บท 96: A Fine…

"Huh, didn't I mention that? I immediately started to drink my energy drink as soon as I left the convenience store on my way to the car and I wasn't paying much attention and ended up with that guy bumping into me and shoving me out of the way and making me drop my drink which spilt over the floor, I had already drunk a bit out of it before it spilt so I was a bit more energised but I was still tired so I just ignored the incident and got in my car and drove away leaving my drink on the ground." I remember now when I first saw Laura and I completely missed the Asian pimp trying to bump me out of the way which resulted in him being pushed back instead, instead of reacting aggressively straight away like I assumed he would when I realised the situation he instead took the opportunity to look me up and down seemingly searching for something before he decided to act and he slapped the drink out of my hand and to the floor where it poured out its contents all over the ground and I didn't even get more than a sip out of it and as I stared at the contents of my drink pouring out all over the ground I heard a click and when I looked back up I got the full view of a muzzle pointing in my face and the hand holding it belonged to the pimp who was staring at me with a stoic face still seemingly looking for something in my expression, that's how this whole situation started with that pimp trying to shove me and instead settling for knocking my just bought drink to the ground and know the fucking thing is coming back to bite me in the fucking ass.

"Well then, I am afraid I can't overlook this then. We all have to follow the law Mr James, it's time you answered to it." I worry that I've messed up somewhere and got caught out because after saying so she reached behind her for something and I worry that she is reaching for her gun and so I tense up in preparation for her to point her gun at me and place me under arrest and I try to think about what I should in such a case since she is a police detective and so there will be ramifications no matter what I do because even if I knock her out and keep her captive people will come looking for her and the only way out in that situation is to murder and dispose of her body without leaving any evidence behind but that comes with a whole host of problems with the foremost being the fact that I would have to kill an innocent women who is only doing her job and I can't exactly go on the run either since my research is in the basement and there is too much of it to take with me and so I would have to leave my only purpose behind which I can't do so I am stuck between a rock and a hard place unsure of what to do, I watch in slow motion as she draws whatever it is she getting from behind her and I run through all the possible options I can see before me put they all come up as bad and so I simply ready myself for whatever may come by staying as still as possible and waiting assured of my safety as my reactions and powers are superhuman and above hers so even if she points a gun at my face from this close I know I'll be able to dodge it and so I'll wait and react instead of acting first and so I watch as she pulls out something from behind her and brings it in front of herself before flipping it and I'm surprised by what exactly it is.

"I understand that it was knocked out of your hands but that is no excuse, most of the contents were spilt out onto the ground but you still could've picked up the bottle and put it in a garbage can instead of leaving it there. Here is a fine for $200 for littering, I'm sure your good for it given your living conditions." She didn't pull out a gun and instead pulled out some kind of notebook or something and begins to write in it with her fancy fountain pen and then she rips it out and hands me a fine for $200 dollars for littering which stuns me and acting on autopilot I reach out and take it from her hand while looking at her blankly and that is when I notice the devilish look on her face which makes me think that she planned this and she purposely phrased her words and reached behind to make it look like she was going for her gun so that I would do something stupid and she could catch me out and it seems like she thinks she has got what she wants given the fact that my expression is very confused right now and she knows I must've expected a gun which make me more suspicious as an innocent person wouldn't expect a gun when being questioned by a police detective, I've already revealed my confused expression to her and so I have to come up with a reason and explanation for my confusion or else she is going to suspect me and right now everything else I've done is fine but this confusion alone makes me suspicious in her eyes and so I have to come up with a reason for it and I think I have the perfect one that I think will make sense kind of.

"Ah, sorry but I'm a bit confused. You took me by surprise with the fine, I thought this was a murder investigation or something. Also, that guy knocked it out of my hands so isn't it him who technically littered not me?" I state hoping that that will explain my confusion and while the first sentence out of my mouth was just fine I can't help but feel like the second sentence was stupid but there is no medicine for regret (except maybe time travel but that often ends up making things worse, plus I feel like this matter is too small to resort to time travel and most of all I haven't done much research on it so I wouldn't be able to do it anyway) and the words had already left my mouth so I have to stick to them but with this I at least make myself look a little stupid or absentminded which could explain my confusion and lower her suspicion of me, Detective DeWolff puts away her little fine book (is that what they are called?) and once again pulls out her little detective note book and levels her fancy fountain pen at it ready to resume her questioning but she looks at me blankly like I am an idiot which is what I would like to portray but it still hurts to have a beautiful woman like her look at me like I'm a buffoon when in reality I am one of the foremost minds in the world (not to tip my own hat or anything) working with the likes of Reed Richards and others on his level but I suppose being a little absent minded doesn't make you an idiot since a clever guy like Reed Richards is very absentminded.

"At the end of the day it was your drink that was left on the ground even if it had been knocked out of your hand, plus the guy that knocked it out of your hand is dead now so we can't exactly fine him now, could we? Back to my questions, you said that you drove home immediately after you left the convenience store and that's about a forty-minute drive and with all the traffic and stops it would've taken you around an hour to get home which means you got here around 11:30 pm. Did anyone see this, is there anyone who can confirm it?" She disproves my claim of the fine not being my problem by stating that said litter was mine and the other guy involved had his throat slit open and bled out on the ground not too far away from the littering incident which is obvious and lessens her suspicions of me since I seem a little stupid and she prefers to forget this and go back to her questioning instead of wasting her chromosomes on something this stupid, she starts to ask about my alibi again and tries to figure out the time frame coming to a conclusion that I would have arrived home around 11:30 pm which is a good enough estimate for me since it works out and then she asks me who can confirm this and while I could say a girl named Laura Kinney who is the actual murderer I feel that that would be counter-productive and instead get me in deeper shit and I don't want Earl to lie for me or even know about this situation which is why I prepared for this situation yesterday and made sure I was seen on several CCTV cameras so I wouldn't need any witnesses.

"Well, I got home pretty late so my butler Earl was asleep so he couldn't help you, I don't think I saw anyone I knew on my way home and I also didn't stop anywhere. But I do have CCTV outside of my home and a few of my neighbours also have security cameras so they probably got my car coming home around 11:30 pm on their cameras so you can check with them as well, also I approached from Manhattan so there should be a few businesses quite close actually that also have me on camera." I finish giving her many options to confirm my presence here and see my car on the various cameras and luckily for me my car windows are tinted so they wouldn't be able to see Laura in the passenger seat in the cameras and as I talk to Detective DeWolff she is constantly writing and noting things down and I can't tell whether she is doing that to actually just store information or she is doing it to psyche me out but either way it doesn't matter since I've got my story and I am sticking to it, once I finish talking she clicks her fountain pen and inserts it into a slot on her notebook before she flips that close and pulls on the side of her jacket so that she can deposit her items back into her inside pocket before looking back at me.

"Right then, where are these tapes then? Let me just see it and confirm your alibi and then I can get out of your hair, and get back to more prominent leads." she says and wanting to get this over with as well I respond, letting her into my house. "Of course, just follow me. It's this was, just pa- W-wait a second, where are you going?" I confirm and allow her entry into my home but instead of following me now that she has permission, she walks straight past me and begins to look around as she walks through the hallway looking for anything of value as she heads towards the kitchen door, behind which Laura is still sat and she is the murderer that Detective DeWolff is looking for...

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<AN> I now have a Pa treon up and running and when a chapter is ready it will go up on Pa treon first so please take a look. Some support from you guys would be appreciated and motivate me.

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