The Outcast 7

The witness is now being seated. A sense of dark authority and dangerous notions seems to be emitting from this guy’s aura. Inspector Pillay is going to start with the interrogations now. Inspt. Pillay: Let’s forget the pleasantries. Mr Carmen, you have been brought here under the suspicion of masterminding numerous crimes over the past decade. We have concrete evidence to prove your involvement in the Towers Scandal, along with many other scandals. So, unless you want life imprisonment, you better start talking. You have committed severe offences. Cases like yours aren’t even given a chance to talk, so you better start paying for all the offences. Suspect (seems stoic): Okay, what do you want to know? Inspt. Pillay (places his hands on the desk): Mr Carmen, you are facing the sever allegations of being SA’s most wanted Criminal. We have data files reporting that you keep up your façade by working as a top-notch lawyer at a renowned firm. Your colleagues call you sweet, kind and wonderful you to lead such a double life? Your actions completely contradict your daily life behaviour. There was insane, crazy - this newfound information had me clawing the armrest. So Carmen was also a lawyer. He had been manipulative enough to fool all those around him. Sweet, wonderful to work with, had read documentaries like this. Most psychopaths worked that way, they were overly manipulative, charming and had a convenient façade to hide their darkness. These people had such crazy IQ’s, it was insane. I couldn’t just look away from the computer now. It reminded Jolene about the novel, ’Afspraak met Moord, Cecilia Steyn was the mastermind behind the Satanic Cult named ’Electus per Deus or Chosen by God.’ Psychopathic murders in and around Krugersdorp. The Suspect (Leaning back on his chair): Because I wanted too. It was as simple as that for him. Psychotic! Jolene had started stressfully taking notes now. The police were dealing with an incredibly unstable man, here. Every statement counted. Inspt Pillay: Mr Carmen, I don’t think you are understanding the severity of your situation. Your lack of seriousness will only add more intensity to the level of punishment you are going to receive. So are you accepting that you have been masterminding various crimes for the past decade and just recently started stalking an innocent woman? Suspect: Yes. Inspt Pillay: O-Okay. Now tell me what was your motive in committing all those crimes? Suspect: What crimes? Seriously? Inspt Pillay: Mr Carmen, please try to understand.. Suspect: I did it for you. What? Quickly glancing in Jolene’s direction, I gulped as she gave me a sheer baffled look. Inspt Pillay: For Me? The inspector asked exactly what I was thinking. Suspect: I did it for you, Sarah. I know you can hear me. This is all for you. I am here for you. Immediately, I found colours leaving my soul. What on earth? He was talking to me, sending me a message. I was never felt so creeped out and scared before. My dreads had been proven right. Carmen was here for me. He had always been two steps ahead of the police and knew that I would be here, listening, more like reading, his confession statements. It made sense now. This notorious criminal only got imprisoned to become direct, with me. He was definitely going to escape and take me along. I had never felt so trapped. Curling up on my chair, I eyed Jolene standing and anxiously walking towards the computer screen. The sound of my whimpers was now subtly mixing with the air. Inspt Pillay: Mr Carmen, if you are not going to co-operate, then I think you should be taken back to your cell now. I am done here. ‘Dect Jolene’ The door to Jolene’s office now slammed opened as Charlotte barged inside. ‘There is an emergency.’ ‘What?’ Jolene urged, making my nerves tangle with anxiety. ‘There is a woman crying and screaming outside our office, claiming that the police has taken the wrong guy into custody.’ ‘Who is she?’ Jolene demanded, taking a step closer towards the door. My breath hitched. ‘She is claiming to be Carmen’s wife.’ ‘My husband is an innocent man. We both are just your ordinary couple who met in the most clichés ways. My husband is actually such a teddy bear behind a cold façade, so I am telling you that he can’t even harm a fly. You have bought in the wrong guy’ The ‘supposed’ Mrs Carmen now wailed, holding a handkerchief up to her nose. She had been crying, demanding and shrieking ever since Charlotte let her inside the office. Clutching on to my arm, she insisted that I looked like someone soft enough to understand her dilemma, help her tell the police that her husband was innocent. I felt so crushed. Such an amount of faith put in such a notorious criminal. Carmen had been even more monstrous and disastrous that I had imagined. Pity. Now sitting in Jolene’s office, I watched with teary eyes as Mrs Carmen desperately tried to prove her husband’s innocence while sitting across the desk from Jolene and I. My heart felt like sinking with despair, thinking how much of a deceiving man Carmen had been. It had to be deception because we were sure that the men department had caught the correct man, his level of darkness and insanity could not be faked. Part of me felt like aching with the need to throw a solid punch at Carmen’s face. That psychopath, he had a family, a partner, yet still was stalking me. Disgusting, Such men were at the top of my ‘most despised’ list. Cherisher of a deep sense of loyalty and empathy, I had always harboured a deep hatred