The cold metal of the steel handcuffs around his left wrist, cut into his skin when he tried to pull his hand, making him grimace in an odd sense of pain.
And, this alone was enough to force the seemingly shocked young man to accept the truth that he was not in any one of his wildest dreams and he had indeed been handcuffed to the hospital bed he was lying in.
He turned his head and saw the look of apprehension that crossed the face of the tall officer, who literally dropped a bomb on him just a few moments ago.
The young heart in his post adolescent being urged him to lash out and he felt like yelling at the top of his lungs that he was a victim here.
But, the indifferent look unique to an investigating officer, was successful in intimidating him.
Jax tried to calm himself down, but was not fruitful in his attempts, because he was overwhelmed with a myriad of emotions at the same time. Fear, anxiety, shock and what not!
After all, he could be barely considered as a man and didn't even have anyone to turn to in his dire situations.
It took about a full ten minutes for Jax to rearrange his thoughts and ask the stern faced officer sitting beside his bed, who was now looking at him grimly as if the former was a deadly criminal who was waiting for his final verdict!
He asked the officer what the latter meant by saying Jax should stop wasting everyone's time and plead guilty for a lighter sentence.
However, the plump subordinate who had been standing silently on the side all this while, chose this moment to speak and answered it for him.
"All the evidences found at the crime scene, say you were the culprit." A single sentence!
Jax felt as if a whole tank of cold water had been poured over his entire body and shuddered at his new realization involuntarily.
From what this plump duke had said to him, he came to realize that these law enforcing authorities had long concluded him as the main culprit.
According to the officers, he was the killer.
And, he could do nothing but look back and forth between the two officers, with a bewildered face.
People would think that he was panicking because he was feeling guilty for the crime, but that was not at all the case here!
He was dumbfounded because of the relevations he had stumbled upon from his brief chat with the two officers.
They f**cking said that all the evidences were pointing toward him!
First evidence; the murder place was the living room of his apartment.
Second evidence; the weapon used to kill the victim was a knife, more precisely a kitchen knife and the bloody knife was from his very own untouched kitchen.
Third evidence; the fingerprints on the knife belonged to none other than the poor young man.
Were they freaking kidding him!!!
Of course, there would be his fingerprints on his own knife!
Thinking up to this, Jax was even more horrified. Everything that happened on that fateful night seemed to be a well thought out plan. He had became a scapegoat for someone else's scheme.
Upon this realization, the young man felt like crying. What did he do to deserve this? And, who would answer his million dollar question: Who was that masked man?
When he remembered about the strange killer, a thought crossed his mind and a new hope bloomed in his terrified heart.
He could prove himself not guilty if he acted fast now!
Thus he turned to look at the tall duke, who introduced himself as Samuel, an inspector from their nearby police station.
"Inspector Samuel, I want to ask whether you have checked the CCTV footage surrounding my apartment or not?" Jax asked in a trembling voice.
Even though, he believed that he would be saved as long as they checked the footage and saw that masked man, still there was this nagging feeling which he couldn't put into words correctly, that he was in for yet another shock.
And, in no less than a few seconds, all his hopes were dashed to a new low and he felt as if the whole world was working against him and pushing him to his death.
How could he not? To his horror, the tall duke said that there were no suspicious movements from anybody nearby his apartment.
He even patiently explained that every possible entrance to his apartment from doors to windows, were intact in position and there wasn't even any sign of someone breaking in by force.
How could that be? Were the CCTV cameras got tampered with?
Well, it indeed made some sense now.
Jax was already convinced that he was being framed, thus it didn't manage to shock him at this new relevation of his. He would also be overly cautious not to leave any traces of his involvement if he were to kill a person and shove the responsibility onto an innocent soul.
But, what should he do now? Wasn't there any chance to prove himself innocent?
However, a new thought crossed his helpless mind which made him realize the possibility of an eyewitness who might have seen the killer or heard the scrabble between him and the victim, or at least Jax.
After all, it was nearly impossible for the culprit to flee the scene without being noticed by anyone. Jax felt that he could count on this new possibility, because he remembered making a lot of noise while struggling to free himself from the killer's clutches.
He had knocked down his age old, heavy but cheap metal shoe rack which would surely make some hell of a noise. And, it was not exaggerating to say that the sound might have echoed through the entire corridor, since he also got to hear it first hand and he felt his eardrums protesting in pain from the sheer intensity of it at that time.
