Good for Nothing

I couldn’t speak; in fact, I could barely breathe.

“Um, excuse me?” I asked; my trembling voice matching the rest of my body. “Mike’s dead? No! Please tell me this is just one big joke or that I’m dreaming?” Should I pinch myself?

“I’m afraid not, Miss Arnold,” replied DS Atkins, “I wish that was the case; Mike was a pillar of the community – his death is a huge shock and a deep sadness to us all.”

I could not get my head round this. I was dumbstruck; I was numb and then the tears came. I broke down, crumpling into a heap on the floor. I let go of the receiver and as it swung freely, I watched, lulling myself into a trance; the only thing that caused me to come to was Atkins’s muffled, far away voice emitting from it.

“Miss Arnold,” DS Atkins said; I could sense urgency in his voice, “are you there? Are you okay? Miss Arnold?”

“Yes,” I replied sheepishly as I put the receiver to my ear, “yes, I’m here. Sorry, I’m just …… well…… I can’t……”

“I know,” Atkins said, pre-empting what I was about to say, “It’s awful, awful news. I was very close to Mike personally and I’m determined to find whoever did this and put them away for life!”

“So, it’s a murder inquiry then?” I asked, slowly gaining a modicum of composure.

“Yes Miss Arnold…..”

“DS Atkins,” I interrupted, “would you mind just calling me Leia? You being all super formal is really making me feel that I’m a suspect. Would you mind if I call you Henry, too?”

“Certainly, if that’s what makes you more comfortable, Leia,” Atkins replied, “but actually, I’m not just phoning you to tell you the bad news, I’m afraid. I’m also phoning to ask you to come down to the station for questioning.”

“What?” I shouted, pulling the receiver away from my mouth and staring at it in complete shock.

“Leia, I’m not arresting you,” Atkins assured sympathetically; “we just want to eliminate you from our enquiries. So, could you and your male friend we saw you with on the CCTV footage, please come to the station?”

“Of course,” I replied.

******

“Heath!” I shouted as I ran back through to the bedroom, “Heath, WAKE UP!” I shook Heath’s body; he shot up, completely disorientated.

“What the hell, Leia…..” Heath stuttered out.

“Please, just wake up,” I repeated, this time not shouting. I couldn’t choke back the tears any longer. I crumpled to the floor in a sobbing, dithering wreck.

“Hey honey,” Heath said, still sounding utterly confused, “hey, hey, hey – Leia, calm down; what’s the matter?”

“It’s Mike,” I managed to reply between sobs, “Mike’s dead!”

“What?” Heath asked, stunned, “What do you mean, he’s dead?”

“I mean he’s DEAD!” Could I be any clearer? “The police found his body last night at the shop. They had an anonymous tip off. Heath, he’s dead!”

“You’re seriously not joking, are you?” Heath said, surely he already knew the answer that was about to fly out of my mouth.

“You honestly think I could ever make something like that up?” I replied, astounded. “I’ve never been so serious in my entire life.”

Heath fell into stunned silence.

“They want us in for questioning, Heath, right now. We have to go to the station; they want to eliminate us from their enquiries.”

“Eliminate us?” Heath asked, “That obviously means they think we did it!”

“They say they just want to question us, honey. Mike’s CCTV shows that we were the last customers in the shop last night.”

“But we weren’t!” Heath spat, “Ivan was.”

“Heath, I know that; we both know that,” I said, getting slightly irritated but not angry, “Mike’s CCTV is linked to his card machine and cash register. It shuts down when they get shut down.” And then the penny dropped for Heath.

“Oh shit!” Heath sighed, “So they have no clue that Ivan was there then, right?”

“Exactly,” I said, nodding my head fervently in agreement.

“Hang on though,” Heath said thoughtfully, “you said the Police received an anonymous phone call? Have they managed to trace it?”

“Heath, I haven’t got a clue,” I replied, understanding exactly what he was getting at, “but I think I have a fair idea who made that call. Are you thinking the same?”

Heath nodded slowly and silently.

******

“Um, hi,” I said to the lady on front desk of Invention Police Station, “my name’s Leia Arnold and this is….”

“Heath Jenkins,” Heath interjected nervously.

“I received a phone call from Detective Superintendent Atkins earlier. He asked us if we could come in for questioning in regards to Mike’s death.” I rolled out the words as quick as I possibly could; I didn’t want to break down again.

“Mike Lander?” the lady replied.

“Yes; Mike Lander.” Heath answered for me.

“Right,” she said, drawing the word out. She picked up the internal telecom and pressed in a number. A moment of silence ensued, then:

“Oh, hey there Henry,” front-desk-lady said, sounding almost flirty, “Yes, I’m fine, thank you………………oh, stop it; you’re making me blush.”

Front-desk-lady held the phone away from her ear and covered the receiver with her hand.

“Please excuse me, kids,” she said, “someone’s in a naughty mood this morning.” She playfully pointed at the covered receiver.

Heath and I looked at eachother in disbelief and a little disgust. She didn’t seem bothered in the slightest as she uncovered the receiver.

“I have Leia Arnold and Heath Jenkins in reception,” she reported to DS Atkins. She began babbling on about her weekend so far and explaining, in detail, what she had planned for the following weekend and asked if he’s like to join her in said plans.

“Um, hello!” I spat sarcastically, “we are still here, you know?” I felt like following that question up with, waiting for you to hurry yourself up but thankfully, I decided against it, fearing I would antagonise the situation.

“Yes, yes; I can see that,” she replied, tutting under her breath but not so quiet that I couldn’t hear. If looks could kill we would have both been dead.

“Shall I send them up or would you prefer to collect them?” She asked Atkins. After a brief pause, which she used to twiddle her hair around her fingers, she went on, “Alright then my lovely, I’ll ask them to take a seat. Bye for now.”

The look on her face when she realised we hadn’t waited for her command to sit down was priceless and almost worth the trip to the station alone.

******

Atkins looked far younger than the sound of his voice suggested. I gauged he was mid to late thirties (he was actually thirty seven).

“Hi there, Leia,” Atkins said, extending his hand to shake mine, “Heath, isn’t it?” he asked Heath and shook his hand too.

“That’s us.” I replied.

“If you’d like to follow me, I’ll show you to our interview rooms,” Atkins said politely, “You’ll appreciate that we have to interview you separately? It’s just to ascertain if there are any differences in your statements.”

“We understand,” Heath replied, “I’ve been through this before, some years ago now. I think I know the protocol.”

“Good, good,” Atkins said, nodding, “The sooner we get you both interviewed, the sooner we can eliminate you and the sooner you can go home. Leia, I’ll be interviewing you along with one of my colleagues and Heath; you’ll be interviewed by two other of my colleagues, Simpson and Rollins. Now, are we ready to roll?”

“Yup,” I replied, “Let’s do this!”