The Softer Side of Interrogation
Characters: Jae and Becka Setting: Becka's new room, late
As terrifying as leaving her room had been, and as shaky a start they’d had, Becka had actually enjoyed her conversation with Matt while they’d eaten soup. It hadn’t stopped that thought from poking in the back of her mind: the question of whether or not he could have been the man who’d hurt her. She hated thinking that, hated that she couldn’t help but question nearly every man here. And coming back to her room to Wu’s message hadn’t really helped things. She wasn’t surprised that he suspected Ryan, but it just didn’t add up in her mind. Ryan had found her drunk, had escorted her back to her room, and he hadn’t done anything inappropriate at all. If he’d wanted to do anything to her, that would have been a pretty perfect opportunity, she thought.
None of that meant she thought it couldn’t have been him, though, and it just made her hope even more that the law enforcement people would be able to find out whoever had done this. And it was with those thoughts that Jae’s message came in. Becka didn’t hesitate to respond, thinking that if they were going to have any hope of finding out who’d done this, then she needed to talk to the newly appointed cop about what had happened. She could be strong enough for that. She had to be.
While she waited for Jae to arrive, she wasted time playing solitaire on the computer. And when the knock did finally sound on her door, she peeked out the window just to be sure that it was Jae before unlocking and opening the door, standing mostly behind it in case anyone else might be watching. “Come in,” she said, and once Jae was inside, she wasted no time in closing and locking the door again.
Jae didn't bat an eye at the behavior there. She understood it. She even silently gave Becka credit for being cautious, because she had every damn reason to be. Good for her. She gave the blonde a light smile. "Hi. I'm Jae, as I'm sure you know, I wish we were properly meeting under different circumstances." she said first, because that was true. "How are you doing?" she asked. They could ease into this. She was going to make an effort not to be the abrupt personality she usually was in this case. Becka didn't deserve it.
Becka nodded slightly at the greeting, smiling tightly. “Yeah, I know. Wish we were too, but it is what it is,” she replied. Then, with a small sigh, she moved away from the door and sat down on the computer chair, pulling one leg up close to her chest and wrapping an arm around it. “I’m... as good as can be, I guess. Congratulations, I guess? On getting the law enforcement job,” she offered, figuring if they were doing small talk first, she could contribute somehow.
"Thanks." Jae said. Technically I got your case before I even got the job. she thought. But she didn't say it. She just paid attention to Becka's posture, and kept herself at a healthy distance without seeming standoffish. She just also didn't make herself at home. It was Becka's space, and she was going to be paying attention to that. "I'm going to take some notes while we talk." she said, taking out the paper and pen she'd had with her. "Want to just tell me what happened? You can start anywhere you want. Take your time."
It was weird the way Jae just stayed standing, and Becka bit her lip and nodded toward the couch. "You can sit if you want," she offered. It was going to be difficult enough to talk about what happened to her as it was. "Okay," she said, not bothered by Jae taking notes in the least. When Jae asked her to just tell her what happened, she sighed softly and glanced down. She didn't need to ask what she wanted her to talk about, and even though she said she could start anywhere, she couldn't think of where to start.
It was a minute before she did speak, and her voice was soft but at least it was stable. "I came up to my room before the blackout. I'd picked up some candles and matches at dinnertime because the power kept flickering, and I didn't want to be in the dark. I locked my door - I remember that for sure. I didn't stay up long after the lights went out. I wasn't sleeping well, but I was asleep when he came in." She had to stop there, taking a minute to just breathe.
Jae did take a seat, but only because Becka indicated it. She remained as unobtrusive as possible, not fully relaxing as she sat forward, and jotted things down as Becka spoke. When Becka paused, Jae didn't push her to continue, she merely gave a note of encouragement. "You're doing just fine, Becka." she assured her. Then she continued to wait, knowing trauma did a lot of weird shit to people. Not being able to just jump in and talk about it all in one shot? That was not only normal, but probably better for her. Jae was all about allowing her the time to process her way through it.
