Chapter 10 The killer
ADRIANA
After our meeting, I sat up all night, waiting for morning to break.
Even though Salvador was untrustworthy and crazy, I knew he would always keep his word no matter what. I didn't care if I had to join hands with the devil. No, I had to get out of here and become the devil myself.
When morning finally broke, a police officer was standing in front of the cell door, clicking the lock open before swinging the door.
His eyes moved to where I stood, and he beckoned his hand towards me, a stern look on his face.
“Come!" He snapped.
The women in the cell room with me looked at me, confused.
I turned and stared back at them, a smile on my face.
“I hope you find peace," I muttered.
“Are you leaving?" One of them asked, and I nodded.
“I knew it, you didn't commit murder, right?" The one who killed her abusive husband asked.
I nodded my head, and she chuckled.
‘But I will soon.’ I wanted to say that to them, but refrained.
“I hope you find peace too, and don't worry, someone else will love you better than the woman did,” another woman said, and I felt a sharp sting in my heart as the picture of Ma’am Felicia’s body in a pool of blood flashed across my eyes.
I doubted her words. I doubted whether someone else would ever love me the way she did. And even if that was possible, I wouldn't let that happen; I would end up making someone else die because of me.
“Goodbye,” I muttered, forcing a smile on my face as I turned around and shuffled out of the cell room.
The police officer led me through corridors until we finally shuffled into a hall full of desks. Other cops sat at their stations with cups of coffee in hand while performing their designated duties without minding what was going on around them. The entire place buzzed with activity, and the piercing sound of ringing telephones filled the stuffy air as handcuffed offenders were pulled in and citizens with complaints and issues visited one desk or the other. Yet, inside that dark cell, everything seemed to be at peace.
“Where is Salvador?" I asked impatiently as we walked.
The man looked at me smugly and narrowed his eyes before walking over to one of the desks. He beckoned that I follow him, which I did without hesitation. My eyes still scanned the place as I walked, looking around for Salvador.
I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't appear; I was used to his tricks anyway. All that mattered was that he helped me gain my freedom once again.
“Someone else confessed to the crime. Why did you lie?” The words of the police officer forced my attention to him.
My shoulders squared, and my brows shot in surprise.
I should have known that for me to get out, the murderer had to be found.
I wondered if Salvador had manipulated the mind of the true killer to confess to committing the crime.
“Who?” I asked, and the man looked in my direction with a glare.
“Answer my question first.”
“You wouldn't believe me even if I had continued to tell the truth, would you?" I tilted my head to the side and glared at him as I spoke.
Guilt crossed his eyes, and he shrugged.
“So, you have to answer my question now. Who confessed to the crime?” I asked.
He looked up from the desk and handed me my bag and accessories.
“The killer turned himself in this morning. What was his name again? Ah…Salvador something, I can't seem to remember the surname…” The man’s remaining words faded as I staggered back with a swirling head.
“Sal…Salvador?” I gasped in horror, my dry lips trembling.
My heart wrenched, and I felt a tightening in my belly as I stood there on wobbly feet, at the verge of falling. My bag was already on the floor, but I cared less about that. My mind was filled with Salvador.
“Hey, are you okay?" I heard his distant voice ask, but I was too engulfed in pain to reply.
He kept talking and approaching me with eyes full of alarm, but I heard nothing. I could only stare at his moving lips in shock.
He suddenly stopped moving and looked up, his eyes dimming.
Like a network, I swung my head in the direction he was staring at, and there was Salvador, walking towards us, surrounded by cops and handcuffed.
“Salvador?” I gasped again and felt strength suddenly rush in.
He looked up at the sound of my voice, and our eyes locked.
I tried to go after him, but the man held me back.
“You can't talk to him. It's not…”
“He didn't do it. I swear he didn't do it!” I protested, trying to get out of his strong grip.
"You're lying again, you're trying to save your friend!” The man snapped, and my heart squeezed in anger.
“He did not do it!”
"We have proof he did it. The security camera caught him breaking into your house with those items. There is also proof of someone breaking into Mrs. Felicia's room minutes before she was murdered, and it was a man. The call that reported the murder was traced to be from his phone, now you believe, right?”
I shook my head in disbelief.
Salvador would never do anything like that. I knew that he had manipulated everything and had all the evidence pinned on him. He must have created fake evidence just to get me out!
“You can't do this!” I shouted at him as he walked past me.
His dry lips switched into a smile. His eyes looked dead, and his skin was paler than it was yesterday.
“My bike is parked outside, you'll find a note there. Don't worry about me, it's not like I'm going to live longer,” he muttered, and my heart stopped for a moment.
"Are you dying?" I asked, dismayed. His smile stretched, he turned around, and let the officer take him away.
My crushed heart dropped into the bottom of my belly, and my wobbly feet, which couldn't hold me anymore, gave way to the ground.