Robbie came out of the interview in tears, his face was pale and emotionless. He scuffed his tired feet along the floor as he headed back towards the seating area. His mind was racing, playing the interview over and over like a broken record.
"What happened in there?" Beck stood awkwardly, just watching Robbie as he sat down slowly.
"I just told them the truth. That's all." Robbie uttered. He couldn't comprehend that Cat had been raped in the past year. Anger rushed through his body for several reasons. He felt guilty that she hadn't said anything to him. He felt betrayed.
"Andre Harris?" The police officer stood by the door, holding it open as he lingered in the doorway, ushering Andre to follow him.
Andre got up slowly, turning back to face his friends as the door slammed behind him.
"Take a seat." The officer pointed to the plastic chair beside the table. "We're just going to ask you some routine questions about the weekend and about Caterina."
Andre nodded, his eyes darting from side to side as he looked around the plain room.
"So where were you the night Caterina died?"
Andre swallowed hard. "I was asleep. In my room with Robbie and Beck."
"So you didn't hear anything?"
Andre thought hard. "I heard Robbie get up to use the bathroom, and a while later I heard whispers in the hallway. I couldn't hear who it was, but I'm sure it was Cat. Her voice was louder than the other persons."
"Could you hear what they were saying at all?"
Andre shook his head. "It was just kind of muffled murmurs. I could hear them moving about in the hallway because the floorboards creaked."
"Not even one word?" The officer looked at him seriously, his eyes slicing into Andre's.
"I think Cat said no once or twice. But I really couldn't hear what they were saying. They were quiet. I just thought it was Cat running into Robbie in the hallway."
"You think?" The officer wrote in his notepad, a confused look on his face.
"Well it was dark and Robbie was sharing the double bed with me but we put pillows between us to separate the sides so I couldn't tell if he was in it or not."
"So it could have been an unknown person or persons?"
"It was only one person out there with her. It was probably Robbie. I mean I was half asleep but I would have heard the front door open and close if someone had broken in. It was just us seven there the entire time."
The cop raised his eyebrows slightly. "Ok." He wrote down some more before looking back up at Andre. "Do you know anyone that has a problem with Caterina?"
Andre shook his head. "No one had any problems with Cat. There were some girls from a while ago that she, Jade and Tori fell out with at Karaoke Dokie, but that was ages ago."
"So no one hated her? Or had a reason to dislike her?"
"Not one person. Cat was just the most caring person ever. She would always go out of her way to make sure everyone else was happy. She was so innocent and naive to the world that she could always put a smile on someones face. I mean even Jade liked her and thats saying something."
The cop crossed his brows. "What do you mean about Jade?"
"Well she's the token bad girl, you know? People know not to mess with her. Most people in our school are scared of her." Andre chuckled nervously.
"Has she ever hurt anyone before?"
"I don't know. She's threatened to a lot of times. But you never know with Jade."
The cop suddenly looked excited, like things were clicking together. "And you say Jade and Cat were best friends, even though they were total opposites?"
"Yeah. They were like ying and yang. They complimented one another well. Cat was too naive to see how mean Jade was most of the time and I think having Cat around kept some kindness in Jade."
"And Jade would never hurt Cat?"
Andre looked shocked by what the man in front of his was saying. "No."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I know Jade. At least I think I do." Andre felt his heart begin to race as he realized what he was saying. "Jade wouldn't hurt Cat. Not on purpose anyway."
"Well whoever did hurt your friend knew what they were doing." The officer stood up, opening the door again. "Thank you for your information, Mr Harris. That's all we'll need for you now."
Andre walked out of the interview room feeling like a weight had been lifted off of him. Siting in that room was intimidating even for him.
...
"Victoria Vega." The police officer sat opposite the young girl, his fists on the table.
Tori nodded. "Yes." She replied quietly. She had been the last person to be interviewed and the nerves were really beginning to show. She was tapping her foot and biting her nails.
"As in David Vega's daughter, yes?"
She nodded again, bowing her head in shame. "Yes."
"I bet you never thought you'd be sat in a room like this eh?" The cop laughed slightly, trying to ease the tension.
"No."
"Your Dad wanted to interview you and your sister but we felt it was best we did that as from past experience we know working personally on cases doesn't always end well."
