"Miss Gardener, please explain to us, again, what exactly you saw."
Amy nodded, not daring to glance my way. There were three people in the room, interrogating everyone. Everyone as in Camilla, Amy, and Camilla's parents. Tiffany was not in the room, so Amy was the only person telling the story at that moment.
"Well, Tiffany and I were just walking out to my car to leave from drama rehearsal," Amy began, "and we were going to use the restroom before we left. When we entered the lobby, we heard a sink on, so we looked in the bathroom and saw Camilla. She was wearing white gloves that had blood on them and was holding a bloody knife."
"Was this blood completely covering the gloves and the weapon?" the officer in between the other two people asked.
"No," Amy replied, "but the blood was splattered higher up the gloves, not right on her hands. The same was true for the blade of the knife. Since she was at the sink, she must have been rinsing the blood off."
"What happened next?" the same officer asked. The man to his left looked concentrated as he glanced from Amy to Camilla as Amy spoke. He must have been a detective. The woman to the officer's right was recording the interrogation and occasionally writing information on a sheet of paper that looked like a police report.
"It took me a few seconds to fully process what was happening, and Camilla tried to hide the knife because she hadn't quite washed it off completely, but I soon figured out that she had definitely done something. I remembered that Amanda had left about two hours before, saying she was going to look for her phone."
"Did you overhear anything from Amanda before she went missing?"
"She didn't go missing," Amy snapped, but she quickly tried to recover. "Regardless, I do know that two boys have been messing with her lately. They're her friends and they prank her a lot, so I heard her when she guessed they were probably responsible for her phone having gone missing."
"What were their names?" the detective asked, suddenly sitting upright.
"Joe Goffman and Chris Mattis," Amy answered, looking confused by the detective's behavior.
The detective shot a look at the woman. She was frantically writing on a blank sheet of paper.
The detective turned back to Amy, continuing, "Do they often take her phone to 'mess with her?'"
"I'm not sure."
The detective turned to Camilla, asking, "Do you have any idea about those boys' pranks toward Amanda?"
Camilla shook her head as she expanded, "I don't, after all, Amanda and I are just acquaintances-"
"Were acquaintances," Amy corrected, finally looking the murderer's way. "You killed her, so not anymore you aren't!"
"Calm down, Miss Gardener," the officer ordered. "Miss Green, please continue."
"Okay...all I know is that I heard Amanda asking if anyone had seen her phone, and Tiffany remembered about Joe and Chris pranking her. She suggested that they probably hid it somewhere because apparently Joe and Chris came in around the time Amanda did and left pretty quickly."
"Is this what you witnessed as well, Miss Gardener?" the officer asked.
"Tiffany is my best friend, so I was behind her, charging my phone next to the wall. From what I heard, that is accurate."
"Then, Miss Banks left, you said?"
"Yes, she left quickly after Tiffany suggested that Joe and Chris could be responsible. After that, I saw Amanda leave."
"Do you know where she went and why?"
"I stayed for the entire rehearsal, so I know that the drama teacher, Mrs. Blocher, told us that she had to leave for family reasons."
The officer looked at Camilla with a questioning look, so she explained, "My mom texted me asking for me to be home by 4 at the latest because she didn't want to leave my dad alone for very long. He had a terrible asthma attack about a week ago, so he's been resting and my mom doesn't like to leave him alone at the house if she has work later than normal or has to run errands."
The detective turned to Camilla's parents, asking abruptly, "Is this true?"
"Well I did have an asthma attack a week ago," Camilla's dad replied. "However, I was asleep that afternoon from around 2 p.m. to when the police showed up, so I wouldn't know whether she got home before 4 or not."
Camilla's mom spoke up, claiming, "I have short-term memory loss, so I don't know if I told her that or not! I don't even remember if I got home late for work or was running errands!"
The police looked shocked by her aggression, and he calmly said, "May we see your phone, Mrs. Green? Unlock it for us, please."
She rolled her eyes and handed it over. "Not like my daughter would be guilty of murder. I'll have you know that my daughter has been top of her class for years and is incredibly talented! She would never throw all that away committing a crime like that!"
The officer ignored her as they entered her phone and opened her messages. Camilla tried to relax, but she was more tense than ever. She prayed nobody could notice it.
The officer said something to the detective, showing him the screen, before facing Camilla. "We need your phone as well, Miss Green. Please unlock it, first."
Camilla obeyed, of course, and handed them her unlocked phone. Amy was anxiously watching the two men as they searched. They spoke in hushed voices as they investigated, but neither seemed to have found anything contradictory. They handed back the phones without another word and told the woman something that she immediately began writing down.
"Now, Miss Green," the officer continued, "when did you arrive home?"
"About 3:40, sir," she responded. "I received her text not long after Amanda left, but I explained the situation to Mrs. Blocher and she allowed me to leave."
The officer nodded, and Camilla had to hold back her relief. They must have found nothing incriminating.
"Mrs. Green, did you forget your daughter had rehearsal after school?"
"I must have if I texted that," she replied, "but normally I write her extracurricular activities in my calendar so I get reminders and don't wonder where she is."
The detective snatched her phone again and frantically began searching through it. Camilla knew he was probably looking at the calendar, so she felt comfort in knowing that she had already disposed of the reminder. His eyes darted across the screen, but he soon set the phone down. He whispered to the officer, then to the woman. She wrote something down, but Camilla knew it wasn't anything against her.
"Camilla, you left immediately after speaking with your drama teacher, is that right?"
Camilla nodded, but said nothing. She didn't feel as if anything else needed to be added to that.
The officer turned back to Amy, starting, "Now, please continue with what happened when you and Tiffany witnessed Camilla in the bathroom."
