I'm not sure who I picture Katherine as yet, but I have who her parents are in mind: Sandra Bullock as her mom; Martin Freeman as her dad. Odd combo, I know. But I like it. So she would be somewhere in the middle, lol. She has her mom's looks but her dad's eyes and nose if that helps with what she looks like :)
A few days had passed.
It was a Wednesday when she heard the news.
Jonathan Crane's grandmother was dead.
It was the talk of the school for the entire day. Apparently, she hadn't shown up to her tennis match and when someone came looking for her a few days later, they smelled a foul scent coming from around the house so they snooped and decided to call the police. They found her body in her room at around ten in the morning on Tuesday.
They were in the middle of their psychology class when they pulled Jonathan out to question him.
There were rumors going around about how she died and how it happened. The cruder rumors were that he murdered her; that made Katherine feel sick to her stomach. Having to think about something like that. She wasn't sure if someone, as creepy as Jonathan Crane was, was capable of murder.
It was lunchtime and Katherine had walked around aimlessly, trying to dodge her friends. She passed the office a few times, knowing Jonathan was just in those doors and she heard a loud voice come from the open crack.
"Don't patronize me, boy!" the loud man's voice shouted.
Katherine froze and stood next to the door to listen in.
"I'm going to ask you one more time, alright? The coroner said she had to have been dead since at least the weekend. Where were you Friday, Saturday, and Sunday?" the man asked.
Katherine felt stupid suddenly, knowing that she was going to interfere in the interrogation, but she had to. She had to help him. They were neighbors. Despite everything, she was sure he was a nice guy who hadn't killed his old, batty grandmother.
Opening the door, she stepped in and all eyes turned to her.
"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to step out please. We're in the middle of a-"
"He was with me this weekend." She cut the fat man in the suit off.
Everyone hushed and stared at her, wide-eyed. Even Jonathan who had turned in his seat.
"You're trying to tell me… a girl as pretty as you, was with… this boy? All weekend?" he asked.
"I'll ignore that comment for a moment, but yes. He was with me. We're neighbors. It was my birthday on Friday, and he spent the night this weekend. My parents had no idea because I'd sneak him in." she lied.
Katherine felt like she'd be sweating bullets any moment now. This was serious. This wasn't a game; it was real life. She had no idea if he really did kill his grandmother or not, but in her heart she wanted to believe he hadn't so she did what she could. She stood up for him and became his alibi. She was going to be in deep for this. She knew it.
The man laughed, his belly jiggling and she glared at him for a moment.
"Is there a problem?" she asked.
"No ma'am. We're going to have to take both of you downtown for further questioning though." He said as he crossed his arms.
Jonathan looked at her weirdly. She got defensive and crossed her arms as well.
"Principal Lawry, I hate to have wasted your time. I'll have my boys here escort these two out of the building." The man, who had the last name Rowe on his badge pinned to his shirt had said.
"No, it was no problem Agent Rowe. I'm sorry about all of this." Their principal had said.
"There's only one person who has to be sorry, and it's whoever murdered that sweet old lady."
Jonathan snorted and they all looked at him. He rolled his eyes and sighed as they grabbed him by the arm and hoisted him up. A second officer took Katherine by the arm and they escorted both students out of the building. As they made it to the front, Katherine caught glance of Natalie, whose eyes practically bulged out of her head seeing what was going on.
"What the fuck, Katherine!" she shouted.
All eyes in the hall had already been on them and there were numerous whisperings going on.
"What are you guys doing to her, that's my best friend!" the small girl shouted.
"Not now, Natty. I'll explain later." Katherine whispered harshly.
The blonde girl stared ahead, frozen in place and in shock.
They put the pair in a police cruiser and sped off downtown.
x x x
"What are you doing, you idiot!" Jonathan whispered to her in the car.
They had been driving for about twenty minutes in silence, the only noise coming from the two distracted police officers in the front seat, and the police radio chatter.
"Saving your ass." She said frowning.
"I don't need your help," he said, shaking his head.
"Clearly, you did. They were ready to lock you behind bars."
Katherine scooted closer, keeping an eye on the officers before turning her head closer to Jonathan, "If they ask, you were with me this weekend. I snuck you in so my parents wouldn't know. Ta-da. You're saved." She said.
"You are so stupid. I have no idea why you dragged yourself into this." He muttered.
I don't know either, she thought .
"But I did. So deal with it and go along with whatever I say, and stop insulting me in your head with those big ass words you use all the time. I know that's what you're thinking."
Jonathan actually cracked a small smile but he didn't let her see it. He stared out the window as the car sped down the busy city streets. He knew she was going to get in deep now and he wasn't sure why.
When they got downtown, they searched both of them respectively and took them into different holding cells.
Katherine was terrified beyond belief and she knew her parents were going to be so pissed.
"God, I am so stupid." She muttered to herself for the tenth time in half an hour.
"Miss Marsden, you're up." A woman said after opening her door.
