She seemed irritated. Inconvenienced. And trumped by the big guys. He let the two men in. It didn't register at first that the second man was Dr. Manning.

Dr. Manning was here. I flushed and felt faint.

"Hi, Miss Whitman," the man said, showing me some badge from his wallet and offering me his hand with the other. "I'm Detective Santini with the FBI."

"Oh, Corrine!" Dr. Manning exclaimed, walking around the table to hug me. I froze. "I can't believe it. All this time, and we had no idea. No idea."

So this was the game he was going to play.

He bent down to hug me, but I couldn't move. He then took a seat next to me, but Detective Santini stayed standing.

"Officer Rodriguez, thank you for starting this investigation. I'm sure you've done a fine job, but we'll be taking over now. Thank you," Detective Santini said, excusing her whether she liked it or not.

She did not look happy. But what could she do?

"Thank you, Detective," she said. "Miss Whitman, I will check up on you at a later time."

She tried to smile, then walked out, closing the door behind her.

Detective Santini sat in her old seat. "Well, Miss Whitman, I wish I could say it's nice to finally meet you. But under these circumstances, I can't say I am."

"I—I thought you're with the F. B. I." I mumbled, already knowing the answer on some level I was unwilling to accept.

"Oh, I am. Just as Dr. Manning here is a doctor."

"Really, Corrine," Dr. Manning said, placing his arm around the back of my chair. "Have you forgotten the B. F. O. is everywhere? Even the F. B. I. Even the local police departments."

I leaned forward in my chair, not wanting my back to touch him.

"I've always heard nice things about you from Dr. Manning, Corrine. I must say I'm very disappointed to see you've betrayed us."

I stared down at my shaking hands. I was dead. I was sure of it.

"I want you to think very carefully, Corrine. What have you said to Officer Rodriguez so far?" Detective Santini asked.

My lips didn't want to move no matter how much I tried to get them to.

He leaned forward, closer to my face. "Answer me," he demanded.

"I—I've only told her about the abduction day and getting to Kansas."

"Uh huh," Santini mocked.

"I swear," I said. "We've only been here for a while. And she's asked so many questions. And she had me start from the beginning."

"Look at me," Dr. Manning commanded. I did as told. "Have you at all said anything about us?"

"Dr. Manning, I swear, I haven't. I wasn't going to," I lied. "I just want to go home is all. I'm not interested in telling the rest."

I glanced at the one-way mirror, wondering why'd they even mention the B. F. O. in a police station that must be tapped.

As if reading my mind, Detective Santini said, "Don't worry. We have all bases covered. No one's listening. Unless we want them to."

"Corrine," Dr. Manning sighed. "I'm in complete disbelief you'd do this to us. I was in shock when I got the call."

"I'm sorry," was all I could muster.

"Sorry won't be the only thing you're going to feel," Dr. Manning mumbled.

"So," Detective Santini said as he leaned back in his chair looking fully comfortable in this intimidating role, "you have left us in quite a bit of a mess to fix. And you're going to help us fix it by fully cooperating. Got it?"

I nodded.

"I didn't hear you."

He kicked my foot under the table.

"Yes, sir," I whispered.

"What's that?" he almost yelled.

"Yes, sir," I said more loudly.

Detective Santini took a deep breath. "The last thing you want to do right now, Miss Whitman, is piss me off. I'm already really angry."

"Yes, sir."

"So, this is what we're going to do. After I'm done getting your statement, you're going to call your father, as planned. You will say nothing about us. You will only tell him how much you miss him and how you're looking forward to seeing him. Then Dr. Manning will escort you to his home where you will be staying. From there, we will figure out what to do with you and this mess you've gotten us into."

I covered my face. I could only think of one solution satisfactory to them.

Death.

We sat in the interrogation room for what felt like hours. But it was probably more like fifteen minutes. Detective Santini spent some of the time on his phone. I couldn't make out much of what he was saying, but I heard my name occasionally. Anything else I heard sounded like Italian. I had no idea he was bilingual.

During one of Detective Santini's calls, Dr. Manning leaned into my face, holding onto my shoulder tight enough I knew there'd be bruises the next day. "Corrine, I don't know what stunt you're trying to pull here, but you've just dug your own grave. You have no idea who you're messing with."

I think I do, I wanted to say. But all I could say was, "I'm so, so sorry, Dr. Manning." And cry. I knew not to ask for forgiveness because he had none to give. It was over.

Before we left, Detective Santini had me call my dad with his cell phone. Somehow he already had my dad's phone number. I did exactly as instructed. "I miss you, Dad." "Can't wait to see you, Dad." "I love you, Dad." "Goodbye, Dad."

Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye forever.

He would be arriving in Kansas sometime tomorrow in the afternoon. But I wouldn't be there to greet him.

Finally, it was time to go. Detective Santini opened the door and stayed close to me as we walked down the hallway. Officer Rodriguez and who looked like her superior were at the end of the hall, seemingly waiting for us. Waiting for something to happen. She pushed off from the wall and stood up straight.

"This is Lieutenant Lambert," Officer Rodriguez introduced. Everyone shook hands. I stared at the ground.

"Thank you for your assistance, Lieutenant Lambert," Detective Santini said. "I think we have all that we need for this evening. It's late, and Miss Whitman is very tired."

"Completely understandable," Lieutenant Lambert concluded.

"We don't think it wise to put Miss Whitman up in a hotel tonight until her father arrives tomorrow," Detective Santini said. "The media will get a hold of this story any minute now, if they haven't already. Dr. Manning here has been very generous in offering his home for the evening."

"Yes, I've known James and Corrine for about a year," Dr. Manning explained. "Corrine's been to my home and gets along splendidly with my wife. We had no idea what was going on. I'm still in shock. And so angry. So angry. But we're just so glad Corrine is healthy and free now."

He put his arm around me and hugged me with a big smile on his face.

"It really is amazing," Lieutenant Lambert said. "Corrine, are you okay with this arrangement?"

Dr. Manning's hug became unbearably strong.

"Yes, sir," I said. "I'll be comfortable there. Thank you for your offer, Dr. Manning."

"It's the least I can do, my dear. And Sophia will be happy to dote on you."

"We'll be sure to assign a couple officers to Dr. Manning's house tonight, just in case," Detective Santini added.

"Then that's settled," the lieutenant said. "Tomorrow we'll have the reunification therapy team come by the house to discuss with you steps to begin your new life. Do you know what that is?"

"Yes. I was a social worker . . . Before. In my old life."

Reunification therapy helped people reunite after being separated from their families by situations such as divorce, military deployment, or abductions. I didn't think in my case I'd need therapy—I'd never get that far.

"OK, we'll expect them tomorrow then," Dr. Manning concluded. "Thank you for everything."



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