💋ABIGAIL
INOCENCIO💓
(The Murderer....)
By, Dammrare
Chapter 07🦋08
•••••
{ CASE SOLVED }
Abigail ran as fast as her legs could carry her to ward 302. By the time she arrived, she was breathing heavily.
Dr. Marshall was just stepping out of the ward, having an unreadable expression on his face.
As soon as his gaze fell upon Abby, a deep frown took over his expression. "What are you doing here?"
Abigail ignored his question and tried to look past him to see what was going on in the room but he closed the door on purpose so she wouldn't see anything.
"How is she?" She asked, breathlessly.
"What did you give to her?" Marshall asked instead of giving her answers to her question.
"I... I don't understand." She stammered.
"Of course, you don't. Or should I say, you won't want to understand. Didn't you know she is allergic to cupcakes?"
Abigail swallowed nothing, her legs and hands trembling in fear. "I..." She totally forgot. F**k, how could she forget something as important as this? "I... I forgot."
"Can you hear yourself at all?" He scoffed, shaking his head. "You forgot she is allergic to cupcakes and yet you call yourself a doctor. How can you toy with someone's life like this?"
Tears streamed down Abigail's face but she quickly wipe them off. "I know I deserve the scolding. I did Tara wrong. In fact, I'm so stupid and I've made a terrible mistake that can't be forgiven. But I need to know how she is doing. Please, Dr. Marshall."
He sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Thankfully, it is nothing serious. But she is unconscious right now and_"
"Wait a minute," Abigail cut him off. "When she ate the cupcake. She was fine. She didn't complain about anything so why now? Why did it take effect on her this morning?"
"She must have kept it away from you. She has rashes on both arms and she has been vomiting. It got worsened this morning." He explained.
"Oh, God." Abby almost fell but took a firm hold of herself. She can't break down here. Tara needs her. And for her to give Tara the support that she needs, she has to be strong. "I feel... I feel so guilty."
"You should. After all, it is your fault."
Marshall stepped away from the door. "I already told the director what happened. He is expecting you in his office."
"You tell on me?" She questioned, looking at him like he had betrayed her. Well, he did betray her but he owes her no explanation. They were not even friends, to begin with.
"Do you think I will let this slide just like that?" He chuckled. "Don't be stupid, Dr. Abby. You of all people should know how much I've waited for a day like this to come. I told you, your days in this hospital are numbered. Watch and see how I will use your foolishness to my advantage." He smirked and started walking away when he bumped into Sandra. "Oh, Sandra." He smiled.
"How did it go?" Sandra asked, smiling.
"Fantastic." He replied.
Sandra glanced over at Abby and winked at her before going out of sight alongside Marshall.
Indeed, the saying was true - Birds of the same feathers flock together.
Abby cleared her head, pushing whatever thought she have about them to the back of her head, and went inside the ward.
•••••
"What are you people doing here again?" A woman in her early forties asked, standing in front of the door.
"Good morning, ma'am." Robert and Emma greeted them at the same time.
"I don't need your greetings. If you are here to see my daughter again, then you should leave now."
"We are only here to ask her a few questions about what happened the night her boyfriend, Steven died."
"Why? You think she killed him, isn't that right?" The woman narrowed her eyes at them.
"We didn't think that. However, she is a suspect. And that's why we want to interrogate her so she can clear up her name."
"My daughter has been grieving after losing her boyfriend. She is not okay. She refuses to go to school or talk to anyone. She is broken. The last thing I want is for you two to add to her problems."
"I understand. You are a mother who cares about her child. Any mother in your shoes will do exactly what you are doing. But we really need your daughter to solve this case. Please."
The woman hesitated before taking a step into the house and opened the door wide for the uninvited guests.
"Come in,"
Robert and Emma smiled. "Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me. You are working for the law and one way or another you would have found a way inside whether I like it or not." She stated. "Wait here while I go call her down. I just hope she listens."
"Okay."
The woman ascended the stairs, leaving the detectives downstairs in her not-so-spacious living room.
"Do you have any suspect in mind?" Robert asked as they both settled down on a couch and waited patiently.
Emma shrugged. "Everyone is a suspect."
"But one person will be found guilty. You don't suspect Cam, Trisha, and Luke."
"Yeah. They don't seem to remember anything that happened that night. Well, I'm not surprised being the fact that they were completely wasted. One of them might have driven the car which led them to crash into a tree. Or maybe someone else drove the car."
"Cam, Trisha, Luke, Julian, and Steven." Robert mumbled, "Mr. Reid said they were how many again in the car?"
Emma opened her mouth to talk when a voice from behind beat her to it.
"Six."
