Last Breath by Alan Sakell

Author:Alan Sakell [Sakell, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alan\Sakell
Published: 2023-07-10T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Two

At nine-thirty a.m. the next morning, Taylor and Julia are sitting in an interview room with Sean’s younger sister Beth, and a very young-looking man from Social Services named Alex. Taylor finds it a bit strange that they sent a man to represent a teenage girl regarding a sexual assault accusation, but what does he know? They do not even know if the accusation is legit at this point. Beth Harris looks like she has lived a pretty rough life. Growing up in the foster care system can have that effect on kids. Her hair is at least two if not three, different colors. It looks like she might have cut it herself recently. It reminds Taylor of an episode of Marcella he watched, when the main character (Marcella) cuts her hair off in the ladies’ room, during a mental break. When she used the pair of scissors to cut the edge of her lip open, he had to look away.

When Beth sits down in the chair across from him, he notices one of the fluorescent lights is reflecting off something into his left eye. He closes his left eye and tries to find what is causing the reflection with his right eye. As he turns his head to the left, the reflection moves to his right eye. Then he spots it. Beth has a piercing in the center of her right cheek. It looks like a small fake diamond. Julia notices Taylor acting more strangely than usual and asks him if he is okay. He cannot figure out what to say or do. Does he move his chair? Does he shut the lights off? Does he ask Beth to move her chair? Does he ask Beth to take the piercing out? Does he ask Julia to switch chairs with him? Does he do the interview with one eye open, and one eye closed? He looks at Julia, and says, “Not really.” He turns his chair at a slight angle, so his left eye can now only see the left side of Beth’s face, while his right eye is focused on Alex.

Julia starts the interview. “Do you know why we wanted to meet with you today?” she asks Beth. Taylor notices for the first time that Beth’s fingernails are painted all different colors like a rainbow. He flashes back to when everyone in the police department had to take a LGBT awareness training course and he saw the gay pride flag. Could Beth be a lesbian? Would that make a difference?

He hears the end of Beth’s answer, “…told me you want to ask about my loser brother, Sean.” Well, that does not sound promising at all.

Julia, being Julia, does not miss a beat. “Why would you call your own brother a loser?” Taylor finds his mind wandering again. He starts thinking about his own relationship with his younger brother, his only sibling. If he could describe his brother in one word, it would have to be funny. They are complete opposites.

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