Innocence

Innocence is the eleventh chapter of Season One, marking the first chapter of the second group of ten. The chapter introduces an important character, Ben Walden, a detective who challenges Ezra White in his abilities, and brings about the arrest of Muhammad, who is hinted to not be the source of the main conflict of the story anymore. The chapter also explores separation between Ezra and Dane, as a result of the events leading to Muhammad's arrest, and the semi-redemption and death of Giles Pierre-D’Amour.

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Ezra went home that night, rethinking his enemies. He thought, maybe Muhammad has a twin or a relative or something? But then he thought of his encounter with the detective, he was so confused. Suddenly he heard the doorbell ring, his dad shouted out, “I’ll get it!” Ezra’s father answered the door. Ezra ran down stairs to see who it was, he gulped at the thought of it being the detective, or worse, Muhammad. But the person who was at the door was not a familiar face, the stranger said, “Hello, I am Ben Walden, I would like to speak with your son, Ezra.” Ezra was shocked at what a total random stranger would want with him, but after seeing the stranger’s clothes, which were similar to Giles’, he assumed him to be some kind of officer. As the man walked in, he noticed Ezra, whom he smiled at before asking, “I’m guessing you’re Ezra?” Ezra gave a faint smile before nervously nodding his head. “Could I have a word with you… Alone?” asked Ben. Ezra gulped again before replying, “yeah sure, just up here,” as he pointed at his bedroom. Both Ezra and the man climbed the stairs before entering Ezra’s room.

After Ezra and the man both sat down, the man started speaking, “hello Ezra, as you probably know, I’m a detective, and I, despite the excuse of the baptism, I believe Mr. Praveen is behind Seattle’s recent attacks.” Ezra looked curious, but he was confused, how does he know that I have been suspicious of Muhammad? Ezra said, “what makes you think I even know that name Mr. Walden?” The man laughed before saying, “firstly, you can call me Ben, and how do I know? Well, Pierre-D’Amour told me what you said, before the investigation was mysteriously cancelled, Giles claiming that ‘e shot him-zelf!’ but I have discovered something myself, it was reported that Giles was in contact with Praveen shortly after the shooting. And I also have discovered, when I hacked into Giles’ emails, I noticed an email from an unknown source saying ‘if you reveal to anyone that I shot the shopkeeper, I will kill you!’ and luckily I managed to trace the sender to the same IP address as a school student who emailed a teacher called Mr. Ignatius, some kind of mathematical equation, which was obviously school related, to which has Muhammad Praveen’s name written on it, which means he was the shooter, which means he probably has something to do with the graveyard shooting as well.”

After a long explanation, Ben had finally finished speaking, and he was looking at Ezra eagerly for a reply. Ezra thought for a moment and said, “what do you want from me then?” Ben looked at him before saying slowly, “I, would like to know of the conversation you had with Praveen last Saturday?” Ezra, at first, looked shocked at the wonder of him being a stalker! Before telling himself that the source for his reports probably noticed his conversation, as well as his encounter with Giles. Ezra said, “well, I accused him of being a terrorist, but he then replied to me as somewhat of a threat.” Ben smirked before saying, “well, it was nice meeting you Ezra, and I’m sure we’ll be great friends in the future, yes, I know what you’re thinking, there is a future between you and me, I know that you will help me in exposing Praveen, so here is my number and address,” the man didn’t let Ezra reply, instead, handed Ezra a business card that had the address of the police station as well as a 10 character mobile phone number.

After Walden left, Ezra went to bed, thinking about what he had just said, now he actually believed that Muhammad was responsible for Butch’s shooting, but he also believed that maybe he regretted his actions and is playing Mr. Nice Guy now, but he knew of what was best to do, which was question Dt. Pierre D’Amour the very next day, whilst wagging the first few minutes of school.

Luckily, the next morning, he woke up dream-free, and Ezra was very eager to rush to the address on Walden’s card and question the French detective. He quickly got dressed, and rushed down stairs to leave the house; he skipped breakfast due to his lack of time. Ezra ran to the train station and caught the train to the nearest stop to the police station. Once he got off the train, he ran to the Police Station which was nearby.

