Chapter 23
TINLEY
The FBI office sat on a whole city block downtown. We approached the doors and were met by an agent, who escorted us to the elevator and up to the twelfth floor. We stepped out into a small open area, followed by a bank of doors leading to various rooms.
We approached a door at the end of the hall and were told to wait. Agent Stanley walked out a few minutes later.
“Hi, Tinley.” He frowned up at Kyler. “Kyler.”
They shook hands.
“Is he in there?” I asked.
“He is.” Agent Stanley opened a door across the hall. I couldn’t drag my eyes away from the door he’d just exited through.
“What is he saying?” I wanted to know if he knew that what he did was wrong.
“Unfortunately, he has asked for a lawyer, so we can’t talk to him, ask him any questions, yet.” Agent Stanley stepped in front of me. “But there is already an extradition request from Turkey in the works, which will give us some leverage to find out what we need to know.”
“I understand he technically didn’t commit a crime here in America.” I nodded.
“Maybe.” Agent Stanley rubbed his chin. “If he contacted the people who sent you to him while he was still in the US, we might have some cyber-related charges to put on him.”
“Maybe it would help if he heard what he did to me from my perspective.” I struggled. “I mean, if it will get him to talk.”
“It could.”
Kyler turned me to face him.
“Are you sure you want to see him?” Kyler bent to my level. “You aren’t required to do more than tell Agent Stanley your story. It’s up to them to use it to stop men like him.”
“I don’t think he understood what he was doing.” I turned back toward the door. “I am the only one who can tell him.”
Agent Stanley nodded and opened the door but closed it.
“Before we go in there, if I or Kyler say so, you leave, okay? No debate. No hesitation. Okay?”
I nodded. Kyler growled.
“Yes, sir.”
He nodded and opened the door. The room had steel gray walls and a metal table in the center. Mr. Crawford and another gentleman sat on the other side. He was handcuffed to a metal chrome bar in the middle of the table.
“Wh-what is she doing here?” Mr. Crawford stuttered.
“Who is this woman?” his lawyer asked.
“She is one of Mr. Crawford’s victims,” Agent Stanley said matter-of-factly.
“One of my—”
“Bill, be quiet,” his lawyer said.
“Tinley. Sit here.” He pointed at the chair to the left of Mr. Crawford. Kyler took the chair to my left and Agent Stanley pulled up a chair and sat at the head of the table to Mr. Crawford’s left.
“Ms. Tinley has a few questions she would like to ask you.”
“He’s not answering any questions. He knows his right,” the lawyer said.
“Right, you are right. Ms. Tinley is not acting as an agent of the FBI. She’s asking out of her own curiosity. This is all completely off the record.” Agent Stanley waved his hands.
“Then w-what is the p-point?” Mr. Crawford stuttered.
“So, he understands I’m not some stupid whore he fucked in Turkey on vacation.” My voice needed some bass, but the badass line landed a punch regardless.
I peeked over at Kyler, waiting for him to scold me about my language, but he smirked and winked instead.
“A little over two years ago, my fiancé and I were traveling in Europe on vacation. We saved and planned for the trip for a year.” My voice grew stronger as I spoke.
I stared right into Mr. Crawford’s eyes.
“One night, we visited a BDSM club in Amsterdam when my fiancé was killed and I was taken. I spent the next two weeks drugged and beaten and raped by several different men. I was then taken to a group home where a doctor examined me against my will and inserted an implant.” I rubbed the inside of my arm.
“I lay in a room for two straight weeks with other girls coming and going and when I was healed up, they took me to another place where they dressed me up in cute dresses and had someone braid my hair and they took photos of me.
Two days later, I was sent to my first ‘client.’ He kept me for two weeks but got tired of me for not doing what he wanted.
“I was sent back to the guys who took me, and they beat me and drugged me and two weeks later, they sent me to someone else to ‘train’ me. I was with him for three weeks.”
Mr. Crawford looked down at his hands.
“It was the most horrifying three weeks of my life.” I stopped and bit my lip to keep the demons at bay.
I flipped a few more pages. Smoothed it down.
