The Fort (Aric Davis)

suppressed joy. If she hadn’t tried to escape, he’d be in the clear. “I haven’t seen her, Officer,” said Hooper, hoping he hadn’t botched things with his delayed response.
    “I’m not surprised to hear that, Mr.—”
    “Hooper. Matt Hooper. And I’m glad you’re not surprised, but can I ask why? I’m a white male. I live alone here. I’m sure you fellas want to find that girl in your picture.”
    The cop pointed to Hooper’s chest, to the tattoo he’d gotten in Saigon of a bulldog’s head with a banner, holding the number 1969. “I was there a year or so after you were, Mr. Hooper. Lost some good friends over there.”
    “I hear that,” said Hooper. His knee was starting to shake, and Hooper could feel blood pooling under his foot. If the cop had placed his hand on his chest and shoved, Hooper would have fallen over like a stack of bricks.
    But the cop just grinned. “Well, I’m going to get back to looking for bad guys, Mr. Hooper,” he said. “Probably a snipe hunt, but you never know. Have yourself a nice afternoon.”
    “You too, Officer,” said Hooper, before the cop turned and Hooper shut the door. He slipped the lock, took two steps by dragging his hurt leg, and then collapsed to the floor, shaking violently.

23
    Tim, Scott, and Luke were driven to the police station in the back of a squad car. Uniformed cops were scurrying about like overweight relatives at an all-you-can-eat buffet. They were visibly shaken, walking through yards with guns out, talking to other possible witnesses, and generally disrupting a summer afternoon in the worst possible way. It had stopped raining by the time the boys left the house, but the streets and sidewalks were still wet. Once they were at the police station, the three boys were led out of the car, past the lobby, and to a small room with a mirror and no window. Officer Summers gave them a wave when he left them, and Detective Van Endel entered the room before the door could swing shut, along with a woman wearing a suit.
    “All right, guys,” said Van Endel. “Just so we’re all formally introduced, I’m Detective Van Endel, and this is Dr. Martinez. She’s a children’s therapist that I’ve worked with for a long time, and she’s here to talk to you because she’s the best, and I all but begged her to get down here. Before we start, I want you to know that we were able to get ahold of Tim and Scott’s parents. Luke, one of the officers spoke to your sister Alisha, and she said she can get your mom. Sounds like she’s with friends. Now, the point of me telling you this is that I need to talk to you guys, but I’m not supposed to do that without a parent here.” Another officer opened the door, interrupting Van Endel, and then set a VHS camcorder on a tripod down in front of them. “It’s all set for you, Detective,” said the other cop before leaving.
    “As I was saying,” said Van Endel, “I’m bending the rules talking to you guys right now, but according to what Scott said on the phone, you guys saw Molly Peterson with a gun in her back, being forcibly taken through the woods. Because time is so important in this sort of situation, I need to talk to you guys about some small details to help out the police on the scene, and then when your folks get here we can go over the details.” Van Endel grimaced, as though the next part were particularly distasteful. “But if you guys are going to help me, I need to videotape the whole thing, and I need to ask you if you’re willing to talk to me, also on tape. So if you guys feel comfortable, and you’re willing to say as much on tape, we can start looking for Molly that much sooner.”
    “We’ll do it,” said Tim. “I know I will, anyways. Molly needs our help.”
    Van Endel nodded, then stood. “You guys in too?” Scott and Luke both said yes at the same time. “OK, then,” said Van Endel, who removed a lens cap, then pushed a button on the camera, making a red light come on below the lens. “I’m Detective Richard Van Endel, here with Dr. Andrea Martinez, and the reason we’re recording this is so we have a record showing that the young men we’re talking to were not coerced into talking with us. Am I correct in stating that you want to discuss this matter, gentlemen?”
    “Yes.”
    “Yes.”
    “Yes.”
    “All right, excellent. What did you guys see on the state land behind your houses?”
    Tim, Scott, and Luke exchanged a look, and Tim said, “We were in