Detective Interrogates

He took a long swig from the water fountain. He wished it was something stronger. Whiskey: any kind of liquor would suffice. He wanted a burn to make the shallowness of what he was about to say go away. He crossed the precinct went through the front doors and found him.

'Jacob I've got bad news,' McQuen spoke gently. 'Follow me in, let's find a room we can chat in.'

It was the kind of news that he knew would crush the menthol smoking young man of nineteen. Minutes flew by and they found themselves face to face in a storage room. It wasn't like McQuen to go off the record.

'You might want to take a seat on the bench son.'

McQuen stood up straight, adjusted his tie, and buttoned his coat.

'We found Nancy's car son! She wasn't inside, so that gives us hope, but you need to tell us a few things. Your wristwatch, wallet, and cellphone were in the passenger seat.'

About a million questions attacked McQuen as Jacob began to lay it out. McQuen's daughter had been missing since Sunday: four whole days. McQuen liked Jacob, trusted the kid, but the pieces weren't adding up quick enough.

'We argued sir! In the Best Buy parking lot. She put her finger in my chest and I put my hand across her face. I slapped her so hard sir. I'm sorry!,' Jacob broke down and slowly turned a sickening shade of white.

McQuen felt the blood rushing from the fists he was forming. 'He hit her?' he thought to himself. He had motive all he needed to do was march this son of a bitch down the hall to booking, and the kid would rot. McQuen was not an unreasonable man, and besides all the confessing, his intuition told him better. Jacob didn't do this.

'Sir? She backed away in tears. I took off on foot. I....I...I'm so embarrassed. Sir I'm telling you I walked away.'

McQuen spoke in a hushed voice 'I believe you Jacob. Your father and I have been friends for years. You didn't do this. Where is Nancy?'

At this moment McQuen's emotions caught up with him and the two men had a private cry in that storage room.