Both Carla and Michelle were bundled into the station and handled roughly by the officer's that were accompanying them. It was all so very embarrassing for them both and they were mortified to be being pushed around like a pair of murderers but neither of them was unfamiliar with the process once arrested as both of them had been there before for one reason or another. They were checked in as quickly as they had been arrested back in the factory and before long were being thrown into cells for holding.
Michelle was angry to have been split up from Carla, they needed to discuss what they were going to do. One wrong word from Carla and this was all over for both of them but she was more concerned it was her neck on the line. She was one who had done the crime and she'd be the one who had to do the time, well the most of it anyway. She knew it wouldn't benefit them at all if Carla said anything, it wouldn't even save her own skin because she'd still be witness and maybe even labelled accomplice if she didn't say the right thing.
Michelle wasn't frightened though, more on edge with nerves and she desperately hoped she'd be interviewed first. She waited nervously, thinking through every thing that had happened back at the factory and what she'd seen and heard that had resulted in her brutal action. It was self-defence she told herself as if it was some sort of mantra and hoping that telepathically Carla would sense the same. It was all she had right now hope.
In a cell a few down from Michelle's Carla sat on the mattress that was placed on the concrete slab of a bed in the cell. Tears were now streaming down her eyes as she began to come to terms with everything that had happened that evening. Her rapist was dead, she had some form of justice in that but her best friend had murdered him in cold blood. She wasn't sure Michelle even regretted her actions. Sniffling away to herself and shivering in the unheated box of a cell she hugged herself and continued to sob not able to think straight about a thing. In the back of the police car Michelle had mouthed that she not say anything but Carla really hadn't been paying attention and now was struggling to recall exactly what it was that Michelle had mouthed.
Peter came flying into the station, all guns blazing and demanded to know what was going on where his girlfriend was concerned. He banged his fists down on the desk when they refused to answer his questions and told him to take a seat. Peter was outraged and was making such a scene in the reception that the officer on duty emerged from behind the desk, so much more taller than him and hovered over him in a most threatening stance when he addresses him one last time.
"Take a seat now or I'll bang you up in a holding cell until you 'ave calmed down"Peter took it as a personal threat and in his stubbornness wanted to argue back but suddenly didn't dare to. Like a shrinking violet he retreated over to the waiting area with everyone else and perched on the edge. He was still so wound up, the worst of thoughts running through his head as to what she may have done.
The heavy metal door of the cell opened and Carla slowly rose as an officer gestured she come forward. She kept her head bowed, still sobbing gently and shaking as they led her down the corridor and to an interview room a few corridors away. She'd been arrested before for silly little crimes and interviewed about her experience and events surrounding and involving her rape but compared to how she had felt then she felt a hundred times worse now. She wandered into the room and when told to do so took a seat the opposite side of the table. She wasn't alone long as seconds later in burst two male officer's in suits who proceeded to sit opposite her.
Instantly she felt intimidated her previous interview had seemed so much easier and less tense when she knew she was the victim but this one was so hard to call. Carla didn't know if she were innocent, a witness, an accomplice or worst-case scenario a murder in their eyes. She suddenly feared how she would be treated, she had no idea what they were going to ask or what she should or shouldn't say. She clasped her hands together as they rested in her lap and awkwardly started to twist them into either palm as she felt them turning clammy as a result of her nerves.
They hadn't even started Carla's interview when an officer came for Michelle. She had been pacing in her cell, trying to get the facts straight and collect her thoughts. She'd been planning answers to questions they may ask her and rehearsing what she was going to say happened. She had it all mapped out, certain they wouldn't catch her out in any way. This was simple, Frank attacked Carla, when she tried to stop him he attacked her and her actions were self-defence.
Confidently she walked out, following their every direction as she was bought to her interview room and met the officer's who would be conducting hers. They looked strict but Michelle wasn't going to let them see how scared she really was. Keeping her head held high she proudly took her seat and folded her arms defiantly across her chest as they stared her down and clicked on the tape. Running through the standard procedure for interviews they introduced themselves to the tape, did date and time and stated the content of the interview and who it was with. Michelle glared at them and waited for the attack, this was no time to be afraid, taking a deep breath she prepared herself best she could.
"So would you like to tell us what happened tonight?" was the first question asked in both interview rooms. Notes were taken on what was said to act as a transcript of the interview for comparison of events to be analysed later.
"Frank attacked Carla, I tried to stop him, he attacked me" responded Michelle without hesitation. "What I did was in self defence"
"I was scared….he tried to…I don't really know because it all happened so fast" mumbled Carla, her nerves shining out with every word she spoke.
Unlike Michelle Carla couldn't look her interviewers in the eye, she was too intimidated and knew they would crack her. She had to be careful and she knew it, one wrong piece of information from her lips and Michelle could be in a lot more trouble than she should be. Carla could feel it all getting the better of her, she was sweating nervously and could feel her throat running dry. She croaked her next few answers giving as vague explanations as she could.
"So Miss Connor, are you saying that you admit to murdering Frank Foster?" asked one of the officers of Michelle smugly. She didn't care much for his attitude. Staring him square in the eye she leant across the desk and stated firmly.
"No, I am saying that I was defending myself when he attacked me"
Michelle was so cool and calm, her steely gaze boring into the officers as she stared at them still sat in her defiant pose. They were not going to crack her and there was no way she was going to confess to murder. In the back of her mind she just prayed Carla wasn't jeopardising the situation in another room.
The Interviews went on and on for both women until the officers were convinced they had worn them down enough to compare statements and start piecing together what happened at the scene of the crime. They wouldn't have much to go on but it would be at least a start. Carla and Michelle were escorted back to their cells and ended up in the corridor at the same time. Their eyes met but Carla instantly looked away. Michelle took it as a bad sign, had she done something stupid and now was afraid to look her friend in the eye?
Sitting back in her cold, dull and damp smelling cell Michelle pondered that thought and waited anxiously for a follow up. What was done was done, there was no going back now.