The Altercations With Distance

Day of the Dead

Casey was released from the hospital in the morning so she could have police escort her to the station so she could give her final interview. She was finally leaving. She was so close to freedom. All she had to do was this last thing and she was done. She could go home to the personalities and Baylor. That was Casey's mantra as she rode to the police station and when she arrived. "Just this last thing." She whispered to herself under her breath. "Before I can go home."

Clark and Richards were waiting in the interrogation room when she was escorted inside. It was the same one she was in when she saw Claire's and Marcia's fathers all those months ago. She was beyond pissed at that meeting. Now, she had to play the part of a sullen woman who just lost her child. It wasn't a hard role to play, but one slip up could cost her her freedom.

"Good morning." Clark greeted her. Casey sat down in the chair across from them and scoffed. 

"What could possibly be good about this morning?" She asked, taking note of the camera filming their session. Clark was going to respond that she would be leaving in a few hours with $27,000, but decided it would be best to stay quiet. 

"I'm sorry. Let's begin, shall we?" 

Casey shrugged. Clark cleared his throat and spoke to the camera, but kept his eyes on Casey. "Today is November 2nd, about 10:00am and Detectives Clark and Richards are doing an exit interview of Casey Cooke." Casey kept her eyes on the desk and away from the camera. She didn't want to make a mistake of looking at it too much. Might look suspicious.

"We're going to ask you a bit about what happened to you before you ran away and the... event that happened two days ago." Clark told her. 

"The event?" Casey asked, glaring at him. "You call the kidnapping of my child an event? Have you even tried looking for him? Or did you just write him off?" Clark bit his lip to keep from yelling back at her. Richards saw this and took over the interview.

"We have our finest detectives looking for your baby, okay? No one has written him off. I promise." Casey looked over at Richards and saw him give a little nod of his head for her to speak.

"Okay." She muttered. 

"Now. The day of Claire's birthday party, can you tell me a bit about that day?" Casey thought over what she originally told Clark to make sure her story would line up. 

"Um, I went to her party to get away from my uncle who previously raped me the night before. I stayed there until the end of the party and was going to catch a bus home when Claire's dad offered to drive me home."

She took a pause as if to remember that day. A day she considered to be one of the best days of her life. "We got in the car while Claire's dad put stuff away. I was in the passenger seat and they were in the back. We didn't know anything was wrong until a man with a mask got in the car." 

Casey sniffled a few days before she continued. "He knocked out Claire and Marcia by banging their heads with something, maybe like a tire iron. I don't know for sure."

And neither did the police. The car was never found. "He turned to me and looked almost shocked that I was there. I was going to beg him not to kill me, but I didn't see a point. What did I have to to alive for? I told him to kill me then so I wouldn't have to be stuck with Claire and Marcia wherever he took us. I couldn't see anything because of the mask, but I think he felt sorry for me."