Chapter Fifty

The Innocent Man

The Lockwood family went to a French restaurant in Mapleton. They haven't done this since coming back from United Kingdom. James Lockwood personally chose the French restaurant since he is of French origin.

Louis's family headed inside as they were escorted by a well-groomed male waiter who spoke to them in French. Louis admired how very posh the ambiance was. The lightings were perfect. The waiters were charming and welcoming. Once they got to their elegant round table, the plates and utensils were ready. The waiter removed the "reserve" sign.

James escorted his wife on her chair like a true gentleman.

He and his boys sat down. One waiter poured water on their glasses.

"Merci," Martha said.

The waiter who escorted them offered them the menu. Louis scanned on the menu. He was blown away with the price of the foods. It cost an arm and leg. Then, he noticed Jonah playing obliterating aliens on his PSP, so he decided to give him a little step on his feet.

"What?" Jonah spat.

"You, dufus," Louis gave him a look and beckoned on the PSP.

"Jonah," James called his attention. "Put that down."

Jonah twitched his lips and put his PSP back in his bag. Louis giggled as he rolled his eyes. Jonah got annoyed and nudged Louis.

"Lads," Martha Lockwood cried. "Manners."

James called the waiter for their orders. He talked to him in French. He stated the foods that were hard to pronounce especially if you haven't took French class.

Then, their orders arrived. The presentation were really outstanding. Louis looked at it in astonishment. James inhaled the aroma of the Roasted Chicken and Garlic which made him even more excited.

Then, they were first served with Soupe à L'oignon. Louis dipped his spoon and plunged it to the thickness of its golden crust. He found it delicious after seeping it.

"J'adore," James said. Then, he took a slice of the roasted chicken and ate it. He slowly shut his eyes as if it was the best food in the entire world. "The tenderness and juiciness is to die for. Honey, take some."

"I will," Martha said. "This beef stew is really delicious, darling."

Then, the waiter offered them red wine.

"Yes, please," Martha said.

Their dining made it more heavenly with the French music playing at the background. Louis was about to bite a piece of chicken meat when his BlackBerry started tinkling. It caught his parents' attention. Louis reached to his pocket to silent his phone.

Then, it tinkled again.

Louis glimpsed again at his phone. The caller ID says UNKNOWN.

"I'm sorry. I have to take this."

Louis went outside the restaurant and started answering his phone. "Hello?"

"Louis Lockwood?" a female voice.

Louis walked out the door. "Uh... yes?"

"This is Mrs. Hamilton. Quentin's mom."

"Mrs.Hamilton, hi!" Louis confusedly answered. "What's going on?"

"Louis," Mrs. Hamilton said from the other end, "Will you please come over? We wanted to talk to you. The MPD are here."

"Um?" Louis hesitated. He looked back at his family through the one-way glass of the restaurant. He got worried after hearing Mrs. Hamilton saying that the police wanted to talk to him.

"Hello?"

"Still here," Louis answered back. "I'm kinda on a family mode right now, Mrs.Hamilton. You see, I'm not in the house."

"Oh, I see. But, will you please give your time?" Mrs.Hamilton begged. "Please. It would be grateful if you'll come."

Louis thought for a second. Then, he decided. Unwise decision, though. "Sure."

"Sorry if I bothered you, but thank you." Then, Mrs. Hamilton hung up.

Louis glanced at his phone and returned inside. He was really hesitating to ask his parents' permission to let him go to the Hamilton's in the middle of their lunch.

"Mom? Dad?" Louis began. He stood up in front of them like a hopeless British school boy.

"What is it, honey?" Martha asked as she sipped a red wine from her glass. "Who was it?"

"Mrs.Hamilton, Quentin's mom, called," Louis answered. "She wanted me to come over."

"Okay, sure," Martha said, "you finish your meal first."

"That's the problem," Louis interrupted. "She wanted me to go now."

"As in 'now'?" James clarified. His pitch increased.

"She said it was important," Louis answered.

"You hardly even touched your food," James said.

Louis glanced at his plate. He had touch his food. The cup of soup is already empty.

"Jimmie," Martha touched her husband's shoulder. Then, she turned back to Louis. "Will it take long?"

Louis nodded. "She just said it was really important. The cops were there to talk to me."

"What? Why?" James asked.

"I don't know, Dad," Louis replied, "maybe they will notify me about something. Should I? Please?"

"Shouldn't they inform the parents first before questioning?" James asked.

Louis shrugged.

"Alright," Martha decided. James became quiet and resumed in eating his food while Jonah acted like the conversation never existed.

"Thank you," Louis said. He was somehow relieved. He partially felt that he did not want to go to the Hamilton's for he still wanted to finish the very expensive meal, but he thought that they need him because it was way more important than his appetite. But before he could leave, his mother called him.

"In one condition, Lou," Martha added.

Louis was like "damn it" when he heard his mom made a condition.

"Please bring home all the grocery that we bought," Martha said. Before they went to the restaurant, they went to grocery shop first.

"Sure," Louis said. Then, he kissed his parents goodbye and before he headed out the restaurant, he took a swig on his drink. "Bye".

He grabbed the two grocery bag from the trunk of their BMW and called a taxi to drive him back to their neighborhood, particularly, to the Hamilton's.

