66 Package Deal (1/2)
”Oh,” Detective Nash grimaced. ”As per procedure, I will ask you some questions regarding why you came here and the like.” I nodded.
”When did you decide you would come to the show?” There was no hesitation as I answered.
”This morning. Mr. Butler wanted to come to a show to see how magicians perform. He asked me to get tickets, therefore I booked the one that seemed to have a reasonable price.”
”Okay. Where did you buy the tickets?”
”I bought them secondhand from an online seller, bidding for two.” He looked at me with a thoughtful expression.
”Why didn't you go the normal way? You could have bought the tickets from the official event website.”
”Today's was the closest show and everything including this was sold out. I went on the other website and brought the ones I won.” There was something in his eyes that I noted. A thought that passed through his eyes. I followed his movements carefully and realized that the questioning could go two ways. He was looking for a pattern in something and I had either broken it or reinforced it.
I also knew that he wouldn't tell me. At least right now.
”If I showed you the CCTV, would you be able to discern who the suspect is?” I looked at him with worried eyes.
”You looked through the footage and couldn't find him?” I was sure that was the case. I thought for a bit. ”It depends on what he was doing. I can tell you the feeling he gave off, but nothing concrete that can highlight him in a video, especially if he left with a lot of people during the chaos.”
”How would you define him?”
”I saw him from very far, but his voice was muffled by the mask he was wearing. But I could discern that he had a low voice... ” I paused. ”Now that I think about it, it sounded like he was trying to change his voice so that no one could hear his real voice, but if I were to guess, it is very difficult to continue doing an accent for a very long time.”
”What do you mean?” Detective Nash asked.
”Changing your voice for a long amount of time is quite difficult, but with the added help of the mask and the microphone taking away from his real voice, I would bet that it would be difficult to pinpoint him even if I spoke to him. But the accent is something that is distinct. It's hard for someone to fake that, even if they are a trained actor. It takes years of continued practice to replicate an authentic accent, really.”
”Wouldn't you say that our accent changes when we are around people or stay in a place for a time?” I nodded.
”That is the case, but when a person is excited and doing something taboo, they usually have stunted inhibitions when it comes to language. Moreover, language or the words they use to frame sentences can say a lot about their position and their upbringing or personality.”