HIM

chapter 28: Truth

After Emma and Jack left, me and Porter got together to talk things over about the case. “We need to call her parents, let them know she’s okay. Well physically.” Porter said walking up to me. “Emma said she doesn't want her parents to know.” I said, “It’s protocol. We can’t not follow it just because of an opinion.” Porter said.
“Shouldn’t we find out why she doesn't want her parents to know?” I asked, starting to get confused. She sighed and nodded. We’ll call her back here, and ask her some questions.” Porter said walking to her desk.
“Just her.” She said before sitting down.

I called Jack to bring Emma down to answer some follow up questions. He dropped her off, then I guided her to the back. “Thank you for coming in, again.” she nodded, then sat down. “I just wanted to ask you some questions, involving your home and school life.” She nodded again.
“Okay, now how is your home life?” I said as I studied her body language. “Fine.” She said quickly, “And your school life?” She thought for a moment. “Fine.” I nodded, “Any issues at home or school?” She shook her head ‘no’. “Why didn’t you want us or the hospital to call your parents and let them know?” I saw her eyes change. “No reason.” She said, lying.

“You sure?” I did not entirely want to push her. She nodded again. “Well, you’ll have to go home at some point, and legally we have to call your parents to inform them. Okay?” She nodded again. “How’s your relationship with your dad?” I felt the energy in the room shift. “Fine.”
“And your brother?” I said, “Fine.” I nodded, letting her know I was done.
“Alright, you can go.” She nodded again, and got up and practically jogged out of the room. What is she hiding? What happened to her?

“Did you get anything?” Porter said. “She seems like she is hiding something. I’d say talk to the dad, brother, and mother, see if Emma would’ve disclosed to her about anything, Also talk to the friend, Abby; Maybe Emma told her something.” I finished. Porter nodded and we got to work, again.

I contacted Abby, and had her come down to the station. When she got there, she looked confused. “Hi, I’m detective Hughes; please have a seat.” She did,”What am I here for?” She seemed out  of it. “I called you down here to answer some questions about Emma.” I saw her face light up, yet become worried. “Did you find her? Is she Okay?” she kept on with the questions. “Yes she is fine, and more like she found us. She had help from Jack.”
“What happened?” She asked in panic. “She was taken from a party by Rick Sanchez.” I said, “Now It isn’t my place to tell you what happened, but I just wanted to ask you your point of view on things.” she nodded and I began asking questions.

“What happened the night of the party?” She hesitated for a moment.
“She was worried about Jack being there, so I told her to stay by me; she took off so I went with my boyfriend, and we went upstairs.” I took notes of everything. “What do you know about Emma’s school life?”
“She was normal, I mean she was quiet but she always has been. She’s more chill with a book. She hated going out on friday nights, so I took her to the party to relax.”  I nodded. “And what about her home life?”
“Her home life, I’m not sure, she never really told me anything. She never liked talking about her home life.”

“Any particular reason why?” I asked “I never asked.” I nodded
“You can go, I’ll call you if I have any more questions.” She nodded again.
I called Emma’s parents. When they came in they looked worried, but something was going on. “Right this way” I said and guided them to the room. “Sir you can go with that detective over there while I talk to her.”
He nodded. “So ma’am, I just want to start off by saying we found Emma, she was taken from the party by a schoolmate. He brutally beat, sexually assaulted, and brutally raped her, repeatedly.”  I saw her facial expressions change.
“H-He what” I said it again.

“Some people noticed her behavior, and think that allegedly this isn’t her first time with sexual encounters.” Her facial expression changed, letting me know that she had no clue about what I had just said. “Were you unaware of these alleged encounters?” She waits a moment. “I-I had no idea. She wasn’t really close to me” I nodded. “How is her relationship with her father and brother?”
“Fine, I guess, I haven’t noticed anything.” I started taking notes again. “Is Emma in a relationship?” She thought for a moment. “To my knowledge, no, She dated this boy, Jack Mclean. They dated for three years, then broke up a few months ago.” I nodded.
“Did you report her missing?” I said, “No, I thought she was staying with Abby.” I nodded. “Alright, That’s all for now, thank you. When Emma does get home, she may want time to herself, so don’t push her to tell you everything, just give her time.” I said before getting up, and opening the door. She got up and left with her husband. He looked calm, and she  looked worried. “Did he say anything?”
“No, he said he didn’t know anything. He said he wasn’t really close with her. She mainly stayed to herself. The brother didn’t know anything either. And the sister just wanted to know she’s okay.” I nodded.