The detectives stood up immediately and turned their gazes toward the direction of where they heard the voice. They found a young girl with red puffy eyes and swollen face standing at the bottom of the stairs with her mother behind her.
"Good morning, Ms. Julian." Emma greeted cheerfully.
"Good morning," She whispered in reply and stepped closer to them. "My mother said you are here to see me."
"Yes, we are. I am detective Emma," Emma flashed her ID.
"I am detective Robert," Robert added and did the same thing as his partner did.
Julian nodded her head and took a seat on the couch opposite the detectives.
"Do I need to introduce myself again?" She asked.
"No, no, not at all. There will be no need for that."
"Please seat." Julian's mother said and was going to sit beside her daughter,
"Oh, ma'am. I'm sorry but we will need to have this conversation with your daughter in private. Hope you don't mind?" Robert said.
"Uh..." The woman looked at her daughter like she was trying to get her opinion on this.
"I'm fine, mother." Julian reassured, forcing a smile onto her face.
"Okay then. I will be in my room if you need me, okay?"
Julian nodded her head and watched her mother ascend the stairs.
The detectives sat back down on the couch and took out their jotters and pens to write down whatever she says.
"Have the criminal been caught?" Julian blurted out before they could even start with the interrogation.
"We won't be here if the criminal has been caught." Emma reasoned.
"Oh, yeah. That's right. I'm stupid, aren't I?" She sniffled, gazing at her lap while fiddling with her fingers. "I shouldn't have forced him to come with us to the party. He never wanted to but... but because of me... he..." She started crying all over again, hanging her head low. "I feel like it is my fault he died. I caused it. I should be the one getting arrested."
"Hey, it's okay. You need to be strong, Ms. Julian." Emma consoled.
"I need to be strong?" She repeated and then scoffed. "How can I be strong, detectives? I tried to Google search the word but the instructions they asked me to follow are all pointless. I love Steven so much. He wasn't just my boyfriend but my best friend as well. How would you feel if you lose someone so special? Someone that means a whole lot to you, huh?"
Emma stared at the floor. She don't know what she was going to do if she lose Abigail. Where would she start? How would she pick up her life without her best friend and a sister from another mother by her side?
She can't say she understands the pain Julian was going through because the time she had lost her both parents, she was only a year old. She doesn't even know what they look like. You can't miss something that you don't remember, ever heard of that saying before?
However, Emma could still feel the pain radiating from the young girl who had lost her boyfriend. She must really be going through a lot.
If anyone were having doubts about what she felt for Steven, then they should kill that doubt right now because the girl she was seeing right here and now really loves this boy. But too bad, he was dead and gone.
"I'm sorry..." Emma muttered, raising her head to look at the girl.
Julian vigorously shook her head, fresh tears streaming down her face. "Don't apologize, detective Emma. Just help me catch this f**king murderer. Put them behind bars and justify the death of my boyfriend. He didn't deserve it. Why will anyone kill such a sweet soul? Why are people evil?"
Robert took out his handkerchief and handed it over to the girl.
She slowly collected it from him and uttered a thank you to him before wiping her puffy eyes with the neat and obviously expensive handkerchief.
"That is what we want to do, Ms. Julian. We want to catch this f**king murderer and make him or her pay for their crimes. But we can't do that without your help." Emma told her.
Julian furrowed her brows, looking a little bit confused. "My help? How do you mean?"
"We are going to ask you a few questions and all you have to do is provide us with honest answers. You can do that, right?"
"Ye... Yes. Sure. What do you want to know?"
"Yesterday we went to your college to ask your friends questions, they claim not to have remembered anything_"
Julian nodded her head. "Yes. They were highly intoxicated and would have slept on the street if it weren't for me." It was a joke but neither of them laughed.
"You seem to remember most of the things that went on that night. Were you not also drunk?"
"Uhm... Not really. I had a few cups but I could still detect my left from right." She explained.
"Who was driving?" Robert asked the next question.
She hesitated for a few seconds before answering, "Me."
"That is against the law, you know that, right?" Robert scolded.
She sucked in a deep breath and nodded her head. "I know. But what else could we have done? It was late and there was no cab around. The others were completely wasted. I was the only one with my senses still intact." She defended.
"We met with three of your friends but we didn't find one..." Emma said.
"That's because we were only five friends in that car. The last one wasn't a friend. But just a coursemate we met on the way. We offered her a ride and she requested that she drives the car since I was drunk and we might all get into shit if being caught by the cop." She sighed. "She crashed into a tree and I'm sure it was by a mistake."
Robert and Emma wrote down something on their jotters.
"Who is this girl?" Emma asked.
"Micah. That's her name if I'm not mistaken, of course. I don't know much about her. I even got to find out about her name that night.
"Micah..." Emma tilted her head to the side. "Why does that name sound familiar?"
