Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Doubts

I don't know if you read this weekend's paper, doctor.Reports say they recovered some of the stolen items from the garage of the thief's home.In fact, it should be said to be his parents' garage.Anyway, I called the officer on my case and asked if there was anything mine.He said everything had been found by its owner.Later, I remembered a sentence in the report, saying that those thefts all happened at night. So why would a thief, especially a teenager, change his modus operandi and break into my house during the day?He also has good timing and knows when I'm out for a run, but why isn't he stealing?

I began to think about how the pervert planned to kidnap me. He calculated the time and kidnapped me when I was about to get off work on a hot summer day, because he knew that people were lazy at that time.The pervert also said that it was not easy for him to build the hut.He may have help... What if he had another accomplice? He may have a friend, or a brother who is also perverted. If I kill him, his friend or brother will definitely wait for the opportunity to retaliate.I thought the guy who broke into my house was there to see me leave.But what if he thought I was home and that's why he broke in?My car was parked in the driveway and it was early in the morning.But why did you wait so long to come to me?

By Monday, I was so driven crazy by my own thoughts that I decided to call Gary and ask if there was any possible accomplice to the psycho.These thoughts are like cancer—if you don't kill every single one of them, they will come back and form a bigger tumor.Gary's phone was off and I called the police and they said he was out and wouldn't be back until the weekend. I'm surprised he didn't tell me he was going out, and now, we talk on the phone a few times a week.He was always patient when I called and never said something stupid like "how can I help you?"Which is good because sometimes I don't know why I call him.In the beginning, I wasn't even aware of it.Every time I feel like my world is spinning out of control, I grab the phone in my hand.Sometimes, he can't even speak - thankfully his phone has caller ID and he knows it's me.He would wait a few seconds, and if I remained silent, he would give an update on my case.Then he would tell me some funny stories about their police until I felt better and hung up the phone. Sometimes, I didn't even say goodbye, just hung up the phone.One day, he had nothing to say, so he just talked about how to properly clean a gun, and finally, I let him go.Can't believe he's still willing to take my calls.

In the past few months, our phone conversations have been mainly conversations, not monologues. He never talks about his personal affairs, and there is a certain temperament about him that makes me afraid to ask.This is probably the reason why he left, to deal with some private matters.I guess, the police should also have a private life. After I chased the two policemen away in the interrogation room, I stayed alone for several hours, enough for me to turn over and count the cement cracks on the wall many times. I kept wondering whether they had notified my family. , who will come to talk to me?I took the backpack off, put it on my knees, and felt the rough fabric of the bag, and somehow this act gradually calmed me down.Among these pig-headed policemen, none of them asked me if I wanted to go to the toilet. Fortunately, I had been trained to bear it, and I didn't dare to stand up like that and go out to go to the toilet.

Finally, the door finally opened, and a man and a woman walked in, both very serious looking, both wearing dark suits—the man was wearing a very high-end suit.His hair is short and tan, with a lot of white hair. I guess he is in his early fifties, but just looking at his face, he looks like he is in his forties.He is over 1.85 meters tall, and he keeps his head up and chest out all the time, probably very proud of his height.He seemed firm and calm.If this guy was on the Titanic, he'd be the type to finish his coffee after hitting an iceberg. Our eyes met, and he walked up to me without haste and held out his hand.

"Hello, Anne, this is Detective Sergeant Kim Ki-duk of the Clayton Falls District Crime Unit." This guy doesn't look like Clayton Falls at all, and I don't know what a detective sheriff does, but he's obviously better than Joe Blonski and his minions.His handshake was strong, and I could feel the calluses on his palms when he took them away, and somehow I felt reassured. The policewoman who had been waiting at the door also walked towards me quickly.She was a little plump and plump, I think she was in her late fifties, close to sixty, and she had a nice figure in a dress and coat.Short hair, very clean, and I bet she's the kind of person who washes her pantyhose every night and wears a breast augmentation bra all the time.

She shook my hand and said with a slight Quebec accent, smiling, "I'm Corporal Bouchard. Nice to finally meet you in person, Anne." They sit across from me.The inspector sheriff's eyes looked towards the door, and the old man sheriff at the beginning was about to move a chair in. "From now on, we're in charge," Kim Ki-duk said, turning to Joe Blonsky, who was parked by the door with a chair. "Can you pour us some coffee?" Kim Ki-duk turned to look at me again.I managed to smile, the first sliver I'd had since my daughter died in infancy. They just called me Annie, like we were friends, but they didn't tell me my first name, just my surname.

