It’s been years since I had been at a police station. When you are 60 years old nothing surprises you anymore. I was called to be here as a suspect. It surprises me how young FBI agents look nowadays. They have me here sitting and waiting as if I don’t have things to do. The interrogation room has just a table and two chairs. Then the boy agent enters, he looks very young, no more than 26. He sits down on the other side and the show begins…
“Hello, Mr. Johnson. Sorry to make you come all the way here. But I need to ask you some questions. I am agent Williams,” he says.
“Sure, Kid. Shoot,”
“Ok, so I am going to show you four pictures. And I want you to tell me if you recognize any of the places or the people in them,”
“Nothing special in the first pictures, you know these places can be anywhere in the woods. Wait for a second kiddo, can you show me the fourth picture again? Oh yeah, this is Mary’s husband. That man is a good-for-nothing. Never understood why Mary chose him,”
“So, you knew the man. When was the last time you saw him?”
“Mmm… I’m not sure. Probably yesterday, you know it’s a small town. But, ugh… I don’t know. My memory isn’t as good as it used to be. No, wait, I remember. I argued with him in the supermarket on Monday. Let me tell you that man is an animal,”
“Why would you say that?”
“He was mistreating Mary in front of everyone, you know humiliating her. It was horrible to watch and I’m a man with principles, I couldn’t allow his mistreatment. So, I step on, and I stopped it, like any coward of course he stopped and ran again like a dog with this tail between his legs. He doesn’t deserve Mary.”
“What did you do to him?”
“Nothing bad just gave him a piece of my mind and maybe I just gave him a couple of hits. Nothing that cannot be handled with ice and a little ointment.”
“People mention that he ended up in the hospital”
“These new generations can barely handle anything; we had made them weak. You know only the strongest specie will survive in this cruel world.”
“That’s the reason you protect Mary. Because you consider her like the weak specie?”
“Women are different kiddo; they are fragile and sweet. They need to be protected and cared for.”
“So, you hated Mr. Brown”
“Hate is horrible; I would just say he is not my favorite person.”
“Is that the reason, you killed Mr. Brown?”
“Killed? What are you talking about?”
“Mr. Brown was found dead in the woods this morning”
“Hahaha, and you believe that I did it?”
“Why not? You have a motive, and you have your military background. It will be a piece of cake for you.”
“Oh boy, you are giving me too much credit, I am just an old man. What would be my benefits if I kill that man?”
“That’s obvious you keep the girl and the money for the insurance policy.”
“Hahahaha this is the most ridiculous thing that someone has told me.”
“Where were you last night?”
“Seriously, I was at home feeding my dog”
“At what time were you at home?
“I don’t know, ugh my memory is not too good. Maybe at 8 pm?”
“Haha funny, because in this video recording from the street, you appear at 7:00 pm very close to the Brown’s house”
“I needed to pick up a tool from my friend Bill, Bill has always been a neighbor from the Browns, again is a small town.”
“You had enough time to kill him”
“In the video, you show it only appears me entering Bill’s house, and still that jerk could have died of anything, we are old. Everything can easily kill us; our bodies are not as good as they used to be.”
“Still, you didn’t like the man, you have a motive and experience to get rid of the body”
“Boy, I was a pilot, not a soldier, I would rather see that man in jail than dead,”
“Let’s cut the bullshit, you killed him,”
“Nooo!!!, and I want my lawyer”
“You won’t get out of it easily; we have proofs and testimonies.”
“I want my lawyer and you have nothing. You are just a kid playing to be an adult.”
“Sir, I am an adult, and you committed a crime, and I will make sure you pay for it.”
“I am leaving, and I suggest you do your job properly. These generations always focus on the details and never on the big picture.”
“I will see you soon in court.”
“And walking as a free man.”
I went out of the station in a rush, I could hear my heart beating like I was getting a heart attack. This adrenaline and emotion I haven’t felt it since I retired from the militia. I drove back home wearing a million bucks of smiles. Everything went according to plan.
I noticed some police officers were following me, they probably had me under surveillance, so I made myself look older. I started to walk slower and with more effort. I made sure the police officers saw me entering my home. All the windows were closed and so were the curtains. Inside my home, everything was dead silent, and I plunged into darkness, I turned on the lights and Mary was sitting with my dog on her lap waiting for me with a worried face. Her skin was paler than a ghost, but her sight was lost in her thoughts.
When she noticed me, she tried to speak but I stopped her, and I smiled at her and told her…
“Don’t worry sweetheart, they think it was me.”
Nadia Lopez sends her regards from the chaotic Mexico City. She reads fantasy and romance to escape reality. She used to work in telecommunications until the burnout beat her out.
