Good morning! How is everyone doing? I am very tired but I am very happy because I have just returned form Disneyland! If you want to see what I did on my trip, check out my Instagram @2catsandalaptop. I posted a lot of pictures from the trip so feel free to see what I did.
And we continue on our trip though our Winchester story. I won’t keep you any longer. So I hope you enjoy this Adventure!
Tell Me the Truth
Winchester sat behind the glass of the interrogation room watching his father interrogate Melissa Hanaway. This woman was an odd lady, constantly looking around the room to see if there was anything that could help her. Her body shivered as she sat in the warm room, most likely from nervousness. West couldn’t tell if she was coming down from a high or was drunk but something really seemed off about her. Anthony leaned back in his chair. “So…why did you decide to kidnap Gemma Edwards from her bedroom?”
Her eyes widened. “We didn’t take Ginger…she came to us through the foster system.”
West let out a sigh, she was going to be a tough cookie to crack. Anthony slammed his hand against the table causing her to jump. “No…she did not come through the foster system. She has a family who has been missing her since she was kidnapped.” He pulled out the photo of Gemma before she went missing and placed it on the table. “Isn’t this the little girl that you took before you changed her looks?”
A tear started to slide down Melissa’s cheek. “We just wanted a little girl. We had out two boys but all we wanted was a little girl. And Ginger was just perfect. She didn’t complain at all.”
“Are you sure she didn’t complain because she was good or because she was afraid to get hurt? Or, maybe it was because you hurt her so badly she just decided that her life would become easier to just conform and follow what you told her to do. This young girl was taken from her family, that lived 2 blocks away from you, and you just decided that she was going to be your daughter? Do you understand how crazy that sounds?”
Anthony stood up and did a quick lap around the room to cool off. West could tell that he was angry and that his father wanted to just throw this woman into jail. But he ended up sitting down across from Melissa and looking her in the eye. “Look, I don’t really believe your story. But, if you tell me the truth then I can almost guarantee that you will get less of a sentence.” West knew his dad couldn’t guarantee anything but West hoped that it would cause Melissa to tell the truth.
She let out a sigh and tears started trickling down her face. “Okay…it wasn’t my idea. I wanted a little girl but I was willing to adopt. There are a lot of kids out there who need families and I was willing to give one of them a home. My husband, not so much. He didn’t want to pay for an adoption fee and he knew it would be expensive. And no matter how much I pleaded with him he wouldn’t budge. So when we met the Edwards family and saw their little girl, he knew immediately that she was going to be his daughter. He planned the whole thing out, he bought the chloroform to knock her out, he was the one who actually broke into their house to take her, and he was the one who did most of the torture. I just remember waking up to the news that she was in out basement.”
Winchester could feel the anger rising up inside of him and he saw his dad starting to get angry as well. “So you just…went along with it? You just decided that it was a good idea to have a little girl in your house who wasn’t actually your daughter?” Melissa nodded but didn’t say anything. Anthony let out a long breath and rubbed his hands over his face. “So how did you torture her?”
Melissa wiped a tear away from her eyes. “Well…it was mostly my husband. But…we kept her in the basement and would spend hours with her just convincing her that he name was Ginger. It took a long time but after some sleepless nights for her she finally started saying that her name was Ginger. We dyed her hair once a week to keep it dark and not show the red and she slept with curlers in almost every night to keep her hair so springy. But we did glue her window shut when we thought the police were finally off our tails and locked her in her bedroom every night. We actually had a crib with a top on it for the first month that she lived with us so that way she knew she was ours and she was staying with us. Once she finally started giving in, then she got her own bed. She knew what the rules were and by the time she had been here for a couple months she started abiding by the rules. We didn’t have to lock her door at night and she actually stayed in her room all night. She was such a sweet girl.”
Her eyes started to drift toward the corner of the room. West could tell that they were close to losing Melissa. Anthony cleared his throat to bring her attention back to him. “So…how long did you plan on keeping this a secret? What would’ve happened if she decided to go to the police when she was old enough? Then what would you have done?”
She shrugged. “We didn’t plan that far ahead. We just thought that maybe as she got older she would forget what happened and just be happy with her life with us. We wanted to give her the best life that she could have and that’s what we were doing.”
“Then maybe you should’ve left her with her family. I think that’s what she would’ve wanted.” Anthony stood up and walked out of the room leaving Melissa to her own thoughts. He walked into the side room and joined West. He let out a sigh. “This one’s tough.”
West nodded. “Do you believe her?”
His father shrugged. “I don’t know if I believe that it was all her husband’s idea. I think that some of this was definitely her idea but she doesn’t want to admit it. Honestly you see a lot of people turn on their significant other and throw them under the bus if that means that they don’t have to spend so much time in jail. But I do believe that they didn’t plan that far ahead in their plan. I think they were just thinking about the present and that the case never got reopened.”
The room was slowly filled with light as the door opened. Both men looked toward the door to see Chief Dyner standing in the doorway. “There are some people here that would like to meet both of you. Could you come with me?”
Anthony and West followed Chief Dyner down the hallway to the lobby where the Edwards family was waiting. Mrs. Edwards ran over to them and hugged both Anthony and West. “Thank you! Thank you for bringing my daughter home. You do not understand how happy we are.”
Both Anthony and West took a step back and smiled. Anthony smiled and looked over at his son. “He’s the one you need to thank. Winchester looked at all the information from the case and found the one thing we needed to find Gemma. We are just glad she is home.”
The family thanked them a couple more times before leaving with their daughter. Anthony put his arm around Winchester. “This is why I do my job. I want to see families together and happy.”
Winchester smiled. “I totally get it dad. I hope I can help you more in the future.”
2 Cats and a Laptop 