Sunday March 7, 2021 10:30am

The attorney, a Mr. Douglas Brown, just left. He told me to answer every question they asked me as truthfully as possible. He said not to leave anything out or add anything in. Just tell them straight.

And Mr. Brown wasn't the only one who came this morning; everyone who had to testify was pretty much there. There was my Mom, Detectives Ryan and Esposito were there, Captain Gates, a couple of the uniforms that assisted Mom sometimes, Lanie was there…

It was quite the gathering, really. Mom said she had to testify as a cop, not as my Mom, because she was part of the team that rescued me. Rescued doesn't seem the right word, but it's all I can think of right now. Anyway, Javi and Kevin have to talk about how and where they found me, then the background on all the kidnappers, including the blonde one.

They talked about it a bit today, but I only heard parts of it; Mom and Dad sent me out of the room. I don't know why, I'm going to hear it all tomorrow anyway, but I guess they're just trying to protect me.

Lanie has to talk about my injuries and how I got them. The Captain has to tell them about the rescue and all the evidence they found against the men. The officers have to say what they saw and did to back up the detectives.

And I have to tell them everything.

X

There was a ring at the doorbell, and Evie sat up straight in her seat. She knew it was the attorney, and she felt her mother's arm tightened around her as her father went for the door.

She watched the two men shake hands, as Rick allowed him inside, followed closely by Javi and Kevin. Evie hadn't known they were coming, giving a small nod of her head back at their painful attempts at a smile. It was a grim morning, in Evie's opinion, and she didn't particularly care for it to go on much longer, but they were yet to start.

Captain Gates, Lanie and a couple more officers arrived only moments later, and they all convened in the living room, Evie sat snug between her parents, the rest of their company scattered around armchairs and sofas.

"Right, well, I suppose we had better start then," Mr. Brown coughed, slapping a file down on the table and pulling it open. On top was a headshot of the blonde man.

Evie looked away, down at the floor by Kevin's feet; there weren't any eyes staring back at her down there. While she was looking the other way, Mr. Brown slid the picture to the back of the file, pulling out the photos of the two brown-haired men and laying them side by side.

"Evie," he started, her eyes looking cautiously back to the table, "these are the two men on trial."

Looking at them in photos, Evie noticed they looked quite more similar to one another than she had thought. They looked almost harmless in their pictures, but Evie knew they were anything but.

"They are Jason and Rufus Keusemann," Mr. Brown continued, "they're brothers who are well known guns for hire."

Kate felt her daughter stiffen in her seat, pulling her just half an inch closer, secretly hoping she would never venture much further away than that.

"What did they want with me?" Evie said, her voice small, shaky.

"They're just the henchmen," Captain Gates explained, "the one who organized this was the blonde man, Martin Wylam."

Evie had only seen Captain Gates a few times before; she was a hard, professional woman, who Evie suspected was much softer around the edges than she let on.

"We think they weren't really after you, exactly," Kevin piped up, looking between the worried looks on the faces of Rick and Kate, to the frightened one of Evie, "Wylam needed money to flee; he was a wanted man in twelve states –"

"What's that got to do with me?" Evie demanded, looking from Kevin back to the two photos on the table, "Or these two? If the blonde man needed money, how could he hire them?"

"They were old friends," Javi said, "they were all in the service together in '05 and '06. They owed him a favor."

Evie sat back, thinking for a moment; how does a man who fights for his country suddenly become one of the most wanted criminals in the US? Well, maybe not most wanted, but definitely sought after.

"The Keusemanns were hesitant," Mr. Brown continued, "they knew why Wylam was on the run, what he had done before."

"What had he done before?" Evie asked, and she was uncomfortably surprised at the silence she was met with. Every adult looked amongst each other worriedly, most of them silently questioning whether they should share their knowledge with the young girl.

Before they could decide, Evie heard the quiet voice of her mother beside her.

"He was wanted for juvenile attacks, manslaughter and murder," Kate said quickly, her eyes adamantly content on Evie's.

