Page 112 of Obsession

My lips pressed together into a line, and the bitterness in my throat increased.

He sighed and looked at me with a little more humanity.

“You’re not accused of anything, Katherine. We’re following up another lead,” he glanced at the photograph in my hand.

“You want to accuse him? That’s absurd. We went home together, Iolanda can confirm it.”

“She already has. She’s pretty determined to defend Stone, too.”

After hearing that, I loved her even more.

“You’re right, Katherine, it’s absurd. It would be if we were talking about anyone else, but this is not just any boy.”

I did not like the change in his tone, and another lump formed in my throat.

“If you knew Harris Stone as well as I do, you’d understand why I think he’s guilty of Tristan’s murder.”

My heart made another painful leap in my chest. He kept offering me half-baked details without saying anything directly.

Associating Harris with a criminal made me nauseous. It couldn’t be true. Instinctively, I looked at his photo. He looked like the same good-looking boy I knew. He wasn’t a murderer. Especially not in this case. I’d been in the same car with him after the thing on the platform and he hadn’t even broached the subject again. Our conversation – and our actions – had gone in a completely different direction.

Then he left.

Very quickly.

Even if there were some details that aroused suspicion, that still was not enough to consider him guilty of something like this. Harris had been in a hurry even before the incident with Tristan.

“Then why don’t you talk to him?” I asked when I’d finally gathered my thoughts.

“Because, like I said, he’s not a random person. It’s impossible to get to him without a warrant, and the case against him is still too weak for that. They have more lawyers than my entire precinct can hold, so I think I have answered your question.”

I widened my eyes, and so did my father. He looked at me as if he was wondering who I had gotten involved with this time. I wondered that too.

I couldn’t get it out of my head that he’d said ‘they’, so Harris wasn’t the only one they were after.

“You have a rap sheet too; I have studied it. Yours is a piece of cake. If you saw his, you’d think twice before getting in the car with him.”

It was extremely difficult to keep my emotions in check. I felt like I was constantly being slapped by invisible hands.

The detective sighed again.

“I’ve been after this guy for a long time, Katherine. It’s nothing new for me to have his file on my desk. If he’s guilty, I’m going to get him this time, no matter what.”

He held eye contact, and I barely blinked.

“You left with him shortly after the platform incident, the cameras show his car pulling out of the lot and then disappearing. Where did he take you?”

His questions became direct, and my answers were to be the same.

“Home.”

“Did he leave right after?”

I looked at my father and knew my answer would have serious consequences, but I couldn’t let Harris fall into this guy’s clutches. I got the impression that he didn’t really think Harris was guilty, but he still wanted to catch him. It was an old case for him, and I didn’t want to be his little sidekick.

“No. He came in.”

“What?”

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