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August 23, 2021 North Kill Police Department Upstate New York, New York
CASSIDY DIDN'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT OFFICER COOPER. Who knows if the officer was a good guy? None of the policemen were good guys. Not even Ray Brandt. But Ray was better than most of them by default. Bad cop was the façade that had spread like the plague for as long as Cassidy could remember. It had started with the former sheriff, Hank Brandt, and then overwrote Travis' personality, and it was like he infected the other police with it. In truth, that pretty much was what happened.
Cooper has a tight grip on Cassidy's arm—the non-bandaged one, and not too tight that it hurt him—as he leads him to a room.
The room was far too bright, the harsh light beaming down on him that he had to squint and shield his face with a hand.But the room itself felt really dark, eerie even. Save for the lighting. The analog clock ticked incessantly on the wall. And the continuous hum of the air conditioning wasn't doing anything to sooth him either. The walls were bare, a stark white in contrast to the muddy grey-painted concrete floors. The concrete was chipped in several places and there were long cracks throughout its entirety, some of the paint scraped off in places. A one-way mirror was embedded in the back wall. In the middle of the room was an old metal table that creaked when pressure was applied to it, a few screws in it were loose. From where he was standing, he could see a black tape recorder, a manila folder with various documents, a stack of papers, and a black ink ballpoint pen resting on an old steel table that looked about ready to collapse at any second. Two rusty metal chairs were positioned on either side of the table. The room was cold and had an off-putting vibe to it.
Cassidy hated creepy rooms.
Officer Cooper loosens his grip on Cassidy's arm as he leads him over to the table and pulls out the chair, expecting him to take a seat. As the officer takes a seat of his own, he reaches for the tape recorder and presses three of the buttons: record, play, and pause. Pause had been pressed first so that the recording wouldn't start yet.
Cassidy doesn't sit down, though. Not immediately.
"Cassidy," Officer Cooper is watching him shift nervously on his feet. "I need you to sit down so we can start."
The boy shakes his head, not moving from where he stood.
"You can't stand there all morning. We have business to attend to."
"Fine," Cassidy huffs in annoyance and sits down.
But before he even does anything else, he squeezes his eyes shut for just a moment, wanting so badly to clear his mind of everything that had happened from last night leading up to just earlier this morning. It all had happened in such a short timeframe, yet, in all honesty, it felt like it all happened as quick a second, when in reality, it was fourteen straight hours.