"Can I see your business card?" I said.The two of them looked at each other.The man looked me in the eyes for a second, then pushed the card across the table.The woman did the same.The man's name is Gary and the woman's name is Diane.Gary spoke first. "Then, Annie, as I said, we are all from the Clayton Falls District Police Department's Major Crime Unit, and I am the investigation team leader of your case." It seems that my salary is quite high. "You don't look like someone from Clayton Falls," I said. He raised one eyebrow: "It doesn't look like it?" I didn't answer, he continued, "Wait a minute, a doctor will come. He wants to..."

"I don't need a doctor." We stared into each other's eyes for a moment.He started asking me some common questions again, like my birthday, where I live, what I do, and so on.My nervousness gradually disappeared. He started asking about my kidnapping, then stopped. "Annie, do you mind if we turn the camera on?" "I don't mind, Gary." He kept calling me Annie, which reminded me of the pervert, "and I don't want anyone looking at me behind that mirror." "I didn't mean to piss you off." He looked down, tilted his head to one side, and raised his blue-gray eyes to stare at me. "But it's our job policy, Anne."

It's not that easy to convince me.By escaping by myself, I have already helped him complete his work, and I have no plan to continue helping him.They all quieted down, and when I agreed, I didn't say anything. "Annie, what were you doing on August 4th last year." I don't even remember the date when I was kidnapped. "I don't know, Gary. But if you're asking about the day I disappeared, well, that was the day I was selling houses, and it was Sunday, the first weekend of the month. August fourth, I guess. My whereabouts that day can only be guessed by yourself."

