Author Romeru
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Chapter 50: Julian, Interrogated.
🕑 Added 2024-11-06 20:39:06 +0000 UTC“Uhm… excuse me?”
The noise surrounding the Clevesky Police Station was overwhelming. Police cars hummed steadily in the air as they came and went without pause. Suspects pleaded their innocence and begged to be let go, their desperate voices merging with the blare of sirens that drowned out everything else.
Yet, even amidst the noise, the only thing Ellie could truly hear was the pounding of her own heart as she stood in front of the station.
She wanted to go inside, but the officers had told her they didn’t allow civilians in without probable cause—and worrying about Julian wasn’t a probable cause.
"Hello? Excuse me?" Ellie tried stopping anyone she could, but most officers simply waved her off, while others smiled politely and informed her she wasn’t permitted inside.
“Julian…” she whispered. All she could do now was try to calm herself, resisting the urge to bite her nails as she anxiously waited for Julian to come out, wondering what exactly was happening inside.
Unbeknownst to Ellie, however, she wasn’t the only one who was wondering what exactly was happening.
“This is ridiculous, the guy’s bind!” Inside one of the station’s many interrogation rooms, Julian was alone, seated right at the center. The soft light that encapsulated the entire room, not leaving a single shadow to trace even the slightest edges of his silhouette.
“I agree, let’s just get this over with.” There were 4 people watching him from the other side of the illuminated wall, and from the looks on their faces, they were all incredibly tired… and their voices reflected that.
Soon, however, one of those illuminated walls dimmed, replaced by a large image.
“We just showed you something, is your AI describing it to you?” The female officer’s voice resounded in the white room.
“Yes.” Julian hummed, “It’s surveillance footage of me on the Ground Level.”
[I’m sorry, Julian. I really thought I’d surveyed all the cameras.] MEGAN whispered, her voice extremely quiet so as to not disrupt Julian’s thoughts.
“And what were you doing there?”
[Careful, Julian. They usually don’t ask questions they don’t already know the answer to.] MEGAN quickly added.
“Depending on the time, I believe I would be on my way to a club called Velvet Cat.” Julian did not pause at all with his words, acting as calm as possible.
“Walk? Without your cane?” The voice of the officers sounded sharp.
“Yes.” Julian hummed, his fingers brushing the hilt of his cane, “The Ground Level is filled with noise and people, with the help of MEGAN, I could walk perfectly fine even without my cane. I do it sometimes to help me stop being dependent too much on it.”
“Velvet Cat. The club the loan sharks usually frequent. The loan sharks who beat your girlfriend half to death. The loan sharks who are now all dead.” The officers stated, “You don’t happen to have anything to do with that, do you?”
“No.” Julian tilted his head slightly.
“So, what were you doing in the club—on the very same night their gang was brutally wiped out?”
“I asked MEGAN to find where they usually hang out.” Julian sighed, his voice as sincere as possible, “I wanted to talk with them. To tell them to stay away from Ellie.”
“And how did that work out for you?”
“I didn’t.” Julian’s sighs grew louder, “We couldn’t find any of them. MEGAN told me that the club had a 2nd floor, but we weren’t allowed to go up there—so I just went home.”
Fortunately for Julian, the condition that he had been carrying his entire life had become his salvation. Every subtle movement, each flick of his finger, and his heart rate were all actually being monitored by an AI designed to detect deception.
And it picked up nothing.
But the AI did not detect anything at all.
“See? This was a waste of time,” one officer grumbled to his partner. “You’ve read the man’s file. Why are we even here?”
“Can you shut up and just do your job?” his partner snapped.
Julian was asked several more questions, staying inside the station for an entire hour before finally being let out. The police officers and even those who were not involved in the case at all, apologized to him—how could they not, after all?
They just dragged a blind man to ask him some nonsense.
***
“Julian!?”
Relief washed over Ellie, her voice rising to a near scream as she rushed toward Julian the moment she saw him stepping out of the police station.
“What… what did they ask you? Why did they have to bring you to the station!?” She quickly bombarded him with questions, her hands patting him all over to check if he was hurt in any way.
“I’m fine.” Julian chuckled, gently grabbing both of Ellie’s hands and clasping them together. “They…”
Julian proceeded to tell her everything that happened inside the station—the questions, and the fact that he’d been found near the club.
He hated lying to her, but it was necessary.
“You… wanted to talk with them to get them to leave me alone?” Ellie gasped, her eyes trembling as they reflected Julian’s face. But soon, her brows lowered in anger.
“Why would you do that!?” She slammed her fist on Julian’s chest. “What if they dragged you somewhere? What if… what if they took you to that tunnel, and you were there when the daemon attacked!?”
“I just visited the club, Ellie.”
“But what if!? You…” Ellie’s voice wavered as she fought back more words, her teeth gritted in frustration. After a few breaths to calm herself, she wrapped her arms tightly around Julian, pulling him into a hug. “Thank you… thank you for caring so much about me.”
“It’s not even enough.” Julian gently brushed her hair, his fingers subtly massaging her scalp to soothe her. “Not even close to how much you’ve cared for me, Ellie.”
“Ha…” Ellie tried her best to keep herself from crying then and there. Fortunately for her, she didn’t have to try too hard, as something unexpected caught her attention—a woman was watching them, or rather, watching Julian.
“Do… you need something?” Ellie asked, her tone cautious.
“Julian Winters.” The woman quickly replied, pointing at Julian as she stepped closer.
Julian recognized her voice immediately; he’d met her twice before. “Cindy Solis.”
