After the interrogation, they didn't say much. Just pulled me up from the chair and walked me into a different room.
It was bright and colder.
A guy in a uniform told me to stand against the wall. He didn't even look me in the eye. Just snapped on gloves and said, "Face the camera."
He told me to turn. Left. Right. Straight.
The flash hit before I was ready. I blinked, eyes stinging. Then they told me to turn sideways and they snapped another photo. My mugshot. The same kind you see on crime shows. Except this wasn't a show. It was me. It was real.
Next came the fingerprinting. Cold black ink on my fingers, then pressed down on a scanner and on paper. Thumb, index, middle, ring, pinky. Both hands. My hands were shaking, but I tried to stay still. I didn't want to mess anything up.
They barely looked at me.
I wasn't a person to them. Just a case file.
I didn't even ask questions. I didn't think I had the right to.
Afterward, they walked me down another long hallway. My footsteps echoed behind the officer. Everything felt too quiet, except my heart.
They opened a heavy door and shoved me inside.
A small cell…no bigger than a closet with just one steel bench, bolted to the wall. No windows. Just four gray walls and that a camera blinking in the corner. I sat down slowly, my shoulder still throbbing from the cut. I held it with my cuffed hands and stared at the floor. I don't even know how long I was there.
Could've been ten minutes. Could've been two hours.
Time didn't exist in that room.
I leaned my head against the wall and tried not to cry again. My throat burned. My shoulder throbbed. I kept seeing Liam's face his hands reaching as he fell and hearing the crowd scream from downstairs.
Eventually, someone came back.
"Let's go," the officer said.
He led me down another hallway, past locked doors and tired faces. We stopped in front of a glass-walled room with a table in the center and two chairs on opposite ends. I sat down on one side, the cuffs still tight around my wrists. A digital clock above the door read 3:04 AM.
What the hell?
I didn't even feel tired.
It didn't feel like it. My body was still running on adrenaline. My brain hadn't caught up. I didn't feel time at all.
Then the door opened again. A man in a black jacket walked in, maybe early 40s, clean shave, tired eyes. He had a badge clipped to his belt and a stack of papers in his hand. He pulled a chair sat down slowly, and studied me for a moment before speaking.
"This is Detective Harris, time is 3:06 AM. Subject is Ash Rivera, nineteen years old. Suspect in the ongoing investigation involving a fall-related injury to student Liam." He said speaking into a small recorder.
"Okay, Ash… I'm Officer Harris. I just want to ask you a few questions, alright?"
I nodded silently.
"Everything you say here is being recorded. You understand that?"
"You've been identified as a witness to or possibly involved in a violent altercation that resulted in serious injury. We need to determine your role in the incident. Are you ready to proceed?"
"I… I guess."
"Let's start with this: where were you between 10PM and 12:30AM tonight?"
"I was at the mansion. The party. The one at Dominic Vale's house."
"What were you doing there?"
"Working at the party. I was catering. My boss, Mr. Sun, brought me along to help serve drinks."
"And when did you go up to the rooftop?"
"After the party… after something happened downstairs. I needed air. I was bleeding, I needed a quiet place to answer a phone call. I—" My throat tightened. "That's when I saw Liam. With… some guy in a hoodie. They were arguing."
"What happened downstairs and how did you get that?" He asked pointing to my bruised face.
"Dominic got mad at me… I spilled on him by accident. Ian….his friend punched me. Humiliated me. I ran up to the roof after getting a call from my friend, and then… I saw Liam and the masked guy arguing."
"You knew Liam Everhart personally?"
"Not really. I mean, he helped me earlier that night. Saved me, actually."
"And then what happened?"
"They were fighting. The guy had a knife. Liam told me to leave, but I didn't. I couldn't. I tried to help. I tried to stop it. Liam got stabbed and then he stumbled…he…"
"Go on," the detective said,
"He stumbled. I tried to grab him. I swear I did."
Detective Harris leaned back, tapping a pen on the folder.
"Did you recognize the other individual?"
"No. He had a hoodie and a face mask. He ran when Liam fell..."
I couldn't finish.
Officer Harris studied my face carefully. He was about to ask another question when…
Knock.
Another officer pushed the door and stepped into the glass room, holding a laptop.
It was the same officer who asked me if u had any guardian when I got to the station. This time, she looked like she was out of breath, like she'd just run.
"Detective?"
"Yeah?"
"We got a footage," she said, eyes locked on Officer Harris.
My stomach flipped.
"What?" Detective Harris asked, frowning.
"Security footage. From one of the cameras at the mansion. All the others were fried, like someone wiped them. But this one looks like it was forgotten."