Sylvie

Raising one of her long eyebrows, Casey smiled nervously at the gentleman. “Why?  I already said I have nothing to declare.  I should be going on my way, right?”  Concern glossed over her brown eyes when two guards came over and pointed her in the direction of a small door.

“This way, Miss Rivers.”  One of the guards offered and obtained her passport from the worker.

Lightheaded from the double bourbon she’d had less than an hour before, Casey was unwilling to press the issue with the two guards and opted to call her attorney instead. “Please pick up…pick up.” Escorted through the pine door, Casey sat down in a plastic and metallic chair as instructed just as her attorney answered.

“H…hello?”  A groggy voice came over the speaker.

Casey spoke up quickly, “Doug.  It’s Casey Rivers.  I don’t know how much time I have.  I am going to make it as fast as I can.”  Casey took a deep breath and explained exactly what happened and waited for him to respond.

“Obviously, say nothing.”  He yawned and let out a groan. “The guard didn’t stop you from making the call, so that means it could be nothing.  I will wait and listen in.”

Five minutes passed before an athletic woman with short brown hair came into the office. “Thank you, I have her at this point.”

Casey sat quietly as the guard left and the woman in a ladies suit and skirt took a seat in a swivel chair across from her. “Doug.  Wake up.”  Casey heard her attorney groan and affirm that he was once again awake.

Flipping out her credentials complete with a bright silver badge, the woman spoke. “Ellie Miller, FBI.  Glad to finally meet you Miss Rivers.”  Ellie offered her badge to Casey to observe.

“It’s alright, I wouldn’t know if it is fake or not.”  Casey pointed to the open line on her phone. “I have my attorney Douglas Dunbar listening in.

“That is certainly your right.”  Ellie typed a few things on the terminal and showed it to Casey. “I had a flag to hold you upon landing.  I have just cleared it.”  Ellie handed Casey back the passport.

“So why is my client being held, Agent Miller?”  Doug sleepily asked.

Opening her small leather carry case, Ellie produced a small manila folder and opened it. “Routine follow up questions, I have been looking for her about six months since I was handed this case.”

“Is she under arrest?”  Doug inquired. “Casey, you don’t say a word.”

“Informal questioning, really.  So no, she is not under arrest.”  Ellie answered directly.

“Casey, get up and leave.”  Doug confidently announced.

Ellie looked up from the folder with Casey’s name all over it. “Your attorney is correct, Miss Rivers.”  She paused and a cross look came over the agent’s features. “You can leave anytime you want, However..”  She picked up a small bag with a set of dog tags in them. “The moment you exit the airport, the local PD will be waiting to pick you up for being drunk in public.”  Ellie touched her nose and raised one eyebrow. “The longer you spend in here, the less likely you are to be intoxicated should you leave.”

“Casey, that’s entrapment.  Don’t listen to a word she’s saying.  I will have her badge in the morning.”  Doug snarled, “Get up and leave.”

Dangling the dog tags up so the metal would clank, Ellie ignored the upset attorney and kept watching her suspect. “We found these mysteriously in the woods roughly a mile or so away from the bones of the owner.”  Ellie tossed the evidence across the table. “Any idea how they got there?”

Content to say nothing per Doug’s advice, Casey took her inaction further and sat still and looked directly at the wall behind the FBI agent, blinking only when the burn in her eyes forced her to.

Looking over her shoulder at the wall and then back to Casey, Ellie continued. “See, I suspect you knew about the tags there, and even more curious are these pictures.”  Ellie laid out a set of images captured by a drone of the Crow farmhouse.  

“Casey.  Use the video conference and let me see what Agent Miller is displaying.”  Dough requested.

Activating the camera took a few little flicks of Casey’s finger and she held her phone up to each picture one at a time. “Doug, is this what you wanted?” Casey finally spoke.

“Yes, pan across them a few times, say nothing to the Agent.”  Doug carefully studied the images as they came into focus. “How were these obtained?  My client is not in any of these, Agent.”  Doug laughed, “Casey no more of this.  Get up and leave.”

Agent Miller lifted a few more sheets of paper and pulled out two more photos. “These were especially hard to get, Miss Rivers.  Have any idea what’s going on here?”

Reaching his last straw, Doug sighed in frustration. “Casey, scan those pictures as well.  Don’t worry dear, she will be unemployed by noon tomorrow.  However, I do need to see what she is showing you.”  The attorney stopped talking to his client. “The sheer volume of lawsuits I am going to file is …”  He paused as the last two images came into view. “Unbelievable.  Agent Miller, you are looking at jail time for these.”

Laying before Casey were two enlarged photos of the bathroom within the Crow farmhouse.  Finding herself unable to do more than her attorney had asked, once she’d gotten the images she sat there and gazed at a bloody and cracked porcelain sink as well as the edges of a bent tub with what looked like handprint molded into it.

Sweat slowly beaded across Casey’s forehead as she glared at the photos one at a time.  Shortly after, Casey’s hands began to shake uncontrollably as the memories and flashes of what happened in that bathroom combined with the dream’s she’d had earlier on the plane.  Vaguely aware that Douglass was virtually screaming at the federal agent, Casey jammed her hands in her coat pocket and found the strength to stand up and head for the door.

-She can’t possibly know what happened, can she?-

Gathering her thoughts, Casey knew she had to get out of the room and away from the agent so she couldn’t try and bring up anything else that would arouse suspicion.  Using her coat sleeve as a buffer, Casey twisted the little doorknob and let herself out of the interview room.  Hurriedly, Casey followed the exit signs and made her way into an open space with various gift shops, fast-food restaurants and small book shops.  Convinced that no one was following her, Casey tapped the speaker button on her phone and spoke to her attorney one to one.  “Thank you, Doug.  I didn’t think she was going to let me leave.  I was sure not to touch anything..you know to leave fingerprints.”

Clearing his throat, the older gentleman waited for Casey to finish. “You did great, Miss Rivers.  That was a fishing expedition.”  He paused for a breath, “Those last photos were meant to unhinge you, to see if she was right about a hunch.”  He yawned and flipped through the pictures Casey had sent. “I am pretty sure Agent Miller got these illegally.”

Making her way down to the baggage claim, Casey paused on the escalator. “How do you know they are illegal?”

“The attorney that is in charge of that farm has filed multiple injunctions against the local, state and federal agencies so that even the state maintained road through there is under contestation.  There is a twenty-five-foot barrier wall over the property and all of the windows on the first floor have been boarded up.”  He laughed, “Miss Blackwell has done an excellent job thus far.”  He laughed, “I am sure that the email I just sent her with the images will cause a shitstorm in the morning.”

Figuring that the majority of bags would have long since been claimed, Casey walked over to the small office of the airline she’d used and managed to get all of her personal belongings.  Nodding to the kind woman behind the desk, Casey stacked her luggage together and snapped it together with the straps that came with it. “Doug, I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done.  If you need to send an invoice, just send it to me at my mother's house.  That’s where I will be staying for a bit.”

“No need, Miss Rivers.  Doctor Moreau long set aside a fund for you, just in case.”  He laughed and yawned once more. “Now, you get somewhere safe.  I will handle all of this mess in the morning, first thing.  I have your mother’s address on file, so when I send deliveries, just sign and send back.  The FBI will regret everything.”

Smiling for the first time in a few hours, Casey let out a little huff-laugh. “Doug, thank you so much. I have kept you up too long already, let me find a way out of this airport.  Take care.”  She listened to him assure her again that he would take care of everything, and then pressed the button to end the call.