Chapter 4 The Delinquent

• I D R I S
• My whole body began to tremble as though I were being electrocuted. The beat of my own heart is audible and heavy. My whole body felt so deeply terrified that the entire food I had just consumed felt like it was about to go back up to my throat. The fork I was clutching was so tightly in my grasp that I was unable to move from where I was sitting down. I was clinging onto it because it felt, after hearing that news on TV, that this fork was the only thing that could possibly save me from this man.
• The tattooed man stands from where he sat, “Do not fucking move!” I screamed as I pointed my fork at him. “Don’t you dare move closer!”
• “You really think that that fork can save you?” He chuckled as if something was funny.
• “I am not even joking right now!” I screamed at him again, trying to make myself feel and look brave even though my hand was actually trembling in fear. I scooted away from the other side of the bed, made sure there was distance between us as I kept pointing the fork at him. “You are a murderer?!”
• His emotionless and cold looking eyes were only staring at me and I wish I could hear what he has in his mind because the only thing that I can actually hear right now is the pounding inside my chest. He sighed heavily, “I have had a criminal record one or two.” He admitted, saying it as if it was something natural or a normal thing to do, while his voice sounded heavy and monotonous.
• I can feel my heart palpitating while my skin is beginning to feel darned cold. I could feel myself getting hotter from the insides and more nervous as thoughts raced through my head. What if he would kill me? What if he would strangle me to death to shut me up from calling the police and reporting him that he is here with me? What if he would hurt me? Oh God, what if he raped me? So many thoughts were filling my head as they were glued and securely tied together.
• “Do not kill me please.” I begged him as my tears were beginning to wet my eyes. “Please I am begging you, do not kill me. I just had my heart broken by someone who cheated on me with my own close college friend. Please! Please do not–”
• “So you are a college student.” He cuts me off from what I was saying ignoring the fact that I begged him not to murder me.
• Crap. I bit my inner cheek hard and thought that he could possibly murder me. “Please do not kill me. Please, please, I am begging you.”
• “I–”
• The front door swings open where we see policemen barging into the room with their guns pointing right away at this tattooed man named Sage Langston who was named by the news earlier. “Freeze! Hands in the air!! I said, hands in the air!!” One policeman screamed which brought me fright throughout my entire body so I immediately pulled my hands up in the air to follow what was being screamed at us. “Sage Langston you are under arrest!”
• The policemen started approaching Sage who had his own hands up in the air and immediately he was handcuffed by two policemen while there were four policemen who were here in the hotel room.
• “Are you alright?” One policeman approached me as he began to secure me, “Are you okay?”
• “Yes…” I answered feeling scared as they held the fork away from me.
• “Did he hurt you?”
• “N-No…” I responded as I looked at Sage who was now being pulled away by the other three policemen.
• “Are you sure?”
• “Yes.” I assured him.
• “Where are your clothes?”
• “I am sorry, what?” I asked him.
• “Your clothes. Where are they? We have to get you to the station for an interview.”
• “O-Oh… My clothes… Laundry.” I answered, stuttering.
• After about an hour, I found myself in the police station where they had already given me back my clothes which are dry now and I have gotten rid of the robe from earlier. I waited to be interviewed by the police and as soon as they entered the room where I was in, I felt relieved right away as the investigator started sitting right across from me.
• “Hi,” He greeted me. “My name is Investigator Grim and that is my partner Investigator Craig.”
• “Umm, hello.” I answered courteously as they were looking at me with a serious look in their eyes.
• “You are Idris Hough, is that correct?”
• I answered Investigator Grim a nod, “Yes.”
• “We have already investigated, Sage, and your answer is going to help him from being released or being jailed.” He informed me with that look in his eyes. “Are we clear about that?”
• “Yes.” I responded.
• “So, why do you know Sage Langston?” He asked me right away.
• “I… Well… He helped me.”
• “Helped?” He parroted.
• “Yes.”
• “Then where were you today at four in the afternoon?” He asked me.
• “I had a part time job, ending an afternoon shift.”
• “Then after that, where did you go?”
• “Um,” I answered as I was then reminded again of the place where I had my heart totally broken, “I went to this steakhouse, like a fancy restaurant, called Steak Eight. I met with someone, well two people,” I feel really uncomfortable talking about it because they were the people who broke me in a very public place. “We talked for a bit inside. You can check the restaurant’s CCTV.”
• Investigator Grim nodded, “We already know about that, we are only clarifying things from your side to check if you are going to lie.”
• “Why would I lie?” I asked him right back.
• “Good question.” Investigator Grim smirked. “What time did you leave Steak Eight?”
• “I do not know but it was already raining hard at that time, so probably after five in the afternoon. I was… I left the steakhouse because I was chasing…” I bite my inner cheek.
• “Chasing who?”
• I cleared my throat, “I was…” I sigh heavily before adding and confessing the truth, “My ex boyfriend broke up with me in the steakhouse,” Their eyes widened as soon as they heard which was an expected reaction. I continued, “Chased his car when he was leaving but he did not stop for me. I wore my knees out and fell to the ground… I kind of… Kind of caused a bit of traffic…” I pulled my head up, “Am I going to jail for public disturbance?” I asked in fright.
• “No, Mister Hough.” His answer pulled out the fear from inside me. “Is… Is Mister okay?”
• I nodded, “Of course.”
• “Okay but you do not worry. We just really need things from you. Statements.”
• I answered him with a nod.
• “What happened after that?” He asked curiously.
• “Well, Sage came with his motorcycle and pulled me up from where I was on the ground, so I could continue the traffic flow and helped me. He told me that I passed out when he was driving so he drove me to the hotel since he did not know where I was living and he did not want me to be in his home.”
• “What time did all of this happen?” He asked me curiously.
• “Right after I headed out of the restaurant.” I clarified.
• “Hmmm, then that is probably around past five still, is that correct?”
• “Well, yes. It was just a few minutes away.” I nodded firmly.
• After a few more minutes, I was told that it was alright for me to leave now but then I was still very curious how everything happened. Like what that investigator had mentioned earlier, whatever I answer depends on releasing Sage Langston from prison or keeping Sage Langston in prison. In the back of my mind, the word murder still frightens me so much because I was in an actual hotel room with that man without even knowing that he had actually murdered a woman. I mean, what if I was going to be his next victim? And he was just trying to conceal his real intentions by playing nice and saving me.
• I headed to the nearby desk and asked, “Can I please speak with Investigator Grim?”
• “Hmm,” She looked at me, “Ah, you are the witness interviewed earlier, right?”
• “Yes.” I answered as I nodded. “Can I please speak with Investigator Grim?”
• “Well he just left and went to a location, but what may you want from him?” She looked at me nicely.
• “I was wondering if Sage Langston was released or… something?”
• “Well, Investigator Grim drove to another location to inspect more about the case involving Sage.”
• “Oh, so, he is still not released?”
• “He is not kept in either.” She looked like she did not like the decision that he is not locked up. “We can not keep him locked up without having solid proof to prove that he is indeed the murderer for Lindsay Peterson’s case, not until we find her body. Ahh, that Langston kid has a very great attorney.”
• “So why was he put on APB and suspected first?” I could not help but ask.
• “I am not allowed to say things to you.”
• “But… I… I am kind of the witness, right?” I could not help but insist.
• She groans inwardly, “Well, all I can say is that that Langston kid had an ankle monitor on him for a few days a few years back and had been to a juvenile prison for a year. Due to the CCTV footage, which showed a person who resembled him identically, everyone immediately concluded he was the culprit.”
• Ankle monitor?
• Juvenile prison for a year?
• Who the hell is Sage Langston?