Despite the encouragement, Becka’s lip wibbled just a bit as her mind replayed her experiences from that night. She didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to talk about it, but she knew that she had to if she wanted any hope of them finding out who’d done this. “I didn’t hear him come in,” she finally spoke again. “It was so dark, and the storm was really loud. It was kind of warm in my room, and I’d kicked my blanket off.” She didn’t know why she’d remembered that now, or how she was so sure that she’d done it, that her attacker hadn’t moved it himself.
This was going to be the part where she felt like shit about doing this. She got it that it was necessary, but seeing Becka struggle with it was just hard. Necessary, but not even a little bit okay. Jae wasn't the world's snuggliest bunny. That was very true, and at best, she could be blunt and abrupt. But she didn't even have to try to repress that sort of thing in this moment. She wanted to do nothing that was going to upset her more. So all of Jae's natural personality traits were pushed back, as she had to find some gentler side. Apparently she had one. Who knew. As Becka spoke, she wrote down more, nodding for the girl to continue. She didn't want to interrupt her.
It was probably a good thing that Jae didn’t interrupt her, as Becka wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep going if she was pulled out of it just yet. “I only woke up when he pinned me on my stomach. He had my arms twisted up behind my back. I screamed, and I kept screaming, but no one could hear me because of the storm.” She didn’t want to keep going, and she knew her eyes were filling with tears. “He punched me in the head cause I kept screaming, and he shoved socks in my mouth. He took my shorts off and tore my underwear off, and he was touching me,” she was talking faster now, almost as if she did she could just get it all out and then forget it again. Only now she couldn’t. She felt sick and had to stop, pulling her other leg up and pressing her head against her knees as she tried to push the nausea back.
Jae again didn't interrupt, Becka speaking faster a pretty good indication that she wanted to get through it as fast as possible, and Jae couldn't fault her for that. So, she nodded again, after scribbling down a lot more, pained to see her tearing up, and there was of course a sick, hollow feeling in her gut over the story. But she'd signed on to do this. She'd seen terrible things before, been in the middle of firefights, cleaned brains out of clothing. The world was a terrible place, and that wasn't news to her. Still. None of that made this any easier to stomach.
Becka didn’t want to throw up, not with the soup she’d managed to eat not that long ago having finally seemed to have stayed down. She didn’t want to cry, either, but she knew that was a battle she was more than likely to lose. Closing her eyes tight, she breathed in deep and slow, releasing the breath just as slow, before forcing herself to look up again. It wouldn’t be easy, but dragging it out wasn’t going to make it any easier. “Some of it’s kinda fuzzy, but I know he punched me again, both times here,” she said, tapping the side of her head near her temple. It was still just a little tender, but it would heal much faster than the internal wounds. “He... held my wrists so tight that they bruised some,” she said, almost abruptly as if she was just remembering that, or maybe like she was stalling the rest. Either way, she held her wrists out, sleeves pushed up just enough to see the nearly faded bruising there.
Jae looked the bruises over, and made a few more notes. "We've been given your medical file, as well." she assured her lightly. Just so Becka knew that they also had that run down, it might make it easier for her to continue if she knew they had more than just this testimony to go off of. With the details here, at least that could be helpful. If anything could be considered 'helpful' at current.
The assurance didn’t really come as a surprise. Becka didn’t doubt Violet’s abilities or professionalism, and she’d have been surprised if the file hadn’t been passed on to the law enforcement already. “Good. I saved... I saved the sheets, and my clothes, and the gloves I wore when I cleaned my bathroom before... before I was examined. I needed to do something, and I knew I couldn’t clean the actual room, just in case anyone needed to look through it, but he didn’t go in the bathroom, and it was something I could do,” she rambled out the explanation, more stalling but it was just something she couldn’t help in that moment.
"It's okay, Becka." Jae assured her, sort of hating that she was apologizing about anything right then. "Thank you for saving what you did, but it's okay." she continued, wanting her to feel better about that at least.