But he decided to drop him off to his house to leave the groceries. Of course, he does not want to bring those there.

Then, he went to his room to grab his satchel. As he was rushing out his doorway, he bumped on his table. He hurt his right leg a bit.

"Damn."

Some of his stuffs fell on the floor including his books. Then, he noticed a shiny glass with a rainbow reflection clipped from inside his Literature book. He picked it up and opened it. It was a CD that Abigail Lawson gave her. He remembered that he needed to show it to his friends. He even forgot to watch it. But he couldn't deal with that right now because he needed to go to the Hamilton's, so he just left it on his desk and dashed outside.

He used his bicycle to reach Hamilton's residence. As he stepped on the property, he saw a police vehicle parked on the sidewalk. Then, he emerged to the doors. He got chills before knocking in. But before he could knock, someone had already flung the door.

It was Mrs.Hamilton. "Louis?" Mrs.Hamilton was thrilled in seeing Louis. "Please. Come in."

When Louis walked in the house, he saw a cop sitting on the couch talking to someone. He couldn't see who it was because the Black cop was big. There was also this man who was wearing a black suit looking like a lawyer sitting in front of them participating in that conversation as well.

That someone the cop and the lawyer were talking to was wearing a punk rock T-shirt and black leather jeans. His ears were pierced with black earrings and his hair was spiky.

"Bloody hell," Louis whispered in disbelief. It was QuentinHamilton.

The cop and Quentin's attention was caught when Louis stepped in.

Louis was surprised in seeing Quentin.

Quentin stood up as he saw Louis walking towards them. "Louis."

They shared an affectionate hug.

"You're free!"

"I am," Quentin said.

Quentin never looked so emotional even though he was an emo. His vulnerability was very different but he was still subtle.

"Because of you and your friends," Quentin's lawyer began, "you let an innocent man out."

Mrs.Hamilton leaned her shoulder on the wall and smiled as she watched them.

"Really? That's awesome!" Louis was so astonished.

Quentin invited him to sit on the couch. The lawyer and the cop reached their hands to Louis. They gave each other a handshake.

"Did you know who killed JennaLucas?" Louis asked.

"Well, we found out that Furon Sylvester was the one who was framing Quentin while Jude O'Brien was killing another teenager," the cop explained.

"Malcolm Schmidt," Louis said.

"Yes," the lawyer agreed.

"But how was he framed?" Louis asked.

"That was our agenda when you arrived, Mr. Lockwood," Officer Sanders said.

Mrs.Hamilton sat beside their lawyer.

"Well, Quentin was injected with Profolol," Officer Sanders continued, "some kind of chemical that will make you sleep instantly. He'd taken some drug test and that's how we'd found out."

He showed him the written report about it. Louis scanned it for couple of times.

"We did not put this in trial 'cause, obviously, the killers are already dead. There's nothing left to get punished," the Lawyer interrupted.

Louis was still reading the form. He was really amazed by the written report on how the framing occurred.

"Our killers were really genius," the lawyer added, "they elaborately designed a murder case."

Louis nodded. "This is brilliant!"

"I'll go get some refreshments," Mrs.Hamilton interrupted and quickly went to the kitchen. She came back with freshly baked lemon squares and Mango juice.

"You shouldn't have, Mrs Hamilton," the cop refused, "we needed to go anyway."

"Oh, no! I insist, Officer," Mrs.Hamilton reached the lemon squares.

Louis was really hungry, though. He grabbed a lemon square when the tray went to him. But he did not show that he was really hungry. It was too embarrassing for that occasion.

"It's really nice," Louis complimented.

"It is," the Lawyer added after taking a bite.

"Why, thank you," Mrs.Hamilton smiled.

Then, Officer Sanders and the lawyer both took a huge swig on their Mango juice and started taking off.

"We better go now," Officer Sanders said, "thank you!"

"Thank you sheriff and Attorney Milligan," Mrs.Hamilton said.

"I'll just give you a call once we get updates," Attorney Milligan said.

Mrs.Hamilton gave them a big smile and waved at them goodbye and closed the doors. Then, she turned back to the boys. "I'll just leave you two boys there, okay?" She headed to the kitchen again.

"Sure," Quentin said. Then, he quickly turned back to Louis. "Dude, why would they kill you?"

Louis got uncomfortable. Quentin's face and question was really eager. "Huh?"

"Why were they doing this? Jude and Furon? Why did they attack us?"

"It's really complicated," Louis mumbled, "You don't wanna know."

"Oh, okay," Quentin muttered. He peeked to see if his mother could hear them. "But we will still talk about this, right?"

Louis reluctantly nodded.

"And about Jenna. Does that make me a murderer?" Quentin continued.

"Didn't you listen to what the police and your attorney had said? You were framed!" Louis said. "There's nothing to worry about."

"Well, I'm just wondering what people will think of me." Quentin went upset.

"Man up, Quen!" Louis tapped on Quentin's shoulders to stop him from fretting. "And since when you cared about what other people think or feel? You're good at ignoring them, right?"

Quentin got somehow relieved. "You're right."

"I'm really glad that you're out from jail!" Louis gave him a knuckle punch.

Suddenly, Louis's BlackBerry started ringing. It was his mom calling him. "Well, I really need to go. My parents are already looking for me."