He reaches up and grips the back of my neck tightly, forcing me to look at him. “Ain’t nothin’ gonna get to you. I know this shit is hard, but you’ve gotta tell me everything. If your sister’s dead, where’s the body? Why are you in the woods? Where are these guys? Why did they kill Suzie?”
With as much control as I can muster, I replay the events of yesterday and my night in the woods. He doesn’t move, only listens intently as if his own life depends on it.
After a few phone calls, Tank looks at me sadly.
“Sit. Roundman is callin’ the cops for us. He’s gettin’ us some guys we can trust. You’ve gotta tell them what’s goin’ on. Then I’ve gotta get you to the clubhouse to put you on lockdown. Do you need to go to the hospital”—he pauses raising an eyebrow at me—“and … umm … get checked?”
“I’m okay. Just scrapes. They didn’t catch me. My sister, though.” I start to sob again.
It doesn’t take long before there are a number of different law enforcement vehicles parked around me. I’m a little staggered to see the Cape Carteret Police Department, the Carteret County Sheriff’s Department, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation all there, not to mention an ambulance and a fire truck. I know the fire department is there because they are first responders and have joined the search for Suzie’s body. What upsets me the most, though, is that the ambulance is there to check up on me. I would give anything for them to be there to take care of my sister because she was still alive.
An agent with the state starts questioning me with his partner. Typically, I would have to go to the station for this, but given my state of unease and the Hellions pull, we go over as much as we can from the car.
The detective Tank knows personally is crouched in front of the back of the patrol car’s open door where I sit on the back seat. They are all patient and kind as I am carefully questioned about the men I saw and the events that took place. Something about this tenderness only makes me want to fall apart that much more.
A half hour after they all arrive while I am again telling the detectives what happened, loud shouts sound from the woods. Radios suddenly crackle and bark with activity. It takes the sad look on one of the detective’s faces to figure out what has happened.
They found Suzie’s body.
I have told them three times now exactly what happened, how I used the tracking app to find my sister in the woods and how she died tied to the tree, naked and tortured. I know they have to ask me so many times because they need to make sure I’m telling the truth, but if we don’t stop talking about this soon, I’m going to fall apart in a way no one will ever be able to piece me back together again.
All conversation stops as the medical examiners leave their truck, carrying a long, black body bag toward the woods. I didn’t think it was possible, but my heart shatters all over again at the implications of that bag. Apparently in all my running around, some of it was in circles. With where I ended up so close to my sister’s body, I’m thankful I wasn’t found.
They are going to get my little sister’s body, and I will never be able to tell her I love her again.
“The hospital will most likely do an autopsy and toxicology. After they complete those procedures, they will want to know which funeral home to release the body to,” the detective says softly.
My head spins with everything: funeral home, toxicology, autopsy. The words bounce around in my mind like a ping pong ball. I never in a million years thought I would have to associate any of those words with my sister. She is gone and there is no getting her back.
I don’t get to say good-bye. I don’t get to hug her just one more time. I don’t get to hear her laugh, her voice, and more than anything, I don’t even know why.
Tank looks at me once all questioning is done and I am free to go. “This ain’t what you’re gonna wanna hear, Des. You’ve gotta let your parents take your sister back to Raeford. Let them handle it. These guys will be waiting for you to make the arrangements. We’ve gotta keep you safe.”
I nod my head yet don’t speak. I understand what he is telling me, but it doesn’t make it any easier to hear. I’m still processing the fact that my sister is dead, much less trying to even consider arrangements. He’s right, but it doesn’t make anything about this situation easier to handle.