"Is this your card?" The man in front of them said, pushing a card in front of them.
The card is in a plastic bag and has spots of blood on it with Soren's name on it.
"Yes. That is mine." He said, nonchalantly while Issac sat beside him, staring at the doughnuts on the officer's table.
Issac and Soren were at the police station as every one of them frantically ran to and fro, holding stacks of paper and other things.
"You are all busy here," Issac remarked, looking at the men and women still in a panic.
"Well, there has been a continuous killing for the past couple of years and we do not know who the culprit is until now." The man sighed, looking at the card.
"Do you think they were all done by the same people?" He asked, looking lazily at the police.
"We suspect because their faces are always blown off." He remarked, pulling out a file from the drawer and handing it to them. "This is a case that keeps leading to a dead end. The only lead we have, so far, is this card of yours. The person who is doing all these is a skilled assassin."
As soon as he said this, Soren looked at Issac from the corner of his eyes but the man still looked like he is ready to fall asleep any second.
If I told them that it was him, would they believe me? Then again … does it matter?
"How suspicious am I?" Soren asked, looking at the card in a plastic bag. "Bad enough that I would be arrested immediately?"
"No. All we have to go off on is that your card is with almost every one of the victims." The man shook his head. "We only brought you in for questioning. But I would suggest that you do not travel anywhere until we can rule you out as a suspect."
Issac turned to Soren, smiling slyly. "That means he will not be allowed to go anywhere for a while, yes?"
"Yes." The officer looked at Soren, frowning. "I would like to ask you to comply for now. I apologise for the inconvenience."
"I understand completely," Soren said, smiling back at Issac. "Will you be interrogating me now?"
"Yes, please follow me. Please wait here, sir." The man said, walking out of his desk as Soren followed after him, leaving Issac to sit there alone.
Issac sighed, standing up from the chair as he began to look around the office, staring at the files all along the shelves.
Some of the other police men and women walked past him, staring cautiously at the man with an eye patch, reading the names of the files along the walls.
"Three." He murmured under his breath, staring through the glass at the file marked as 'Unsolved Cases'.
Issac opened the small glass door and took the file out, skimming through the pages, "Two."
A commotion filled the office as two men in uniform burst out of the door that the man took Soren in and began walking to Issac as cautiously as they could.
"One."
He looked up at them without moving from his spot of even his head, eyes only following the men as they approached while he placed the file back into the cabin.
"Excuse me, sir." One of the men said, stepping in front of him. "Would you please follow us?"
"Of course," Issac said, putting his hands in his pocket as he followed one man in front of him while the other stood behind him cautiously.
He could not help but scoff at how hard they are trying to be inconspicuous, though it is only making them look even more suspicious.
If Issac thought he got stares before, he got a hell of a lot more of them now. As the entire place seemed to quieten and hundreds of eyes seemed to stare him down, until they entered the door.
______________
"You called for me?" Issac asked, trying to resist taking the packet of cigarette from his pocket and smoking them in front of the man and woman in the room.
It was a fairly empty room with a mirror on the other side of the wall and a single table in the middle of the concrete room. Two chairs on either side of the table. One with a woman and a man in uniform, looking over files on the table with pictures of the victims sprawled around the table.
There were also cups of steaming hot coffee on the table in front of Soren … for some reason.
"Yes, Mr Zaid?" The woman asked as his eyes fell on Soren sitting smugly on the chair opposite to them.
"That is me." He said, turning to see the two men that escorted him to the room leaving the room as he made his way to them. "Is something wrong?"
"Dr Usoro here told us that you have connections to some of the victims?" The man said, pushing forward the profiles of some of the people he slept with.
Issac leaned forward and stared at the profiles, reading the names then the pictures of the crime scenes. "I do know some of them."
"May we ask what your relationship is with these people?" The woman asked, resting her palms on the table as she glared at him suspiciously.
"They were my sex partners." He said just as Soren spat out his drink, coughing while the three stared at him blankly.
"Are you ok, Dr Usoro?" The man asked, trying hard not to laugh as Issac handed Soren a white handkerchief, embroidered with gold thread.
"I am fine." He coughed, taking the handkerchief. "I did not think Issac would be this honest."
"I told you about all the people I slept with," Issac remarked, looking at his friend from the corner of his eye. "I thought you would be used to that by now."
"Excuse me for not being used to it yet," Soren said, finally able to catch his breath. "Your honesty tends to throw people off. By people, I mean me."
The woman cleared her throat, getting both the men's attention back to her, "Can you identify the people that you know?"
"Sure." Issac took the profiles of the victims and began to sort them into two piles. When he was done, he slid the pile on the left to them. "These are the people that I know."
The pile he slid to them is much thinner as compared to the other pile as Soren observed.
"These are the people that Dr Usoro's card is also found with." The man said as they looked over the profiles and turned to Soren. "Why does there seem to be a connection between them and you two?"
"I was just curious about the people that my dear friend here is sleeping with." Soren shrugged. "He is a bit of a loner, ever since high school. So, if I got the pleasure of meeting them, I would give them my card … to talk."
"Only to talk?" The woman asked, still eying Issac suspiciously.
"Yes," Soren said, chuckling. "I understand why you would be on the edge, I am the only lead and it is a dead end."
Ding!
"Excuse me." Issac reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, staring at the message before shoving it back into his pocket. "Sorry about that. Are we done here?"
The man and woman looked at each other before the man said, "Excuse me" and pulled the woman out of the room.
"Aren't you mad?" Soren said, putting his feet up on the table. "I blew your clean, almost perfect, cover and put you in the line of suspicion."
"If you didn't I would have considered you an idiot," Issac said, taking out a cigarette and popping it in his mouth. Taking out a zippo, he lit it, taking a deep breath of the smoke. "Besides, you didn't do that much of a damage."
"Overly prepared, I see," Soren said, sighing while he rested his back against the chair. "I think you should try to give up smoking. Isn't it bad for your lungs?"
"My lungs are artificial so I don't need to worry about them getting infected like yours would." Issac shrugged, leaning against the wall as the room continued to fill with smoke.
"What??" Soren fell back from the chair, the back of his head crashing against the ground as his legs hung in the air awkwardly. "Why do you say the strangest things at the most random times always?"
"I have always been like this," Issac said, blowing out a cloud of smoke as Soren began to pull himself off the ground.
"A little weird?" Soren asked, dusting himself off.
"Perhaps," Issac said, shrugging as he stared at the door with a frown. "You wondered how I absorb negativity in the air, right?"
"I suppose?" Soren said, rubbing the back of his head. "Why? Are you going to show me how you do it?"
"I will have to, if I am going to get us out of this mess," Issac said, taking one last puff, holding that in his mouth, before he put the bud out and the door opened.