Thanks so much for all of your reviews! I know this took a while, but it is much longer! This gets a little heavy toward the end, anyway here you go…
Horatio watched as Calleigh walked into the side room off the interview room, he really wasn't sure about letting her watch, surely it served no purpose, she was just reopening healing wounds, she shouldn't be reliving it. He also admitted that if he was her then he would want to watch, that was the only reason he had agreed, he did understand her need for closure.
"H!" Eric said walking up to him as he was about to enter the interview room.
"Eric," Horatio replied.
"What are you doing? Have you seen Calleigh?"
"I'm about to interview Jack Halford and Calleigh's in there," Horatio pointed toward the door.
"Are you sure that's a good idea H? I mean surely she shouldn't see that, she doesn't need that," Eric argued.
"She insisted," Horatio explained, "I'm not over-keen on the idea either but it's what she wants."
"Can I come in?" Eric asked, "I want to help you with the interview."
"Eric I'm not sure that's a very good idea, you're too emotionally involved, I'll get Frank."
"Please Horatio, I won't do anything, just let me in on the interview."
"Ok," Horatio said slowly, "don't do anything you'll regret, please, otherwise you're out and I'll get Frank in."
"Thanks H," Eric said, following him into the room.
Calleigh looked at Jack sat there, he looked pleased with himself, he was just as she always remembered, smug and cocky, she was still scared of him, she knew that was stupid he couldn't hurt her any more, it was irrational but she couldn't help feeling it. Calleigh watched as Horatio and Eric entered the room, she really hadn't wanted Eric to be there, it was going to be humiliating enough with just Horatio but at least he had professional detachment, and he wouldn't tell anyone. She didn't think that Eric would tell anyone, it was more the fact that she'd let him in so much, told him secrets she'd kept her life, this would mean him finding out more about what happened, only she couldn't decide what he knew and what he didn't that was all in Halford's hands. She watched as Horatio and Eric sat down opposite Halford.
"Mr Halford, would you like to explain what you were doing in the house that was raided last week, the one in which your friend Kenwall Robinson died," Horatio started.
"I was helping Duke, he said he had a problem and he needed help sorting it, I didn't know what it was until I met him at the house, he already had the girl."
"You mean Laura?"
"Yes."
"What did you do when you found out about her?"
"I told him to let her go," Halford explained.
'Yeah right!' Calleigh thought watching, she knew Halford was just as bad if not worse than her father.
"And what did he say to that?" Horatio asked.
"He refused, he told me to ring his daughter and get her to come round."
"And you did this?"
"Well, yes, what was I supposed to do?"
"Well if you really didn't want to be there you could have called the police," Horatio said.
"No I couldn't, you don't understand!" Halford said.
"What don't I understand?" Horatio asked.
"Duke told me that he still had some videos we made of Calleigh Robinson when she was younger, I'm in them, and he said that if I didn't help him he'd hand them to the police."
"Why would he do that? It would incriminate himself as well and besides we already have copies of the videos Mr Halford."
"You've watched them?" Halford asked.
"Some," Eric replied, he hated thinking about what he had seen those videos, it made him feel sick every time he thought about them. The pictures still spun around his head, the knowledge of what Calleigh had been through made him want to rip the man sitting in front of him to pieces.
"Oh, I didn't want to do that, I didn't… they made me," Halford said.
"I don't think so," Eric butted in just as Horatio was about to speak, "we've seen them Mr Halford, you enjoyed what you did, so just do something decent for once in your life and admit it."
"Ok, I did that back then, but I didn't know about this Laura until I went to that house, I swear."
"You're a paedophile Jack, what's changed? Why should I believe you? How do I know you didn't take Laura and plan all of this? After all we saw what you're capable of on the videos." Horatio asked.
"I changed; I'm not like that anymore." Jack argued.
"When we came into that house, your pants were around your ankles, you expect me to believe you have changed at all! I think you're just the same sick, evil twisted bastard you ever were!" Eric said.
"She wanted me to do it! She was begging for it!" Halford screamed.
Calleigh was pleased by his outburst; it meant he was still in there, the Jack she remembered. He wasn't going to talk his way out of this, he was starting to admit it, it was as if now they had to believe what she had said, this was proof she wasn't making it up. She knew that this was crazy, they'd seen the videos, they'd found her in that bedroom, Eric had met her father, there was no way they could not believe her, it was just that now no one was arguing with her, no one was denying it ever happened.
"No Mr Halford," Horatio started, "she did not want it, neither of them wanted what you did to them."
"I never would have done anything, Duke seemed to guess that I wanted to years ago, he invited me around one day, I didn't know why, but I went anyway, when I got there Calleigh Robinson was there and Duke told me to do what I liked with her."
"That's not excuse!" Eric shouted, "You did it! Only an animal would think to do some of the things you did to her!"
Horatio was beginning to worry about Eric, he seemed to be close to exploding, he hoped he didn't do something stupid.
"But if Duke had never invited me round I would never have done anything, he said he did it all the time, I asked what his wife said, and he just said that she didn't know anything about it. At first it was weird, but we had all day, we took it in turns at first, you should have seen the look on her face, she was loving it!"