Tori chewed on her lip. "Why can't I be interviewed by him? He's professional and so am I."
The cop raised his eyebrow up at her. "Because you're his daughter and he might not do his job properly, to put it simply. Now, where would you like to start? I've heard every version of events up to now, apart from yours."
Tori began telling her version of events. She described the car ride up to the cabin, how they had had to tidy the cabin up and when they were done that how they'd began to plan what they were going to do on Halloween together. "It was just like any other day, except we were on vacation. We'd all been on vacation before, to Yerba. But this was better, it was actually in a country that wasn't at war."
The officer laughed lightly. "Did Caterina seem weird at all? Or say anything strange to you?"
"Kind of." Tori started.
"I can't wait for Halloween. It's the best time of the year. I swear that holiday was invented around me. The blood, the gore, the monsters, it's all so evil and perfect." Jade held out her gory Halloween costume to her friends in the bedroom. "I'm going to look so great in this. I'm gonna have blood all over my face and bruises and scars all over my body. I'm going to look so dead, it'll scare you."
Cat sat on her bed, her back straight against the wall. "I don't like Halloween."
"That's because you're scared." Jade rolled her eyes as she opened the bedroom door as a crash sounded in the kitchen. "I swear to god, Trina. If you are touching my scissors I will cut all your hair off with them!" She screamed down the staircase as she rushed down there.
Tori laughed at Jade's overreaction. "Why don't you like Halloween?"
"Because I get scared." Cat's eyes were focused on the floor.
"Why? You know ghosts and monsters are all just fake, don't you?" Tori said in an attempt to cheer her up.
"It's not monsters or ghosts I'm scared of. It's real people." She mumbled. "They can do the most damage."
Tori looked confused. "You don't need to be scared of people." She laughed slightly.
"Go to one of Jade's Halloween parties and you'll get scared." Cat's voice quivered as she spoke.
"Well Jade is a very scary person, but her Halloween parties are all just fake. None of that scary stuff is real, Cat."
"It felt pretty real, trust me."
"Jade promised not to make this weekend too scary, so I think we'll be ok here." Tori wrapped her arms around Cat, rubbing her arm gently.
Cat let a few tears drip down her face. "She won't stop scary things happening."
"Does Caterina usually get emotional over situations like that?"
Tori shook her head. "No. We just spoke after that about a lot of things and once she'd cleared her chest she moved on from it."
"What else did you talk about?"
"Trick or treating, favourite Halloween movies. It was stuff related to Halloween but nothing of importance."
The officer nodded, his radio going on. "Officer Vega is here to collect his daughter."
Tori grinned, sorrow in her eyes. "Can I go?"
The officer nodded. "If you go to the waiting room we will let you all know when you can go."
Tori stood up quickly, rushing back into the waiting room. "Dad's here to get us."
Trina felt herself relax slightly. "I can't wait to see him and Mom. This whole weekend has made me realize how much I love them both."
"We have to wait to be told when to leave though." Tori sat down beside her sister. "I cannot wait to get out of this place."
"Me too." Robbie added in. "I just want to go home."
"You seem less nervous now, Vega. What did the old copper say to you?" Jade turned to face, Tori.
"He asked about that night and I told him everything I could remember. I just answered all the questions he asked me truthfully."
Jade smiled. "I'm proud of you. This is some scary shit and you've really held yourself together."
Tori blushed. "Someone's gotta look after you."
Jade shrugged. "I can look after myself just fine. But thanks."
Tori lent on Jade's shoulder. "You know you need me."
Jade snorted. "In your dreams."
A bang interrupted the friends. Two officers stood tall in front of them all, holding several peices of paper. "Trina Vega, Victoria Vega, Robert Shapiro, Andre Harris, Beck Oliver and Jade West, thank you for being so honest and helpful today. We really appreciate your honesty and in the long run it'll help us catch who hurt your friend, so thank you. After looking over the statements you all made, you are all clear to go as of now. We will all be in contact with you as you may have to make more statements or we may need more DNA. But as of now, you are all free to go."
A/N - It felt so weird not writing last night. But I had fun at my Halloween party :)
I can't wait to write the final chapter and see your reactions to who did it because so far you all seem very clueless which means I'm doing a good job! ;) Only four more chapters now!
