Mariana stood with her arms crossed, the professional mask still in place, but the calm she had shown earlier was clearly gone.
“We officially suspect this blade may be connected to the series of school murders.
Until the lab results come back, if the blood on it matches one of the victims…”
She paused, choosing her words carefully.
“You’ll be required to give us a DNA sample.
We recovered a strand of female hair at the scene.
We believe it belongs to you.”
“What surgical blade?” Andrea took half a step back, her breathing quickening.
“That’s insane.
I’m a psych major.
Where the hell would I even get a surgical blade?”
White watched her, neither cold nor sympathetic just measuring which answer would make her crack first.
“If you cooperate with us and help us catch the killer,” she said softly, though there was a clear edge of threat in her voice, “you’ll have a chance to prove your innocence.
But if you wait for the forensic results, you may already have one foot behind bars.”
She took another step forward until she was standing directly in front of Andrea, her voice dropping lower.
“First, I want you to answer a few questions.”
White spoke again, her voice almost emotionless.
“What time do you usually shower?
And… does anyone wait outside the bedroom while you’re in the bathroom?”
Andrea hesitated, as if she had to dig through a tangled mess of memories.
“Uh… usually after class.
I get home between four and six, then I take a shower.
Around that time, some friends usually stop by to ask me to go out or grab something to eat girls from my year, my best friend, and… my boyfriend, too.
They usually wait for me in the bedroom.”
“That best friend of yours.”
White tilted her head slightly, her eyes meeting Andrea’s for a brief moment.
“Steven Harmus, right?”
Andrea’s eyes widened in surprise.
“How… how do you know his name?”
White fell silent.
She walked back to the living-room sofa and sat down, her mood heavy as she lowered her head and laced her fingers together.
The other officers and Andrea followed, taking their seats as well.
For a brief moment, the room fell into a silence so tense that even swallowing felt difficult.
White stared down at the floor, but her eyes weren’t really focused on it.
Her mind was sinking into a chain of deductions one that had only just begun to take shape, and was already falling apart.
The living-room camera had only captured Andrea and Steven entering the bedroom together.
It couldn’t prove what they had done once they were inside.
There was no camera in the bedroom.
And plenty of other people had gone in there too.
If the worst-case scenario was true, Steven could have slipped the surgical blade into the drawer while Andrea was taking a shower, when he was the only person left in the bedroom.
small movement, but Mariana, standing nearby, would have noticed how frustrated she was.
How… how was she supposed to prove anything?
There was nothing they could use to charge Steven.
Damn it.
It felt as if someone had just thrown an entire bottle of ink into White’s head.
Black.Thick.
Not a single thought would come through.
Ink…Ink…Darkness…Black.