"Mercedes Lackey - Urban Fantasies" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

Chapter Two
Kayla sat on the wooden chair, feeling the sweat drip down the inside of her shirt, wondering how much
longer they'd have to sit in this room. “Can I have a glass of water?” she asked Officer Walker.

“Once the homicide detectives arrive, I'll get you something to drink,” the policeman said. “Just be
patient a little longer, Kayla.”

“Okay,” she said, trying to find a more comfortable way of sitting on the hard wooden chair. All of this
would be much easier to deal with if the chairs in the police station were a little more comfortable, she
thought. Instead, she was stuck in this empty room with Officer Walker, who was a nice guy but didn't
want to talk very much. He'd said that to her when they arrived at the police station, that they'd have to
wait in a separate room and not talk about what had happened at the convenience store until the
homicide detectives from the Detective Headquarters Division arrived.

The Hispanic girl was seated on a chair by the door, looking as though she wished she was somewhere
else. Kayla understoodexactly how she felt.

The silence in the room was making her crazy, she decided. After all the noise of gunshots and
screaming, the silence was more than she could handle. “Do you know who that guy was, Officer
Walker?” Kayla asked.

“Kayla, I've already said that we can't talk about it, not until the detectives arrive. Please, no more
questions.”

She sat with her arms folded on her knees, curled up on the chair, until the door opened again. Two
more police officers walked in, a blonde woman and a heavyset man. “So, Dale, what did you bring
home today?”

Officer Walker stood up. “Consuela Rodriguez was the first person to arrive on the scene, and she
called the police. Kayla here was in the store when it happened. She wasn't hurt; none of that blood is
hers.”

“I'll start with the kid,” the woman said. She gestured for Kayla to follow her. Kayla did, wondering
what was going to happen next.

They walked down the hallway to another -office. The policewoman closed the door after them and
turned to a small table with a coffeepot, cans of soda, and paper cups. “Here, take a couple of paper
towels; let's get some of that blood off you. Dale didn't even let you wash, did he? Would you like
something to drink?”

“Anything with sugar in it,” Kayla said, reaching for a can of Pepsi. She opened the bottle of aspirin that
she'd lifted from the convenience store and swallowed several of the pills with some soda, then carefully
wiped her face and hands with the paper towel.

The woman poured herself a cup of coffee and glanced up at the clock on the wall. “One A.M. Well,
this will certainly be a long night. Have a seat, young lady. I'm afraid you're going to be here for a while,
and I can't let you talk to anyone else just yet, not even your parents. By the way, I don't think I
introduced myself. I'm Detective Cable. You can call me Nichelle, if you'd like.”

Kayla gingerly sat down on one of the chairs. Detective Cable set a small tape recorder on the table next