“I guess he trained me too well because the next guy wanted to keep me. That turned out bad, but worse for him. Then I was sent to you. You were number four.”
It surprised me how mature and kind of flippant I sounded.
Like all the stuff I wrote in my journal happened to someone else.
Or my former self. I didn’t garner any satisfaction or empowerment in sharing what happened to me in this setting.
It was more of a chore I had to get through in order to move on and move forward.
Little Tinley was nowhere to be found. Josh was right. I protected her, but I had no fear she wouldn’t return. As soon as I was safe, she would be back, and it made my heart swell with pride. She would be proud of me, too.
“I referred to you as family man.” I traced my finger down the page.
“You didn’t physically hurt me. Not like the others, not like the men who took me.
I knew right away my time with you would be bearable and that scared me even more.
The men who do this to women don’t want someone like you making me feel like a human being.
You also had rituals, and it made it easy because I knew exactly what to expect.
There were no surprises with you. You would wake me up, have sex with me, clean us both up in the shower, feed me breakfast, put me down for a nap, and then call your wife.
It was touching, yet kind of sad. It sounded like she really loved you.
But it was when you spoke to your daughter that I remembered what kind of man you were.
You typically referred to her as pumpkin or baby, but you slipped one day” —I scanned my notes— “and called her Katie.” I shivered.
“Katie girl. That’s the name you gave me. ”
The whole room took a collective pause.
“You had to apologize to your daughter for missing her piano recital and your wife reminded you about the trip to her parents’ house for Fourth of July weekend.
“I wanted so badly to call out or scream or even speak to see how you would talk yourself out of it, but I was too afraid.”
“Of me.”
“Not of you.” I looked down. “I was a few days late to meeting you, right?”
Again, it struck a nerve with him. His eyes grew wide, and the red cheeks returned.
“I was late because the men who took me couldn’t find me.
” I trailed my finger down the page. “My previous captor tried to run away with me, but when they found out and found us, he was shot in front of me. Then I was beaten so badly, they had to find a doctor to treat me. It took me a little longer to heal and be ready for you.”
I peeked up, but Mr. Crawford wouldn’t look at me.
An alert dinged on Agent Stanley’s and Kyler’s phones. They both looked at it. Kyler growled.
“And the plot thickens.” Agent Stanley set his phone face down. “Please continue, Tinley.”
“We were being watched. That had never happened, but I guess they didn’t want you to have the same ideas as the previous guy.
” I scanned some of my journal entries and skipped over a lot.
Mainly the details of how he was with me.
He was tender and gentle with me the whole time, which made it more cruel and broke my spirit.
I flipped the book closed and slid it over to the agent.
Mr. Crawford’s gaze followed it as if he might snatch it, run, and make all of this go away.
“You can have this. It has all the details of everyone I was with. I hope to get it back at some point, but in the meantime, can I get a copy of it?”
Agent Stanley seemed afraid to touch it. He typed something in his phone. “Thank you, Tinley, for being so brave. Let me review this and we’ll get together again in the next few days with some follow-up.”
“I didn’t know,” Mr. Crawford whispered.
“Bullshit!” Kyler yelled and we all turned to look at him.
“I swear,” Mr. Crawford said. “I’ll tell you everything I know. But please don’t tell my family. They can’t know.”
“I’m sorry.” A knock rang, followed by two agents who stepped into the room. “I need Mrs. Crawford and his daughter, Katie, brought into custody within the hour. I’ll head out to Jersey to interview them.”
“You can’t do that.” Mr. Crawford tried to stand. He forgot he was handcuffed to the table.
“I can and I will, Mr. Crawford. For the safety of your daughter, Katie Crawford. AKA, Katie girl.” Agent Stanley’s face wrinkled, and he glared in Mr. Crawford’s direction.
I imagined Mr. Crawford had used me to act out some sick fantasy he had about his daughter. Agent Stanley set his phone right side up and another alert came in. It was an array of photos.
I picked it up.
The subject of the email sent to Agent Stanley was titled Crawford’s computer. The array of photos was of his daughter.
I looked just like his daughter. Did all seven of us look like her? It all clicked. Agent Stanley had to make sure he hadn’t acted out his sick fantasy with his actual daughter.