Finally.
The woman escorted her to a room where she sat down and placed her hands neatly together on the desk. There was a glass mirror in front of her and she felt slightly impressed. It was just like in the movies. But those thoughts were wiped away when she saw a man step in, tall, ashy brown hair and a mustache.
"Hello Katherine, I'm James Gordon, GPD. I'm going to be asking you a few questions to help out the amateurs here today behind the glass, answer me as honestly as you can and everything should go smoothly, all right? Your parents have been contacted and should be on their way soon." He said and she muttered a curse word under her breath.
"Now, where were you on Friday night?" he asked.
"I was at my birthday party at a friends house." She answered and he nodded.
"Until what time?" he asked.
"I stayed until late," she began. Which was true… "And then I went home." Still true.
"Did you see Jonathan that night?" he asked.
"Yes." She lied.
"Are you seeing him…?"
"Maybe."
"Yes or no?"
"It's complicated."
"Teenage love is complicated." He nodded.
Gross.
Her and Jonathan? Teenage love? She grimaced and looked away.
Officer Gordon rubbed his face tiredly and sighed, sitting on the edge of the desk next to her.
"You're aware that this is a very serious case. There's question of murder. But we could be wrong. This is now all depending on you." He said seriously.
"I'm aware." She nodded and he copied.
"Well then. What were you doing all of Saturday and Sunday?" he asked.
At home, watching movies and stuffing my face with food, going through the birthday blues.
"I was with Jonathan. My parents were at work late those nights." She answered.
"Did you ever notice him acting strange?"
Katherine tried not to laugh, "Jonathan is one of the strangest guys I've ever met."
"Why do you say that?" he asked.
"I don't know," she shrugged, "He just is. He's weird. And he can be rude, and he acts like such a recluse at times but… I don't know. There's something about him; something that draws me to him wanting to know more. We've been neighbors for years and… well, I like him. I don't know if he feels the same way about me, but then again, he doesn't feel much of anything. I'd like him to like me… I want to be… something more. But he… I don't know. I guess he has trust issues or something. But I was trying to get him to get passed that this weekend." She finished and she thought about what she said.
Was all that the right thing to say? She wasn't sure.
Gordon stared at the mirror momentarily and nodded at it.
"How well did you know Regina Crane?" he asked.
That hit her a bit and she frowned immediately.
"She was a batty old lady." She answered honestly.
"Batty? How?"
"She was crazy, I don't know. Lived by a schedule. Not a normal one. I didn't know her personally but when you're neighbors with someone for almost a decade, and the most they've ever said to you was 'You insolent little girl, get off my sacred property with your devilish soliciting ways', I don't know, it just says something about a person. She was just so old. So old and alone. Well… not alone. She had God." She said, with a slight eye roll.
"But she also had Jonathan?" he pressed.
"Hardly." She said and bit her lip. He was going to want to get further into that and she had to choose what she said carefully.
"Hardly? What do you mean by that?" he said and she sighed.
"They didn't get along too great. I don't know much about his family, I'm sorry I can't help there, but from what I do know, his grandmother was a cruel woman. She didn't deserve what happened to her, but she was cruel."
"What exactly do you think happened to her?" the detective asked after a moment.
"I don't know. I heard lots of crazy rumors today. How did they find her?" she asked, really not wanting to know.
"With her head split open on the floor next to her bed. Would you like to see a picture?"
"No thank you." She frowned, looking down. She suddenly felt sick.
"Mrs. Crane was dressed as if she was ready to go out. Not getting out of bed. There's a lot we have to consider here. Any piece of information can help, darling." He said quietly.
Katherine took in a deep breath and looked up at the kind mans eyes. It was like he saw right through her but there was nothing either of them could do. She had to lie. He had to try and possibly believe what she said.
"I was with Jonathan this weekend. If he didn't check up on her at all, well maybe it was my fault. For keeping him. They didn't get along, and I know for a fact he tried staying out of her way as much as possible. I think she fell out of bed. She was old. I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say." She shrugged.
A few minutes later, she was released and walking out of the facility where she found her parents in the waiting room.
"Shit." She muttered.
"Katherine Elizabeth." Her mother said seriously, standing up as soon as she saw her.
"Why the hell did I get a call not only from your school but from the police that you were being questioned all for a death you weren't even involved in!" she said as she took her daughters arm and dragged her out of the police station.
Her face was angry, showing off how old she actually was. Her father looked at her sadly, studying his daughter. He wasn't sure what mess she had gotten herself into but he wanted to help her out of it.
"Mom he's our neighbor, you know that old woman, she was… she was old! She was crazy!" Katherine argued, her voice rising in pitch.
"Your father and I are going to have a long talk about this at home. I want you to go straight to your room." Her mother said in a scary calm, yet angry tone.
They got into their car and headed straight home in silence.
All throughout the day, Katherine couldn't help but worry about Jonathan.
