Page 35 of Love Undecided
Chapter 14
Kat
We begin by tracking down the detective on the Sofia Carter case - Detective Benson. He's a smallish odd-looking man, like if the actor, Steve Buscemi, had strawberry blonde hair and a mustache, but looked more like a woman. He fills us in on what's happened so far, his voice too unsure and effeminate to carry much authority.
"The, uh, abduction happened when she was on her way home from school. At... Uh..." Benson consults his notes. "Sail Point Middle School. Uh. Less than three blocks from her house."
"Was she alone?" Bauer asks at the same time I ask, "How'd he do it?"
He looks back and forth between the two of us, unsure who to answer first.
So, I ask, "Was she alone?"
Just as Bauer asks, "How'd he do it?"
I backhand him in the stomach. "Stop!"
His stomach is hard and firm.
Sigh.
"Tell us what happened," I say to Benson.
"Well," Benson begins, "she and two of her friends all walk home together. They, uh, live on the same street. So, every day they walk home together, Sofia and one of the other girls both stay at the third girl's house. And that's because, uh, her mom works from home. So, they, uh, do homework or whatever until their own parents get home."
"Is this your first case or something? How did you get assigned?" Bauer asks, obviously annoyed.
I smile at Benson in what I hope is a reassuring manner, nodding at him to continue.
"He makes me nervous," Benson says, motioning to Bauer. "Can't I just talk to you?"
"How did you even get through the fucking academy?" Bauer practically yells at him.
I turn to Bauer.
"Go away." I point down the hallway toward a few benches that line the walls. He glares at me. For a minute, I think he's not going to do what I ask. But then he turns and stomps down the hall.
I smile at Benson again, reaching out to touch his arm as I ask him to continue.
His voice much firmer now. "Per Sofia's two friends, a man in a police uniform, driving a plain white car, pulled up beside them, got out of the car and walked up to the girls." He pantomimes the moves as he speaks. "He pointed to Sofia and said, 'Sofia Carter, you are under arrest, I need to take you in to the police station.’”
“Sofia started crying and said she didn't do anything. Then asked why he was arresting her, but the man just said, 'you know why'."
Benson attempts to deepen his voice for the male part of the conversation and raise his voice when he speaks as Sofia. I have to stifle a laugh.
"He handcuffed her, put her in the back of the car, and drove off. The other two girls ran to tell the mom at home what happened. She called Mrs. Carter first, who didn't know anything about it, then the precinct to find out what was going on.
“Meanwhile, Mrs. Carter, went immediately to the precinct, the desk officer told her that we would never arrest a minor without a parent present. And that there was nothing in the system regarding Sofia Carter. So, Mrs. Carter reported Sofia missing.
“An Amber Alert was issued immediately. We found Sofia's phone a few blocks from her house, the screen cracked. I'm guessing it was tossed from the car so we couldn't use GPS to track her."
"What about the other girls?" I ask. “Were they able to give us any useful information?"
Benson shakes his head. "The other two girls couldn't definitively tell anyone what the man looked like. One said he had brown hair and the other said he had blonde hair. Both were certain he was wearing a police uniform, a police hat, and sunglasses. And both were certain it was a white car that looked like a police car without blue and red lights on the top.
“This is the card for the first responders,” he says, handing me a business card. “In case you have any additional questions. I know he filed a report too. There shouldn’t be any more information than what I’ve given you, but there might be.”
I thank Benson and look down at the card he gave me.
