the interrogation

The interrogation – by Lior Blum Lazar

"we have all the time in the world" said Sargent Daniels, and sat down on the opposite side of the table. The white-haired man in handcuffs looked up to meet his gaze. While Daniels was wearing a rather smart jacket and tie, the old man was wearing what you would think of if you tried to picture a fairytale wizard. The old man smiled at Daniels, but said nothing.

Daniels took a long swig from his paper coffee cup and continued: "you were arrested outside the city zoo, demanding the guards would free your… " Daniels looked through the arrest report on the table in front of him "… black steed and raven familiar?"

The old man still said nothing, and only continued to smile, but his eyes turned hard.

Daniels leaned on the table. "See, we don’t have to make this harder than it needs to be. You can just tell me who you are, why are you in my town – because I know you are not from here – and what happened to that zoo guard. Then, I will take you back to your cell and we will let the judge sort it all out in the morning, after you and I get a good night sleep. Isn't that better than pissing contest in this interrogation room? Because trust me – in here, I have the biggest dick".

The old man leaned back in his chair. Daniels suddenly realized he was mumbling something under his breath the whole time, and then He thought he sew the old man eyes flash green for a second – but that must be some reflection or something, right?

The old man straightened up in his chair, and was a good few inches taller than Daniels. Then, he spoke in the calm, cracked voice:

"you are correct, sir Daniels. We do have all the time in the world. And I am about to use as much of it as I need until you give me what I came here for".

Daniels tried to smile back in contempt, but his mind was sending him urgent red notices that he could not ignore but could not precisely place either.

"You don't scare me, old man. Any minute now this phone here will ring, and the voice on the other side will say your cell is ready – which will mean our time will be up. Then, I will go home, and you will go to a stinking little cell in main processing – not even the local jail. So I am in no hurry, but you should be".

The old man's smile just grew wider. "really? This phone right here? Who will call you with no time? You don't scare me, sir Daniels. See, right now we are the only two people in the world with any time whatsoever. No one and nothing will happen until I am done with you. Do you understand?"

Daniels finally understood what his mind was trying to tell him. All the voices outside the room went silent. No chatter of police radios, no phones ringing, no perps yelling they are innocent, not even cars outside. The old man noticed Daniels realized something was wrong.

"Go ahead, sir Daniels. Look outside the door. See for yourself what I mean and how far my powers go. Don't take my word for it". His smile grew more vicious, and seemed to present more teeth than it should.

Daniels stood up and walked to the door. His ears felt strange in the unforeseen silence, but his brain quickly took over, reminding him he can't let the perp make the rules. "Don't go anywhere", he said mockingly to the handcuffed old man, and opened the door to look outside, into the corridor.

The entire station was silent. No one was walking down the corridor, and the detective room at the far end was silent, too. Daniels tried to rationalize this by thinking there must have been a birthday party on another floor or something, but he knew that he would have heard the echoes of the party down here, too. And then, he saw something that his brain refused to process the first time he saw it. A fly was hanging in midair, his winds frozen mid-movement – as if he was trapped in ember. Daniels stared in disbelief and dropped the coffee cup he was holding, which froze and stopped moving mid-fall, coffee spilling but never hitting the floor.

Daniels heard a noise behind him, and quickly spun to see the old man drop the handcuffs and the table ad he stood. He drew his gun, pointed him at the man and screamed for him to sit back down, but his voice betrayed him, coming out as no more the choked whimpers.

"Now that you know I am serious, good sir Daniels, we can sit back down and discuss this as men, perhaps?" the old man sat back down, and pointed Daniels back to his sit in the small interrogation room. Daniels was so shocked he couldn't even resist, and just walked back in the room, closed the door behind him, and sat back down. What remained of his brain functions set his training in motion and placed the gun back in his holster.

The old man whispered a few words, and with a hand wave a wine bottle popped into existence on the table, along with two sparkling glasses. He poured wine into both glasses, raised his and said "here to you, good sir Daniels" and took a sip. He seemed to approve of the wine, as he took another sip. Daniels just stared forward in disbelief.

The old man sat down the glass, and leaned forward on the table, his fingers tapping it. "I have come a long way to talk to you, sir Daniels, and I know you don't know why yet, but let me explain. I assure you my reasons for coming here are nothing short of fateful, as you will agree when I explain them. After all – we have all the time the world…"