stared at the image, "that's Violet's mom's boyfriend." I said. "His name's Ethan, he was usually around, pretty cool dude. I can't imagine why anyone would want to hurt him." My voice cracked as I felt a random tear stream down my cheek and wiped it quickly. "Rest in peace man," I whispered to the image.

"So you know already that he was the victim of a murder. How?" The detective asked, watching me carefully.

"Amy was there when her sister got arrested, she came to visit me and Violet after and told us about what happened and how she thinks her sister might've hurt him; she said she saw Bailey with blood around her mouth and hands and just some other crazy things." I said, unsure of if that was what actually she had said. She had said a lot of things, that's just what I had assumed I suppose.

"And who is Violet and her mother?" The detective had her pen out now, writing down the names of the people that she could potentially have leads on.

"Violet is..." I paused, I wanted to say my girlfriend, but obviously if Violet heard that I had called her that she'd be upset, "a really, really good friend of mine. Her full name is Violet Veowsalot, her mother is Amelia and she was dating Ethan."

"Can you give us any more details about either of these women?"

"Uh... like what?" I asked, forcing myself to look away from the image of a smiling Ethan. I would miss that guy.

"Any possible reasons that these ladies might have for wanting to hurt someone?" She asked blatantly and I felt a surge of anger rush through me. I know she wasn't accusing them, i didn't understand this response.

"What? No way, if you're actually considering blaming either of these two for Ethan's death. Amelia was in love with the guy, she'd never want to hurt him. Violet was fond of him too. I do know that Amelia's ex-husband might not have liked him so maybe try checking there. His name is Dooley something? I know he's a professor at the nearby college. I really don't know what else to tell you. As for alibis, Violet was with me at her house when we found out about it. Her mother was there too so I know she couldn't have done it. And Amy can confirm this since she went straight to Violet's house after she saw the arrest. As far as I know, only Bailey and Ethan has been there and Amy arrived a few minutes later."

It doesn't make sense why a 46 year old man was at the house of a 19 year old. And what would be Bailey's purpose in hurting him, if she even had? The detectives thoughts rampaged my mind as I watched her curiously.

"Okay, Thank you for your statement, Mr. Paul." The detective said, taking Ethan's image off the table and standing up.

"I can leave?" I asked, wondering why she hadn't pushed me into seeing if I was stalking Bailey. Perhaps that thought had come from someone behind the glass mirror.

"Yes, but please don't tell anyone about this as this is an ongoing investigation and sharing details may derail us from the true culprit." She put her clipboard close to her chest as she headed for the door.

"With all due respect, detective, there was only one person with him at the time of death. I'd say you have a pretty strong lead. You might've already found your criminal." I stood up and followed her out the door.

"Perhaps, Mr. Paul." She smiled, this kid would make a great detective someday. I turned to walk away, but she had one more thing to say.

"And next time we catch you beating up some guy, I certainly won't take it easy on you." Hopefully that rapist turns himself in. She thought as my smile widened.

I assumed they had bugged the place or used some sonic hearing machine to listen in on the audio at Joseph's apartment. It bothered me that they did nothing about it, but if they didn't eventually I would. Violet needed justice, and I hope to be her salvation.

I nodded, glad that I could be of service, and left the building.

Joseph's phone was buzzing in my pocket as I picked it up and realized he had several missed calls from Trina and Jared; I hadn't realized that he and Jared were close. That sucks. I smirked, walking over to the nearest trashcan and tossing his phone in it. Now he had nobody's phone numbers and could not contact a single soul. And this would just be the start of my punishment.

My mind wandered to Violet. Was she okay? I hadn't realized the consequences of my actions until I drove home, checking to see if she would text me angrily at any point. But nothing arrived. I decided to shoot her a couple messages before going to bed, maybe startle her a little bit so she can take the next day off and spend it with me. I felt so clingy for wanting to be around her all the time, but I knew this feeling wasn't going to go away anytime soon.

Messages to Vy🙃💚

Hey sleeping beauty

I need your help.

Come to my house tomorrow morning or whenever you get this message.

I miss you

Call me when you read these actually, I'll pick you up.

I have a lot to talk about

I suddenly felt really alone, unable to sleep, I read a book from my upstairs shelf and stayed up the entire night finishing it.

Please vote, comment, and follow for more updates ♥️ ok I couldn't resist so I wrote another chapter lol now onto my 8 page essay

♥️

* this chapter was edited and republished

In case you're interested in getting the totally edited/revised/changed paperback version of this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Read-Minds-ebook/dp/B08RYV11F2/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=veronica+Soliman&qid=1609863783&sr=8-3

(Link will be available in the coming weeks)

(Link will be available in the coming weeks)