Lights out - The Thriller

A short story about an interrogation.

“I have interrogated hundreds of criminals over the years, debunking several lies. Thieves, rapists, arsonists and all kinds of filthy scum. If you think you can get away with lies, I swear to God, you are mistaken”, said Detective Wayne, pacing around in his office.
The adamant detective did not let the ominous thunderstorm outside disrupt the interrogation.
“What are you going to do, huh, punch me again, Detective? You are but a lousy braggart”, remarked the suspect with a grim on his face.
The detective turned red at this remark, and with a sadistic look in his eyes, landed another mean punch on the freckled face of his suspect. “This is an interrogation, and you have wasted enough of my time. Start talking. Now!” The detective glanced through the open window at the lightning bolts outside. The lightning bolts epitomized his rage.
Logan Williams, wiped the blood off of his face with a creepy smile. The muscular detective was taken aback by a sudden gust that blew away the papers on his desk, and that set off another tantrum.
Wayne slammed his table so hard that Logan’s glass of water fell down and was shattered in pieces, followed by the sound of silence echoing in the office. “Who opened that window? Can’t you see there’s a storm out there? God, I am working with idiots here. I want that window latch closed. Now!” ordered Wayne, breaking the silence, and turned his attention to the sinister suspect while an obsequious servant was timorous in closing the window.
Logan, with contempt in his wild red eyes, looked up to the angry, brawny man who looked like he could kill someone with his bare hands.
The clock struck 11. The detective rolled up his sleeves and took a heavy breath. “I’ve had enough of your nonsense. You are not here in this dark room for petty larceny. Logan Williams, you are here for murder. I will ask you nicely, one last time �" what happened that night?”
Logan gazed at the detective’s unused notepad, and then at his fierce eyes. Logan, finally spoke, just like he had rehearsed, “I came home late from work that rainy night. It was dark. When I turned on the lights, I found Jim lying on the floor. Before I could call the cops, the cops stormed my place, tried to thwart my attempt to help, and arrested me.”
“How do you know Jim?”
“Jim’s an old friend. We went to school together. We used to play for hours in the sand. He always invited me over but our careers took different paths, and I could not keep up with life. He was a good man. Had a great wife, lovely children. I received an invite to a party at their new home in the Bay Area,” and a rare nostalgic smile on Logan’s face turned into a regretful grimace. “I couldn’t be there because of work. I should have been there. I hadn’t seen him in a decade. Didn’t expect to see him anytime soon. He ended up dying on my red velvet carpet. Life is funny.”
“Funny? What’s funny? Is murder funny to you, you insensitive prick?” shouted a disgusted Wayne.
“The truth remains that I did not kill him. The police killed him. Jim was unconscious on my floor. I had no idea how or why he was at home. I tried to help him, I really did. They did not let me. They did not try any restorative procedure to revive him, or anything that could have saved him,” yelled Logan, choking with emotion. “He died because of them. Not me. Their obsession with finding a criminal even when no crime had occurred, killed a man. They left his body to languish. Interrogate them, not me and then you will find the killer. Who is the victim here? I lost my best friend in front of my eyes, knowing that I could have saved him. And now, I’m sitting here facing charges for his murder. I did not even have the chance to mourn his death. Just because of you hidebound criminals in uniforms who always need to go by the book regardless of the circumstances, I lost my best friend and am arrested for his murder. How dare you question me for my actions? What about their actions? Is this justice?” cried Logan, overcome with emotion.
Logan unleashed his feelings as if he were participating in a verbal decathlon. Detective Wayne was stunned at this heart-breaking appeal. A part of him sympathized with Logan, and his passionate story. But the lingering doubt in every detective’s mind came back to haunt him. How could he be sure Logan was innocent? The polemical story had fired up a conflict in Wayne’s mind. After ponderous thought amidst the flickering lights, he decided to ask Logan one last question to decide his fate.
“You’ve described what happened in your house after you arrived. Now tell me in detail about where you were that day before arriving at the scene, and don’t you dare equivocate; I want meticulous details,” said Wayne staring suspiciously at the visage of the expressionless man sitting in front of him, who was so difficult to read that he reminded him of hieroglyphics. The thunderstorm showed no signs of fading away.
“Forgive me if I forget a few details; my memory retention is weak. I was working all day and most of the night at the company office down in Mayfair. Our team is working on a lengthy project on the product. I have been working late for a few weeks now. I live alone, so I have no problem with coming home late. So, at 10 p.m., I reached my neighbourhood and was parking my car in the garage when I noticed that all the lights were turned on. I thought I left them that way when I left for office. I entered my house to investigate, and noticed that the door was unlocked. You know the rest of the story.”
The detective thought for a moment, and then his eyes lit up. “Did you not say earlier that you saw Jim lying on the carpet after you turned on the lights? How could you do that if the lights were on before you entered the house? Officer, arrest… “only to be interrupted by the lights going out.
After the power came back in a few seconds, which seemed like an hour �" he was gone.
Detective Wayne realized that he was outsmarted by a manoeuvring murderer with a sharper acuity.

Author's Note

This is an assignment I wrote and the task was to use specific words like acuity, hieroglyphics. I wanted to write a sharp story that shows conflict. Please suggest anything you feel. Thank you for reading!

Reviews

[Dust That Drifts Throug..]

I hope the murder is caught. You did a great job at writing a sharp story.