Justin smiled and I knew he was starting to relax. His whole posture, which was rigid when he came in, was slightly loosening. “Please, call me Justin.”
Sighing, I sat back in my chair so he didn’t think I was nervous, despite the fact my heart was drumming. I knew I had the guard in here if anything went wrong, but it still didn’t help alleviate the anxiety. At the end of the day, this man in front of me abducted a little girl and held her hostage for nineteen years.
“Thank you, Justin. Please, call me Cassie.” I matched his smile, but all I could think about was how I wanted to empty my stomach contents right about now. “Would you mind me asking you a few questions?” I saw him stiffen and I thought I may have lost him.
“It depends on what they are. I’ve had numerous people ask me questions.”
“I just wanted to ask about Molly and Caroline. I want an insight into the kind of life you all led as a family.”
Justin chuckled, but kept his eyes on the floor. “That’s a first. I was expecting, ‘Why did you do it?’.”
“Do you want to tell me why?” If he wanted to be open about it, I wasn’t going to stop him. It was better to get to the point rather than beat around the bush.
“I like your original question better.”
Oh, goodie. Beating around the bush it is then.
“Okay, so would you mind discussing it? I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, Justin. That’s not why I’m here.”
“Then why are you here?” His face said it all. He was bored with all the questions, bored with being here and, now that his family had been taken away, bored with life.
“Think of me as a Family Liaison Officer. I have every single one of your best interests at heart, Justin. I just want to make life easier for you all. Being apart from each other can’t be easy.”
His eyes filled with tears, and I saw the despair oozing out of them. I just couldn’t understand it. I wanted to, though. I really wanted to get to the heart of what’s been going on.
“We’ve never been apart. Not one single day. I’ve been going out of my mind with worry.” Justin slid his hands through his hair and gripped it with all his might. The rocking soon started.
“As I expect you would. See, I’m not the enemy here, Justin. I want to help.”
His rocking instantly stopped. He pulled his hands away to glare at me. “Why would you want to help a monster like me?”
I reared back in shock. I wasn’t expecting that. “Is that what you consider yourself to be—a monster?”
“Of course I am! I took Molly away from her family, from her twin.”
Seeing the anguish in his eyes made me want to ask him why? Why would he have done this knowing it was wrong? But I didn’t want to lose him when we had gotten this far. He was opening up and I didn’t want him to shut down again.
“Was this how you felt at the time, Justin? Was this how you felt nineteen years ago?”
“Of course it was! How could I not? You don’t understand. Nobody understands.”
I couldn’t believe the absolute horror in his eyes at my query. It still didn’t answer the one burning question here. The question on everybody’s lips.
“Then make me understand, Justin.”
Watching his every move, I saw a hint of doubt in his eyes. For a moment, I thought he was going to tell me, but then he laughed sarcastically and shook his head. “You know, you almost had me for a moment there. You’re good. I’ll give you that. Much better than these other wannabes who have flown through here.”
This man was frustrating as hell. What on earth was his problem? Did he have some kind of Jekyll and Hyde syndrome I didn’t know about? He was sweet one minute, talking about his daughter, then he would fly off the handle the next.
“How would you feel if it was your daughter who had been taken away, Justin?”
I saw his nostrils flare and I knew I had hit a nerve. He edged forward in his seat, fire in his eyes. The guard reacted instantly. I held my hand up. “It’s okay. I’m not going to lunge at him.” The guard chuckled at my joke.
Justin frowned, anger momentarily forgotten. “You’re very strange.”
Despite my nerves, I was beginning to relax. Hearing him call me strange had the laughter out before I could stop it. We were sitting here because he took a little girl, and I’m the one that’s weird?!
“Believe me, Justin. You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
I shook my head. “It’s just a joke.”
“I don’t find you talking about my daughter being taken away as a joke. I don’t find being kept away from her now a joke.”