Becka pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly, nodding at the assurance that it was okay. She hadn’t really thought she’d done anything wrong, but she’d needed to give herself a minute to focus on something else before continuing. “I thought he was going to sodomize me,” she admitted in a small voice, tugging the sleeves of her shirt down over her palms and not quite looking at Jae now. “I was scared, and I couldn’t get him off of me, so I stopped, and I just cried. And when he was done, it was a minute before he let go of me, and then he left. I didn’t move. I was too scared to move because I just wanted him to go. I didn’t want him to stay and hurt me more, so I didn’t move. I should have. I should’ve looked and tried to find out who it was, but I was too scared to.” The guilt and anguish she felt over it was clear in her voice and the tears that had finally spilled over her cheeks.
"Everyone reacts to things differently. Don't be too hard on yourself. There isn't a 'wrong' answer here, or a 'wrong' reaction. You didn't want to look, and you didn't, and that's okay. You don't know what he would have done if you had looked. We're going to do our best to find him." Jae promised her, knowing pretty much everyone in the world who went through something hairy like that thought about a million things later that 'should' have been done. But hindsight was a bitch like that.
While she knew that on some level, being on this side of things mean that Becka really needed the assurance just then. She wished that she could step back and just look at things logically and objectively, but she couldn’t. “I don’t know if you can. I don’t know if there was any trace of him, and I know that I’m not really helping because I didn’t see him and he didn’t say anything at all. And I just.... I don’t want him to hurt anyone else, that’s all.” She sniffled and rubbed her hands over her cheeks to brush the tears away. The whole situation felt hopeless, and she hated that.
"Don't give up on anyone finding out who did it just yet. We've barely started." Jae said. "I really hope we do find him. And we're going to do our level best to figure this out." she assured her. "I do want to ask one other question--a man named Leandro was removed after the blackout. Did you know him?"
Becka didn’t want to give up hope, it was just hard to hold onto it in that moment. “I know you will,” she said, confident at least in that they would do their best. At the question, her expression fell even further. “Yeah, I knew Leandro. Why?” she asked, clearly concerned for him.
"We're wondering if he was removed for a reason." Jae said. "How well did you know him? Can you tell me about him?" she asked.
The question followed on everything Becka had just told Jae sent the implication sinking in her stomach like a heavy anchor. For a reason. For hurting her, then? She felt sick at the thought, and shook her head fiercely. “No. Whatever reason they removed him, it wasn’t this. He wouldn’t have done that. We were friends, and he’d stayed with me the night before. He’s a good guy - a little misguided at times, but he wasn’t the ‘hurting people’ type.” And no matter how short a time she’d known him, she was confident in that.
Jae didn't outwardly argue with Becka, even if she knew that rape actually most commonly happened between people who knew each other. In fact, it was the overwhelming majority. Which was a statistic she really wished she didn't know, but unfortunately did. She understood why Becka would want to think it was a stranger, though. Or at least not someone she considered a friend. It was just a sad fact that just because this guy was her friend and didn't seem like a person who would hurt someone else, didn't mean that was the case.
Jae wasn't sure what she hoped. That this guy was the culprit and was gone the fuck away from Becka, and they didn't have to worry about it, or if they'd catch whoever did it and she could feel better that they had him captured. If it was the latter, at least Becka wouldn't have to face down the idea that she'd been hurt by a friend. Though really, at the end of the day, there was no 'good' end here. She just hoped for the best for Becka's sake. "A little misguided?" she asked. “What do you know about him? I’m sorry I have to ask, but I do.”
Becka shook her head quickly, her anger at anyone even thinking Leandro might have done that clear in her expression. He’d been her closest friend here, and while she hadn’t gotten a chance to really get to know a lot about his past, she just knew that he wasn’t the one who’d done this to her. “I would have known if it was him,” she said shortly. “He has a medical condition. The... exertion would have altered his breathing, and the... the man had no trouble at all with it. You can talk to Cal about it to get his professional opinion, but it wasn’t Leandro. Not to mention the fact that Leandro is tall, but he’s kind of really scrawny. The man seemed... bigger.”
