AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why the hell not?” he scowls. I take a breath to stop myself from ripping off his head.
“The point is, people don’t always act the way you want them to. You think there’s an automatic reaction or compulsion to fight back and that clearly if there’s a group of people versus one attacker, the group has the upper hand. That’s not always the case. Fear is a powerful influence. Most people are not going to put themselves in what they see as a greater degree of danger by fighting back. They’ll do what they’re told and hope that will keep themsafe.”
“And the descriptions are different because they were scared,” Garrison adds. “Eyewitness accounts aren’t considered absolute proof because they are the word of a fallible human. When put into such incredibly intense and terrifying situations, it’s hard to pick up ondetails.”
“Yes,” I nod. “That’s true. But it’s more than that. The descriptions might sound totally different, but they could both beaccurate.”
Chance scoffs. “Both of them can be accurate? Two completely different descriptions of the same person. That sure does make our job harder, doesn’tit?”
He looks at Garrison for approval, wanting him to join in on the good ol’ boychuckle.
“Perception,” I simply say. “Everyone seems huge and old to a small child. Everyone seems small and young to a large elderly man. Does it make one of them right or one of them wrong? A young teenage girl might describe someone as tall and large because that’s how she sees him compared to herself. Likewise, an arrogant man with an inflated concept of himself might interpret that same person as small because of his own views of himself.
“That’s why it’s important to have some idea of who the witness is. Even if the information is not made public, having an idea of the personal details of that witness helps to provide context to their statement. Part of an investigator’s job is to take all those factors into account and compile the details into one or two composite images of what the suspect may actually look, sound, or actlike.”
Chance’s eyes have gotten darker and the smug expression isgone.
“I don’t need you to tell me what investigators do,” he says angrily. “I am aninvestigator.”
“And when I see you act like it, maybe I won’t feel the need to teach you,” Isay.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” he asks, the anger visibly bubbling up until he leans forward in his chair like he’s trying to intimidate me. “What gives you the right to say something like that tome?”
“I am Emma Griffin,” I say. “Ask aboutme.”
“Go take a walk, Chance,” Garrison says calmly, keeping his voice low and even.
“I’m notgoing—”
“Take a walk,” Garrison says more firmly. “Leave your notes here. We’ll go overthem.”
The younger detective gets up and tosses the legal pads in his hand onto the table before storming out of the room.
“You okay?” Sam asks, reaching over to rub myhand.
“Of course, I am,” I say without hesitation. “I’m not bothered by guys like him. New detectives who act like entitled children. I’ve dealt with enough actually important people trying to get in my way that an annoying little fly flittering around trying to get attention isn’t going to get tome.”
“I’m still sorry about him,” Garrison says. “He’s trying hard to find his place in the department. He’s champing at the bit to be lead and doesn’t like takingdirections.”
“I caught onto that,” I say. “He’s got a lot to learn before he’s going to be able to direct any kind ofteam.”
“You’re not going to get an argument from me on that,” Garrison says. “Anyway, let’s go over what information we do have. Like you said, we have a bunch of different eyewitness accounts here. We’re going to need to compile everything and see if we can make any sense out ofit.”
“What about forensics?” I ask. “Were they able to collect any physical evidence in any of the buildings or on any of thevictims?”
“Since it’s a summer camp and there were fifty people or more there at any given time over the last several days, not to mention everyone who worked on getting it ready for the session, it’s going to be almost impossible to isolate fingerprints. And any evidence on the bodies got pretty much washed away immediately. They collected a few fibers, but no hairs, and they didn’t seem particularly confident that what they got is going to be able to be linked to a specific person,” Garrison tells me. “And on top of that, they’ve been out at camp. Ain’t exactly the most pristine conditions to beginwith.”
It’s essentially what I expected, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing. Even one concrete piece of evidence would give us a jumping-off point to work from. But right now, it seems like we have nothing but a conglomeration of statements from traumatized survivors who can’t even all agree on what happened.
“So no one named anybody they thought could be responsible,” I say. “For any ofyou?”
Everyone around the table shakes their head.
“Just descriptions,” one of the other investigators says. “And, of course, the evil spirit come back from thedead.”
I keep reading over my notes and Sam gently nudges my arm.I give him a nod and flip to the first page of notes I’dtaken.
“What is it?” heasks.
