Chapter 27: Mixed Feelings

Rachael was famished, but she still stared at the food kept in front of her in aversion. Richard noticed her retaliation and dropped the fork back on the tray.

"Why?" He asked and Rachael stared at him in wonder alongside astonishment. Did he expect her to eat comfortably when she was held against her will?

"I don't want anything from you" she whispers loud enough for him to hear the contempt in her voice.

"The alcohol you had yesterday night surely rendered you hungry. Stop pretending" he said to her, but Rachael didn't budge.

When he got frustrated by her stubbornness, he grabbed her by the chin and pressed his index finger and thumb against her chin to force her mouth open. After much struggle, Rachael finally gave in to his strong grip and opened her mouth. He inserted the fork filled with bacon into the tiny hole he managed to create and withdrew his hand, giving her death stares, daring her to spit it out.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she ate the food which had a metallic taste as a result of the blood that sipped from the injury the fork made when Richard plunged it in forcefully.

He brought the fork wrapped in bacon close to her mouth once more. Out of fear, she didn't even think of rejecting it. Her blood flowed from her busted lip, down to her chin and he noticed it.

"Look what you brought on yourself" he sighed, using his thumb to wipe the blood. Rachael thought he was going to wipe it off with a napkin or something, but he did the most revolting thing. He licked his thumb, causing Rachael to gag.

"No no" he warned. "Don't you dare throw up? I spent a lot of time making this" he threatened.

At this point, Rachael concluded he had a mental issue and it would only be a matter of time before he went. full-mode crazy on her.

"What will you do with me?" she asked when she was done with the awful food in her mouth.

"Hmmm," he humphed, caressing her thighs briefly with the fork before bringing to his mouth and placing it between his teeth as he gazed at her intently. "I don't know yet"

As he scooped the eggs at the side of the plate, she couldn't help but gag. The bacon was edible, but the egg looked like oatmeal. He brought it to her lips and she had no other choice but to eat it. Just as she had predicted, it tasted awful, but she couldn't show it if she wanted to stay alive.

"I don't want to eat anymore," she blurted out, waiting for another smack, but she didn't get any, instead, he shrugged and settled the plate down.

He gave her some water to drink which was a hot mess because the water spilled everywhere; her neck, her clothes, and her slightly exposed thighs.

"I have a court trial coming up. If the police notice I'm gone, they will start looking for me and lock you up for kidnapped"

"Shhh" he brought his hands to her lips and she immediately withdrew her face. "You forgot one important part. You didn't add if they are going to find you or not. Well let me fix it for you" he leaned closer and whispered. "They are never going to find you," he said, causing a cold shiver to run down her spine.

"Xavier will kill you with his bare hands" she further threatened, but he laughed out instead.

"Probably that would be after I kill with my own bare hands" he patted her lightly on the chin.

"Damn you!" She screamed at him.

"Save your energy honey" he advised her. "We will be leaving this place as soon as possible"

"Where are we going?"

"Won't that ruin the surprise? he said with a grin on his face.

*******

Silvia leaned on the counter with a frustrated look on her face. "She doesn't even remember anything from that night. How am I supposed to work with that?". She asked in frustration.

"Or she is just pretending" Gary shrugged.

"I don't think so. She was confused as hell when I interrogated her. Something big is just missing from this case. I keep asking myself, if there was a chance she didn't kill Collin, then who did?"

Gary was about to part his lips to speak when Martin interrupted. He handed a cup of coffee to Silvia.

" Thank you," she said, taking it.

"The two of you are still on this Collin case," he asked, furrowing his full healthy brows.

"It's got reopened again"

"So I heard. What were they thinking when they dropped the case in the first place?"

"Well thank God someone finally said it. At least I know I'm not the crazy one in the office".

"Is she guilty?" Martin asked, relaxing on the counter.

"You can hardly tell. It got to a point where she just burst into tears" Silvia said with frustration visible on her face.

"Some criminals are just very good at manipulating," Martin commented.

"Especially the ladies" Gary supported and that caused Silvia to frown.

"Anyway, I still don't think she is the killer"

"There you go again" Gary plopped back on his seat.

"What? You were on my side months ago?"

"At this point, it's hard to believe she didn't do it" Gary pointed out and Martin found himself nodding in agreement.

Silvia on the other hand still had mixed feelings concerning the whole case. Each time she was compelled to believe Rachael was the killer, a contradicting feeling always came and she wasn't the type to ignore her instincts