"Because we met her yesterday."
"Oh, yes." Her eyes widened in affirmation. "Why didn't she tell us she was with them when the incident took place?"
"Probably because there was something she was hiding. Don't forget you said there was something weird about her. She was hesitating and also careful with her words. Could it be..."
"I think we've found our murderer, Rob."
•••••
Abigail sat down on a chair beside the hospital bed. She hasn't left the ward since she walked in this morning.
She felt so guilty about the current condition of the little girl. How could she have forgotten that Tara was allergic to cupcakes? And why did the little girl pretend to be okay? No, the right question here was, why did she eat the cupcake when she knows it wasn't good for her health? She should have simply rejected it and reminded her (Abby) that she was allergic to it.
Abigail placed her elbows on the bed and exhaled a deep breath, mentally scolding herself for her stupidity. She can't believe she let her guard down and gave Marshall and Sandra an opportunity to mock and ridicule her.
She was lost in her thoughts when she felt someone's warm hand on her arm. Abby quickly raised get head to see Tara staring at me while smiling.
"Abby," The girl called out, looking super excited. "You are here."
Abigail sniffled and stood up to her feet, she placed her palm over Tara's forehead to check her temperature. "How do you feel now? Do you feel any kind of pain or uneasiness?"
"No. I'm_"
"Be honest with me, Tara." Abby said in a stern voice, giving her the 'don't you dare lie to me' look.
Tara blinked severally, least expecting her favorite doctor's angry outburst. Abby has never spoken to her in such a harsh tone.
"I'm honest with you, Dr. Abby. I feel perfectly fine... now."
Abigail released a breath she didn't realize she has been holding in. She ran her fingers through her hair, blinking out the tears that has welled up in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me anything? Why did you eat the cupcake? You should have reminded me. You... Do you know how worried I was? I felt so much guilt and anger with myself. If anything happens to you, Tara, I will not be able to forgive myself."
"I'm sorry."
"No," Abigail shook her head, biting her bottom lip. "I should be the one saying sorry. I am the doctor in charge of your health. I shouldn't blame you for what happened. It is all my fault. I should never have forgotten something as important as this."
"I'm sorry..." Tara apologized again, looking very unhappy.
"Come here," Abby wrapped her arms around the girl and pulled her into her arms. "Nothing like this will ever happen again. I promise to be more careful. You hear?"
Tara nodded her head with a smile on her face as she encircled her tiny arms around her favorite doctor. "I trust you, Dr. Abby."
•••••
Luckily, they had arrived just in time. Students were walking out of the building.
They sighted Micah and her friends amongst other students, chatting about something and laughing.
Emma puts on her dark sunglasses, pulling out a handcuff from the back pocket of her black trousers.
Rob shoved his hands inside his pocket, looking as hot and sexy as hell!
They both approached Micah and her friends, maintaining a calm aura.
"Good afternoon, Micah."
Micah seemed surprised to see them. She appeared to be nervous about something. And that didn't go unnoticed by the detectives standing in front of her.
"Go...Good afternoon, detectives. How can I help you again?" She stuttered.
"We are over there, Micah." One of the boys said and her friends walked away, leaving Micah alone with Emma and Robert.
"We are here to ask a few questions, hope you don't mind."
"Uhm," She swallowed nothing. "If it is about Julian, she wasn't in class today. And I don't_"
"We are here to ask you about that night."
She frowned. "What night?"
"The night Steven died. Why didn't you mention anything about being present?"
"That's because you never asked me anything."
"True. Well, now we are asking you." Robert said.
Micah hesitated. "I'm sorry, okay? I should have reported her to the cops but I was so scared. I... She would kill me if she knew that I saw her that night when she stabbed Steven." The girl cried.
Emma and Robert both looked confused. "What are you talking about?" They asked.
Micah opened her bag and brought out a transparent nylon bag with a knife inside. "That was the weapon she used to kill Steven. I saw her hiding it so I went to take it when no one was looking. I have been carrying this evidence with me until I have the courage to report her."
Micah handed it over to them using her left hand.
Robert collected the weapon and examined it. It has a blood stain on it. "There is a high chance of this being the murder weapon. It matches the description."
"Are you left-handed?" Emma asked the girl.
"Yes." She nodded her head.
"The killer is right-handed," Robert whispered.
"Micah, hurry up or we are going to leave you behind." One of her friends called out from a black Camry.
"I'm coming!" She replied. "I know what I did was a crime by keeping the evidence and I'm sorry."
"Save the apologies first. You keep using the term 'her.' Who exactly are you talking about?" Emma already knew who it was but she wants to hear it from Micah.
"Julian. Steven's girlfriend."
"Oh, shit