The police officers kept the investigation going and interrogated Oriel, while rummaging the classroom thoroughly in the search of something.
"Officer, I request you to stop this. This is a kindergarten!" interrupted the principal.
"Please don't meddle in our work. We have received solid information that she has the possession of some highly addictive drugs, even at his moment."
Mouths of the people watching the scene started to move, their whispers were undecipherable. Teachers, parents of the children, and people from management also witnessed the Officers ruffling every paper and book that lay on her desk.
"There's nothing that you will find there."
Then suddenly, one of the officer got his hands on the empty box that she had put in one of the drawers of the chest. "I found something."
The officer shook the box close to his ear but no sound departed it. "It seems empty though!"
Oriel crossed her arms in displeasure, "So did you find any highly addictive drug? I hope that you will let me see how it looks like, because I'm someone who has never even seen any."
The officers exchanged looks with each other in confusion. "I'm sure that our source can't be wrong."
Right then, the senior most officer caught the sight of the paper bag from Mrs. Montella resting in one corner of the room, "Bring that bag to me."
The mysterious bag was brought to him and he carefully examined it from outside before stretching its mouth to look inside. He found lying inside the bag, another cuboid box, wrapped in a shabby brown colored paper; it was almost identical to the empty box that she received from that man. "That bag doesn't belong to me, Mrs. Montella has kept it with me. She must be on her way to take it back."
The principal interfered and informed, "but Mrs. Montella has quit her job, and she has boarded her flight to Dubai already."
Oriel stood their drowning in bewilderment, "She has quit?"
The officer looked at her with more suspicion lurking in his eyes. He stripped the tape of the box and opened it. Everyone covered their wide opened mouths with their hands when a bunch of pouches filled with white powder were taken out by the officer.
"There we go!" The officer after carefully checking the packets brought out his handcuffs and put it on Oriel. "Miss Oriel Baker is caught with one kilogram cocaine. Having the custody of a highly addictive drug inside a kindergarten. You have the right to remain silence and and having an attorney in your defense."
Her mind had lost all its reasons. She perplexed at the sudden turn of events that took place and she had no answer to them.
"This doesn't belong to me. I'm innocent!" she shouted, but no ear was there to listen to her, there were only mouths, spreading the words to even the most unrelated.
She was brought inside a police station, and was interrogated by the chief of the narcotics department. "I swear to god that I have no idea why Mrs. Montell did this to me. I was just doing her a favor of taking care of her stuff for sometime," her constant begging echoed the investigation room.
"We have evidence to prove what you have just said a lie."
The chief turned his laptop towards her and played a video. It was a footage from the CCTV camera mounted on the electric pole where Oriel was asked to come by Ursula. The car was parked in the perfect angle for the camera to capture its number and also a clear view of Oriel receiving the parcel from the driver, as if it was aimed to be caught by the cameras.
"Will you still repeat the same old nonsense, that it wasn't you."
She was tired of explaining it to him. She closed her eyes and fell her forehead on the table with a thud noise. She hit her head several times on the table.
"I didn't do anything."
The chief also looked exasperated. He turned the laptop back towards him and ran his fingers upon the keyboard to search something. "Here, take a look." She lifted her head on his order. "The man you talked to in the street behind the school, was driving the car of the biggest trafficker of illegal drugs, Gongbay. We know that you work for them. If you tell us about the whereabouts of your boss, we will make sure to give you a reasonable bargain with your punishment."
"I don't know what you're talking about. I have never heard this name. I don't have any boss. It's all a misunderstanding."
Oriel was barely keeping herself from disclosing the involvement of Ursula. She knew that it was all her doing and that she could never win against her. Her fate now seemed to have gotten dark. Her situation made her pity herself the most. She wondered where everything went wrong in her life and whether there was even a way out.
"Please let me go. I didn't do anything."
Her eyes were now slowly welling up and overflow of moisture was seen departing her long eyelashes. The chief was emptying glasses of water due to the hoarseness of his voice after yelling on her. He was losing his patience with her firm statements. "Stop testing my patience, you bich!" he raised his hand high in the air and hit the table hard. She was taken aback and started to tremble. She again lowered her head on the table.
Then suddenly, another officer casually came inside the room and whispered something in the ears of the raging Chief. "Is he here himself?"
Both the chief and the junior officer looked at the weeping Oriel. The door behind them opened and Collin walked inside with a charming stance. The officers left the room as he glared at them with his penetrating eyes. "Leave us alone and get something fine to eat for her, not the cheap stuff that you guys usually have."
He marched towards Oriel. She was still crying, putting her head on the table. She had no idea of his presence. "That's enough. You're not going jail."
She slowly raised her head to find Collin standing before her.