"Don't you want me to call you Anne?" His tone was respectful, which caught me by surprise, and I scanned his face to see if he was playing me on purpose.But all I can find is sincerity across the face, which again makes me wonder if this is a ploy to gain my trust or something. "It's okay." I said. "What's your mother's middle name, Anne?" "She doesn't have a middle name." I leaned on the table and whispered exaggeratedly. "So, does that count as me passing your test?" I understand, they need to identify me, but they should have a picture of me, I know, maybe I'm not the same as I was a year ago.I'm skinny now, with messy hair and a sweat-stained dress. He finally asked me directly what was going on.I said, "The freak caught me in the house for sale. He later told me his name was David." I still wanted to explain, and Gary suddenly asked, "Where is he now?" "He's dead." They both stared at me nervously, but I decided not to continue until they answered my question. "Where are my family?" "We called your mom, she'll be here tomorrow," Gary said. I began to struggle with seeing my mother. I looked down at my backpack and counted the lines in the fabric.Why doesn't she come now?I've been here for hours.How far is Clayton from here?Aren't the two policemen here? "I want to know where I am." "Sorry," Gary said, "I thought you knew where you were, this is Port Norfide." "Can you point me to the map?" Gary nodded to Diane. Diane walked out of the room and came back with a map. Gary pointed to a small town in the northwest of the Clayton Falls area—about three-quarters of the way on Vancouver Island. , on the west coast.Generally, the roads in and out of these small towns are seldom traveled, and the road conditions are relatively poor, so driving may be time-consuming.I figured it was at least four hours from Clayton Falls. "How did you come so fast?" "Come by helicopter," Gary said.People in this town will probably be very excited to see the helicopter. It seems I was right, I'm not far from home.I looked at Gary's finger pointing at Port Norfed and blinked desperately, trying to hold back the tears. "And how did you get here?" Gary asked. "I came here by car." "Where did it come from?" He tapped his fingers on the table. "A hut on a hill." "How long have you been driving, Anne?" "About an hour." He nodded and pointed me to a mountain on the map that was near the town. "Is this here? Dashanshan?" Whoever came up with this name has no imagination at all. "I don't know. I'm on the mountain and I'm not looking down from the sky." He sent Diane to find a map of the town.Gary and I just sat there staring at each other until Diane came back and the only sound in the room was the sound of his feet slapping the floor.When Diane came back, Gary handed me a pen and asked me to draw the route I drove all the way here.I try my best to remember. "Can you take us there?" "I'm definitely not going back." Still clutching the keys to the van, I pushed it off the table to Gary. "The car is parked just across the street." He let Diane take the key and go out.She must have given the key to someone outside, because within two seconds, she was back.Suddenly, I remembered one thing.If I'm only four hours away from home, Mum can start now and be in Port Norfide tonight. "Why did it take so long for my mother to come?" "Your stepfather has to work tonight, and they won't leave until tomorrow morning." Gary said in a very normal tone, so, I guessed it might be true, but then I thought, why couldn't she drive first herself.Besides, when did Wayne work overtime at night?It is rare for him to even go to work.I guess Gary told them to come back the next day so he could interrogate me alone first. Gary greeted me and left the room, leaving me and Diane.I stared at the wall behind her head. "Your mother will be here soon. She is very happy to hear that you have been found. She misses you very much." They didn't find me, I found them. When Gary came back, he said he had sent for the cabin, and that one of the policemen used to hunt in that area and he might know where it was.I haven't told them I killed the pervert, and I haven't mentioned my kids, and the thought of the questions they might ask me is giving me a headache.I must be alone for a while.I have to leave these people. "I don't want to answer any more questions." Gary looked like he wanted to ask something more, but Diane said, "How about we all go get a good night's sleep and continue tomorrow morning? What do you think, Anne?" "Okay, whatever." They got me a room at the hotel, and the two of them slept on opposite sides of my room.Diane asked me if I wanted her company, and I said no immediately, because I didn't want to have long talks with her late at night.She asked me if I wanted something to eat, which I politely declined as I felt sick to my stomach.I didn't want to turn on the TV, and there was no phone in the room, so I just lay in bed and stared at the ceiling until it was getting dark and I turned the lights off.When I was about to fall asleep, I suddenly felt the darkness coming from all sides weigh heavily on me, and then I heard something—was the door creaking, or was the window being opened?I jumped out of bed, but when I turned on the light, there was nothing.I grabbed my pillow, grabbed a blanket and my backpack, climbed into the closet, and woke up intermittently in the morning to the sound of an attendant pushing a cleaning cart in the hallway. A few minutes later Diane knocked on my door, neatly dressed with coffee and cake.She sat on the edge of the bed, talking so loudly that it gave me a headache, and I ate the cake slowly.With her in the room, I didn't want to take a bath, so I just took a few handfuls of water, poured it on my face, and combed my hair casually. She drove me back to the interrogation room at the police station, where Gary was already sitting, with cups of coffee in front of him in Styrofoam cups.After Diane and I sat down, a young, pretty policewoman brought in stacks of papers, stole a flushed glance at him as she handed them to Gary.Gary thanked her, took a look at her, and then back to me.When the female policeman walked out, she looked very disappointed.Gary was wearing a different suit from yesterday, dark blue with silver pinstripes, and a blue-gray shirt underneath, to compliment his graying hair.I don't know if it's because of this that he chose this suit. Gary saw me staring at the big mirror and said, "There is no one over there, and we won't turn on the camera unless you agree." I hugged my backpack to my chest and stared at the mirror, Wish I could see through it. "Do you want to go and see for yourself?" This proposal of his surprised me.I looked at his face and decided he wasn't lying, so I didn't need to check.I shake my head. He asked me to describe how the