by Doris Miller
PARTMENT! AND WHEN WE WALKED OUT THE FRONT DOOR, WE SAW FIVE POLICEMEN STANDING RIGHT OUTSIDE IN THE HALLWAY! THEY WERE WAITING FOR DANA! THEY ARRESTED HER RIGHT ON THE SPOT AND TOOK HER INTO CUSTODY ALONG WITH ANOTHER SUSPECT FOR QUESTIONING! I'M DOWN AT THE POLICE STATION RIGHT NOW!"
"OH NO!"
"YEAH, IT'S TRUE GRANDMA!"
"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! I DON'T BELIEVE THIS IS ALL HAPPENING!
WHERE DO THE POLICE HAVE DANA AT THIS MOMENT TONY?"
"THEY HAVE HER IN THE BACK ROOM SOMEWHERE!"
"OKAY TONY, JUST STAY RIGHT THERE! WE'RE ALL ON OUR WAY DOWN THERE, OKAY?"
"Okay Grandma! I'll be here!"
"Okay Tony, we're on our way!" Gracy quickly hangs up the telephone!
At the police station, the other possible suspect in this case is a male Hispanic named Lewis Fernandez, who had found Kathy's body! Lewis works in Kathy's building doing cleaning work. He has been seen a few times around Kathy when she was alive. Lewis claims innocent! He says that he had spoken to Kathy a few times before in the past as a Mend when he saw her passing through the building. Lewis shouts to the police, "I WAS NOWHERE AROUND WHEN THE MURDER TOOK PLACE! I WAS AT HOME ASLEEP IN BED BECAUSE I HAD TO GET UP THE FOLLOWING MORNING AND GO TO WORK IN THE BUILDING WHERE THE MURDER TOOK PLACE! THAT'S HOW I DISCOVERED THE BODY! I HAVE NO REASON TO BE IN THE BUILDING OR WORK IN THE BUILDING AT AROUND THE TIME OF NIGHT YOU ALL THINK THAT WOMAN KATHY WAS MURDERED! I ALSO HAVE A COUPLE OF ALIBIS!"
Police Officer Rosenberg, a white male asks Lewis, "Who are your alibis?"
"My wife and my son!"
"Call up your wife," Rosenberg says as he hands Lewis the telephone.
Lewis gets on the phone. He speaks on the telephone and says, "Hello Lucy? The police wants to speak with you!"
Rosenberg quickly takes the phone out of Lewis' hand! He speaks into the telephone and says, "Hello Mrs. Fernandez?"
"Yes?"
"This is Officer Rosenberg speaking! I just want to ask you a couple of questions! Where was your husband Lewis Fernandez at between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 4:00 in the morning?"
"Where was Lewis at between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 4:00 in the morning?"
"Yes!"
"Lewis was at home with me!"
"Was your husband Lewis at home with you the whole entire time between those hours of 12:00 midnight and 4:00 in the morning?"
"Yes! He and I were in the bed sleeping! Why? What's going on?"
"We have to investigate a homicide that took place!"
"WHAT! A HOMICIDE?"
"Yes! Mrs. Fernandez, where does your husband Lewis work? And what type of work does your husband Lewis do?"
"Oh Lewis does cleaning work inside an apartment building in Queens!"
"Well a woman who lived in the building your husband works in was found stabbed to death in the stairwell early this morning!"
"WHAT! A WOMAN WAS FOUND STABBED TO DEATH?"
"That's right Mrs. Fernandez! A woman named Kathy Lupont! Your husband found her body!"
"WHAT! MY HUSBAND FOUND HER BODY?"
"Yes!"
"OH MY GOD! I'M SHOCKED TO HEAR ABOUT THIS! IS MY HUSBAND ALRIGHT?"
"Yes, he's alright. He's just pretty shaken up by the whole thing."
"I CAN IMAGINE! WELL WHO KILLED THIS WOMAN KATHY? AND WHY?"
"Well that's what we're trying to find out Mrs. Fernandez, who killed her and why! That's why we have your husband here at the station, to question him! We just needed to know some answers that's all!"
"I see!"
