by Nelly Asher
***
...It was refreshingly cool inside the police station. That should've been a welcome break from the street heat, but Selena didn't feel herself any easier. For some reason, this place was giving her the creeps. Kevin came up to the officer on duty and spoke:
“My car was hijacked. Where can I report it?”
“Give me the license plate number, maybe it was already found,” he replied.
“It happened yesterday, around noon. Dark green Pinton-Cruise, TX-131-04, registered on me, Kevin Evanford.”
Officer entered the data into his computer, raised his eyebrows and gave Selena a suspicious look.
“Yesterday at 11:20 A.M. this car has caused a traffic jam on the intersection of the Tomir street and Barlingway ave. Its license plate was removed, but the vehicle was still identified. The car suddenly turned 90 degrees and stopped, blocking the traffic. It caused a few collisions and created the traffic jam. Fortunately, noone was hurt.”
Kevin frowned. Intersection of Tomir and Barlingway... That's on the way to the building where the notary's office was. When they were driving there yesterday, they had to make a detour. Because of a traffic jam. Judging by Selena's wide-open eyes, she recalled it too.
“Driver ran out and got away. According to the eyewitnesses, it was a young girl wearing shorts, top and a white wig, with her hand damaged,” officer glanced at Silver once again.
“What are you getting at! It wasn't me!” the girl replied resentfully. “And my hair is not fake!” even in a situation like that, she could just let the remark like that slide. “I'm sure someone wants to frame me! Actually, I have a twin...”
“Fingerprints are different anyway,” officer said. “But we've already found a suspect from our database. Nevertheless, if someone wants to frame you, and you have anything to do with this case, we'll take your fingerprints, too...”
“Do you have anything on this girl? Name? Picture?” Selena's eyes sparkled in excitement.
“I won't disclose this information,” he replied firmly.
Silver realized that there's no way she's missing this opportunity. The girl quickly took the book out and opened it, asking mentally: what is there to say or do to make him reveal the information? She managed to keep the straight face when she saw a few 100-grun bills between the pages.
“Check this out at least – maybe those people will look familiar?” taking this risk, Selena gave him the book. To her relief, officer didn't read a single word – taking a quick look around, he opened the desk drawer and shook the money out in one swift move. Returning 'The Door' to Silver, he spoke:
“Eyewitnesses said that the girl's right hand was bandaged. There were only the fingerprints of the left one on the steering wheel. They belong to Deborah Cunningam, born in 1980, an orphan. She was caught shoplifting a few times. The last ocassion was in 1996 – when searching her, they've found an unregistered .22 short gun. She was given a few weeks of community service, and assigned to attend a rehabilitation group. Shortly after she vanished.”
While he was talking, Selena moved closer and stole a glance at a photo on the monitor. She immediately recognized the girl she saw yesterday on the screen. Same face, not too attractive, same heavey look, but on this picture her short light-brown hair was dyed black.
“Thanks, you've helped us out a lot,” she said with gratitude. “We have to go now...”
“Not so fast,” officer looked at Evanford. “You'll have to answer the investigator's questions,” he picked the phone receiver and pushed one of the buttons, connecting to someone. “Is Mr. Wesley in his office?.. Ok, I see,” he turned to the visitors: “He's not here now. You, sir, fill the report form. And both of you will have give a written cognizance not to leave the city until it's proven that you're not related to the case.”
