Gone ✹ Jaspar

Three

"What am I doing here?" I asked desperately. "I need to be out there, finding the fucked up monsters who killed my daughter!"

"Joe... Calm down," The officer said.

"Why am I here?" I asked again.

"Look... We have evidence that suggests both kids have been killed."

"I already know that.."

"I know, but..." He hesitated to say anything.

"What? Are you suggesting I killed my own daughter? I haven't seen her since she went missing!" I tried to stand and storm out, but my arms were handcuffed to the table. "Let me go!"

/

"Can you bring in Phil?" The officer said, sticking his head out of the door. "Thank you.. Come on in, Philip."

"Phil?" I looked into the blue eyes of my friend, who shook with fear. "You don't think I...."

"I don't know what to believe.." Phil cowered into the corner of the room, sitting with his knees up.

"We found the weapon.... a blood splattered shirt, that was identified as yours, and Emma's bracelet in the bushes at the local park... We understand you often taken your sons there?"

"Yes, but I would never kill my own child!"

"Joe, just listen to the officer!" Phil said, tearing rushing down his face.

"Is this... or is this not, your shirt?" He pulled out an evidence bag containing a shirt, then with his latex gloves, pulled it out of the bag.

"I didn't kill Emma or Dillon...." I cried.

"Is this your shirt?" He asked again.

"Yes!" I yelled. "For fucks sake! I didn't kill them!"

"Joe... I'm going to need you to calm down. Some of our men found the hideout of where the kids were being held... It was at your childhood home, in an old shed. They found a body.."

"I didn't kill them.. I swear.." I looked into the officer's eyes, feeling enraged. The one thing I've hated more than being a scapegoat, was being accused of being a terrible father. It was bad enough I hated myself, but now my friends....family..... Caspar... They'd find out or already have found out that I was here, at the police department, being detained for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"We are working on identifying the body.. But until then, you don't look very innocent.. Until you can prove otherwise, Joseph Lee.. You have the right to remain silent..." He continued to repeat my rights he'd already said when I was first caught.

/

What am I doing here.... Sitting in a holding cell with actual felons? I'm innocent! I'm a father, and I would never kill my own child, or my friends' child....

"What are you in for?" A woman asked, sitting on a bench in the cell.

"I'm being set up...." I felt tears drip from my eyes.

"Wait... You're that ThatcherJoe guy... Right?"

"Yeah..." I rubbed my eyes. "My daughter was kidnapped about six months ago..."

"Then why are you in here?" A man asked.

"The cops think I killed her, and Dillon Lester.. Dan and Phil's kid..." I sighed. "They apparently found a bloody shirt and a weapon, but they found a body.... It's hard to identify.."

"I was protecting my family...." The woman said. "A man walked in, trying to hurt me and my kids, so I stabbed him.."

"You were just protecting your family... I was trying to find my last member of my family..." I said. "I have a husband, and two sons... If my husband even wants me around anymore.."