I Am Tired Of Being A Hero-Chapter 68: The Interview

After a moment, She composed herself and continued, "We did not even notice the smoke until it was too late. The fire was everywhere, I went for the fire extinguisher and the last thing I remember was when I woke up here."

"Thank you, Mrs Micheal. Is there anything..."

"Wait!" Her voice was hoarse and urgent.

Arlen sat up straighter and leaned forward a bit. Ravi leaned back, relaxing completely in the chair.

"I think...I remember something. Jack, my brother, he...he tried to open the door but it was locked."

"Locked?"

"I locked it and turned the sign around so we would not have any customers but you..you just to try the key and it would open but Jack, he could not open the door."

"Maybe the key melted due to the fire." Arlen could not help but comment.

The lady nodded, "Maybe." Her memories were blurry so she was not sure what she could remember clearly. Had the fire reached the door, she did not think so but she was not sure, everything was smoky and blurry.

"What do you think might have started the fire?" Arlen asked.

"I don’t know. We run a grill so I am careful about that, the sprinklers should have worked. I don’t know why...and I had taken the pig out, I turned out the coal grill, I am very sure." Her eyes widened, "Is it possible that I..."

"No, Mrs Micheal. We are just asking to cover all bases here. Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt your family?"

The woman was silent for more than a minute.

And Arlen sighed, it was always like this, people could not believe that someone could hurt them, hopefully, this would be ruled out to be an accident.

"You can’t think of..."

"There are just too many."

Ravi wanted to laugh at the expression on Arlen’s face but judging the situation he forced it back.

"Many?" Arlen almost choked.

"We bought the land fifteen years ago, no bought, more like were settled with after an accident that happened in my father’s factory. When the developers wanted to turn the surroundings into an estate, our house prevented it from being the perfect little suburban neighborhood that they wanted." She forced the words from her lips and Ravi could finally see the shadow of the woman that had been so talked about. "We have stayed there for so long. Mum died there and they just want us to pack and go or break down the grill and remodel. Where would we get the money for that? We refused and they had made several offers since then. That was what we were arguing about, Jack and Dad wanted me to sell. Guess it is useless now." Her voice was hoarse and quiet on the verge of tears.

Ravi looked at her, her father, and her brother wanted her to sell the grill that she had managed for fifteen years, and even her wife wanted her to sell it. It was just a grill, why did she hold on to it so tightly. Why?

Everything gave way to time, was there any use holding on so tightly to something that would one day decay into dust?

"Who else?"

"It can’t be there but there is a group of vegans in the Davenport Community College, they have been sending me threatening letters since last month, condemning me for killing animals."

"Threatening letters, could we see them?"

The woman froze for a money and then she turned to the other side, "What letters? Everything has burned down. Everything. Officers, can you go, that is all that I know?" She was forcing down tears, it was so clear from her voice.

"Okay. We will do everything that we can so that we can bring you some closure. If you remember anything significant or any details, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you for your cooperation, Mrs Micheal." He stood up and nodded at her.

The two of them walked out of the hospital and Arlen let out a loud sigh, "Ravi, what do you think about her testimony."

"She...."

"Excuse me!" A woman almost pushed Ravi as she ran towards the ward.

Arlen pulled Ravi away from the corridor, pulling him into a one-sided hug. His hug was very shallow, lasting no longer than five seconds. But in those five seconds, Ravi could smell the scent of vanilla on Arlen’s body and let out an inaudible sigh.

"Are you alright?" Arlen looked at his hand, just now, he had wrapped his hand around Ravi’s waist. That waist was thinner than he expected but he could feel the curves of his muscles delineated. He swallowed, this person was really sexy.

"I am fine. That should be her wife. Should we interview her?" Ravi asked and Arlen shook his head.

"There is no rush. Let us return to the office." Arlen said, his voice a little quieter.

He was soft, just did and his mood was already down for the day. Ravi wished to cheer him up a bit but he did not know how, it was not like he could buy him a tropical drink again.

He just walked quietly behind him. As they were about to enter the car, Arlen’s phone rang and he moved aside to answer it. He did not return to the office with Ravi, he rather excused himself and left hurriedly.

Ravi returned to the office alone, he worked on some of his old case files while watching discreetly from the corner of his eyes. Arlen did not return to the office on that day.

Ravi even waited a bit till it was five minutes after four before he finally sighed and clocked out.

"This is the first time you are clocking out at 4:05, it seems like our little Ravi is growing up." Draco mocked from the side.

Ravi ignored him and walked out of the door. The little cat should have heard lunch already, so what should he have for dinner? He walked down the staircase and down the corner, walking past the ice cream store to stop at the street corner, meeting up with other people out from walk, waiting to cross the road.

He looked to the left and his heart skipped. He saw Malik, the incarnation. He was holding the wooden walking street, attracting all minds of attention.

Ravi decided to move slowly to the other side.

He would protect, sure but he does not want to get involved one bit with him. How he wished he learned puppetry so that he could send a puppet to protect the incarnation, they would never even have to meet. Maybe he could make a puppet, as long as he put his mind to it, he could try.

But first of all, operation avoid the incarnation.

"Officer!" The gentle voice sounded clearly in the horde of people wanting for the lights to turn green.