There was no reason for her to do that. The story was everywhere. It was real and Calvin was caught in the middle. Might not have been him, though. Could be Celia’s boyfriend found her with Calvin and killed the both of them. Maybe he took Calvin so that he would be the person of interest. Things aren’t always what they seem. Ronnie couldn’t imagine Calvin, her boyfriend, committing murder. He’d been acting strange lately, but everyone has the capability to act a little weird from time to time. She got kind of strange herself during midterms. Didn’t want to be around anyone, tired from lack of sleep. But that was, by all means, not a reason for someone to commit murder.
It had only been two days, but Ronnie was beginning to come to terms with the fact she and Calvin were done. She couldn’t go back after what she walked in on. There was no telling how long he had been fucking that bitch, and who knows how many others. How could she kiss him without thinking of Celia? Worse than that, how would she be able to sleep with him? Even a clean test wouldn’t be convincing enough that he hadn’t transmitted some disease from the slut. Ronnie had heard that AIDS sometime took several months to show up.
She tried to get back into her studies, but that wasn’t happening. How could she study when her ex was involved in a murder? She had just been to his house, had actually seen the murdered woman on the night she was...
Should I call the police?
Now there was a question. She had seen both Calvin and Celia together that night. There wasn’t much to say about it, but she may have been the last one to see Celia alive. The police would like to know about that. Were she not to call them they might even get suspicious about her.
There was a light knock on her bedroom door. “Ronnie,” came her mother’s voice. “I think you’d better come out here.”
Oh crap, Mother saw the news.
She hadn’t told her mom that she and Calvin had broken up. Maybe it didn’t feel like a break up since they hadn’t actually talked about it. But she didn’t want to talk. She would just assume leave him be.
Ronnie got up, crossed the room, and opened the door to her mother standing on the other side with a mixed look of concern and scrutiny.
“The police are here,” she said. Her voice was low and even. “They want to talk to you. Look, is there anything I need to know? I saw the story this morning, about Calvin.”
“We broke up a few days ago,” Ronnie said.
Her Mother nodded. “That girl found in his apartment?” She sighed and rolled her eyes.
Ronnie nodded as tears welled in her eyes. None of this had seemed like a reality until now.
“But you didn’t have anything to do with what happened, right? Be honest with me.”
“No, of course not.”
She put her hand on Ronnie’s shoulder. “I’m not accusing you, I just want you to be prepared. The police are going to want you to go into the station for questioning. You just tell them everything you know and you’ll be fine.”
Ronnie nodded. “But I have an exam today. Do you think I’ll be out of there in time.”
“I really don’t know. This is serious stuff, though. You’ll have to answer some questions.” Mother took a drag off her cigarette. “You may have broken up with Calvin, but I’m sure you would want to do whatever you could to help find him.”
Ronnie nodded and felt like a shit for being so selfish. Even though she didn’t like Celia that didn’t mean she deserved to die. The girl had her problems, but she was a person too.
“Don’t keep them waiting,” said Mother.
Ronnie nodded and walked down the hall.
Two detectives were waiting for her in the living room, one sitting, the other pacing back and forth, three or four steps at a time real slowly like he was pondering something grave.
“Ronnie Dower?” said the detective seated on the couch. He stood as she entered the room.
“Yes,” Ronnie said.
“Hi, I’m Detective Hernandez, and this is my partner Detective Rawling. If you don’t mind, we would like to ask you a few questions.”
“Sure.” She took a seat across from the detective who now sat down. The one who had been pacing stood still. It made Ronnie nervous the way he stood there rather than sitting, like he was hovering over her or something.
“Have you seen the news yet today?” Hernandez asked.
She nodded. “I just saw the story. That’s why you’re here, right?”
He nodded. Rawling just stared at her like he was studying her reactions.
“You’re dating Calvin, correct?”
“We broke up.”
The detectives glanced at one another. “That so?” said Hernandez.
“A few days ago.”
Hernandez nodded. “What was the reason?”
“Caught him cheating.”
“You caught him?”
She nodded. “Not in the act, if that’s what you’re thinking, but close enough.”
“When was this exactly?”
“The other night. Two nights ago.”
Another nod from Hernandez. Rawling watched her closely. Something about him was intimidating. Where Hernandez was a little plump in the paunch and had a reasonable attitude and demeanor, Rawling scowled like he already had his mind made up that she had done something wrong.
“So who was the girl… uh, it was a girl, right. You never know these days.”
“Yeah, it was a girl. The one found in his apartment. Celia.”
“I didn’t want to make assumptions, but that’s what I figured. Look,” Hernandez stood, “we’d like to ask you some questions down at the station. We need to get any information we could that may lead us to Calvin. At this point in the investigation he’s a person of interest.”
“I… I have an exam today.”
“It won’t take long.”
“I haven’t seen Calvin in two days. He hasn’t called me or anything.”
This time Rawling took a stab at it. “We understand that, Miss Dower, but you may have credible information and not even know it. We would like to ask you a few questions on the record. It will be of great help. Answer a few questions and you’re free to go when you like.”
So he wasn’t quite as staunch as he appeared. Ronnie pinned him for a cop’s cop. He probably ate glazed donuts and put back a few brewskis at some cop bar after his shift.
“Okay,” said Ronnie, “but give me a minute to get my books. I’m going to have to get to school right afterward. I don’t know where the station is, so I’m going to follow you. Is that all right?”
“’Course,” said Hernandez. “We’ll wait for you outside.”
Ronnie followed the police car to the El Cajon police station. She spent just over an hour answering bursts of questions between lengthy expanses of time alone in a tiny interrogation room with a two-way mirror that wasn’t fooling anyone.
Afterward she rushed to school. They would have kept her longer, but she elected to leave. She didn’t feel like they were treating her right, leaving her alone the way they were. She wasn’t stupid. They were watching her through the two-way glass to see if her behaviors were suspicious. The interrogating officers never came right out and said it, but she could tell that they considered her a person of interest. Their questions kept on returning to Celia and how Ronnie found her with Calvin. Certainly gave her a motive to want the bitch dead.
Though the reality of what had happened had sunk in throughout the past several hours, Ronnie knew it would take days before she understood the implications. Even her breakup with Calvin, being so short lived, would take time to sink in. This was going to get even worse. And what would happen when he was found? What if he was the one who killed Celia? What then?
What if he’s found dead?