Once he entered the building, he asked the receptionist, “could I please see Dt. Pierre D’Amour? It is very important!” The male receptionist immediately pointed at a door which had the French detective’s name on it. Ezra entered the room, and saw Giles on his computer, typing. Giles noticed Ezra, and looked at him and asked, “cian ayy help yiou?” Ezra’s gulped before saying, “tell me, what do you know about Muhammad Praveen?” The detective frowned, “whayy er yiou so agi-enst zis man?” Ezra instantly replied, “Don’t play games with me detective! I just want the truth, or many people may die!” The detective’s frown suddenly turned into a sorrowful and guilty expression, as he put his head slightly down, before mumbling, “e zretend me, e told me that he shot ze man, and black meld me to canzel ze 'inviest-ogayt-iown, e sed he’d kill me if I didn’t.”' As he finished his sentence, his face rose a bit, before continuing, “''but ayy kniow one zing for shiorr, Praveen was not ris-pown-sebehl for the incidewnt at ze graveyard. Or ze explosiown.” ''Ezra thought carefully at his words, finally! He knew it was Muhammad! But the graveyard was still a mystery. Ezra glanced at the time and realized that it was nearly 9 o’clock! He knew he had to get to school. Without another word Ezra bolted out of the detective’s office.

Ezra arrived at school just in time for the bell, for the first double period, they had a different teacher for art due to Miss Tanen being at her father’s funeral. He basically avoided both Muhammad and Dane for the first double period, but at recess, he rushed up to Dane, and told him everything that happened in Dt. Pierre D’Amour’s office. Dane questioned Ezra, “I don’t believe this! Has anyone brought to your mind that Giles may be covering for someone?” Ezra was frustrated at his friend, “listen to me! Giles seemed so truthful! Has Muhammad said something to you? because you are not yourself!” Dane frowned sadly before saying, “You are not yourself either! All you talk and worry about is Muhammad Praveen! He may look nasty! But he’s a normal person who is completely innocent! You know, if you are going to shout at me like that, then maybe you don’t want to talk to me either, that explains why you were totally ignoring me in Art, you know, maybe we should just… reconsider our friendship!” Dane just turned around and strolled off. For once in his day, Ezra felt sad, instead of eager. He knew that if he wanted Dane on his side, he needed proof. He decided that he needed to talk to Walden.

After school, Ezra rushed to the police station, and he went into Ben’s office after the receptionist guided him there, only to find it empty. He wondered, before then, deciding, while he was there, to further question Giles. Ezra walked down the hallway, anxious to see him, until he opened his door, only to see him on his office chair, with his back facing him. It looked like he was sleeping, but just to be sure he slowly approached him. Just as he turned to look at him, he saw Giles, but to his horror, he was pale, he wasn’t moving, and there was a red spot of liquid on his coat, he was as still as corpse, and in matter of fact, he was one, he was dead. “No… No…” he said to himself at the horror of seeing the shot Giles. Just to confirm, he checked to see if he had a pulse, and unfortunately when he checked, there wasn’t one. He was gone, and it was the doing of a bullet. But Ezra noticed a strange piece of paper on his desk that said “three artifacts”, Ezra quickly pocketed the paper, before shouting out, “HELP! HELP!”

That night Detective Giles Pierre D’Amour was confirmed dead, and it was all over the papers the next morning. And also in that morning, Ben Walden arrested Muhammad under the charge of murder.

Ezra, who was in shock, could only think about Giles and what was written on the paper, ''three artifacts? what could that mean? ''he thought. Ezra then thought of a likely theory, ''maybe Butch had one of these artifacts before it was taken by Muhammad. Maybe that is why he is in Seattle… and the reason Muhammad is still here is to cover up the shooting. ''

Ezra decided that he needed to speak with Butch himself, who was now dismissed from the hospital and was back at his gun shop.

Characters

 * Ezra White
 * Ben Walden
 * Muhammad Praveen (indirect)
 * Giles Pierre-D’Amour (death)
 * Dane Young
 * Damon White
 * Unknown teacher