Free The Border Part Three by Amy Cross

him to the police station for some ulterior reason that he wasn’t quite ready to admit yet. Taking a few steps forward, he looked around the corner and saw that his father and Alex were discussing something else, something that seemed more serious, something that had caused them to lower their voices.
    “Hey,” Alex said with a smile as soon as he saw Ben. “How are you doing there, boy?”
    “I’m okay,” Ben replied cautiously.
    “Jesus, that’s some bright hair,” Alex continued. “Your father told me you’d dyed it, but wow… Is this what the kids of today are doing with themselves?”
    “It’s an expression of who he is on the inside,” Harry replied with a grin. “Go figure, huh?”
    “Looks like you’re trying to scare the girls away,” Alex added, taking a set of keys from his pocket and stepping past them both, before starting to unlock the interview room. Pulling the door open, he turned to Ben. “Or do they like that kind of thing these days? I’m so glad I grew up in a simpler time, when girls admired a guy for his level-headedness and his steadiness, rather than fashion or whatever else is going on. When I grew up, teenagers weren’t really a thing. I myself was never one. How old are you again, Alex?”
    “I’m fifteen.”
    “How’s school?”
    “Fine,” Ben replied cautiously. “Why?”
    “Just wondering.” Alex paused for a moment, before turning to Harry. “Any trouble I should know about?”
    Harry shrugged.
    “What about -”
    “What’s going on?” Ben asked. “Why are we here?”
    “Well…” Alex paused again, as if he was feeling a little uncomfortable. “I’m guessing you heard about the two girls who were murdered recently. Lindsay Horne and Lucy Carter, both strangled and dumped near the town.”
    “I heard.”
    “And you probably heard that we’re having a little difficulty tracking the culprit down. That doesn’t mean we don’t have leads, it just means we’re still working very hard to find the individual who’s responsible. You’d think it’d be easy to spot a monster in a town full of regular folk, but we’ll find him eventually. Not to hurt him or anything like that, just to get him the help he needs. I mean, anyone who does such horrible things to two women is clearly in need of a great deal of help, wouldn’t you say?”
    “That’s one way of looking at it,” Ben said cautiously.
    “And the thing is,” Alex continued, “with the second murder, we got a report from someone who saw a guy out in that area on the night. Now it’s very shaky, it’s not much to go on, but my gut feeling is that the guy who was spotted out there might well be able to help us with our investigation. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that this guy might be the one we’re looking for. So we can help him, you understand.”
    “Okay,” Ben replied, feeling a knot of fear growing in his belly. “But why are we here? Why am I here?”
    Alex paused again. “The only real description we got of the guy we’re looking for,” he continued finally, “is that he’s medium height, slim build…” Another pause. “And blonde hair.”
    Ben swallowed hard.
    “Like dyed blonde,” Alex continued. “Pretty unusual for a guy, huh?”
    Turning to his father, Ben saw the suspicion in Harry’s eyes.
    “And Harry called me up,” Alex added, “and said he’d read that description, and that he’s not implying anything at all, but he said that maybe he should bring you down here today so that you and I could have a little chat. Clear the air, see what comes up, that kind of thing.”
    Ben opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He simply stared at his father as he felt a sense of pure hatred starting to rise from his gut and spread through his chest.
    “You’re not being interviewed as a suspect,” Alex continued. “Let’s get that clear, okay? It’s more that I want to have a little chat with you and rule out certain things.”
    “Like