Jae wasn't really surprised at Becka's anger. It just wasn't helpful, either. Now her other details, those were. Like him possibly having physical disabilities that would have given him away and having a different body type. Which she wrote down, specifically, with a point to ask Cal about it. When she spoke, her voice was light. "Becka, we need to look at everything. I'm sorry if that offends you on behalf of your friend, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I dismissed things because it was offensive to people. The sad truth is most rape is committed by someone the individual knows, not a stranger. What happened to you is offensive. And I'm going to do my best to find out who did it. Which means being thorough. Until I know better? Everyone is a suspect, in my book. Because what happened to you shouldn't have and it shouldn't happen to anyone else either. If you feel like you want to be angry with me, that's okay. But I'm following every lead possible. And the information you gave about what might rule him out is very important, so thank you very much." she said, truly meaning it.
As Becka listened to Jae’s response, her anger deflated a bit, and she nodded, blowing out a breath. “I know. I know it is, and I know you are. It’s just not easy to stomach even the thought. But it wasn’t him, and I’m sure once you talk to Cal, you’ll be able to dismiss him. But if you want to know more about him, you should talk to Kyle. He’s the one Leandro was closest to here.” She just didn’t really see a point if talking to Cal made it possible to eliminate Leandro was a suspect. “I’m not angry with you. I’m angry that this happened, and I’m afraid of it happening again - maybe not to me, but to anyone else. Is there anything else? Anything I can do?”
"Is there anyone else you can rule out?" she asked. "Like you saying Leandro didn't have the right body type--that's very important. Is there anyone else you can scratch off the list due to that?" Jae really latched on to that. It was a detail that could crack things open wider, really. Or at the very least shrink the suspect pool.
“Ummm, Kyle is gay?” Becka replied, not sure if that was actually helpful. She really didn’t doubt that Kyle was really, truly, one hundred percent gay, though. “And he was stuck on the other block with Grace.” Adam came to mind, and she really wished she could rule him out, but even though she was confident that it absolutely wasn’t him, she had nothing she could say that would completely rule him out. “Other than that? Not really.”
"Rape isn't about sex. So, orientation might not actually factor in. I'm not positive on that, I'll have to do research, but yeah. I'll keep it in mind, either way." Jae said, dutifully writing it down, as well as the fact that Kyle had been with Grace. She'd have to check the alibi. "You've been very helpful. If you can think of anything else, anything at all, contact me, Aaron, or Brady immediately, okay?" she said. "And if you need anything, don't hesitate to contact me either." she tacked onto the end, not an offer she normally would have made, but in this case? Yes. If this girl needed anything, she was going to be hopping to.
As much as she hated to hear it, Becka knew that Jae was onto something with that. Rape wasn’t always about sex, but she didn’t really want to think Kyle was capable of it, either. Not that it mattered in this specific case as she didn’t doubt that he was with Grace. “I will, definitely.” She didn’t think she would remember anything else, but if she did, she wouldn’t hesitate to fill in the new ‘cops’. “Oh, thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,” she assured her, touched by the offer. It was nice to know that there were people here that she could contact if she needed anything even if she didn’t really think she could do that beyond having Adam pick up those couple things yesterday.
Standing, Jae looked at her notes, then back to Becka. "I'll keep working on this." she promised. "Take care. Remember, if you need anything, or remember anything, I'm around." she said, heading for the door. She had a lot she needed to get down, but at least she had some information.
“Thanks, I’ll let you know if I do,” Becka replied, standing up to follow Jae to the door so that she could lock it behind her. Despite Wu not being able to look into things the way he’d been before (not that she had any idea just what he’d been up to), Jae seemed to have a handle on what she was doing, so Becka thought that if whoever had done this could be found, Jae just might be able to do that.