of those men who lacked a sense of loyalty, trust and had no respect for their families. While many people blamed the house - wrecker, the second woman, I was the one who blamed both the man and woman. It’s you who choose to deceive your family. No one can make you do that. My heart actually panged for the woman who were directly of indirectly rejected and betrayed by men. I had been there. I knew that intense pain because I had felt it when Bradley chose Aisha over me. There was a sense of not being good enough, being unwanted. This poor woman, I didn’t want her to go through all those emotions. She seemed so loyal and protective of her husband. How could Carmen break her trust like that? How could he be so cold towards warm emotions? And was he actually planning to do the same to me? Stalk me and show immense obsession until I, too, became insanely loyal and passionate? The minds of psychopaths were just so baffling. I wonder what made them act this cunning and manipulative? This woman truly seemed her husband was wronged. What could have Carmen fed her mind to strengthen her trust? How was he able to manipulate her this deeply? And would he manage to do the same to me? Ached and sympathetic, I watched as the woman now pulled out a stack of pictures from her black handbag and place them on the desk. ‘Here,’ A fond look gleamed in her. ‘This is the place we met alongside our parents.’ She pointed at the first picture. I frowned. The picture looked like a boxing area. Intense flashlights seemed to be blurring the picture. Did she meet Carmen there? ‘He was the top boxer of that night, and my father was sponsoring him. If not paid, my husband wouldn’t even think of holding up his fists against anyone. He is just that kind of guy.’ ‘I see,’ Jolene just nodded, taking notes. ‘Oh, and this, this is the living room of our warm house.’ She showed us another picture. ‘We live near the suburbs with our two kids; Sammy and Kimmy,’ She gave us a bittersweet smile, folding her hands together and placing them on the desk. All of our gazes were fixated on her pictures. Her living room seemed so homey, sweet and familiar, a cute sofa set, a fireplace and some random toys lying on the floor. I remember when I was little, I lived with parents and my father’s side of the family in one huge house. Back then, we were such a close-netted family. Distance and time had really changed our priorities now. Anyhow, looking at Mrs Carmen’s house pictures seriously made me reminisce the old times and feel so sympathetic. Carmen had a family, children who looked up to him and had their childhood memories dependent on his presence. How could he so careless about that burden? Didn’t family and bonds mean nothing to him? In fact, how could any human switch that emotional side of their soul? I felt so ached by this dark side of humans, knew that every person had a bad wolf hidden in his soul, tamed by his soul, yet it was hard seeing some souls openly harbour untamed beasts, ready to destroy and ruin. Slightly sniffing at how Mrs Carmen’s living room harboured signs of bittersweet warmth, I frowned as I noticed something in the picture, a red poster sticking against the glass of the living room’s window (which was situated right next to the fireplace). Just like at my old home. I was six when we left that place, so memories were distorted, yet I clearly remember getting scolded for ruining the living room window by pasting stickers on it with an Elfy Glue. The red sticker seemed to stand out in my memories. What an uncanny coincidence!!! ‘Here is a picture of my youngest daughter’s study room. Carmen loves reading her books in this room and helping her complete her maths homework. My husband hates Maths yet tries for the sake of our princess. Tell me how such a man can even think of harming a fly, ‘Mrs Carmen showed us the next picture, interrupting my train of thought. Eyeing the next picture immediately turned my veins cold. This was my elder’s sister’s old study room. I knew it. The posters, the table, what on earth? How could it be? Looking up, I could see Mrs Carmen now eyeing me with a subtle strange gleam? She had morphed her expressions to look like she was grieving, feeling nostalgic, but I could sense her strange aura. Her fingers had started sneakily tapping on one side of the picture, the side where my sister had hung, ‘Study Time! Do not Speak’ sign over her study table, and I was quick to realize that this was a threat. What on earth. Who was this woman? And how on earth had she managed to get such old pictures? When little, cell phones were new and dad didn’t like taking pictures, so we had hardly taken any pictures of our old home. Any pictures taken were safely hidden in the dark corners of my family safe… no one could get these pictures, unless someone had got near my family. Carmen, Caaarrrrmmmmeeen!!! This was a setup, Carmen was behind it all. This woman had clearly been sent by him, to threaten me, show me how much leverage he had over me and the police. Carmen had the upper hand, always. I felt like trembling in fear. Should I tell Jolene? Get his woman caught? No, not while Carmen found my family this approachable. I had to stay quiet for my family’s safety. Feeling whimpers escape from my soul, I winced as Jolene rubbed my shoulder. ‘Shhh. It’s alright. Mrs Carmen has a beautiful family and the police promise to fully safeguard their safety.’ She consoled. She was misinterpreting my emotions, believing that my tears were full of empathy and sympathy. No, they were of fear and anxiety. I had to stay quiet and wait for what next the malicious woman, before me, had planned. Part of me desperately wanted to confess about the mental torture I was going through, but couldn’t. I was trapped. Simply nodding, I eyed the woman, showing her that I had listened and was waiting for her next step. She was quick to catch on. ‘You are such a wonderful soul,’ She acted, sniffing dramatically. ‘Your heart so generous. You understand what I feel. Do you believe in my husband’s innocence now?’ ‘Yes” I had no choice but say this. My soul felt anguished. Jolene gave me a surprised look. ‘Ummm….so, will your guy let him go now?’ The woman then turned towards Jolene with such earnestly that I found it so difficult to believe that she was truly faking these emotions. The level of acting, here… ‘I am sorry, Mrs Carmen,’ Jolene apologized, shaking her head. ‘But unless we get solid evidence that your husband is innocent, we have to keep him in custody. You can be regular updates on this matter. I promise you that the police will look after your family until then.’ She warmly cupped her hands, making me mentally gag. Weren’t detectives supposed to be super observant? How was Jolene missing all the suppressed emotions here? ‘No, I am telling you my husband is innocent. He had done nothing wrong.’ The woman stood up , throwing a tantrum. ‘He won’t even hurt a fly. You have got the wrong guy. This girl.’ She pointed towards me.’ she believes me. She knows my husband is a loving father, men with daughters don’t do crimes.’ ‘Mrs Carmen-’ ‘No’ The woman rejected. ‘ I am not leaving this place without my husband. Only one person in this entire police station is sympathetic to my situation. She believes me, why don’t you folks’ why was this woman continuously dragging me in this? Telling the police that I found her innocent. She was continuously lying, but why? Why was she establishing that I was sympathetic towards her, that she would only listen to me? ‘Mrs Carmen,’ Jolene held the bridge of her nose in frustration. ‘We understand that this is an extremely stressful situation. We fully understand your emotions, but this will get us nowhere. Why don’t you go home? I promise the police will do whatever they can to quell your worries.’ ‘I am not going anywhere without Carmen.’ The woman stayed adamant. Huffing, Jolene then turned towards me. ‘Sarah, maybe you can convince this woman to go home and rest. She is clearly only trusting you here.’ ‘IIII’ ‘Yes, I am trusting only Sarah here, because you folks are heartless’ The woman screamed. “If you want me escorted out of this place, I will go with Sarah. She understands. She is the only one believing in me, and I know that she is the only one who will fight for my husband.’ What? So this was the ploy. By declaring me on her side, the woman wanted to lure me out of the police station. So cunning. I could refuse, say no, but what would happen if I didn’t obey? Gulping fearfully, I nervously gave in. ‘Mrs Carmen, it’s best if you go home now. Your kids.’ My heart ached at this. Did she even have kids?’ They must be waiting for you. Why don’t I escort you to your car parked outside?’ ‘O-kay,’ She responded in a small voice. Disgusting. ‘Glad that settles it,’ Jolene got up, folding her hands. ‘Sarah, why don’t you take Charlotte along while you escort Mrs Carmen back to her car. Once you come back, there will be some files I want you to read.’ Nodding, I was slightly trembling as I got up. This was it. Once I got out of this station, who knows what this woman had in store for me, what Carmen had in store for me. There had to be reason in luring me out of the police station. Carmen had a plan, as suspected. Numbly walking out of the police station, with Charlotte in tow and Mrs Carmen in front of me, I felt like crying in terror, clawing the deep walls of this vicious traps and clapping in mock - applaud. Well played, Carmen. He had managed to outsmart the police, once again. And this time, I was about the deadly price of him always having the upper - hand. The sensation floating in my heart was suffocating. The intense beating of my heart, the stifled worry of what was about to happen, it had tightened my throat walls and made it so painful to swallow. I could feel the tension so tangible in the air. With signs of distress carefully covered by my façade, I neared Mrs Carmen’s old Honda car, which was parked right in front of the police station, and eyed stoic Charlotte with worry. I wanted to convey my emotions, confess my fears, but couldn’t. The wind had started blowing softly, outside, and the chirps of birds were slowly turning mute. It was almost evening. Till now, this eerie woman had shown no signs of harming me. She seemed so quiet and thoughtful, as she led us to the car and inserted her car-key in its hole. I was cautious about her every move. What was she going to do next? Frowning, I watched as she turned her head to look behind me and nod. The cameras could easily capture her actions. There were guards standing near the police station’s gate-looking to sense any strange moves, so it didn’t make any sense for this woman to be so bold with her actions. Also, who was she even gesturing? About to turn round, my lungs felt like they had been knocked out of breath as a something sharp suddenly poked me in the arms and Charlotte leaned closer to my right ear, ‘Go and sit in this car,’ she whispered. I gasped. What? ‘Go,’ I wasn’t needed to be told twice.