After James got out of the shower and got dressed, he walked out to the living room to check on Laura to make sure that she was alright. He was surprised to find the cage empty.
After he saw this, James began to search the house, but couldn't find her anywhere, and his father was still asleep in his chair. It didn't occur to him at the time that he had gone into the shower, but remembered seeing the cage unlocked with Laura inside out of the corner of his eye.
James frantically went back into his room and quickly changed his clothes. He grabbed his wallet so that he would have his Driver's License on him since he was headed to the Police station.
Though James was walking fast, and even running at times, it still took him almost an hour to get to the nearest Police Station, which was a little over three miles away from his father's house.
James was not really looking for Laura, rather, he was heading to the Police Station to try to get his father arrested. James was taking the opportunity to get his father locked up so that he couldn't hurt anyone else.
By this time, Laura was slowly walking south along the interstate. James makes it to the Police Station and opens the door trying to catch his breathe.
"Can I help you?" A female officer said from behind the glass at the counter.
"Yes you can", James replied, still out of breathe.
"What can we do for you?" She asked.
"I need to press charges against my father, Robert", James said.
"OK. Can I see your Driver's License or some other form of identification?"
"Yes you can", James said, pulling out his wallet and then his Driver's License and handed it to her.
"Thank you. I'm going to run it to make sure everything checks out and to make sure there are no warrants out for your arrest, but if there were, you probably wouldn't be here, so I doubt there are any. If you can take a seat over there I'll bring this back to you in a few minutes."
"Thank you. Can I get some water? I need to catch my breathe."
"Certainly. Officer Wilson, will you get some water for him?"
"Of course. It'll only take a moment."
A minute later, Officer Wilson came out with a cup of water and handed it to James.
"Thank you sir."
"You're welcome. Call for me if you need more."
"Thank you. I will if necessary."
Two minutes later, Officer Davidson brought James' Driver's License back to him and said: "Here you are sir. Everything checks out and there are no warrants for your arrest. Officer Daniels will be out in about five minutes to go over the issue with your father."
"Thank you Officer Davidson."
"You're welcome sir."
Five minutes later, Officer Daniels comes out to meet James. "How are you sir?"
"I'm OK but I wish I were better."
"Why is that?" Officer Daniels asks.
"Well, I wish I didn't have to press charges against my father tonight", James replied.
"So you have to press charges against your father?"
"Unfortunately, I do sir."
"OK then. Let's step into this office right over here and get to work."
"Yes sir."
After sitting down, Officer Daniels asked: "Is there anything I can get you?"
"Another cup of water would be nice", James said.
"OK. I'll be right back with your water. I'll grab some for myself too while I'm at it."
"OK."
A moment later, Officer Daniels returned with the water. "OK. What's this about?"
"Well, my father abused me when I was a kid."
"OK. Was this ever reported to the police?"
"No because it happened after my mother died and no one else did anything about it and I was afraid of what he might do to me if I called y'all out to our house for it."
"OK. Is there anything else?"
"Yes. My mother was murdered, but the murderer was not found. By the police."
"I see. So this is a complicated matter."
"Yes sir. It is."
"So we never found the murderer?"
"Yes sir. That's what it was in the official report, but I know who is guilty."
"You do?"
"Yes sir. It was my father."
"Really?"
"Yes sir. He shot her in a drunk rage."
"OK. Let me write this all down."
"Yes sir."
"OK. Go ahead and continue."
"He has a lot of guns."
"OK. That's good to know."
"He drinks a lot of whiskey."
"OK. Is he drunk now?"
"As a matter of fact, he was passed out from drinking too much when I left to come here."
"OK. Do you think he needs medical attention?"
"I believe so. And if not much medical, he should definitely go to rehab."
"OK. Did you see him shoot her?"
"Yes I did. I wasn't that far away. He said for me not to say anything or I'll be next."
"Wow. That's sad."
"I know. And that's why he abused me. He wanted to control me so that I wouldn't say anything, and he kept threatening me."
"That's awful."
"I know it is."
"Is there anything else?"
"Yes. He forced me to help him kidnap a twelve year old girl. He said that If I didn't help him, he said he was going to shoot me."
"I see."
"Sir, I want you to know that I never wanted to do it and I am sorry. I didn't hurt her, though I did the dirty work in terms of using the chloroform and all, but I didn't hurt her. I tried to be nice to her, at least as nice as he would allow."
"OK. Go on."
My father had me put her in a diaper and buckle her into a booster seat in his SUV. Then, when we got to his house, he forced her into a dog crate, and when she didn't want to go in it, he smacked the back of her diaper once, hard. Then when she didn't want to come out of it, he dragged her out partially, smacked the back of her diaper even harder twenty times, and pulled her out the rest of the way. Then he told her to go into the cage he had for her, but she said no, so he takes he dress off and grabs his belt. He beats her a hundred times with the belt, doing it harder and harder as her crying got worse."
"Wow. That's awful."
"I know it is. He would beat her at least once or twice a day for the past month, sometimes three times."
"Wow. I can't imagine the pain that that little girl had to go through."
"I know. I wish I wasn't a part of it. He refused to give her food and water, so I would every time he was passed out. Food at night, and that was mainly things like pretzels, but water every time. I wanted to help her, but didn't want him to get the idea that I was so my helping her was low key. He even refused to have her diaper changed, which I gladly would have done, though he would have noticed."
"Well I thank you for your honesty. And should you get charged with kidnaping, I will make sure that they know that you gave us a lot of information, which should make your sentence shorter, should you get any."
"Thank you sir."
"You're welcome. Now can you tell where she's at so we can rescue her and where she is from so we can get her back to her folks?"
"She's from out of state and I do not know where she is."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes sir. She was in the cage when I went to take a shower, and when I came out, she was gone. Both times he was passed out and it didn't look like had woken up. Her dress and shoes were gone, and he never let her put her dress back on after that first beating. It had been left where he left it on the floor. The door to the cage is wide open. When I went to shower, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the door to the cage was unlocked. Whenever she was in it, the door was always locked. So he was so drunk that he forgot to lock it. She has escaped."
"OK. We will look for her if you can describe what she looks like."
"I don't want her identity to be exposed, so I can't tell you. If her identity is exposed, the media will eat this case up and I don't want the media. It's not for my own comfort, but for her own protection. Please worry about getting him locked up for the good of the people, including her and himself. Let's lock him up so that he won't hurt anyone again."
"OK. We will do that."
"Thank you. Here is his address. Y'all might want bullet proof vests and any other geer to protect you in case he starts shooting."
"OK. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Just please don't kill him. I want him to get better if possible."
"We'll try. It might turn out that we have to use deadly force for our own protection, but if we can, we will wound him and use sharp shooters to knock the gun out of his hand and rush in before he can get his gun or get another, and we will use our tazers as well."
"OK. Do what y'all have to do."