Chapter Nine...

"Miss Tondreault, we need you to come with us down to the station," the officer said.
"But why? I didn't DO anything, Jeff was my boyfriend and I loved him more than you'll ever know!" Alice cried.
"I understand that, really I do, but we just need to ask you a couple of questions. You DO want us to catch whoever's responsible for this, don't you?" he asked.
Alice began crying, "yes, of course I do," she said through her tears. "It's just hard, why can't you guys ask me whatever you need to ask here?" she motions her arm inside towards the living room.
"Ma'am, with all due respect, we really need you to come with us & we'd rather it not be through force, ok?" holding his hand out to her.
"Ok, but I hope this isn't going to take all night, I just got home & you guys were here waiting for me, I don't understand?"
Alice is beyond terrified now. She hadn't seen the cruiser parked around the corner from her apartment when Jess dropped her off.
"I'm tired & I'd like to get a good night's sleep if that's ok..." she pleaded.

"Miss Tondreault, we'll have you in & out as fast as we can but we really need to talk about this down at the station ok? So just sit tight until we get there." he shuts the back door to the cruiser & Alice sits, terrified of what's going to happen next.

Did they know? Had she left something there that pointed to her? SHIT!

The drive from her apartment to the police station was a mere five minutes away, but it was the longest five minutes of Alice's life.

"Ma'am, come with me please," the officer offers Alice his hand again & she follows him into the station.
"This is Chief Detective Bianchi, he'll be taking things from here."
"Miss Tondreault, how are you doing this evening? Mind if we head in here to talk?" the detective opens the door to his office.
"Sure," Alice says in almost a whisper.

"Miss Tondreault, Alice, may I call you Alice?"
"Ok..." she says.
"Ok then, Alice, we just want to ask you a few things about the night in question, is that ok?" he asked.
"Yes, that's ok." she said shaking her foot, another nervous habit.

"Now, your friend told us that on the night of January 6Th, you had gotten mugged while walking home from the store, is that correct?" he says.
"My friend? Who, Jess? When did you guys talk to her?" Alice is nervously tapping her foot on the floor now, her heart beating quicker by the second.
"Alice, is that correct?" he asks her.
"Yes, that's true, I was on my way home from the store & a guy jumped out & attacked me." Unable to relax, she sat on her hands to stop them from shaking.
"He came from out of nowhere and jumped me, broke my nose & everything!" she says.
"And where exactly did this attack take place?" he asks.
"What do you mean where? I just told you, on the way home from the store! I don't remember the exact spot, I was too scared to be looking at street signs you know!" her voice getting louder.
"Ma'am, we're just curious if you have anyone that can verify your story?" he said.

"My story? You think this is a story? This is the TRUTH! He broke my NOSE for crying out loud! How much more truth do you people need?!"

"Alice, we're not suggesting you're lying, but we are saying that if someone could verify what you're telling us, if you have a valid alibi, then it would make solving this case that much easier for us, understand?" he asked.

"Ok but alibi, that's like a word those cops use on TV when they don't really believe what the person is saying to them, right? I mean you people think that it's me, you think I killed my own boyfriend, is that it?" her feet were rapidly tapping on the floor, her hands now free from under her behind, shook nervously at her sides. "I'm right aren't I? You think it was ME?!"

"Alice, please calm down, we're merely asking you a couple of routine questions and it would really help us with this investigation if you'd be so kind as to cooperate willingly and ANSWER the questions that are asked of you, ok?" losing his patience with her, he wrote something down on a piece of notebook paper.

"What are you writing there? What are you saying about me?" she tries getting a look at the paper just prior to seeing the officer put his arms over the words.

"Maam, if you can't cooperate, we're going to be here a long time and I know you said you'd like this to be quick so you can get home, yes?" he asks.


"Yes, I just want to go home, can I leave please? I mean you guys can't hold me here can you? I didn't DO anything!" she stands up & starts to pace the room.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to please remain in your seat for the duration of this discussion," he says to her, "would you please sit back down?"

"How am I supposed to sit when you people are treating me like the bad guy? I just want to go home, I need to rest, I didn't even make it into my house before you guys jumped out at me to drag me here..." Alice's face is starting to bead with sweat.

"Ma'am, I won't ask you again, please return to your seat so we can finish this interview." he motions to her chair.

Alice ignores him & walks over towards the window which was right next to the door to the room.
"Ma'am, if you don't sit down right now I'm going to have no choice but to arrest you for failure to cooperate with an officer..." he said as he stood up.

Alice brings her hands up over her eyes & begins crying, "I just want to go home, please, let me go home..." she sobs.

"Alice, I'm trying to help you get there, but you're not doing yourself any favors by ignoring what I'm asking you to do here... can you please just sit down & answer my questions?" again, he motions to her chair.

Alice slowly returns to her seat & quietly sits down.

"Now, tell me again about when you were mugged..." he says.

"Some guy, I don't know who he was, jumped out from nowhere and tried to take my purse, but I fought him off, and that's how I got my broken bloody nose, and I ran home. That what you wanna hear? How an innocent girl, alone at night got mugged? You guys get off on this shit or what?" she starts sobbing harder now. "I have to relive that horrible night every time you need the facts? Look at the damn bump in my nose, you think that got there by picking flowers at the park? DO YOU?!" She stood up again, angry but still crying, "I'm outta here, I can't take this anymore, I didn't do a thing, you've got the wrong person, you should really stop wasting precious time & leave me the hell alone & go after the real murderer..."