pervert kidnapped me at the beginning, and he hoped that the more details I could give, the better.Every time he asked a question, he leaned back in his chair with his hands spread out on the table in front of him, and when I answered, he rested his arms on the table and leaned toward me, head tilted to one side. I tried to figure out how he asked the questions, but I couldn't guess what his next question would be, or even understand how the questions were connected.The back of my neck was already sweating. I recounted the day and how the freak kidnapped me. It made my mouth dry and my heart pounding, but I kept my cool until Gary told me that the police who checked the "crime scene" The dead body was found. "It looks like he's been hit on the head. Was that the cause of his death, Anne?" I watched them back and forth, hoping to see what they were thinking.Gary didn't sound like he was scolding me, but I could feel the tension in the room. It never occurred to me that some of my choices and actions would appear to outsiders.The room seemed very hot, and the strong scent of Diane's perfume filled the small space.I don't know how Gary would react if I spat on his nice suit.I looked up and looked into his eyes. "I killed him." Gary said: "At this time, I must remind you that you have the right to remain silent and that everything you say may be used as evidence in court. You have the right to have a lawyer and have a lawyer during our trial. Be there. If you can't afford a lawyer, we can apply for legal aid for you. Do you understand?" This passage sounds mechanical, and I don't think I'll be in trouble, but I'm still debating whether to get a lawyer after all.Then I thought, in this way, the whole process will be lengthened again, and I have to repeat my experience to another guy in a suit and tie, so forget it. "I see." "Don't you want a lawyer?" His tone was casual, but I knew he didn't want me to find a lawyer. "No." Gary took notes: "How did you kill him?" "I took the ax to the back of his head." I could swear I heard my own voice echo, and even though the room was damn hot, I was getting goosebumps.Gary stares at me like he's trying to figure out what I'm thinking while I'm busy breaking my Styrofoam cup to pieces. "Did he hit you at the time?" "No." "Then why did you kill him, Anne?" I looked up and looked into his eyes.Damn, what kind of stupid question is this? "Well, probably because he kidnapped me, beat me, raped me almost every night, and..." I stopped, I didn't want to talk about my kids yet. "Do you want to talk to Bouchard about this alone?" Gary waited for my answer, his expression serious. I looked at them and just wanted to wipe the look of sympathy off Diane's face.I knew that I would rather face Gary's serious and equal attitude than see Diane pity me. I shook my head, and Gary took notes again.Then he moved towards me, so close I could smell the coffee in his mouth. "When did you kill him?" His voice was calm, but definitely not gentle. "A few days ago." "Why didn't you leave right away?" "I can't go." "Why? Are you locked up?" Gary tilted his head and tapped his fingers on the table. "No." I just wanted to stand up and leave the room, but the determination in his voice made me dare not move. "Then why can't you leave?" "I'm looking for something." A pang of anger started to well up in my chest. "what?" I feel colder all over my body, and Gary's figure is gradually blurring in my eyes. "We found a basket," he said, "and some baby clothes." The broken electric fan above my head turned and turned, making a creaking sound. I thought for a minute, wondering if it would fall and hit me on the head.There were no windows in the room, and I couldn't even take a deep breath of fresh air. "Have you a child, Anne?" My head was throbbing.I can't cry. "Is there a baby, Annie?" This Gary, he just couldn't shut up. "No." "Did you ever have a child, Anne?" "yes." "Where is the child now?" "She... my darling. Dead." "I'm sorry, Anne." His voice was still soft and deep.It sounds sincere. "This is really unfortunate. How did your child die?" He was the first to offer my condolences.The first to think her death mattered.I stare at the Styrofoam cups on the table that have been torn into small pieces.I answered his question with a voice that didn't feel like my own. "She just... I don't know." Gary asked in a calm, very gentle voice, "Where's her body, Anne?" The strange voice answered him again: "When I woke up, he was holding his daughter. The daughter was dead. I don't know where he took her. He refused to tell me. I searched everywhere. I've searched everywhere. You can search too, okay? Please, can you find her, can you..." I couldn't go on. Gary tensed up, he gritted his teeth, his face started to turn red, and his hand on the table was clenched into a fist, as if he was about to hit someone.At first, I thought he was mad at me, then I realized, he was hating the pervert.Under the fluorescent lamp, Diane's eyes were shining brightly.Suddenly, I felt that the walls on all sides were pressing towards me.I was sweating and I wanted to cry but I couldn't even breathe, it was stuck in my throat and I felt like I was suffocating.I stand up, the whole room is spinning before my eyes, I drop the backpack, grab the back of the chair, and the chair starts to fall sideways.There was a buzzing in my ears. Diane rushed to my side and helped me to lie down on the floor slowly. She put my head on her chest and put her arms around my body.The harder I inhale, the tighter my throat becomes.I thought, I'm going to die on this cold floor. I cried and gasped, trying to push Diane's hand away and struggle out of her arms, but the harder I tried, the tighter she hugged.I heard the screams and realized that it was me who screamed, not someone else.I didn't have the energy to stop screaming, the sound bounced off the wall and echoed in my head. I vomited my morning coffee and cake all over me and Diane.She still hasn't let me go.With my head resting on her chest, I smelled something like warm vanilla biscuits.Gary was crouching in front of both of us, talking something I couldn't hear.Diane hugged me and rocked me gently. I wanted to struggle, to control myself, but my brain and body just wouldn't cooperate.I just lay there, sobbing and screaming. The screaming finally stopped, I felt so cold, everyone's voice seemed to be coming from far, far away.Diane whispered, "Everything will be all right, Anne...you are safe now." Nonsense.I wanted to tell her that I would never be better, never be safe, and when I opened my mouth to speak, my lips seemed to freeze.Then another group of people came and stood next to Gary and looked at me.A voice said, "She's out of breath. Annie, this is Dr. Berg. Try to take a deep breath." But I couldn't.Then, I don't remember anything.