A little bit dangerous

Chapter 55 : Big check

Hopper took Jane to the police station and let her sleep in a cell. She didn't sleep, she spent her time crying on the bed; the young girl was inconsolable. Joyce visited her to see if she was hurt, but the wounds were not physicals. She tried to talk to her, but Jane didn't pronounce a word in her presence, or in Hopper's presence. The two adults were very worried for her, but the authority wanted to interrogate her to have information about Red Eagles' deals, business, crimes, and schemes in general, in exchange of a reduced jail sentence, even no jail sentence with a psychological follow-up and community services. They promised her that if she finished in jail, it wouldn't be Blackbirds. She had nothing to lose so she accepted. Joyce proposed to be the responsible adult for Jane as they were interrogating her aunt in another room. Hopper was standing in a corner, Joyce was sitting next to Jane, and two men from FBI were in front of them with piles of files.

- "We'll ask you some questions to evaluate your mental health, ok?" said softly a man.

- "'K," answered Jane.

The day had been long, Jane had to tell them what crimes were from Red Eagles, which one or ones of them did them, and why. Jane didn't know the real motivation of all those crimes except for having more territories, but she was sure some of them just loved being criminals, hurting people, seeing them suffering, to feel the power over their victims. She used to like it too.

- "We heard that you had to kill animals to become a Red Eagle, is it true?"

- "Yeah."

Joyce looked at Hopper who was as shocked as her, but not surprised.

- "What else did you have to do?"

- "Um...Watch videos," told Jane.

- "What kind of videos?"

- "Porn, torture, murder, rape...that's all."

Joyce tried to stay poker face, but inside herself she was terrified and furious by this. How people could force a young girl to watch these kinds of videos!? What was wrong with people!?

- "You couldn't refuse, I presume?"

- "I didn't know what I had to do before having to do it."

- "Ok," answered the man, taking notes. "What else?"

- "Um...I, I had to stay in a forest, alone, with nothing with me. I came back alone, they didn't look for me, they even look surprised to see that I survived. I got locked in a basement after that."

- "How long?"

- "I don't know, it was too long, I stopped counting."

- "Ok. How many tests did you pass?"

- "I don't know, several."

- "Which one was the worst for you?"

Jane didn't answer immediately. She was seeing again all the tests she had to do like watching someone being tortured, walking naked on the snow and then on burning rocks, fighting against a man taller and stronger than her, and all those kinds of things.

- "I, I don't know...I can't choose..."

- "It's ok, don't worry, we can talk about it later," reassured the man.

- "We could take a break, no?" proposed Hopper.

- "Sure, what about continuing tomorrow after a good night's sleep?" smiled the man.

- "Good idea."

The two men saluted them before leaving the room followed by Hopper who wanted to talk to them. Joyce was expecting Jane to quickly leave, but the young girl seemed paralyzed.

- "Are you ok?" asked softly the mother.

Jane lightly nodded.

- "Come on, let's take some air before you go back in your cell, ok?"

Joyce and Jane stood, went outside the police station, and sat on the edge of a window. Joyce gave a cigarette to the young girl and lighted it on. Jane took a deep puff before blowing the smoke with her nose. She should be relieved and happy, but she wasn't, she was feeling dead inside, unable to feel anything. She was wondering if she was doing the right thing.

Hopper came back and sat next to them.

- "They...they want to ask you some questions about Blackbirds."

- "I won't tell anything," answered Jane, shivering at the name.

- "They are investigating on the jail to definitively close it down."

- "I don't care. Find another sucker."

- "You have the night to think about it."

Jane finished her cigarette before going by herself in her cell. She had nowhere to go anyway. She tried to sleep, but her mind was full of questions about all the situation. She was wondering how she would get through this.

The next day, Jane didn't say anything about Blackbirds, not wanting more problems, which meant they finished early. Hopper and Joyce drove her back to her aunt's apartment.

- "If you need anything, you call me, ok?" told Joyce.

- "Or me," added Hopper.

Jane just nodded. Joyce placed a soft kiss on the young girl's cheek. The two adults went back in the car and left. Jane didn't go inside immediately, still lost in her thoughts. But she began to feel the people's looks on her, so she walked inside the building. When she entered her aunt's apartment, her boyfriend was still there.

- "Hey, how are you?" smiled Cassandra.

Jane shrugged.

- "You received a letter."

The woman pointed at the counter of the kitchen where all the letters were. Jane searched and found hers. When she opened it, she wasn't expecting that. It was a check of a high amount of dollars and a small paper with written "because you won" on it. There was no address on it, and she had no idea of who would have sent her so much money. What did she win? She didn't know.

- "What is it?" asked Cassandra from the couch.

- "Nothing important," mumbled Jane. "I'm tired, I'll go to sleep."

Jane took some food and disappeared in her bedroom. She didn't want all this money, it was useless, it wasn't what she needed. She was feeling so lonely right now that nothing could make her feel better. She would see later what to do.