Chapter 50 CHAPTER 050
"No, I don't think so." My voice is annoyingly low and I can't look up to see if Linc is watching me because I know he is. I can feel his dark eyes on me. They are warm and they lit me on fire.
"Okay. I get that he acted violently towards you. Can you tell me how you felt in that moment? Did he seem like he could hurt you worse in a different setting? What I am asking is if he seemed unhinged in his anger towards you." Hernandez moves on like he did not just ask me a gut wrenching question with Linc watching me for a reaction.
Does he know about the dumb crush I had on Tyler in our first year? But that is not possible. Even Ashley doesn't know about it.
"Yes. I was genuinely scared. He didn't seem to be angry about one particular thing. I couldn't understand it. I got the sense that he hated the fact that I got into the firm because of my uhm, my connection to Linc. Like my privilege or something. Yeah, I guess you can say he seemed unhinged." I swallow. I don't know how much Hernandez knows about me and Linc but I can't help the fear of being judged that comes over me.
I risk a glance at Linc and he seems unfazed. He just gives me a reassuring nod. An encouragement to be as unbothered as he is being. I resist the urge to tell him that I can't be like him. Say it out loud as a sort of reprimand and distraction from the matter at hand.
"Okay. How was your relationship with him in college? You are classmates." Hernandez scratches into his note pad, he seems disinterested in anything outside of what he is here for. He hasn't even touched his glass of water and I have drunk mine halfway. I glance at the clock, we have been at this for a total of seven minutes. And I am already done. Done with recounting that afternoon. I just want to close my eyes and wake up to find that I had been dreaming all along.
"Nothing tangible. He is the class president. We pass eachother. It is nothing deep. It is a large class. I am hardly a social butterfly so my circle is a bit small. We rarely crossed paths. I didn't even know he was trying to get into Titan's Construct till I saw him here." Subconsciously, I start massaging the red ring around my wrist where Tyler had grabbed me.
"Alright, thank you, Miss Tanner. The purpose of my questions was to try come up with a motive. It will help us track him quicker. Do you share any mutual friends you think he might be staying with or contact? Or just anyone he is close to in the city."
Ashley.
Her face comes to mind immediately. But I seriously doubt Tyler would contact her. He wouldn't dare. No matter what is going on between me and Ashley right now, I know where her loyalty lie. With me. I am certain of that. And if Tyler has any sense in that deranged head of his, he must know that too.
"Uh, I don't know. Marcus? They seem to be related or something." I look at Linc for support, he cocks his head at me. I can see the quick disapproval that crosses his eyes. I bite my lip and look away. He doesn't know Ashley like I do.
If Tyler contacts her, she will tell me immediately like she promised. I trust her. Period.
"We already have eyes on Marcus. He seems just as clueless." Hernandez says, his eyes hold mine like he is waiting for me to say what he wants to hear. He knows about Ashley. He threw the question at me to see how honest I would be and I failed.
Well, I don't care. I jut my chin up at him defiantly. I trust my best friend.
"Well, like I said, we didn't know each other much, we weren't even friends, so I don't really know him like that." I say, then I fold my arms over my chest. I know it is childish but I am really just tired at this point. I feel like I have been thrust in the middle of something I don't have any idea about. I look at the clock as Hernandez looks down into his pad, it seems like the fucking time has frozen. I am going to be stuck in this hell forever at this point.
I turn to look at Linc, his face is expressionless. Stoic. Dashingly handsome in the bright lights of his huge study that I am sure doubles as an office. I grab a hold of my water and drink till it is almost finished.
"Okay. That is all the questions I have for you right now, Miss Tanner. I will advise you keep as safe as possible, if you get what I mean," Hernandez directs his piercing gaze at Linc when my face remains expressionless, "We don't have a profile on the suspect yet so we can't predict how volatile the situation can get if they come in contact when she doesn't fulfil his demands as from tomorrow. I have run background checks, no police or criminal records, or anything that will point us to what to expect so I want her to be watched with limited unsupervised movements." There is an edge of both deference and authority in Hernandez's clipped tone when he is addressing Linc. Something that is glaringly absent in the professional way he talks to me.
Linc nods and my mouth opens to add something but nothing comes to mind. They are discussing me like I am not in the room with them. It makes me feel both cared for and angry.
"She will be kept safe." Linc says. He doesn't look in my direction when he says this. I want to scream that I am right here in the damn room with them.
"Okay, Mr. Dmitri. I have all I need for now. I will reach out as soon as I have updates." Hernandez gets up, the meeting is over. Twenty minutes had felt like twenty hours. I felt stifled all through.
"Miss Tanner, please be rest assured. The situation is under control. He won't release that video tomorrow. And once he reaches you to talk about his demands like I am certain he would, play along and let Mr. Dmitri know immediately. I will try to get here as soon as possible to see if he can be traced through the phone call." Hernandez says, he stretches his hand to me for a farewell handshake. He doesn't smile.
I look at his outstretched hand dumbly and panic takes over my senses.
Why have I not thought about what would happen when I don't do what Tyler asked me to do?
There is no way he would be found between tonight and the deadline he gave me which is tomorrow.
Fuck.