Page 102 of Unforgotten

He pressed his lips to her brow. “There’s nothing wrong with that, is there, Chief?”

“Honestly, I’d be surprised if you weren’t still shaken up,” the chief said in a kind tone. “You’ve been through quite a traumatic experience, Candace.”

Wearing a determined expression, her mother said, “Perhaps we should wait until tomorrow for this questioning.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid we can’t do that, Dora,” the chief said. “We need to have Candace’s statement to make sure our case against Scott Conway is solid.”

“I can’t imagine there are any questions about what that man did to my daughter and her cousin,” her father said.

Walking Candace to the couch, Ryan said, “Let’s sit down.”

Candace sat next to Ryan, of course, but she knew for everyone’s sakes that she was going to need to pull herself together. “I’ll be fine.” Looking at her parents, she said, “I can do this.”

“Do you want them in here while we get your statement?” the chief asked Candace.

Candace felt she could go either way. Part of her wanted to tell her story only once. If her parents were here, then she wouldn’t have to go over it in detail once again. Plus, the chief’s presence would probably help them from getting too emotional. If her mother dissolved into tears or her father burst out into anger, she didn’t know if she could handle that.

“Mom, Dad, I’d love for you to stay ... unless you think it’s going to be too hard to hear.”

Her father shook his head. “We just went through twelve-plus hours of not knowing if we’d ever see you again. We can handle the truth.”

“All right then,” Chief Foster said. “Candace, even though I know you already shared bits and pieces of your ordeal with Ryan and some of the other officers on the scene, I’d like you to answer each question as completely as possible.”

“I understand.”

“I’m also going to be recording your answers. Is that all right?”

“Yes, sir.”

After getting out a small recording device, Chief Foster set it up. In addition, Ryan took out a notepad and pen.

“Ready?” he asked.

“I’m ready.”

“All right. Please state your name for the record.”

“Candace Evans.”

“Candace, tell us what happened from the very beginning.”

“I was at the Hostetlers’ house for my uncle’s fiftieth birthday party. There were almost a hundred people there. It was crowded.”

“Okay. And when did you leave?”

“It was almost eleven at night. I was tired, and Bethanne felt the same way. When I told her I was going to go, she offered to walk me. I suggested she just go half the way to my car.”

“Why only halfway?”

“It sounds foolish now, but I thought that was good enough. I also didn’t want her to have to walk the entire way home in the dark.”

“You were worried that something could happen?”

“No. I mean, not really. Nothing any different than most women feel when they’re walking alone at night. You know, you don’t want to do something stupid.” Feeling like that was exactly what she had done, she felt her bottom lip tremble.

Ryan reached for her hand, squeezed slightly in support, and let go, then resumed writing on the notepad.

“So the two of you were walking. Did you notice anything unusual?”

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