Memories of a Life That Never Happened

Chapter 105 - Are you a Virgin?

"So," Wando began, going back to his chair. "You say you were all alone in the middle of forest. Doing what again?" 

"For the fifth time, I was taking pictures," Mica said irritably. 

"Of plants?" 

"The landscape, yes." 

"Right. And where's that camera now?" 

"I don't know. I lost it." 

"You didn't have it with you when the rescue team found you?"  

"I don't remember having it, no." 

"You think that the person who captured you could have taken it?"  

Mica shrugged. "It's possible."  

"What would we see if we found that camera?" 

The computer fan started whirring loudly as if to note that this was a good question.  

"Photos of the pier, of the woods..." 

"Nothing more interesting?"  

Mica rubbed her knees and put on her most beatific face. "Not really." 

"Right. And then, you said-." Wando thumbed through the notebook where he had been taking notes. "You saw smoke, went in the direction of the Indian village and realized it was on fire." 

"That's right." 

"Hmm-hmm. Why did you decided to check the huts?" 

"I thought that maybe someone had started the fire by accident and was still trapped there." 

"And that's when you found-." His hand moved in circles, prompting Mica to continue. 

"Virginie. She was unconscious. I dragged her out and away from the fire." 

"And, again, you said you're sure you were alone."  

"I am." 

"Ok," Wando said and Mica could hardly believe it. "Then what?" 

"I started running back. To get help." 

"That's when you received a blow that knocked you unconscious," he said looking at where the bandage had been. Mica was glad he had seen it with his own eyes that time he visited her at the hospital. 

"Yes." 

Wando squinted one of his eyes and gave her a lopsided smile. A non-verbal statement that he did not buy it. "You never saw it coming?"  

"I think-." She hesitated for a moment, her hands fisted. "I was just really trying to get to the village." 

"What's the next thing you remember?" 

"The rescue team found me locked in an underground cage."  

"Are you a virgin, Ms. Ortiz?"  

The question was so unexpected that Mica flinched. Using her last name made it no less intrusive and inappropriate. Now she grasped why Escobar had to wait outside. 

"What does that have to do with anything?" she complained angrily. Where was he going with this?  

"It has everything to do with it. They found you without your panties, didn't they? You know what I think? I think there's something you're not telling me. And I believe it's because you're ashamed of it. I ask myself: what could you be hiding? You saved a girl's life, sure, but who did you save her from? More importantly, what else did you save her from, besides the fire?" 

Mica entwined her feet with the chair's aluminum feet. "Why don't you ask her?"  

"I will," the detective said, rubbing his chin. "The trouble is, she's from another country and her lawyer insists in doing everything by the book. So I'm asking you instead, since you're here." Wando leaned over the table, cocked his head and said, "Cooperating." 

"Look, I told you. I don't know what she was doing. If anyone else was there, I didn't see him. She was alone in the hut when I found her." 

"You're lying!" Detective Wando slammed the table and the pencil holder toppled, sending dull pencils rolling everywhere. "I think you did see who she was with. I think she was not alone in that hut. And you know what else?"  

Mica cringed, tried very hard to control her breathing. Underestimating Detective Wando was a big mistake. Was her story so flawed? It had sounded great each time she told and retold it to Escobar.  

Wando stood up, braced his hands on the desk to get closer. 

"I would not be surprised if you were inside that hut with her and whoever else." 

"What?"  

"Say it, girl... you were abused, weren't you?" Mica heard a sick joy in his voice. "It's ok. You can tell me." 

"What? No!" Mica shouted. 

The door burst open and a suited up man, thin and balding, barged in. Escobar came right behind him. 

"That'll be enough," said the man, catching Wando in the heat of the moment.  

The detective's mouth salivated at the prospect of a confession and he refused to stop.  

"Help me catch him, Mica. He won't be able to hurt you. He burnt your house, didn't he? He was afraid you would tell me. He's scared. People do terrible things when they're scared. Help me put him in jail." 

"I said that's enough!" 

The man was probably Wando's boss, because the detective gave his chair a hard kick that sent it flying across the room, but the questions stopped.  

"Thank you very much for your cooperation, Miss Ortiz," the intruder said, helping her out of the room a little too eagerly before locking himself in with Wando. People stared at them in the corridor. It had been quite a scene and inside Wando's office, the discussion was still on progress. 

The minute the door shut, Escobar's eyes scrutinized her. 

"What did you tell him?" he whispered.  

There was no trace of anger left. Only tension.  

"What we agreed," she said quietly. "Why did they let me go?" 

"I called Nicholas," Escobar confessed. "I didn't know what else to do. I told him they were pressuring you and ten minutes later the sheriff came out of his office, steaming like a teapot and... well, you saw what happened next." 

Mica felt as if a bus had ran over her. Twice. Her head was spinning and she needed a vacation from her vacation. 

"Now what?" she asked.  

"We are going to get your mom. Ready?" 

"Sure I am!"  

"You should practice that smile then, because you are supposed to be thrilled to go to Switzerland. Remember?" 

"Well," Mica said. "This is it! If I can fool Mom, I'll fool everyone."