Amy nodded, clearly eager to finish her story. "Tiffany definitely didn't notice what was going on because she brought up that Camilla was supposed to have left a few hours ago. Camilla lied and said that her mom let her come back, but the rehearsal was nearly over, so I knew that made no sense. She hadn't shown up earlier either. I didn't know then that she had killed Amanda, but I knew that she had done something terrible with that knife. The fact that she was wearing gloves confirmed to me that she probably killed someone. I asked her why she was there when the rehearsal was almost over and why she had blood on her and the knife, but she claimed it was a prop that was already there and wasn't real. She said the blood was from her period, but why would she be wearing gloves, and why was the blood all the way up the the gloves, which went past her elbow. I also knew we hadn't had any violent shows at our school because kids would be in the audience, so it definitely wasn't a prop. I didn't want her to get away with a crime, so I told her to hand me the prop to see if it was real. She looked afraid after I said that, so I began slowly approaching her."
"Why didn't you simply leave?" the detective interrupted.
"We were already witnesses to her crime, and she was armed," Amy explained without hesitation. "I figured she only had two choices: to kill us then or try to later if she wasn't already arrested. I wasn't going to go down without a fight, so I was challenging her. Plus, there were two of us, so it would've been harder for her to clean us the evidence if she had three bodies to hide."
The detective furrowed his brows, but motioned for her to continue her story.
"Anyway, Camilla then grabbed me and started strangling me. She used her arm, not her hands, probably to keep from making a huge mark. Regardless, my neck was still red. I took pictures of it on Melissa Belasco's phone - the same one I called the police with - while the police were on their way so I would have proof." She unlocked Melissa's phone and handed it to the officer without him even asking. Melissa must be very trusting to let the police search her phone. He opened her photos, found the picture, and slid the phone to the detective to look at while Amy continued.
"Tiffany was frightened. After all, she's always been timid, but she'll testify the same claims as me once she's calmed down. Camilla told me to stay quiet if I wanted to live, but I wasn't going to listen to that criminal! I told Tiffany, as best as I could while being choked, to get away from Camilla. I hoped she would, but Camilla threatened to kill me if Tiffany moved. Of course, Tiffany wouldn't want me to die. After a few minutes maybe (it felt like hours or torture), I must have blacked out."
The woman frantically wrote something down on the police report. The detective had already finished investigating the photo, and he was watching Amy intently. Every so often, he glanced at Camilla, as well.
"Once I was conscious again, Tiffany hugged me as she cried. I looked to my right, able to see underneath the stalls from my angle on the floor, and saw what looked to be Amanda's body in the largest stall, except she was missing her limbs. All that was left was her torso and head, from what I could tell, and there were many bones scattered on the floor. It was a sickening sight. Tiffany saw it too, and she looked even more horrified. Camilla was in the doorway and told us not to worry about it because it was only her business.
"Of course, I still remembered everything that had happened before; it just took a while for it to hit me before I saw the dead body. Apparently, while I was unconscious, Camilla had taken both mine and Tiffany's phones, so we were unable to easily contact the police. After that, Camilla and I argued for a while about what she could do to us. She knew as well as I did that she would most likely get caught killing both of us, and one of us would still testify against her if she killed one of us. I pointed out that she wouldn't be able to clean up her crime with us there, so she tried to ask Tiffany to help her, but I refused to let Tiffany go with her. She informed us that out refusal would get us killed, but I didn't care. I would've rather died before I helped that moster!" She glared at Camilla, looking disgusted. Camilla plastered on an offended and disbelieving expression.
"Camilla and I argued a bit about whether she should kill us or not. She definitely wasn't expecting to get caught, so she probably wasn't sure what the best plan of action was. I promised her that no matter which of us she killed, someone would testify. She didn't listen and instead gave us two choices: helping her or being murdered. I told her that we would never help her, so she yanked me toward her and started strangling me again!"
The woman wrote more on her police report, and the detective looked intrigued.
"Tiffany begged for her to let me live, but Camilla ordered her to keep me from leaving or being noisy. She said that Tiffany would be keeping my life safe if she did that. Then, she let me go before I passed out. Tiffany held me while I recovered, but I knew I had to get out of there.
"Camilla walked past us and went into the stall with the body with her backpack. She was stuffing the body in Amanda's backpack along with the bones, clothing that was removed from Amanda, and all three phones. I wanted to leave, but Tiffany pleaded for me to stay. She promised that we would be able to convict Camilla if we waited. I wasn't completely convinced, but I didn't get enough time to think it over. By then, Camilla was done packing the second backpack, so she swung it on her other shoulder and tried to leave. I blocked her, determined to keep her there, but she shoved me away. I fell back against the sinks, and Camilla walked past me, quickly. She hurried out the lobby doors, heading toward the parking lot. I'm sure she headed home as soon as possible, but I didn't watch her after that. I comforted Tiffany and had to carry her all the way to the drama room because she was so traumatized. She still is, too. Otherwise, she would be testifying the same as me.
"As I said before, I called the police using a girl named Melissa Belasco's phone. I took the picture after I ended the call. Then, I told Mrs. Blocher what we witnessed. Tiffany was so shaken, she couldn't even be in the same room as I retold the details of what we saw."
The police nodded, saying, "Thank you, Miss Gardener." He then turned to Camilla. "Now, Miss Green, until the investigation is completed, this interrogation is based on your two words against each other. Tell me one last thing before you are dismissed: Are you responsible for the crimes Miss Gardener has described today?"
Camilla immediately shook her head and declared, "No, I'm not. I didn't even know Amanda disappeared until now. I was at home from about 3:40 to the time the police arrived."