"Officer Adam, what I'm saying about a masked man being the culprit is the real truth. And I'm sure someone might have seen him fleeing the scene," Jax didn't hesitate to act on his thoughts and addressed the plump subordinate as soon as he decided that there was a need for him to fight himself.
If he didn't, then he would have to spend the rest of his life behind the bars. He only touched his twenty year mark in the April this year. It wasn't even two months since then and he would be cut off from achieving his goals, if he were to fail in proving himself innocent.
What a hassle! He did nothing but was forced to face such a tricky situation.
However, the young man was only found himself being disappointed again.
"No Mr. Black. We have already asked around and found no such witness that could support your statement saying a masked man coming out of your apartment," the plump subordinate, Adam said calmly, as if he was reading a book to a three year old.
What the heck! Didn't this plump dude have anything useful to say to him?! Everytime he opened his mouth, he only said the things which could immediately crush all his hopes.
Just like that, his last hope also chose to ditch him in these chaos.
Great, just great!
"Mr. Black, what is your relationship with Mr. Robert?"
This new question brought the young man out of his thoughts, who was busy cursing his sh*t luck.
Jax lifted his eyes and gazed at the tall duke, with pure confusion written all over his face.
Samuel, the inspector repeated the same question once again without feeling irritated.
"Who is this Mr. Robert?" Jax asked innocently.
And it was the two officers turn to stare at Jax as if he came from another planet, which successfully sent the already bewildered young man to go on an emotional rollercoaster once again.
"Mr. Robert was the same person as in the victim who have been murdered at your apartment." Officer Adam didn't bother to filter his words.
Jax didn't know what he should feel now. Earlier, when he just woke up in this hospital room, he thought of the victim who was brutally murdered right in front of his eyes.
And, now after hearing the victim's name, Jax felt as if everything only turning for the worse.
He didn't even know who the victim was, yet the latter was killed in his place. What was even worse, he was being framed for this person's murder.
"I don't know him," Jax answered in a helpless tone.
The young man looked as if he was on the verge of a breakdown. What else could he say other than the truth? But he wasn't hopeful that the officers would believe him being innocent anymore.
It was already crystal clear in their perspective that he was the real murderer as they hold a pile of evidences which helped them to point out all five fingers at Jax.
Apart from Jax, there were only two persons who could tell them about the real murderer. The victim and the real murderer himself.
The victim couldn't come back alive to prove him innocent and the real murderer wouldn't set him up in the first place, if he were to surrender himself.
The two police officers exchanged a look before turning their heads to look at Jax again.
"Mr.Black, I advice you to be honest with us," the tall duke said in a low but deep voice, which felt more like threatening than interrogating.
"I'm saying the truth inspector, I really don't know him," An agitated Jax answered Samuel. His voice trembled as if he was going to choke from saying just those few words.
A hush fell over the three of them.
After what felt like an eternity, the plump dude decided to break the silence by saying the details of the victim on which they got their hands.
And from his words, Jax learnt that the victim appeared to be someone in between the age group of twenty five to thirty five with black hair and dark skin.
They were chanced upon a pocket dairy in the pants pocket of the victim. And that was how they got to learn his name.
The dairy didn't contain any useful detail other than his name, which was hand written in the first page under his stamp size photo. Other than that, there was nothing, no address, no phone number. Not even his last name!
However, the police officers also find it hard to believe that this seemingly thin and delicate looking twenty year old was capable of butchering a full grown man.
Jax looked like an underfed teen in this oversized hospital gown he was wearing now. And the victim they found had a well built body who seemed to never skip his gym schedule.
But, even though they found it hard to connect Jax as the murderer of this victim, they could only follow the mandatory procedures of an investigation and draw conclusions according to the evidences they found and definitely not on the possibilities.
When asked about why he killed the person named Robert, Jax answered in the same crestfallen tone, "I didn't even know him, how could I possibly want to kill a person I don't know."
"You being unaware of the details of the victim couldn't cover-up whatever your motive behind killing him Mr. Black." The tall inspector chose to remind Jax the reality in the harshest possible way.
"It's Friday today, and the trial on this case would be held on this coming Monday," the plump subordinate chose this moment to land yet another dynamite on the already frightened young man.
He then added, "we hope that you will get your facts straight by that time."
After exchanging a confirming look that they have completed their purpose of coming here, they bade their farewell before asking him to rest.
But how could he possibly continue resting now?