You've Been Tagged

1:11 am

            He departed, and Myrene got down to business.

            “Now Chase, obviously you’ve been through a lot in the last ten hours, and I’m sure you would like to forget most of it. However, being the subject of the crime, and being our only witness besides Detective Hunter, debriefing is necessary.”

            “What is debriefing?” I questioned.

            “Basically it’s an account of what has happened to you so far. You’re just telling your story. A staff member will ask you questions about what happened to you, and not only does it give us the facts, it also allows you, the victim, to decompress by sharing. The sooner we get started the better also. Your memory will be fresher and the details will be more accurate.”

            “Alright. Why do you need this exactly?”

            “It allows us to collect evidence, suspects, locations, etc. Instead of you coming with us everywhere while the memories are getting further and further away, we write it all down and take the folder with us.”

            “That makes sense.”

            “I will warn you though; the process may take a few hours, especially in your case. Usually a lot less has happened to a victim when we debrief them.”

            “Could Sergeant Daniels debrief me? I know him and it might be fast because he had already started a case about me.”

            “He introduced himself as Sergeant?” Myrene’s voice had suspicion in it.

            “Yes, Sergeant Daniels he said.”

            “Technically he is a Sergeant, but usually he goes by Detective. Not sure why he told you Sergeant. Anyway, to be honest, nobody in the station has heard from Daniels for a couple hours. I was actually going to ask you if you knew anything about his whereabouts.”

            Mom and Dad reacted in shock with me. “You don’t know where he is?”

            Myrene shook her head. “No, and I’m assuming you don’t either.

            “Well, because of Detective Daniels absence, I was going to have Detective Hunter debrief you. He won’t have to ask you any questions about the car explosion and such, because he was there. So it’ll save a little bit of time.” She focused on Hunter. “Read whatever Detective Daniels has on this case before starting. Then just add it on to the end.”

            “You got it chief,” replied Hunter.

            “Good. Then we’ll get started. Detective, start when you’re ready.”

            He didn’t reply, instead he turned to me and said, “I need to get my laptop and Detective Daniels files. I’ll be right back.” He swiveled and departed.

            As Hunter was walking out, Trevor came in with my juice. I accepted it and sipped it. The cool, delicious liquid gave me momentary happiness.

            “Could we stay here with Chase while he gets debriefed?” Mom requested of Myrene.

            She thought about it. “Yeah, I guess that’d be fine.  Just don’t interrupt the questioning for your own questions. This process is long enough.”

            “We won’t,” Mom assured her.

            “Then my job here is done, at least for the moment. It was a pleasure meeting you, even under these unfortunate circumstances. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchels. You too ,Chase and Riley.” She shook our hands once more and then left. Trevor and Stephen left with her.

            Now it was just me and my family.

            "We’re so sorry that we left you downstairs all alone. We should've realized..." Mom started.

            I stopped her before she continued. "I know. But it wasn't your fault. Just be glad that I'm back now."

            "We are."

            Riley started talking to me, telling me stories about who knows what. While I was listening, I saw Dad's face start to contort, and he slowly hunched over in his chair.

            What was happening? I didn't say anything because I didn't want Riley seeing what was going on.

            I had one eye on Riley, and one eye on my parents.  Dad started to quiver. Mom noticed, and touched his shoulder. Dad whispered something into Mom’s ear. Mom’s face was suddenly painted with alarm. She snatched Dads hand and pulled him out of the conference room. They disappeared into a room somewhere along the hall.

            "-and then the penguin jumped on top of the llama!" I jerked both eyes and my attention back to me little brother just in time for the end of his latest story.

            "Wow, that's pretty crazy!" I said generically.

            He nodded back profusely and smiled.

            "Can I have some of your juice?" he eyed it suspiciously.

            "Sure."

            My concentration was back towards the conference room entrance doors.

            The hallway was empty, but now I saw them come out of whatever room they were previously in. Dad looked normal again. He and Mom were holding hands as they walked back into the room with Riley and me.

            "Everything okay?" I asked mom.

            "What? Oh yes, your father just has some stomach pains recently and has caused him to throw up. Nothing a trip to the bathroom won’t fix." Mom seemed to brush it off.

            "Are you sure Dad should stay here then? I mean if he's sick?"

            "Oh no, he'll be fine."

            I didn't think that Dad was fine, but I didn't press it.

            I knew something weird had just happened with my dad.