The RC Master & Athos Collab ----- Vernon Kelso entered the house with ease, smiling at the madame that had invited him in. [i]This must be the mother...[/i] Seeing a smallish feminine figure sllinking away from him, Kelso knew that he also had his suspect in hand. "Sorry for coming during such a tumultous time madame," Kelso said with his best fake smile. "But the watchful eye of the law never sleeps as they say." Looking at the fragile young girl hiding away from him, it was terribly funny for Kelso to imagine her as guilty to anything other than most likelty being a shoddy prom date. He wasn't worried however, it didn't matter whether he got his answers here or in the interrogation room Kelso was more than happy to arrange for her if he felt that she was hiding anything at all. If he couldn't pin her down as an accomplice to suicide, he could easily list her for obstructing justice and the few days he could detain her would give him more than enough time to break her in the interrogation room. And interrogation was one aspect of the law that Vernon Kelso enjoyed immensely. But, for the moment, he was going to see how much he could get out of her without resorting to those measures. "Hey princess, heard you had a pretty tough time yesterday. My name is Vernon Kelso, I'm a detective. Now, Adrian was reported to have been in your company shortly before he committed suicide. Did he happen to [b]give[/b] you any hint as to why he committed suicide with a stolen 9 millimeter pistol?" Kelso said with extra emphasis on give. Essa gave Vernon a quick once-over, her large eyes taking in ever detail like she was a machine scanning him. Her gaze lingered on his gun before quickly averting her gaze to the ground. She needed to be wary of this one. She forced her hands to stop reaching for the note and shifted uncomfortably. All she had to do was stay quiet and act innocent; A simple enough job that she did on a daily basis. "H-hi," she greeted in a near inaudible voice. She caught the emphasis, but chose to act oblivious. "N-no...we barely s-spoke before all th-this happened..." It was the truth. Or at least, some of it. Essa's mother quickly gestured at the shabby couch in the middle of the living room. "Um...sit, please," she insisted. "I'll get you some coffee." She quickly hurried into the kitchen with Essa staring after with panicked eyes. The young girl hated being alone in a room with someone, and now she was alone in a room with someone who could potentially arrest her. Her hand brushed the pocket holding the note subconsciously, and her eyes remained focused on the ground. "Oh, I'm so sorry for even bothering you then." Vernon softly reassured, choosing to ignore her mother. "I mean, it's not as if there are cameras around the school and we have security footage of him handing you something before the fucking idiot committed suicide." His soft voice didn't sound so reassuring then, he had her right where he wanted her. He twisted the invisible knife further. "Then, of course, you'd be acting as an obstruction of justice, a felony. Then I could easily return with an entire squad of officers after I arrested you and we could ransack this entire shithole until we found whatever you didn't want to tell me. I could lock you into a nice cozy cell with some real criminals and I'd hate to see what they'd do to a innocent looking girl like you. I mean, I might mess up in the paperwork and accidentally bunk you with a child molester or rapist." Vernon had seen the girl fidgeting twice already in regards to her pocket. Once was a fluke, twice was a sign. "So, I'm going to ask you one more time and one more time only. Did Adrian Harvey give you any hint as to why he committed suicide with a stolen 9 millimeter pistol?" Fear briefly flashed in Essa's eyes. Of course. She had forgotten about the damn cameras. She needed to make something up, something believable...but what? "Officer, for the last time," her voice had lost its nervous tone, "I don't know. I barely knew him. The only thing he gave me was a scare. You can search my room, you can even search my house. You will find nothing." Inviting him to see her room was a risky move. If they searched too much, they could find out that obstructing justice wasn't the only crime she had committed. But she needed this. Right now, she was a deer in the headlights. One wrong word or move and she was done for. Essa had to keep stalling until she found a better excuse or a miracle happened. Vernon stared at her for a few seconds silently, as if his eyes could pry the answer from her head. Then he laughed and turned away from the girl. Instead he began walking towards the front door from whence he entered. "That won't be necessary. I believe you." Vernon dismissively addressed Essa as if she no longer interested him. He then turned his head towards the mother who had been silent. "Thank you for letting me interview your daughter madame. She is quite the character." Twisting the doorknob open, he opened the door halfway and as he was halfway out, he called out to the mother and daughter alike. "Ah, one last thing. I think you may have visitors later this afternoon, though I wouldn’t worry about it.” Kelso said cryptically with a smile. “What do I know after all?” He then stepped fully outside the door and outside of hearing range before the duo had time to answer. As Kelso stepped fully into the squad car, he contacted dispatch. "This is squad car Romeo 11, I have reason to believe that suspect Essa Ronnel is holding back evidence crucial to the case. She is highly likely to flee so I need one team to go to her house and investigate it and another to keep an eye on the streets for a 5'1-2 teenage Caucasian girl with black hair. Suspect wears glasses though she may ditch them in an effort to disguise herself and a slight hunch in her back. If she is caught and detained, make sure to search her pockets. I have a hunch." "Roger that Detective Kelso, we'll have a squad of officers at her address in thirty minutes. I'll also inform the street patrols to be on the lookout for anyone matching those features though that may take a while due to the wide pool of potential suspects." ------- [b]9:15 AM Los Angeles Highway[/b] Vernon Kelso had dealt with the girl. Now it was time to find the grieving parents.