“No, Timothy. I want to know what happened. Heather, what happened, baby. You can tell me, I swear you can tell me,” her voice is pitchy. “Please, it can’t be worse than me dreaming that I was going to find your body on the side of the road.”
Officer Howard takes control of the situation and places a hand on my mom’s shoulder. “I think we should take this into a separate room, away from knowing eyes, if you know what I mean, Governor Thomas,” Howard is professional when addressing my father. “Sheriff, I don’t know your department. Please, direct us where we need to go.”
“Absolutely,” the pot-bellied Sheriff Teizer pulls up his pants by the belt and stretches out his arm. “Right this way. Heather, it is good to see you back home.”
I cross my arms over my waist and look down, my face heating when he comes to the conclusion about what happened to me. Is it written all over my face?
Is that what people are always going to think of me? That I’m a rape victim? Great. I wonder how long that’s going to last.
Maybe I need to move to another town.
“Everyone all over the country has been looking for you, Heather,” Sheriff says as he opens the door to one of the interrogation rooms.
Well, scratch the moving part. I won’t be going anywhere.
I turn my body to the right and squeeze by him, making sure I don’t touch his big stomach, but it’s impossible since he sticks out further than Santa. I understand why he is the Santa Clause every Christmas now at the local mall.
Officer Howard pulls out a chair for me and my mom and she grabs onto my hand, bringing it her mouth to give me a kiss. “I’m so glad you’re back. I was so scared,” she gets choked up again and turns away. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. It’s a very emotional day,” Officer Howard takes control, and the Sheriff doesn’t seem to care. He is leaning up against the two-way mirror, waiting
for something to happen. I don’t know what, but it’s making me uncomfortable.
“Can’t we go home?” I lean in and whisper to my dad, who has bags under his eyes from sleepless nights. “All I want to do is go home.”
“Absolutely. We don’t have to stay here. Especially, when they haven’t given us a reason.” He slides out my mom’s chair and helps me up from mine.
“Woah, now. You guys can’t leave. I need Heather to give a statement and tell me what happened.” Sheriff finally pulls out a piece of paper and a pen and Officer Howard rolls his eyes and hands over a tape recorder.
“So she doesn’t have to go through this again. I made a copy for you. Now, can she go home? She’s been through enough, as you will hear on the tape recorder.”
“I’m sorry, but she needs to confirm what’s on the recorder. I want you to get home as soon as you can, and we need a medical exam—”
“She’s already had that done and the doctor has sent everything to your fax machine and to the hospital.”
My dad is impressed with Howard and sticks out his hand. “Are you the man that saved my little girl?” he asks.
I know that this is where the lies come in. I can’t say where I’ve been for Asher’s sake. I deserve to give him his freedom that is more than well deserved. “He is. He saved me, dad. I don’t know what would have happened to me if he didn’t find me.” It isn’t a lie. I know he had Owen’s help, but Officer Howard helped so much. He led me away from the cabin, through the forest, and if I remember correctly, he carried me.
“I was just doing my job, sir,” Howard says, casually.
“Nonsense. Any officer who saves my daughter deserves a fucking promotion, a medal, name it, and it is yours.”
“Really, I’m content where I am.” He is hiding something. I know he wants to say what he wants, but he doesn’t want to take dad up on his offer.
“Well, I don’t believe you. We will talk later when my family is settled.” Dad’s hand lands on my shoulder, his gold wedding band shining in the bright light of the interrogation room.
“Okay, we are going to play the recorder now,” Sheriff Teizer says and not just dad, but mom too, narrows her eyes at him.
Dad can replace Teizer with a snap of a finger if he wanted.
“Just tell us if everything is accurate.”
“Okay, Sheriff Teizer.”
The button clicks and Officer Howard’s voice comes through first. “Are you Heather Thomas? The woman that has been missing for the last two months?”
“Yes,” I answer.