Thirty-Seven
Poppy
Isat in the back ofthe ambulance while they checked my vitals again, making sure I was okay.Other than some bruising and a few scratches, everything checked out, and I was given the all-clear on the health side.The FBI was still waiting to talk to me, which wasn’t surprising.
I had no idea it was them who had stormed into the cabin when I passed out, but I woke up to Patrick’s friend, Keith, carrying me out of harm's way.I quickly learned that Paco was Officer Hughes’ father and that he had been dating Lisa, which was how everyone was involved.In addition to the accounts Dale had opened under my name in Coyote Creek, he’d opened several others in nearby towns as well.The FBI had been monitoring all of them, including the ones I had transferred money out of earlier.
Paco, Lisa, and Officer Hughes had all been arrested and were taken to jail, while Keith stayed with me.While I had no idea about any of the stuff Dale was involved with, I was still the prime suspect in his death, and there were numerous people who wanted to question me.I knew this would be a long, drawn-out process while they attempted to gather information, but I no longer felt like I had anything to hide.
“Can you tell us about what happened the night you left?”a male FBI agent asked as Keith sat beside me.There were a few agents in the room with us, along with the Silver Falls police chief, and a few people in regular clothes, that I didn’t know who they were.
“Dale had been drinking and demanded sex from me.I said no, and he attacked me,” I answered, holding my hands in my lap to keep from fidgeting.
“What did you do when he attacked you?”
“I fought back the best I could.”
“How so?”
“I grabbed a frying pan and hit him in the head with it several times before he fell to the ground.Once he was a safe distance away, I left,” I answered, knowing that I was still telling a lie.
Some secrets would go to the grave with me, no matter what it cost me to protect them.
“Where did you go when you left?”
“I walked until I reached the highway, then I saw a semi-truck approaching and asked for a ride.”
“Do you have the name of the truck driver?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head.“He didn’t ask for my information, and I didn’t ask for his.I just wanted to get as far away from my husband as possible.He said he was heading west, so I accepted the ride to Silver Falls.”
The male FBI agent looked to another agent before nodding.
“It didn’t bother you to take a ride from a strange man you didn’t know, given what you’d gone through with your husband?”
I knew where he was going with that, and my stomach soured.I pulled my shoulders back and sat tall as I answered him with every ounce of fire that continued to flow through me when I thought about what I had survived already.
“No.It didn’t bother me because I knew that there were no options if I wanted to live.If I had stayed in Coyote Creek, Dale would have killed me.I was more than willing to take my chances with a man I didn’t know and riskeverythingto get to safety because my life depended on it.I didn’t have the luxury of waiting for someone else to come along and save me.I only had myself.”
The agent wrote something down and then looked up at me, staring into my eyes with an intensity that felt like he was looking into my soul.
