Deadly First Day by Emily Kazmierski

Author:Emily Kazmierski [Kazmierski, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-17T16:00:00+00:00

20

The air in the interrogation room—I know that’s what it is now—ripples with a lot more foreboding than last time. The first time I was here, I was a witness. All I had to do was tell the nice officers what I’d seen, and I’d be free to go. The second time, it was a little more intense. Tonight, it’s downright suffocating.

The detectives’ expressions are nowhere near friendly. Detective Cahill sits in a chair across from me, fingering the tab on a manila envelope. Detective Gupta stands against the wall, arms loosely crossed, waiting for her partner to begin.

Ms. Cain is with me again, ready to take notes on her tablet. It’s clear from the way her hair is pulled back into a low ponytail and the rumple of her jacket that she wasn’t expecting to be called on in any official capacity tonight. A faint whiff of garlic reaches my nose, making my stomach clench.

And that’s before I swivel in my seat to look up at the senator. My father is furious. Steam is practically oozing from his pores at being caught on the spot by that journalist at the dinner. Embarrassment and anger are written all over his face.

The ride over here was doused in his silent fury.

He didn’t say a word to me. Didn’t look at me.

I could practically hear his thoughts. He’d never had this kind of trouble with his stepchildren. Charlotte and Callahan were model campaign props. They hadn’t been thrust into his lap by an old girlfriend. Hadn’t stumbled on a body their first day at the academy. Hadn’t been brought in for questioning by the police. Twice. No, three times.

Although, now that I think about it, that may not be true. Callahan dated Na for months. The police probably did question him too, but they must not have liked him for this, or he wouldn’t have been sent back to school with Charlotte tonight, shepherded by Mikhail as Mrs. Cavendish-Holt fretted in the background.

I wish Mikhail were here with me, his quiet presence soothing my tightly strung nerves.

I lick my lips, my anxiety rolling through me in stomach-churning waves. Should I tell them my suspicions about Callahan? That he’d had an argument with Ambassador Li mere days before the Chinese embassy was broken into? And the poster. I wish Callahan hadn't deleted it from my phone. Who knew where the original was now? If they saw it, the detectives wouldn’t be able to deny the resemblance between Na and the winged girl. Or the location of her injury.

Telling them about Callahan would at least shed a little doubt on whatever evidence they had that implicated me in this, this terrible, horrifying mess. But could I do that to Callahan? He’d never done anything to me, except yell at me when I’d poked my nose into his business. I had no idea what he’d been doing at that art studio that night, and it wasn’t my place anyway. He was little more than an acquaintance.

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