I shivered and dropped the phone. It was all too much, and I had hit my limit on keeping my sanity for the day. I wanted to go home. I wanted Josh.
Agent Stanley stood. “Why don’t you take Tinley home?” He shook Kyler’s hand and then mine.
I stood up and stared at Mr. Crawford. He’d shrunk in the last few hours. His hair was a mess, and it seemed like the color would never return to his splotchy face. I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
I walked out of the interrogation room. Kyler took my hand and guided me through another door and there stood Josh.
I ran and jumped into his arms. “Joshie,” I whispered as tears poured down my face.
“There’s my girl.” He lifted me and held me tight. “I got you. It’s okay.”
I sobbed into his shirt to muffle the anguish. I had been so composed, but as soon as I saw Josh, I had to let it out.
In his arms, I felt safe.
Once I got myself under control, Josh wiped my face and set me back on my feet but held me close. He kissed the top of my head.
I looked up. “I want to go home.”
“Okay, my sweet girl.” He took my hand and kissed it. “Let’s go home.”
We stepped out of the conference room to find Kyler. We walked through a maze of cubicles toward the elevators, watching a woman arguing with an agent.
I recognized the voice.
“Charlotte.” She stopped and spun around. She looked so much like my mother. Her hair was blown out in big waves, and she wore a dark gray suit and heels. She was more of the bohemian type, braids and big, baggy dresses. She didn’t quite fit into her new persona.
“Tinley.” She rushed to me, her arms out. Josh stood in front of me. “Oh my goodness. I can’t believe it’s you.” Tears fell down her cheeks. She didn’t know whether to step around Josh or go right through him.
I stepped around him and let her hug me.
It made me shiver. My mother was the button-up, hair always in place, clothes always matching kind.
She kind of smelled like my mother, too.
Not exactly, more like an olfactory memory from when we all lived together growing up.
My aunt thought she would be the cool aunt, and I would want to be like her, but I wanted to be more like my mother.
She was the one who took care of us. With no other family and no husband, she raised both of us.
I never understood why she let her sister freeload off her.
My aunt, Charlotte, and I were never close, but here she was, and she was the only family I had left.
“Why didn’t you call me when you got back?” She ran her hand over my forehead. I leaned back. She took both my hands and led me toward the elevator. “Listen, it doesn’t matter. We have so much to catch up on.”
I stopped and let go of her hand.
After the day I had, I felt like an open wound. I looked over my shoulder and pleaded with my eyes.
“Ms. Peterson.” Josh stepped forward. “Tinley has had a long day and is tired.” He took my hand from hers. The warmth returned. “Why don’t you come by the house in the morning? Where are you staying and we can have someone come and pick you up?”
“Who are you?” Charlotte pressed her lips into a line.
“Uhm, this is Josh.” I looked back and forth between the two. “He helped me get away from the people who took me.”
Her gaze ran up and down.
“Well, thank you so much for taking care of my niece.” She nodded. “But I think it’s time you get on with your life, Tinley.”
“I don’t think this is the time or the place to discuss such an important matter.” Kyler stepped in. “Allow us to drop you off at your hotel.”
Kyler, Josh, and I stepped into the elevator. I grabbed Josh’s hand. Charlotte’s eyes grew wide, but she followed.
She was silent on the ride down. We hopped into the car idling at the curb. Kyler guided Charlotte into the front passenger seat. “Where are you staying?” Kyler asked.
“Marriott on Fifth Avenue.”
“Charlotte.” I touched her shoulder, and she turned back in the seat. “I am glad you are here. I’m just really tired. Can we please just talk tomorrow? I’ll fill you in on everything.”
She glared at Josh.
“Fine.” She turned back in her seat. “What time can you fit me in?” The snark in her voice hit a nerve.
“James here will be at your hotel at ten a.m.,” Kyler said. “Whenever you’re ready.”
We arrived at Charlotte’s hotel. Kyler got out to help her out.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” She looked around.
“I will be.” I nodded.
“Now that you’re back, it’s time to get on with your life,” she said and walked away.