Chapter 4 This shouldn't be possible

Asher's POV

"You should go back home, Asher. We will take it from here," Mr. Connor said, his voice dropping into that heavy, cautious tone as he placed a comforting hand across my shoulder.

We had spent the early hours of the morning, chasing down a suspect. And finally just an hour ago we caught him. He was sitting right in the interogation room, staring down at his cuffed wrists. He looked my age, nothing more than twenty-four years. He had red hair, tattoos all over his body and had that confident smug on his face like no one in this world could threaten him. As far as I was concerned, he was just one of those wannabe bad boys.

"Sir, I want to interrogate him myself," I said, my knuckles turning white as I clenched my fists, trying so fucking hard not to lose my cool.

Connor sighed, the sound grating against my nerves. "Asher, you can't. You just lost your friend."

"More reason I need to interrogate that bastard!" I pointed an angry, shaking finger straight toward the cell door. "He was the only person seen around Jace house."

Connor stared at me for a few long seconds, and then he let out a low breath. "Okay. You come with me, but you stay quiet. Got it?"

Two minutes later, we entered into the interrogation room and sat down on the metallic chairs just opposite the suspect.

"Okay, you may not be familiar with us," Mr. Connor said, pulling a notepad from his coat and taking a deep breath. "I am Snr Detective Connor and... my assistant here, is Jnr Detective Asher."

"So why did you kill my friend?" I blurted out, leaning over to the table.

"Hey!" Connor gave me a sharp, warning glare, as he tried to pull me back. "You promised you will behave."

I tilted my head back to Connor, as I recalled his terms and conditions of letting me in here.

I gave a quick, tense nod, as I leaned back to my seat.

"So according to the CCTV, you were first sighted around the suspect's house," Connor said, leaning in. "Do you have any relationship with him?"

The guy didn't move. He just stared at us, It was the kind of expression that gave absolutely nothing away until the muscles in his face suddenly slackened.

He burst into a loud, barking laugh.

The sound was sharp and completely devoid of humor. My stomach instantly twisted into a hard knot, listening to that jarring mocking laugh.

"Shitt... you caught me," he wheezed, shaking his head. "Yes, I killed him."

"What?" I choked out, my head snapping toward Connor. Mr. Connor was looking at me too, his face bewildered with absolute shock, as we both shifted our gaze right back to the suspect.

"Uhh, isn't that what you people wanted to hear?" the guy said, tilting his head with a confused, false innocent smirk.

"How did you kill him?" Mr. Connor’s voice hardened instantly.

The suspect didn't answer right away. He raised his hand and started tapping his fingers against the table, like he was calculating his next move or something.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

His eyes brushed past my ear, landing on the window just beside me.

"Hey, what you staring at?" I shot at him, the edge in my voice sharp like a razor.

He dragged his eyes back down to meet mine.

"Well, uhm, sorry about that," he muttered, using his palm to roughly rub his face. "Well... I bit his neck and then I injected him with poison... that's how he slowly died."

"There is no trace of poison in his system," I said, narrowing my eyes as it began to dawn on me this guy was just playing with us. "And how will you explain the blood on the floor?"

"Well, I used something so lethal and good even an autopsy won't detect," he answered casually, shrugging a shoulder like he was describing what he had for breakfast. "The blood on the floor was just an aftermath yeah," he added.

His audacity was really prickling me so damn hard, "You liar!" I shouted.

I didn't think. I just bolted from my seat, as I lunged straight across the table. My fist swung to give the suspect a nasty blow on his jaw.

"Asher, stop it!" Connor yelled, his arms wrapping around my back from behind and yanking me backward.

"What did you do to Jace? You are lying... Sir, he is lying!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, kicking on the air, as the door burst open. Two police officers tackled my arms, hauling me out of the cell while the suspect just sat there, with his faint infuriating smile.

He was lying. I knew he was lying. The story he was cooking up was all a lie, he was definitely taking the fall for someone else, which meant Jace's actual killer was still out there, walking freely.

Beep. Beep.

The sudden vibration in my pocket made me flinch. I pulled my phone out with trembling hands.

Mum.

I stared at her name as the screen flashed, my chest began to even twist so badly like it was being tightened in knot. On the fourth ring, I picked up the call and pressed the phone to my ear.

"Oh my God. I have been calling you non stop," her worried voice spilled out of the speaker before I could even say hello.

"Mum," I whispered. The word cracked right down the middle, and the dam inside my chest completely gave way. I felt hot tears began to gather in my eyes, as they fell. "Jace is dead, mum... Jace is dead... they murdered him."

"Wha...." her voice abruptly dropped into a lower tone.

Behind me, the door clicked open, and Connor stepped back out into the hall, looking like he had been through hell and back.

"I will call you back," I muttered, cutting the call dead without waiting for her to answer. I wiped my teary eyes with the back of my sleeve.

"What did he say?" I asked.

Connor looked completely drained. He ran both hands through his hair, turning it into a chaotic mess. "He said he did it. He said... all the murders going on here for two months he's been the one doing it."

"But that can't be right, he has no motive!" My voice echoed down the quiet hallway. "He has to be covering up for someone!"

"I don't know, boy. No fingerprints, no DNA... how exactly he killed them he won't tell us the truth," Connor said, leaning his back against the wall. "He just keeps repeating the same confession."

"What about his family?" I asked.

"He has none," he answered.

"What..." I barked, my voice rising audibly.

"You know, maybe he is just a psycho who enjoys killing people and finally feels like it to confess." Connor said.

I didn't bother responding. I turned away from him, my feet moving on instinct back toward the small window of the interogation room.

I leaned in and looked inside.

The guy was still there. He was sitting in the exact same chair, staring blankly at the far window facing outside the station.

I took a slow breath.

I blinked.

And the chair was empty.

My breath hitched in my throat. I blinked again, hard, but the room didn't change. He was gone.

"Connor," I rasped out, my blood running instantly cold as I grabbed the door handle and pulled it open.

"Asher, don't go beat up our suspect!" Connor grumbled.

I stopped dead in the center of the room.

The room was completely empty. The pair of steel handcuffs lay unbolted, resting flat on the table.

"He is gone," I muttered.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Connor barked, stepping over the entrance with three other officers crowding right behind his back.

"Fuck! He was just here seconds ago!" Connor screamed.

In seconds the whole station erupted into chaos. Officers started yelling into their radios, tearing through the room, as alarms began wailing through the entire building.

I just stood there, completely paralyzed.

There were no other windows. No hidden panels or underground whatever. The only opening in the entire room was the narrow, barred windows, the exact same one he has been staring at, and the one I had used in spying on him.

How does a human being disappear right in front of my eyes? I only blinked, just one blink.

A heavy, unnatural cold chill began to crawl up my spine. This...this shouldn't be possible.