Chapter 24
1st October 2015: 20:45 pm.
They were starting the interview. They came into the room only a few minutes after Bentley arrived, again I was read my rights and for some reason it didn’t seem so formal until they started to speak, I realized that I wasn’t only being charged with kidnapping, but something else. “This is the 20.46 on the 1st October 2015. Detective Russell, Bentley Washington, Emma Rogers and Detective Dwight are present in the room.”
“Emma Rogers you came to the station this morning at ten fifteen on the 1st October 2016. You claimed that your daughter Barbara Rogers had been taken and Elizabeth Rogers was in your care.”
“Did you say Elizabeth Rogers?”
They both looked at their notes and Bentley grabbed my hand. He could tell that this was news to me. Why hadn’t he warned me? Why hadn’t he said anything?
“Yes, Elizabeth Rogers, the four year old girl that you came in with this morning.”
“Elizabeth Rogers?”
I repeated it, thinking that the sound of it was so ridiculous. She was Ted’s daughter. Not just Li’s. They had a child together! Ted had a daughter. I knew that he had cheated on me. The first time with his secretary Li Xi Ying, and the weird part was that when they had arrested me they’d mentioned her. The crazy girlfriend of my husband. The one that had been to my house so many times that I lost count. It was Ralph who stopped her coming in the end. I never found out how, but I know that he stopped her from stalking me. The first time or even just a few weeks ago, but I knew that it was him. He told me both times.
I’d be dropping Barbara to school and she would be at the school gates. It was as if she was always tormenting me and expecting me to leave. I’d told Ted that he had to stop seeing her. He swore blind that he had, and I’d gathered that was why she was obsessed with me. But it was clear now what the real reason was for her not stalking me any more.
She’d already had their child by then. That something else was his child. It was clear that my husband didn’t know how to keep his cock in his pants. Everything they said after that sounded like noise. My husband had a secret daughter. One that I never knew about.
“Does Ted know?”
Bentley replied, “Yes.”
“Emma Rogers, we need to continue with this interview. You have been charged with some serious allegations and we need to be clear if they are true.”
“What allegations?” Bentley stepped in to ask.
“Elizabeth Rogers mother, Li Xiu Ying, claims that her daughter was taken from her house this morning. She says that Emma Rogers was obsessed with her, because Ted Rogers planned to leave Emma Rogers for Li and that she kidnapped her daughter.”
Bentley laughed. “As you can clearly see, Emma Rogers didn’t even know about Elizabeth Rogers until now.”
I realized that Bentley was working with me. He had purposely not told me so that my reaction with the police would be the real one. The reaction of a woman who had just found out that not only was her husband cheating, but that he’d named the child after his own mother. What did that make me?
“She also claims that her brother, Zhang Wei, reported the little girl missing this morning, when Emma Rogers and I quote ‘Was intoxicated and came to the house and took the little girl’.”
“I was at home,” I whispered; how could I have taken her and what about Barbara?
“That’s another problem, Emma. No one has seen Barbara in a week. Not even the school.”
“She missed one day,” I shook my head because today felt like the longest day of my life. Even when I took the drugs, they never felt this long. Yes, it was one day. I was sure about that.
Detective Russell said, “Not one day, but the whole week. I am sorry Emma Rogers, but we have to charge you for attempted murder and abduction.”
Bentley started shouting, “This is absurd. As you can see, she knew nothing about Elizabeth Rogers. She wants her little girl back. She knew nothing about her husband’s extra martial affairs.”
I screamed out, “I don’t give a shit! I just want Barbara.”
That was when Detective Russell called for back-up. I was hysterical and needed to be put into a cell. I felt as if I was losing my mind. My daughter was out there and no one was helping. All they were doing was trying to put me down, meaning that Barbara would be lost forever.
***
1st October 2015: 19:48 pm.
“Ted, what are you doing here? I’ve been calling you like crazy!” I dropped Elizabeth’s hand outside the police station and ran to him as if my life depended on it. It was a bit dramatic, but I needed him to see me upset. I caught him outside the police station, pacing up and down as if he didn’t know what to do with himself. I knew at that moment, he knew or at least suspected what was really going on. I knew my man too well. He was like an open book, one that I could read and then turn the pages and re-write them to do what I needed him to do. Not what he thought was the best for him, but only for us.
He pushed me to the side and ran to Elizabeth.
“Baby girl, are you okay?” He had tears of joy on his face as he hugged her and lifted her up in the air.
Good, he was concerned about her. Worried that she may have been lost. I just hoped that he was pointing the finger at Emma, just like I had the police doing right now.
She nodded as tears started to escape her eyes which were firmly shut tight. “Yes, daddy.”
He turned to me with her still in his arms saying, “Li. Are you okay?”
I felt better knowing that everything was going according to plan. I just couldn’t believe that months of planning had finally come into play.
I hugged him so tightly, knowing that this was it. There was no turning back. There was just one more thing that would put the icing on the cake. And when the police got the news and found out about my little surprise then Ted would be mine and his wife would be gone just like I had always wanted. Just like he did too, but didn’t know how to bring it about. I knew that Ted loved me, he just had a way of not being able to show it.
“What were you doing here? I thought you were going to the house?” I was fighting back the tears, but they weren’t of sadness, only joy. I looked up as he slowly moved Elizabeth to the side of his leg.
“The police wanted to question me. You know, about Emma and Barbara. They needed to figure out Emma’s state of mind this week. I think now it’s over, but we just need to find out what she did with Barbara.”
I nodded, “I understand this must be tough for you. What do you mean that it’s over if they haven’t found Barbara?”
He shook his head. “You have no idea, between both my daughters missing, you being tangled up in this web and then the accounts and work… It’s just crazy.”
“I know, I know,” I tried to reassure him. I wanted more answers, but then I didn’t want to press him. Just in case. I couldn’t arouse suspicion. Not even a little bit.
“Do you think that she did all this alone?” I asked, wondering if there was something that could fuck up my plan. As far as I was concerned, Emma was always alone, never really keeping in touch with anyone whenever we had followed her, but I just wanted to make sure that there were no ties. No one that could know the truth and spoil my plan.
“It doesn’t matter.” He bent down and looked at Elizabeth. Then his eyes moved to me, with all the sincerity in the world. “No matter what, she will pay for what she’s done. She didn’t really have any friends after she started taking the drugs. No one I know will help her. Let’s just get you home.”
“You’re not going to the house?” I thought that he would go there first, he had said that he was going there on the way from the airport.
He stood up, “No, no I just feel guilty about us going away and Emma using that time to plan all this. Besides, the police are searching the house right now. I need to know what happened to Barbara, you understand that right?”
I nodded, thinking that he didn’t need my permission. He was so torn up. I could see the stress lines on his face; he looked like a lost boy himself.
I took his hand and said, “Let’s go home. I’ll fix you something to eat and then we can figure out what to do next.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he tried to smile back at me. I felt so bad knowing that he was so torn up. I wanted to tell him on the street that she was safe. That this was to help us. But I couldn’t do that, especially outside of the police station. He was coming home with us and I intended for him to stay. He waved a taxi and we both looked down on Elizabeth, smiling. I had changed her once we got to the station. The police had said that Emma threw her hat away. There was nothing to tie me into this, only one person could do that and I had to get her out in the open, but that wouldn’t happen now. Not until Zhang had made that phone call to the police making sure Emma was in prison not only for questioning and being a suspect, but for being a murderer.