Franklin meant what he said too, he wasn't joking in the slightest. After all, it is tiring being the number one witness for these crime scenes that had nothing to do with him. First the stolen toys, then the fire and now...that.

When Franklin makes it to the car, he waits for Detective Wiggins to unlock the backseat for him.

"You're wasting your time, you know." Franklin said quietly but loud enough for her to hear as she pulled out her keys from her coat pocket.

She stops near him, clicking the button on her keys to unlock the door while raising an unamused brow at him.

"That's what you always say Mr. Bates."

"And I have yet to lie to you."

The detective ignores his comment, waiting until he slid into her backseat before moving around the car to hop into the driver seat.

"I'll call your grandmother when we get to the station." She met his gaze in the front rearview mirror before he drags his eyes over to his window not bothering to respond.

Franklin could feel her gaze lingering on him for another second before she started to drive away. He looked out the back window, watching as officers lined the trees with police tape, the sight getting smaller and smaller until it was practically a dot in the distance.

—-

The room was dead silent as Franklin sat in the hard metal chair, staring at his reflection against the metal table. It was a small, practically bare room, only big enough for there to be a table and two chairs and nothing more.

Across from him stood Detective Wiggins, her back turned away from him as she held up a phone to her ear. Franklin could only assume she was being informed about...what the other officers found in the middle of the woods, seeing as she already called his grandmother.

At this point she might as well have my other grandmother on speed dial, Franklin thought sarcastically while leaning his face against his hand.

Though the black haired boy wasn't in the room where it happened, Franklin assumes his grandmother didn't react too badly to the phone call since Detective Wiggins didn't come into the interrogation room with any bad news.

"Alright, thank you." Detective Wiggins finishes her conversation before hanging up her phone and sliding it in her back pocket while turning to face him.

"Now that I'm all caught up-"

She sat down on the other chair, pulling out a small black device from her pocket. She placed it down in the middle of the table. Franklin recognized it immediately, it was a recording device. He should have been used to this given the first two times but Franklin never liked the idea of having his voice recorded even if he had nothing to hide. Franklin resisted frowning at the device, instead focusing his gaze onto the detective who was watching him the entire time. Her green eyes met his dark eyes before she spoke once again.

"Tell me your side of the story, Mr. Bates."

Her eyes were unblinking as she stared at him.

"Start from the very beginning."