Page 40 of Devious Gambit

“My name is Detective Mathias, I’m wondering if I could come in a have a little chat with you.”

Nerves bounced about in my stomach like prickly marbles, setting off my heart, which thudded against my ribcage. Breathlessly, “Um, sure,” stepping back to let her in.

“Nice place you’ve got here.”

“Thank you.”

“So, I’m here to talk to you about a couple of issues. Is there somewhere I can sit?”

“The bed, I guess.”

She took a seat and I sat down next to her. “So, you’re a student at KVU?”

I nodded.

“So, why don’t you live on-campus?”

“Um, I like my own space and…” I was going to say that I didn’t like people much, but it might raise concerns, “the quiet.”

“I understand you’re Tristan Fisher’s cousin?”

I nodded, because I was too frightened to speak. My whole world was slowly crashing down before my eyes. I was far too young to go to prison, but criminal tendencies ran in the family. I wondered if she knew who my father was.

“We were informed that you were a witness to the attempted rape that took place two Fridays ago.”

“I didn’t see much.”

“That’s not what we were told. In fact we were told that you stopped the rape from taking place and identified two of the assailants.”

I stayed quiet, wondering who told her that. I hadn’t told anyone that I stopped the rape from taking place, because I didn’t want to take the attention away from the awful crime.

“Can I ask why you haven’t come to police about it?”

“I didn’t see them properly,” I lied.

She hesitated a moment. “That’s not the real reason, is it?”

I swallowed over a newly formed lump in my throat. “Umm.”

“You were being threatened weren’t you, by one of the assailants?”

Before I had the chance to answer, she added, “When Sweeney’s car was found, we searched his bedroom in the frat house and found a cell phone with some interesting information on it. It wasn’t his everyday phone but one he used to record his…dubious activities, among other things. This included threatening messages sent to two numbers, clearly stating that if they went to the police, he’d kill them. One of those numbers is registered to the victim and the other number is yours. The victim told us that it was you who stopped the rape from taking place. She also said that one of the assailants chased after you.”

“She knows me?”

“Perhaps not personally, but she knew of you.”

“Is she okay?”

“She could be better. She’d be much worse off if it wasn’t for you.” Mathias reached inside her jacket pocket for her phone. “It was Adam Sweeney, wasn’t it, who chased after you?”

I sighed. “Yes.”

“Would you mind telling me about that night? Start from the beginning.”

She pressed record on her phone and I told her everything. I relaxed in the knowledge that Adam Sweeney couldn’t come after me, because he was lying on the bottom of Lake Superior. Everything I told her was the truth, even bumping into Jace Luxon in University Square, so she’d know he was innocent and nowhere near the crime scene. I guess I was trying to convince myself that he was innocent, even though I wasn’t really sure. I needed solid proof that he wasn’t part of the rape party to put my mind at rest. He certainly was respectful and gentle with me on Saturday night. Okay, so he may have left abruptly, eager to get to that party, but he took his time making sure I was pleasured first.

“And this man who pinned you against the wall took his balaclava off?” Mathias asked.

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