The Kidnapper's Wife

70. After

"That's the funny thing, I didn't even have to." Connor looks almost sad as he says it, almost like he's disappointed in Anna. "She suggested the idea to me. She said she had to get away from her parents and she wanted to be with me. She wanted to run away."

Connor looks down, "I even pretended to hesitate at first. To test her, I guess. But she begged me to help her, and finally I 'relented' and said I would work on preparing somewhere for us to go. Come up with a plan."

I nod. "But really you'd had a plan for months. Years even maybe."

Connor doesn't say anything in response, just stares at me in silent affirmation.

"So walk me through it. Walk me through the escape, your plan. I want to know all of it. I need to know."

Connor looks like he is considering whether to protest or not, but finally he seems to concede for the moment and he opens his mouth to speak again.

"Jade, I need you to understand something."

"Okay..."

"This conversation is being recorded."

"Yeah..."

"My lawyer has gotten my previous "confession" invalidated."

I'm not sure where he's going with this.

"My lawyer thinks we have a pretty good case. I didn't kidnap Anna, she convinced me to run away with her."

I look at him contemptuously, "And what about after that. All the things you did afterward. With Anna. To Anna."

"Well, theres no proof of those things is there? I have admitted to running away with Anna. To getting the cabin. But who's to say I ever stayed there with her? The police found the DNA of other unidentified males at the cabin. Who's to say that they didn't stay there with Anna. That they didn't do things to Anna. Maybe I just helped Anna when she called me."

"And what exactly, does your story claim you were doing instead of hanging with dear Anna for four months then?"

"I was hiding out of course. I knew the police would think I had taken Anna. But I couldn't risk them finding her and returning her to an abusive situation. So, I helped her the best way I could. By laying low and hiding out. I admit that Anna kissed me. That I cared about her, more than I should have. But not that I ever did anything further."

Connor pauses, reading my face. "Theres another structure on the property. A cabin. Completely livable. Where all my things were found. And my DNA is everywhere. That's where I was living."

I don't believe him for a second. And what's more I can tell he doesn't want me to believe him. He's looking at me with an imploring expression, as if he's asking me to help him here. But help him with what? I think I might know.

"So you say there was another man."

"Or men. I really don't know all the details of Anna's life."

"Right so er, these other...men. Did Anna ever mention some of the things that they did to her? Her experience with them?"

"She may have. It's possible that I knew that things were getting...out of hand with this other man...that their relationship was deteriorating. But of course I couldn't do anything. This man was...large. I couldn't go to the police. What choice did I have but to let him do what he wanted with Anna. I didn't want him to hurt me."

"Of course." I say, fully aware that there is no other man, and that we are talking about Connor.

"So can we go back for a second though. Tell me about how you and Anna got to the cabin. The whole 'escape plan.'"

"Sure." Connor seems more relaxed now. I think he can tell we're on the same page, both in full understanding of what we're talking about, without giving away Connor's case. I have no desire to help him uphold his lies, but I know he won't tell me what I need to know any other way.

"Well, a lot of it I'm sure you know. That morning, I drove a few blocks away from Anna's house, and instead of getting on the school bus, she came to my car. I hoped it would be a while before anyone noticed I was missing. I couldn't alert work that I was going to be gone, because they always send those leave confirmations to my personal email, and I was afraid you would see it. So I knew they would become suspicious but I hoped it would take a while for them to notice. I figured it didn't matter much anyway because Anna not showing up to school would be noticed pretty fast. I knew the school had a policy of calling home to anyone who didn't show up."

I've stopped guarding my face for the moment. All these logistics don't bother me as much as the emotionally charged parts of the story.

"We started driving, but in the wrong direction. I knew we would be caught on surveillance cameras, and I wanted to throw the police off. So I drove to a spot that I knew was exactly one tank of gas from the junkyard I planned on stopping with Anna. Then I filled up, and drove straight there. I hoped they wouldn't find out about our trip to the junkyard for a few days since they'd be looking in the wrong places. I hoped it would buy us time."

"When we got to the junkyard, I had Anna drop me off at a state park nearby, and go make the exchange alone. I figured it was safer if we weren't spotted together at least."

"Anna made the trade and came back and picked me up. Then I drove us straight to the cabin. I had already set the cabin up for months of living without needing to venture out for supplies. I had so much food. Enough for years probably. And all the essentials. I dropped Anna off at the house and then I went to another junkyard about an hour and a half away and dropped off the car at a different junkyard. I took a bus as close as I could get to the cabin, and then walked several miles back. I didn't want to take any chances they could trace us."

"I figured if they found the second car, they'd look near the junkyard I dropped it at. If they somehow figured out I wasn't there, the likelihood of them finding out that i'd taken the bus, and which buses I had taken, seemed low. And even if they did that, there would be a relatively large radius of forested area I could have disappeared to."

Connor stops to take a deep breath. "So then there we were. You saw the pictures of the cabin. Or the "bunker" as the press is referring to it. There were two bedrooms, I made sure of that. Even if Anna and I had needed to stay in the same cabin, I wanted to make sure we each had our own separate rooms, so there would be no confusion about how we were living. After I had prepared Anna's room, I cleaned it thoroughly and then I never, ever entered it. They never found any of my DNA there. I wanted it to be clear, she had her own space, and her own escape from me. The door locked after all."

"Then there was the living room. Dining room. Kitchen. I had removed all of the knives and put them in a locked cabinet. This wasn't so I would be safe from Anna. This was so Anna would be safe from herself. Anna had told me many times about her suicide attempts. I didn't want to take any chances. So anything dangerous was locked. I wore the keys on a locked chain around my neck. The keys to the chain were buried somewhere in the forest that only I knew. I made sure Anna could never hurt herself."

I look at him in disgust again. I know he's lying. He didn't do anything to protect Anna. It was pretty clear from his history that he could care less if he hurt the young girls he preyed on. He hid the weapons so Anna couldn't get him. So she couldn't escape. I stare at him evenly before I ask my next question.

"And what about the chain they found in the house? The long chain with foot cuffs and the hand cuffs they also found? What were those for?"