CHAPTER SEVEN

          Keira was dumbfounded and frazzled, it felt like her whole world was crashing down, right in front of her.

No...it wasn't possible. This can't be true.

They must be mistaken. There must've been a mistake somewhere. It wasn't her Xander they'd seen. It wasn't him.

She was with him last night and of course, it wasn't in best situation, but he was there, alive and breathing.

He told her to go home with Drew, that he needed some time alone. 

It isn't possible he would turn up dead just several hours later.

She opened her mouth to say something, but no words could come out.

She'd a lot of questions and arguments, but her brain couldn't fathom anything for her to say at that moment.

She was completely dumbfounded.

"Are you sure he was the one?" Elvira, who was still recovering from the shock, questioned no one in particular.

"And why would you ever think it was Keira who was responsible for his death?" She queried them still, shocked they could think such of her.

"Keira can't even hurt a fly, talk more of killing someone...."

"Stacey, Drew's girlfriend said she saw the two of them leave together."Cole inputted from where he was standing, gently leaving Andre's arm,

"They're currently at the precinct now and everyone was saying the same thing. They said Xander was seen last leaving with Keira and none of them returned afterwards." He retold the exact statement Stacey had given them at the precinct, then he darted his gaze to Keira who hadn't said anything since.

"What happened last night?"He inquired from her,

"I'm sorry Mister Nash, but you've told allow us do our job."One of the plaid shirts man said to Cole, digging out a cuff from his pocket and walking towards transfixed Keira.

Elvira tried to stop them by shielding away Keira, but Aiden dragged her away carefully not to hurt her.

"You've to let the cops do their job, Elvira." He chided her, holding her still, while the cop went on to cuff Keira's wrists together.

The latter made no attempt to resist the arrest, except the rain of tears that were streaming down her brown eyes.

"Keira didn't do anything."Elvira objected loudly, trying to wriggle herself out of Aiden's grasp as the plaid shirted men led Keira away,

"There must've been some misunderstanding somewhere. Keira won't even hurt a fly, talk more of killing anyone."She cried, but the men didn't stop.

She watched with tears blurring her vision, as the men walked Keira out of their suit and down the corridor, until they disappeared into the stairs.

She immediately turned to Aiden,

"I've to go with them. Keira didn't do anything.

She's innocent to whatever accusations you guys are making up against."She cried to him, grabbing hold of his collar,

"She wouldn't hurt anyone."

"No one is accusing anyone of anything. The cops are going to ask her a few questions and if she answers them right, she'll be let go."He reassured her, making her face him,

"As long as she's innocent, she'll be free. They just need to be sure what happened last night after she left with Xander."

"I've to go with them. I need to be there for Keira."She urged him, wanting to go after them, but Aiden held her back,

"We're all going down to the precinct together, but you've to promise me not to get in their way."He cajoled her,

"Keira might be your friend, but this is murder we're talking about...."He paused, taking a deep inhale and exhaling afterwards, to recollect his nerves.

It was still hard to digest the fact that his friend, who'd spent time with yesterday evening, was now dead and he was never seeing him again.

It was one hard pill to swallow.

"Elvira, you've to allow the law do their job."

Elvira was shaken, but she nodded positively, giving her assurance to Aiden.

   Keira was still in paralyzed shock even when they arrived at the precinct.

Everything felt surreal. It was like she was in a nightmare, patiently waiting to be woken up by someone from the reality world.

 The men led her into the interrogatory room and made her sit on one of the chairs around the desk. She was drowning in her own morbid thoughts to even notice what was going on around her.

She was completely oblivious to the world around her.

She still couldn't believe Xander was dead. Her brain was finding great difficulty, processing what Aiden had said earlier.

"....Xander's body was found near a rock at the lake. He was shot multiple times and he died..."

Another drop of tear brimmed down her face and although it was warm, it felt cold against her skin as it trickled down her face.

"Go home Keira....Drew will drop you at the hostel on his way home....I need some time alone....Go now Keira...Go now Keira!"

Reminiscing the last words he'd said to her last night, her tears worsened. Her heart was bleeding and it depicted on how deep her grief were.

If she'd known something bad was going to happen, she wouldn't have left him alone there, even if it was at the expense of their friendship.

She wouldn't have left him alone. She would've stayed with him and insisted he drove her home himself.

But no, she left him there and now, he's dead.

He died without her telling him she's forgiven him for what he tried to do. He died with the guilt of his actions and she's to be blamed for it.

No one else but herself.

"Keira Logan....almost nineteen years old and you're a student of Camden university..."The taller one of the plaid shirted men, listed endlessly, staring into the file he was holding.

"Sophomore economics major, works part time at the Royale Cafe. Your parents are Maverick and Ruth Logan and you're an only child. You're from Witherthrow in Topeka and you're a post grad of the Topeka high school..."He closed the file and averted his gaze to her,

"Clean record you've got here and I bet you're smart too, to be accepted into a prestigious school like Camden on a full term scholarship."He said to her, but Keira said nothing.

Her eyes were in teary and unblinking, one could mistake her for a statue, if not for the tears that kept brimming in her eyes.

"Crying ain't gonna solve anything here. Someone was found dead and multiple statements has it you were seen leaving the party with him last night. If you give us the answers we need, you'll walk out that door a free woman."He advised her cautiously, keeping the file on the desk.

"I'm Inspector Collins and this is my partner, Gabriel."He introduced himself and his colleague to Keira, but she said nothing still.

Getting no reply from her, he cleared his throat and continued nonetheless.

"Last night, you and the victim, Xander Williamson, attended his friend's party near Lake Vaquero right, what happened afterwards?" The man asked her, resting his back against his seat, while his colleague waited for her to begin, so he could record her statement like he'd done the others.

Keira sniffle twice, before wiping her eyes with the back of her palms and then she began in a husky, tears choked voice.

"We arrived at the party and Xander introduced me to his friends...."

"Do you mind telling us their names?"The second man asked her and she nodded and sniffles again,

"There was Drew, Stacey, Mike and some other people I couldn't recall their names."She fessed to the man, who took note of the names she'd called.

"Go on.."The first man urged her and she exhaled lightly, continuing with her story.

She entailed to the men everything that happened in the party, but when it got to the part where Xander had told her he wanted to talk to her in private, she stopped.

"Go on Keira. He told you he wanted to talk to you in private and you followed him towards the lake, so what happened after that?" The man probed further, persuading her to tell them the whole story, but Keira couldn't go on.

Of course, she gets the fact they were trying to find out what happened to Xander, but she couldn't bring herself to tell them he'd tried to rape her after professing his feelings for her.

"Do you understand you could be charged for his murder for withholding any information from us?" The first man asked her, but she said nothing still.

It was as if she was in a daze and had gone mute.

"Miss Logan, this is no robbery case we're dealing with here. This is a murder case and you could be charged for murder and sent to prison for it."The man's tone was threatening, but Keira said nothing still.

"Do you understand the danger you're putting yourself into by not telling us what happened. You could spend the rest of your life in jail for this. Tell us what happened and we would try our best to protect you. No one is going to hurt you, as long as you're honest with us."The second man said to her, but she was strong willed not to say anything.

When they couldn't get any more words from her, they got up from their seats simultaneously and excused themselves, giving her time to rethink her decision.