She tries to walk past the officer for the door, but is stopped by his swift hand & the clink of a handcuff snug around her wrist. "I'm sorry Ma'am, but you leave me with no choice, you're under arrest for failure to cooperate with an officer during an investigation."

"LET ME GO!" Alice struggles to get out of the one handcuff as he flips her around securing the other cuff & successfully cuffing both hands behind her back.

"Come with me please..." he says & she is taken to another room where she is asked to relinquish her personal belongings, sign a few papers, has her fingerprints taken & walked to the back of the station where there is one large holding cell, currently empty.

"You'll be spending the night here, while you're here, please think about why it is you're here and not home in your bed, ok?" he takes her cuffs off her as he locks the cell door behind her. She is alone and scared.
"HEY! I GET A PHONE CALL! DON'T I GET A PHONE CALL!?" she yells at him as he's walking away down the hall.

Nothing, she hears his footsteps trailing off until suddenly, silence. Not a sound other than her own breathing.

"I GET A PHONEEEEE CALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!" she's crying so hard now her eyes feel as if they're about to burst out of her skull.

Fifteen minutes go by & she picks her head up to hear footsteps heading in her direction, the sound getting louder with every step.
"HELLO? OFFICER?"

Detective Bianchi stood in front of her cell door, keys in hand, "You get ONE call, and then it's right back here into this cell, understand?"

"Ok, FINE!" she marches off behind him in the direction of the phone. The place is quiet, it's a small town police station with small town cops.

"One call, Miss Tondreault, just one." he motions to the phone.

She walks towards the phone & picks up the receiver. She didn't have to think about who to call, she knew it would be Jess, obviously it would be her, who else do you call when you find yourself in jail but your best friend.

No answer...

"Ma'am, times up. Call's over, let's go."

"WAIT! SHE DIDN'T ANSWER! THAT'S NOT A CALL, THAT'S A DIAL, I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE!" she cried.

"Ma'am, call's up, let's go please." he offers her his hand & she slowly hangs up the phone and starts to head in his direction but the thought of spending the night in that dark cold cell freaked her out so much, she flipped & bolted in the opposite direction & headed straight out the door past one officer who was busy filing some papers, probably the ones she'd just signed.

"HEY, GET BACK HERE! MISS TONDREAULT!" the officer yelled at her. "OFFICER STEVENS, GET HER!" he yelled.

Alice ran as fast as she's ever run in her whole life. She ran down the street across the main drag, into the cemetery next to the church & down behind to the back of the park.
She reached into her pocket where her cell was hiding, she'd conveniently forgotten to surrender that little item.
Frantic, she dials Jess's cell, voicemail DAMN IT!
In a panicked whisper, Alice leaves the following message, "Jess, it's me Al, OMG I'm in so much trouble, please come & get me, I'm freaking out, I just bolted from the damn cops, they arrested me Jess, they had handcuffs on me and everything, where the hell ARE you? OMG Jess, I'm behind the cemetery in the park tucked in behind that old tool shed, you know the one they use in the summer to store the lawn care crap, OMG JESS HURRY! I'M SO FUCKING SCARED!"

She hung up, holy shit what was she supposed to do now? They'd be looking for her, she knew that for sure. Crap, why didn't she just sit & answer his stupid questions in the first place? Why did she have to lose her cool & run like that? Now she knew she looked guilty for SURE!

Keeping herself as out of sight as she could, she sat quietly on the cold ground, shivering because she'd not worn her winter coat that night, terrified that they'd find her. Terrified that Jess wouldn't, that she'd be forced to be there all night & then what? Once morning came, she couldn't hide forever.

"Alice!" she heard her friend whisper to her from the big oak tree near the pond. "Al, where are you?"

"OMG JESS!" Alice whispers back in as loud a whisper as she could muster.
She ran & threw herself around her friend & said "OMG YOU'RE HERE, LET'S GO! WHERE'S THE CAR?! LET'S GO!"
"Alice, calm down, what happened?" Jess asked.
"HOLY SHIT JESS, THERE'S NO TIME FOR THAT, LET'S GO, WHERE THE HELL IS THE CAR?" Alice grabbed Jess's hand with a firm grip & pulled at her desperately hoping to leave as soon as possible.

"Ok, ok, it's over across the other side of the pond, I didn't want to drive too close to town cuz maybe they're looking for you, Alice, what in the hell HAPPENED?"
"No time now! Let's just GO! Please?!"

They ran as quietly as they could & found Jess's car right where she said she'd let it.
They both hopped in & Jess started the engine, "Where are we going Alice?" she asked.
"I don't care! JUST DRIVE! GET US OUT OF HERE!" she pleaded.

"Alice, you're scaring me..."
"DRIVE!!!!!!!!!" Alice screamed at her friend who jumped & hit the gas with such force that the car peeled out on the cold pavement.

"Alice, OMG where are we going? What do you want me to do? What happened?!"
"Jess, promise me one thing, ok? Just one..."
"Anything Al, what is it?" Jess asked.

"Promise me that no matter what happens, we'll always be friends, k? Promise?!"
"Alice, that's just silly, you know we're best friends..." she started to say.
"I MEAN IT JESS, PROMISE ME! NO MATTER WHAT!" Alice said.

"Ok, ok Al, I promise... no matter what. Ok?" Jess reassured her friend.

"Ok... now just drive, I don't care where, but just anywhere but here."

"I know just the place..." Jess said, as she turned onto a familiar back road that headed north.