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“You believe me, right?” she asked, still holding onto my hands. Her knuckles were white, and I could feel my hands numbing with the loss of blood flow. I looked back at her with my lips pressed together, wondering what I should do. It seemed as though the time stopped. There was a faint humming in my ears, and I closed my eyes and breathed deeply until my head became clear.
“I believe you.” Annisa’s shoulders relaxed when I finally answered her question. As annoying as she was, I was pretty certain that she didn’t kill Trevor. If anything, she was guilty of being a flirt. I also knew Julia would want me to help her. I could hear Julia in my head. “Be nice, Claire, and help Annisa.”
I reached down and pried her fingers open from my hands. They turned pink when the blood started to flow again, and I massaged my hands together. For someone as petite as she was, she sure had a strong grip.
While Annisa and I were talking, Aiden remained quiet off to the side. I gave him a small smile, which he returned quickly. As much as I was hesitant about dragging Aiden into this situation, I didn’t know what I was getting into, and I needed his legal expertise to navigate the mess that Annisa had gotten herself into.
“Don’t worry, Aiden and I will help you.” I looked over at him for confirmation, and he slowly nodded his head. I doubt that helping someone he barely knew was part of his scuba diving plan, but he was taking things in stride.
“I can’t promise you anything, but I can be your attorney and represent you if you’d like,” he said.
“Oh, thank you!” Annisa said breathlessly and threw her arms around him gratefully. Then she smiled and batted her eyelashes at him, which made me almost regret agreeing to help, but I brushed that feeling aside. There is no room for jealousy here, I chastised myself.
“No problem, and we’ll be here after you are processed,” Aiden said, giving her a small smile in reassurance. He patted her back before he extracted himself from her hold and took several paces back.
Officer Frankel grabbed Annisa’s large bag from her shoulder and passed it to his partner before putting the handcuffs on Annisa’s slender wrists. When the cold metal touched her skin, she stiffened and tried to pull her hands toward her chest.
Aiden shook his head at her and said, “Don’t resist the arrest, Annisa. It’ll be worse if you do.”
She stopped jerking her hands back and stuck them out again meekly, but I could tell she was scared and angry. I hoped she didn’t mouth off to Officer Frankel.
When she was cuffed, the officer directed her toward the door. Watching Annisa being led out in handcuffs, still wearing her bright neon pink wetsuit, would have been comical if the whole thing wasn’t absurd.
I was going to ask Aiden if we were supposed to wait in the interview room, but Officer Shin turned to us before leaving.
“You and Ms. O’Keefe need to wait in the lobby. I’ll come get you after Ms. Choi is processed.”
We followed Officer Shin and watched Officer Frankel lead Annisa down the hall. She twisted her head around and gave us a pitiful look. “Don’t leave me,” she cried out.
She looked out of place, and for the first time since we arrived at the police station, Annisa looked scared.
“We won’t!” I called back.
Chapter Twelve
“Ihope you’re not upset that I’m getting you involved,” I said, picking up a magazine absentmindedly.
Aiden was sitting next to me with one hand draped over the top of the chair. He tilted his head to look at me and said, “Not at all, but I’m a little confused that you agreed to help because I got the impression that you didn’t care for Annisa that much.”
I redid my ponytail to give me more time to think. As I was winding the band around my hair, I contemplated my motivation for helping Annisa.
I sighed and said, “It does seem strange, I admit, but Annisa is close friends with Julia, and I already told you that she was one of her bridesmaids.”
Aiden nodded but didn’t say anything. He waited for me to continue.
“I don’t have any siblings, so I consider Julia like a sister. If she were here in my shoes, I know she wouldn’t hesitate to offer her help. I guess I don’t want to disappoint or have Julia upset with me. Does that make sense?” I asked, involuntarily cringing. Even to me, my excuse sounded lame for going out of my way to help someone I didn’t like.
“No, I get it. It’s an Asian obligation thing.” He said this so nonchalantly that my jaw dropped. I snapped it shut when I realized that it was open.
“That’s right,” I said in amazement, but I didn’t get to press him on how he knew because my stomach started to rumble, causing me to lose my train of thought. “Oh gosh. That’s embarrassing.” I looked around to see if anyone heard.
“There’s a vending machine in the hallway,” Jessica, the receptionist, said when she heard the noise. Then, without checking to see if I heard her, she went back to clicking away at her keyboard.
“Um, thank you,” I replied, embarrassed the receptionist heard my stomach from across the room.
Aiden looked down at me. He chuckled when he saw me blush. He put his arm casually around my shoulder and said, “It’s been a while since you had breakfast. You must be hungry. And you know, we never got our coffee. Officer Shin dropped the cups when he heard that Annisa was going to be arrested.”
“That’s true.” I appreciated that he didn’t comment on my tummy growling or when my face went red. “Yeah, I could use some caffeine right now.”