"You bastard!" Eric was trying so hard not to hit this man, Halford was pushing and pushing, goading him, he was trying to resist, he didn't want to play into this guys hands even though Halford's words were acid in his ears. He knew Calleigh was watching and really hoped she wouldn't, he hated to think of her watching this on her own, he wanted to be there for her, but he wanted to be here too, so he just stayed where he was.
Calleigh was going crazy, the lies he was coming out with! She couldn't believe it, he had hurt her so much, it was as if it had all been a game to him, like she was his toy.
Jack continued "it got better, he started inviting other people around, we had the whole day to play with her, taking it in turns or all at once, she'd argue at first, but by midday she just took anything. Duke was great, some men don't let you do oral or anal with their little girls but he was up for anything, he'd let us hire her out, we could take her anywhere, do anything, as long as we paid by the hour and returned her on time."
"You're sick!" Horatio said
Calleigh wanted this to stop, as much as she didn't want to watch this she couldn't help herself. This was what she didn't want Eric to hear, she didn't want him to understand how humiliating it had been for her, Halford was making her sound like a prostitute and she hated that, it made her feel dirty, like she had done something wrong, she had felt like that for years until she began to realise that it hadn't been her fault.
"You made videos of it! What kind of sicko thinks to do something like that?" Eric said.
"Well that was the best bit, he sold us the videos and then we could relive it whenever we wanted, we didn't even need to be with her. Technically, that probably worked out better for her anyway."
"How'd you figure?" Horatio asked.
"Well we had to do it once and relive it as many times as we liked, if we had actually done it that many times she would have never slept," Halford replied smiling.
Calleigh hated that logic, whilst they were watching it on videos, she was reliving every minute of it in her head everyday, they hadn't really saved her from anything, just caused her the humiliation of making the videos and distributing them among themselves for them to watch at their leisure. The videos that had now been found and shown to the people she cared about, the people she was Calleigh Duquesne in front of, they had seen the shame and humiliation of Calleigh Robinson, it wasn't what she wanted, she had become these two people on purpose, she hated Calleigh Robinson with a passion, she was Calleigh Duquesne now, strong, independent and proud of it.
"Anyway," Horatio said, wanting to change the subject, he also hated to think of Calleigh watching this, "Laura, you say you didn't plan on doing anything to her, yet what? She was just there so you thought you would anyway?"
"Well, Yeah," Jack replied, "I didn't know she was going to be there, and then when Duke said to call Calleigh I did, it'd been a long time since I saw her but despite her age she's still looking great. Then she turned up, we were going to have some fun, for old times sake, you know what I mean?"
Eric was struggling not to seriously injure this man, he hated him so much, the way he spoke about Calleigh as if she was a possession that could just be passed around between his friends.
"Then what happened?" Horatio asked, he wanted to get this interview over with, he didn't want to give this guy any more time than he deserved.
"She turned up, we knocked her about a bit, it was the only way to stop her fighting back, it never used to be so hard when she was younger, then we dragged her upstairs and tied her to the bed. I didn't know the plan I assumed we'd fuck her like we used to, but then her and her dad started arguing and he said to bring the girl in so Calleigh could watch whilst we did her. Calleigh begged us to hurt her instead of the girl, it was quite sweet really especially seeing as she'd never met the girl before in her life. Next thing I know Duke's dead and you guys are in there dragging us all out. I never meant for any of this to happen, I mean it's not like I planned it."
"Kind of convenient to blame it on a dead man isn't it?" Horatio asked.
"But it's true!" Jack pleaded.
"I don't care, you've confessed, it doesn't matter who planned it, with everything we've got against you, you'll never see the light of day as a free man again." Horatio said, "you will be charged with the recent assault, kidnap and attempted rape, the possession of child pornography and the case against you for sexually abusing Miss Duquesne will be reviewed by the DA as it was so long ago, but believe me you will be punished."
"So this is it then, it's over?" Jack said, somehow under whelmed by it.
"Yes it is," Horatio said, "I hope you get a taste of your own medicine where you're going."
"Whatever!" Jack said, "I've had my fun." He looked at Eric, who really wanted to kill the guy and said, "you're fucking her aren't you? I can tell by the look in your eyes."
Eric was so taken aback by the question he didn't even think to answer.
"I know you are," Jack said, "here's a tip for you," he leaned over and whispered something in Eric's ear.
Eric lost it and jumped over the table before anyone could stop him, it took Horatio and another two patrols to pull him off. Jack sat on the floor with his back against the wall and the two officers dragged him to standing, he was led out and Eric followed after him into the corridor.
Calleigh saw all of this and was angry with Eric for losing control but also with Horatio for pulling him off, she hated Jack, she wanted to see him punished. She walked out of the room and over to where Eric was leaving the interview room. She watched as Jack was led away, he turned and smiled at her, she just stared at him until she couldn't see him.
Eric walked over to her and put his arms around her, so glad that that was finally over, now they just had the funeral to deal with.
TBC…
Thanks for reading and please please review! I know it may have been a bit confusing and I'm sorry! I'll update as soon as possible!
