Page 13 of Her Last Whisper

Before she could knock, there was a buzz and the door unlocked. Stepping inside, the floor was a buzz of activity with several detectives talking animatedly about the latest bust, and Alana talking alone with a uniformed deputy.

“Oh, Detective Scott,” she said as she caught Katie’s attention. “Go on down to the second door on the right.” She gestured and then resumed her conversation.

In front of a closed door decorated with a cheaply made name plate—Detective Sergeant David Petersen—she took a deep breath and knocked.

“Come in,” stated a deep voice within.

Inside, she found a thin man with dark hair sparsely covering the top of his head hunched over a pile of paperwork. His tie and jacket were draped over the only other chair in the office.

“Detective Petersen?” said Katie.

“Yes,” he said never looking up. “What can I do for you?”

She hesitantly closed the door, leaving a couple of inches cracked open. Taking another step closer to the desk she said, “I’m Detective Katie Scott. It’s nice to meet you.”

Still the detective didn’t look up.

“I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about one of your cases—which is now a cold case.”

“Shoot,” he said.

“Well,” she began, contemplating how to balance her need for answers with a level of polite respect.

Detective Petersen finally looked up and stared at Katie. “What’s on your mind, Ms. Scott?”

Katie noted that he didn’t address her as detective and decided to dive straight in.

“Do you remember a case from six months back involving a woman named Amanda Payton?”

“Payton,” he echoed, searching his memory. “Oh, of course, the woman that reported that she had been kidnapped and held against her will; then she managed to escape.”

“Yes,” she said.

“What do you want to know? The reports are self-explanatory.”

“Well, for starters, I noticed there weren’t any background checks run on Ms. Payton, and I wanted to know why.”

“Didn’t need it. We looked into her claim, which was unfounded, and then she retracted her statement. End of case.”

“Yes, but the evidence…”

“I know you’ve got the glamorous job combing through our old cold cases, but you’re going to have to realize that some cases don’t warrant further investigation. There are more cases, current cases with real evidence, that need our attention.”

“Why is this a cold case, and not a closed one?”

“No cooperation from the victim. We can’t investigate unless we can talk to the victim. It’s cold in the hope that maybe one day she’ll change her mind.”

Katie chose her words carefully as she changed tack. “Detective, what was your impression of her condition? Did you not feel the bruising on her wrists and ankles added significant weight to her story?”

He let out a loud sigh. “Look, if someone—a victim or not—doesn’t want to work with the police there’s nothing more that can be done—unless they change their mind or if solid evidence comes to light. We did our due diligence. If your look through the case finds otherwise, then so be it.”

“Due diligence? That’s interesting. I thought we were here to help people and keep them safe? Did you ever think that maybe she’s terrified that the person who abducted her is going to return? Capture her again, or worse, kill her this time? Did you ever think that she’s devastated that no one believes her?”

He looked up at her with disdain. “Was there anything else you wanted to know about the case, Ms. Scott? Otherwise I’d like to get back to solvingrealcrimes withreliablewitnesses.”

“No, I have everything I need. Thank you, Detective, for yourprecioustime.”

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