"Are you sure that it was Zaina Tariq and not just some passerby who looked similar to her?"
Harker chuckled at this, passing by trees full of webs. It reminded him that Halloween season was coming soon, and those real webs would soon be replaced by fake ones along with carved pumpkins.
"I'm sure." He said, careful not to step on a scuttling spider on the ground. "My eyes are clearer than most of humanity now, Roland."
Roland frowned. "I know. but…. It could have just been someone else. Or a coincidence. After all, what does she have to do with the shadowy figures? She's been your neighbor for years, and Felix's friend for almost a decade. And he's pretty adamant that she had no involvement in this."
"She's the only suspect we have for this 'vendetta'." Harker said.
"Right, but does that really matter? Ivan Ivanovich might just be confusing us. We already know this is about supernatural creatures, I just…" Roland faltered. "I just don't want innocent people to just be randomly suspected and then succumb to your methods."
Harker stopped walking, and turned to him in disbelief.
"My methods? You're the one who asked for my methods, right?"
Roland sighed. "Only for Felix. And if there was any other way, I would have chosen an alternative. But for Zaina Tariq…. You might end up mentally scarring someone who has no experience with the supernatural for no reason. At least Felix experienced being 'possessed' before—"
"That's the thing. We're still not sure if it was possession." Harker countered. "Everything just went dark. If that shadow thing did possess his body, I should have still been able to see what it did while inside. Because then, Felix's eyes will retain those memories along with everything else, it's just not part of the conscious memories he could recall."
"How are you so sure? You've never looked for the memories of a person before." Roland said, feeling a little shocked that he sounded so sure.
And eventually, he felt skeptical and nervous over what made him conclude that. Did he ever get inside his head without him knowing? When?
Harker shrugged. "I just know. It's a plausible theory."
"It's not."
"Look, are you going to dictate now what my abilities can and cannot do?" Harker said in annoyance. "If you don't want me using the black worms, then I'll just use the Snake Demon's hypnosis. That also works too as long as it's Zaina's conscious actions and not someone else's. Which it should be if it's a vendetta."
So it was settled.
They continued walking back to the cul-de-sac, hands inside the pockets of their pants. They walked briskly with their heads down, mouths in a thin line. The tension was still high, and it was obvious even to outsiders that they just got into a fight.
Roland couldn't stop worrying over the possibility that Harker looked into his memories with Hanker possessing him. Or at all.
But these suspicions didn't make sense, because he should have felt it if he did. The black worms always leave a trace, no matter how stealthily they go. The victim may not realize it was them, but they could still feel that revolting, squirmy feeling of some other thing going inside their body.
Even if Harker went while he was asleep, or used hypnosis, he should have been able to feel it.
He tried to calm himself. He can't afford having paranoia get the best of him when someone's life was on the line. Once proven guilty, Felix Garcia would surely be sentenced to the death row. That meant years in prison, and then a lethal injection or electric chair.
And he may not be the only one. The shadowy thing will keep on taking victims, since it has already done it twice. This must be stopped now.
Harker knocked on the door of the Tariq's residence.
Soon, a man with a thick scruffy beard and a pot belly opened it. This was one of those uncles living with with Mr. and Mrs. Tariq, though Harker couldn't tell whether it was the wife or the husband's brother.
"Yeah? Your siblings aren't here yet."
"I know, Sir. But…. Is Zaina here? I'm with Felix Garcia's lawyer." Harker explained.
Roland heard so much noises inside, and didn't expect that someone else in the cul-de-sac would have a larger and more chaotic family than his client. He wasn't used to the idea of such a big family in a small home, and already thought that Harker's family counted as a 'big' one.
He has only met his grandparents at least 3 times when he was very young, and they have already passed away.
As for his mother's family…..
They were very distant and seemed to want nothing to do with the Faust's after her death. After all, their daughter had given them the heir they wanted, and they had given them the money they needed. From what Roland had heard, his mother's parents were now staying in Greece for retirement on a small private island.
He got lost in the sounds of all the people in the Tariq residence for a while, before snapping out of it and extending his hand.
"Roland Faust, Sir. Pleasure to meet you." He said.
"Kareem Tariq." The man shook his hand, then scrunched up his brows. "Huh. I heard that name somewhere many years before…. Was it from a billboard? Were you a child actor?"
Roland chuckled awkwardly. "No. You must be talking about the billboard for the advertisements of the American Crimson Cross. My father was one of the board of directors."
"Oh, right! I see now. It's strange to see you as a lawyer now, since I see that blond kid in a doctor's uniform all the time." Kareem said. "What do you need to see Zaina for? Need her as a witness?"
"Sort of, Sir. Just want to ask her a few questions. It won't be long." Roland said. "Is she here?"
"Yep. On a 'mental break' or something. I mean, her friend's been in jail for so long now, I don't get why she's still not over it."
Kareem shouted for her niece over the other noises in the house. "Zaina!!!"
Zaina spoke back in Arabic which translates more or less to: "Go away! I'm busy!"
Kareem cursed in Arabic too under his breath and repeated: "Zaina! If you don't get your ass down here, it won't be your telescope that I'll be breaking next time!"
They finally heard some shuffling from upstairs along with a growl. Zaina Tariq finally went down, exclaiming with tearful, red eyes.
"What do you want from me!?"
She then stopped when she saw the people at the door. She blinked in confusion.
"You're the Jones' big brother. And you're…." She frowned. "Felix's lawyer? What are you doing here?"
Harker spoke seriously.
"We're here to talk to you about Felix in my house. Come on, it's right beside your house."
He spoke in such a commanding tone that nobody would be able to say no. Zaina Tariq nervously followed after the two men, thinking that she would be able to cry out for help easily in case anything happened.
They were finally inside, and sat on the space that used to be Howard's woodwork shop. There were a few unfinished wooden sculptures there, one of which seemed to be an unfinished wood carving of a tarantula.
"Sit, please." Harker said, though there's no politeness in his tone.
Zaina sat in front of him, and then….
As she stared into his eyes, she felt sleepy. But Harker did not make her sleep completely. It was only enough for the hypnosis to take effect and for her to say the truth.
This was the first time Harker used the skill this way, but it didn't take him much to harness it. It seemed that whenever its a skill that involves seeking the truth, it always comes easily for him like breathing.
And so the hypnosis interrogation began.
"What are you doing on the night of Dahlia Nieves' murder?"
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