"Okay Mrs. Fernandez, I'm going to let your husband go. He can call you later on I guess."
"Okay Officer, thank you!"
"You're welcome."
"And I'm sorry to hear about what happened to that poor woman!"
"Yes we're all sorry for what happened to her. Okay Mrs. Fernandez, take care now."
"Okay! You too!"
Rosenberg hangs up the telephone. He says, "Okay Mr. Fernandez, you may leave now."
"Thank you Officer!"
"Okay. I'm gonna question that young man standing out in the front."
"Okay Officer," Lewis says as he gets up from a chair. He starts to head for the door as Officer Rosenberg follows behind him. Lewis walks out the room and heads towards the front of the station as Officer Rosenberg continues to follow behind.
When Lewis and Officer Rosenberg reach the front of the station, Rosenberg goes to Tony, who is still standing in the front of the station.
Rosenberg approaches Tony and asks, "Can I speak with you for a minute sir?"
"Sure," Tony says.
Officer Rosenberg then leads Tony towards the back of the station. He brings Tony to the back room where Lewis was. He sits Tony on a chair in front of a desk and asks, "So Mr. Mitchell, you and your girlfriend Dana live together, right?"
"Yes, we do."
"Where was your girlfriend Dana when you first came home yesterday evening?"
"Dana was already inside the apartment when I came home."
"What was Dana doing the exact moment you had walked into your apartment?"
"She was in the kitchen cooking."
"Where was Dana the whole rest of the evening and night into the next morning?"
"Dana and I were both at home in the bed sleeping, waiting for the next morning so that we can both get up and go to work."
"So you're saying that your girlfriend Dana never left the apartment the whole entire night?"
"No."
"Okay Mr. Mitchell, you may leave now. I just needed to know some answers."
"Okay," Tony says as he gets up from the chair. He then heads for the door and leaves the room.
Twenty minutes later, Dana's entire family and relatives show up at the precinct! They angrily start to approach the police officers! The police then start to question the members of Dana's family! The police suspect that a member of Missy's family might have come to murder Kathy out of revenge and retaliation! Dana's family is all outraged by it! They shout to the police, "NONE OF US WOULD EVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT! DANA MIGHT HAVE A VIOLENT TEMPER, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT SHE DID IT!"
The police have their doubts. They're going to send Dana to jail. Dana is then taken to Central Booking. She is to be sent to jail for a month until her court date! Her bail is for $70,000. Her grandfather Mike pays her bail. Two hours later, Dana is released from jail. She goes home with her family to her grandparents' house. She has to appear in court the following month.
Around 11:00 that night while everybody is home in Gracy and Mike's house, David tells his parents, "I'm gonna go upstairs and call up Christine. I'm gonna let her know what's happening with Dana."
"Okay David," Mike says. "We'll be down here."
"Okay Dad. I'll be back." David starts to head up the staircase to the bedrooms.
The next morning, the doorbell rings inside Gracy and Mike's house. Mike goes to the front door and answers it. When he opens the door, he sees Christine and several of her family members from Jamaica, including her two brothers, Harold and Alan, their sister Patricia, their parents Winston and Marie and a few other relatives. They are all hysterical! Mike gives Christine a big hug as he lets her and her family members inside the house. Christine's relatives also hug Mike. As Mike closes the front door, Christine and Marie hysterically ask him, "Where's Dana?"
"Oh she's upstairs with Gracy. Go ahead up there."
"Okay! We'll be right back!"
"Okay," Mike says as Christine, Marie, Winston and Patricia hysterically rush up the stairs! Mike and Christine's other family members then head into the living room.
The next two days, Kathy's murder is seen in the newspapers. There is an article about her murder. Everyone in Dana and Missy's family sees and reads the article. All of Raymond and Missy's coworkers at the school see and read the article. Tony sees and reads the article. Diane D, Michael, Teresa and Joseph see and read the article. All of Dana and Teresa's co-workers at the stockroom see and read the a
rticle also. They all know that Kathy was one of the people who Dana had beaten up before with a baseball bat over a couple of years ago.
Chapter 15
Missy's Flashbacks
