Follow Me Back (complete first draft of the published book)

Chapter 8: The Interrogation (Fragment 2)

Chapter 8: The Interrogation (Fragment 2)

February 20, 2014, 8:17 PM
Case #: 124.678.21-001
OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTION OF POLICE INTERVIEW

~~START PAGE 1~~

INVESTIGATOR: Ms. Hart, I'm Lieutenant Charles Foster. This is Detective Terence Newman. For the record, today is February 20, 2014 at 8:17 PM. This interview is being recorded.

TESSA HART: OK.

INVESTIGATOR: Thank you for your cooperation. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable before we begin?

HART: No. Wait. Yes. I need my therapist. Dr. Laura Regan. Can someone call her? I really need her.

INVESTIGATOR: Terry can you look into that? [pause...] OK, Ms. Hart. Can I call you Tessa?

HART: I really need her. This is the first day I left my house in, like, a year.

INVESTIGATOR: I understand. We're working on locating Dr. Regan for you. In the meantime, Tessa, I can't help you until you answer some questions for me first.

HART: I'll try.

INVESTIGATOR: Thank you. Please state your full name, birthdate and occupation for the record.

HART: Tessa Lynn Hart. April 3, 1994. I'm 19.

INVESTIGATOR: Occupation?

HART: Um. I don't know. Not applicable?

INVESTIGATOR: Can we say unemployed?

HART: Right. Unemployed.

INVESTIGATOR: Thank you, Tessa. Would it be possible for me to take a look at your phone right now?

HART: Go ahead.

INVESTIGATOR: Great [unintelligible]. OK. Can you tell me what this is here?

HART: That's my twitter.

INVESTIGATOR: Thank you. Can I open this?

HART: Yes.

INVESTIGATOR: Could you please describe your twitter activity for me? When did you first set up this account?

HART: Back in high school. Junior year. But then I changed the username when I dropped out of college. That was last May.

INVESTIGATOR: May 2013?

HART: Right. After [unintelligible]. After what happened. I deleted a lot of my old tweets then, too.

INVESTIGATOR: We'd like to take a look at your direct messages with the account in question, if you don't mind. Do I have your permission to read through this?

HART: Go ahead. It doesn't matter.

INVESTIGATOR: The first message is time-stamped August 12, 2013 at 10:18 AM. Does that sound about right to you?

HART: I guess so. August.

INVESTIGATOR: Tessa?

HART: Sorry. I'm just trying to think. I remember Scott came to see me that morning. He was just about to start his second year of college. So yeah. August.

INVESTIGATOR: Scott?

HART: My ex-boyfriend.

INVESTIGATOR: I'm going to need his last name, if you don't mind.

HART: Bundy. Scott Bundy.

INVESTIGATOR: And when was the last time you saw Scott?

HART: I don't-I don't know. I'm not sure, exactly.

INVESTIGATOR: OK, Tessa. We can come back to it. Let's finish discussing your twitter activity. Do you recall if you had any other correspondence with this individual before the first direct message on August 12?

HART: Just a few tweets back and forth. He followed me first. I followed him back. I didn't even realize it was a guy at first. Taylor. I assumed that was a girl's name. I should have ended it when I realized it was a boy. I mean, should have ended it after that first message probably. Do you see what he said? It was awful. I don't know why I didn't just mute him after that. I was trying to be social. For therapy. I have agoraphobia. I was supposed to work on being social and interacting with different people. But I didn't realize who-who it was. I should have blocked him. I should have deactivated the account. I should have deactivated back when I left school. I'm so stupid [unintelligible].

INVESTIGATOR: Tessa?

HART: I'm so dumb. I'm so stupid.I can't believe I didn't realize.

INVESTIGATOR: Are you OK, Tessa?

HART: I'm really cold. I need to go home now. You don't understand. I need my therapist.  I need to go home.

~~END PAGE 1 of TRANSCRIPT~~

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