The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 35

Arriving at the SCPD once again, I was met with a team of detectives searching the lab.

'What's... happened?' I asked, confused. It was like I had walked into a crime scene.

'Your colleague, Simon Lloyd,' Sergeant Lance started. 'Has... disappeared.'

'What!' I exclaimed. 'How?'

I knew Simon hadn't been in the day before, but Janette and I had assumed he was sick. Everyone had. But how did an inquiry as big as this happen in the space of a day?

'He hasn't been seen since last Friday,' Sergeant Lance informed me. 'And he was last seen with... you. Detective Hilton would like to ask you some questions.'

It didn't make sense. At all.

'Listen, Aria,' Lance took me to one side, whispering to me so the other officers, sergeants and detectives couldn't hear our conversation in the far corner of the lab. 'You seem like a nice girl, and I don't suspect you one bit. But, all the evidence we've found so far isn't getting us anywhere but to you, and it'll take a while for a forensic scientist from Central City to get here, since you and Lloyd are the only ones here.'

'But, what if I stay as the only suspect?' I fretted, worried about my fate. It felt like someone was trying to set me up.

'Then you know what happens next,' Lance muttered with a sad expression on his face.

As Lance left the scene, I paced round my corner, worried sick. Who would want to frame me for being responsible for Simon's disappearance, or even... death? I hated that five letter word, it's connotation bringing me dread whenever I tried to think of what had happened to Simon. No, he couldn't be dead. He just couldn't.

---

'You were seen walking out the front door of the SCPD with Mr Simon Lloyd at 8:32 pm on the evening of last Friday night,' Detective Hilton stated, passing me pictures CCTV footage of Simon and I locking up the lab.

'Yes, I did leave the lab with Simon,' I verified. 'But then I went home and had nothing to do with Simon for the rest of the weekend.'

'Where were you on Sunday at 9:46pm?' Hilton asked.

'Watching a film at the home,' I stated. 'Malcolm Merlyn can even tell you I was there!'

'But we have footage of you with Simon that night,' Hilton insisted, showing me more snapshots of me with Simon, none of which I could remember. I was definitely being set up.

I bet Simon had gone after the Arkwright brothers, and that was why he was missing. And they had gone out of their way to frame me. But that was the bit which didn't make sense; they didn't even know me, let alone think to frame me like this.

I was very confused. And in deep trouble.

---

Finally being let go from close observation, I rushed back home in a sense of confusion and upset. How could they think that I, who was working for the SCPD and had never become a murder even though I had been in so much danger in the past years, would kill a work colleague in cold blood? Surely they could tell I hadn't done it, even if there were pictures and evidence all against me.

I needed Malcolm' s help, and fast.

'Malcolm!' I shouted, slamming the door shut.

'Aria?' Malcolm emerged, seeing the look on my face. 'What' s the matter? You look so... upset.'

'I've been framed,' I said, trying not to cry in fear. What would happen if they found me guilty for nothing I had done, falsely accusing me and sentencing me to the corresponding penality?

'Why?' Malcolm asked, trying to understand me. 'What do they think you've done?'

'They think I killed Simon Lloyd,' I said, tears starting to roll down my face. 'Well, at least they think I was responsible for his disappearance. They even have pictures to prove it.'

'I can be your alibi if you want,' Malcolm suggested at once. 'I saw you watching a film when I came in the house on Sunday night. Where do they think you were when Lloyd went missing?'

'Outside his house,' I described the photos Hilton had claimed was of me and Lloyd. 'And they think that I drove off with him, Simon sat in the back of a car.'

'But, I know you didn't do it,' Malcolm said. 'And Tommy knows you weren't there either. So they can't use pictures, which can be easily manipulated, against you.'

'Are you sure?' I asked nervously.

'Yes,' Malcolm reassured. 'I'll make sure your charges are dropped and that you don't get charged for something you didn't do.'

Thanking Malcolm, relieved, Tommy joined me.

'What's happened?' Tommy asked, concerned.

'The SCPD think Aria's committed a crime,' Malcolm explained. 'Whilst she was here on Sunday night.

'But, that's impossible!' Tommy exclaimed. 'You were here. You can't be in two places at once!'

Tommy suddenly paused, as though a thought had suddenly come to him. 'Unless, you have an evil twin.'

'Haha, very funny,' I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. 'But, someone could have pretended to be me, like a lookalike or something!'

'Yeah, they could have,' Malcolm agreed. 'And they're not going to get away with it!'

Whoever had done this was going to pay. And I was going to get revenge.