The young girl felt a sudden wave of terror, for having been so close to him, a wave of sorrow, for all the children who hadn't survived as she had, and then of relief, that he was gone from the world. Still, it did not erase the things he had done, the lives and families he had destroyed. Evie felt almost angry at the thought, but she was forced to put such thought aside, as her mother gave a gentle nudge from her left.

"So you see, Miss Castle," Captain Gates murmured, "despite what you have been through, you are quite lucky."

"Lucky?" Rick exclaimed, standing up in anger, pacing the space between the coffee table and the sofa, "How on earth is she lucky?"

"Rick, sit down," Kate murmured, reaching past Evie to tug gently on his shirt. He looked back at her, eyes wild, but at the same time he was hurting. He sat down slowly, giving a silent nod of apology to Captain Gates and the others in the room.

Evie knew what Captain Gates meant; yes, she had been hurt, tortured, probably killed eventually, but she wasn't murdered. She had been able to come home to her mother and father and brothers.

"What we have to do now is worry about these two," Mr. Brown said, pointing to the Keusemann brothers, "although they are only accessories to Wylam's abuse, they carried out the kidnapping. So, Evie, I need for you to explain exactly what happened when you were kidnapped. Not while you were captive, just how you came to be so."

He added the last part for the fear that had suddenly erupted in her eyes. Mr. Brown, of course, knew a majority of what had happened, as did most of those in the room, as they were part of the investigation. That didn't mean that Evie was ready to tell it.

"Umm, well, I was running along Broome Street," she started, "and I was almost at my building, only a couple of doors down across the street, and then I was stopped. Arms grabbed me around the middle and lifted me up, while I was shouting for Mom –"

"And Kate, you recall this?" Mr. Brown asked, to which Kate nodded, "Right, go on, Evie."

"And then he ran down the alleyway and into a door carrying me, with the other one running ahead to hold the door open," Evie explained, "and when they got there, the one holding me threw me into the room, and then they slammed the door shut. That's the last thing I remember, because I must have hit my head when they threw me. I think there was a wall behind me…"

"So you were physically harmed by the brown-haired men?" Mr. Brown asked.

Evie nodded, "Though I couldn't say which one. It was dark, and they're too similar."

"It's alright, we know which one actually grabbed you," Kevin assured, a small smile on his face.

"And from then on, Evie," Mr. Brown began cautiously, "just a simple yes or no will do, was it only the blonde man you saw?"

With a slow nod, Evie was met with a mix of both relief and frustration, though she wasn't sure why.

"Okay, Evie, well, that's all we need from you at the moment," Mr. Brown said, "thank you."

There was a chorus of thank you's from the rest of the room, as Kate slowly stood up, gesturing for Evie to follow her. Slowly, amidst quiet chattering behind them, Kate led her daughter upstairs, knowing that the boys would probably be close by, eavesdropping.

"Okay, Evie, we're all going to have a talk downstairs about some of things the rest of us have to say," Kate explained, so you and the boys can wait up here. We'll be done very soon, then we can go to Grandpa's."

Evie didn't say anything, only nodded, reaching forward to clamp herself around her mother's waist. Tearfully, Kate pulled Evie close, not daring to let her go for at least another good minute. She could feel the heaving sobs of the overwhelmed girl, and Kate wished more than anything she could make it all go away. It pained her to see Evie, a normally composed and confident girl, like this.

"Okay, go and keep yourself occupied, we'll be done soon, okay?" Kate repeated, slowly releasing Evie and letting her walk slowly off to her bedroom.

X

We're going to Grandpa's now. I stayed in my room while they finished the meeting downstairs, and it seemed to take forever, but it was only about 20 minutes. The boys came in and asked what was going to happen, and I said I didn't know. Well, I don't, because it hasn't happened yet.

I hope that they go to prison for a long time. Not just for what they did to me, but also because I'm sure they will have done plenty of other bad things in their time.

As well, I kinda wish the blonde man, Martin Wylam, I wish he was captured rather than killed. I think he got the easy way out, if you ask me, being killed. Now he doesn't have to rot in prison, or pay for all that he has taken from people.

But most of all, I wish this were over.

X

Sorry for the delay, had my head muddle by Christmas nonsense! I would have done a Christmas chapter here, but since it's March, I don't suppose it would fit in too well!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Kayla x