“Oh?” Ellie blinked, looking Cindy over from head to toe. Cindy was incredibly stylish, wearing an oversized camo jacket with the zippers open to reveal a crop top that accentuated her toned figure and hard abs… and decently sized breasts.
Even with a cap on, it was obvious that she was strikingly attractive—and she moved with an air of authority around her; her body straight and her walk almost a march.
And with that, Ellie reacted… nothing at all. “You know her, Julian?”
“She’s the leader of the Exterminator guild who rescued me.” He answered.
“What!?” Ellie’s eyes brightened, nearly choking as she turned back to Cindy. To Cindy’s surprise, Ellie grabbed both her hands tightly. “Thank you… thank you for saving Julian.”
“Oh. Uh…” Cindy was caught off guard, feeling a bit awkward as Ellie looked at her with such intense gratitude.
“It… it’s nothing,” Cindy replied, gently freeing herself from Ellie’s grip. “I was just doing my job, ma’am. And… wait. May I ask what you’re doing here, Julian Winters?”
“They just brought me in for some questions.” Julian smiled. “I happened to be near a place where an accident occurred.”
“I see.” Cindy nodded, her professional demeanor softening slightly as her gaze lingered on Julian’s hand for some reason.
“By the way,” she said, clearing her throat to maintain her composure, “the knife you created for my grandfather—I couldn’t help but admire its quality, Julian Winters.”
“Oh… Thank you,” Julian hummed, his lips slightly curling.
“And…” Cindy cleared her throat again, “...would it be possible to make a request?”
“Okay,” Julian replied without any hesitation.
“Really?” A smile spread across Cindy’s face, but she quickly suppressed it to maintain her professionalism. “Then I’ll be making a request soon. Your going rate is a minimum of 100k, right?”
“Yes,” Julian replied casually, leaving Ellie completely stunned.
“100k…?” Ellie gasped, a proud smile blossoming as she looked at Julian, her eyes filled with pride that his efforts were finally bearing fruit.
“I’ll contact you again soon, Julian Winters.” Cindy extended her hand to Julian, but he didn’t shake it. After all, he was blind.
“Thank you!” Ellie stepped in, shaking Cindy’s hand instead. “And by the way… are you here because of the daemon incident in the tunnel?”
“You know about that?” Cindy blinked. “I guess it is all over the news. Yes, my team is handling it.”
“Oh. So, it was a daemon, then?” Ellie’s curiosity was piqued.
“I’m not supposed to divulge this, but…” Cindy leaned closer to whisper, and Ellie mirrored her, “...the wounds are unlike anything we’ve seen from a daemon before.”
“Then… are you saying it’s something else?” Ellie whispered back.
“There’s a possibility it isn’t a daemon,” Cindy nodded. “At least, it doesn’t resemble any daemon in our archives. But daemons have many forms; this might just be something we haven’t encountered yet. We don’t know yet.”
“Huh…” Ellie looked deeply intrigued. “But—”
“Miss Cindy! We’re waiting for you!”
Before they could continue, someone called for Cindy from inside the station.
“Oh, that’s me.” Cindy sighed, stepping back and waving at Ellie. “Julian Winters, expect a call from me soon!”
With that, Cindy walked to the station, though her gaze kept drifting back to Julian until she reached the officer who called for her.
“That tall man…” Cindy asked the officer, “...what’s he in for?”
“Oh, nothing.” The officer waved a hand dismissively. “He just has a connection to the case. The girl he’s with was one of the loan sharks’ victims—and get this, the guy was spotted near the club those motherfuckers usually hang out at… on the same exact night of the incident.”
“Wait, are you saying he’s a suspect?” Cindy’s eyes widened.
“Pft, nah.” The officer chuckled. “He’s blind. We’re just following protocol, is all.”
“Ho…” Cindy whispered to herself, watching Julian and Ellie as they got into a taxi. “...It’s you.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” Cindy replied, lowering her voice.
“Has your team found anything? The folks here are tearing their hair out trying to crack whatever’s going on.” The officer grumbled in frustration.
“Yes.” Cindy nodded, still watching the taxi fly off. “It was a daemon.”
“Agh… finally. We all knew it.” The officer rolled his eyes. “I swear, the government just wants drama. I’m pretty sure your team’s exhausted dealing with them too. Can… I ask what type of daemon it was?”
“The kind I want in my guild.”
“What was that?”
“...Nothing.”
***
“Oh. Morning, Boss.”
“Boss?”
A few hours later, Julian returned to Artemia, only to be welcomed by Juliet’s weird greeting.
“Yes.” Juliet yawned, stretching her neck and cracking her knuckles as if she’d just woken up herself. “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I thought about it. You don’t like me calling you ‘master’, and ‘pretty boy’ is starting to get old. Plus… it’s too long. So, ‘boss’ it is.”
“If… that is what you’re comfortable with, Juliet. Then, it’s fine.” Julian nodded, not affected by Juliet’s yawn at all as he stood up from the bed.
“Where’s Cyrus?” He asked as he noticed Cyrus was gone.
“He’s the one who woke me up. He said… he was going to pick us some clothes?” Juliet seemed unsure, “For us to wear in the reopening of the guild later.”
“Clothes?” Julian looked over at Juliet’s clothes and then down at his own. “What’s wrong with what we’re wearing now?”
“Boss…” Juliet sighed,
“We look like peasants.”
[LAST CHAPTER] <-----> [NEXT CHAPTER]
AUTHOR NOTES
Cindy been eyeing Julian since day 1, and now she has reasons to contact him again.
Do holler up if you notice any mistakes T_T Uagh...
Comments
trustkillerlol
“This is ridiculous, the guy’s bind!” should probably be saying he is "blind"
Manpapper
Thanks for the chapter
