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19
As soon as they were sure they had everyone and everything they needed at that point, they went back to the station to make a quick plan to go out and round up all of her siblings and their children as well. Though Deanna knew this was going to be a long night, she also knew she had to be there when everyone was brought in. She had to see their faces as they found out they were all caught up in this scheme. This wasn’t like one of the childhood larks they would all often get into together. This was her life.
Nothing was ever going to be the same for her again. There would be literary no one from her family left if this ended up being true. If they all had a hand in a plot to go after her, she would never be able to move on from that. Deanna knew this was not really their fault to a point, but at the same time, they were all adults. They had the choice to walk away and hav
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As they waited, Deanna had to think. She had to figure out a way to protect herself in the long run. There was nothing she could really think of, though. Everything was piling up around her. This whole thing had snowballed from nothing ever happening in her life to everything falling apart. She thought back of the times she had stayed in her apartment and had dreamed about her graduation and finally being totally free of her family.Now she knew they had been waiting for that time as well. The best time to hold her in the basement of her parent's household and use her in ways she couldn’t imagine. They had all been in on it. The only thing that had saved her was the fact she had made a big deal by walking away and hiding basically. Though she still talked to her family, she had done everything by herself.She realized without even knowing the dang
Weathering the Storm 21
“Hello, Aunt Joyce?” Deanna said into the phone as she turned it on speaker, and Max took out his recorder to get the whole thing on tape. If Deanna was right, this could be huge, and it would be needed to make the case fit more by their standards as officers. “Just so you know, this conversation is being recorded, okay?”“Deanna, is that you?” Joyce asked as she struggled with the phone. “Why is it being recorded?”“I have some questions I have to ask you,” Deanna said as she had to ground the words out. This felt so wrong to her, but at the same time, it was the only way she could think of to possibly have some answers.“You know, don’t you?” The older woman asked, and Deanna’s eyes went wide.“Know what?” D
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Deanna looked up to him questioningly as he stood up and had to start pacing. That was a sign for her after noticing that he only did that when he was trying to piece things together to form a better picture in his head. She watched him move back and forth through the hallway they had camped out in waiting to hear from anyone that they had got to her siblings. They knew it had to be all at once, or one of them might disappear with some sort of knowledge of the others being picked up. This was bigger than this department should be able to handle. Deanna knew that, and so did Max, but he had faith that everything would work out the way it was supposed too.“What did you find?” Deanna asked as she finally couldn’t take it anymore with watching him pace back and forth on the hallway.“The curse,” Max said.
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“How in the world?” the older man asked as he had sat through the entire conversation listening to the two of the people in front of him. With every statement made, he felt more disgusted that he could even have the smallest part in any of this. He looked Deanna over again as he tried to clear out his throat. “Deanna, I have known you since you were born. I knew your brothers and sisters from birth, as well. I knew your father. No, I am sorry, grandfather, since childhood. Though I had no idea what was going on, I do have to say I didn’t particularly like your mother. She changed him though only an old friend would notice those small changes. I dare say this shouldn’t be a shock as we all saw the favoritism she had with David and some of the other boys I never thought this could be happening right under our noses.”“Not many people saw
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Max walked out of the room for a second as some of the other officers had come back to the conference room. He looked over the group that had amassed in the station. There were sets of adults and groups of children everywhere. He did a headcount of the people and saw that the number was right. They had got everyone in one try unless there were more out there that they didn’t know about. Max had some questions for the people who were not blood tied to the family. The spouses of the siblings. They had to answer for everything as well. As he looked at their faces, he started to understand this family a bit more. He felt some sympathy for them as well. It was plain to see they had zero clue as to why they were all there. It was then that Max realized they had no idea at the lengths the siblings would do or had done as well. They had no idea their children were being used as well.The kids themselves stayed
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Cheryl looked up at him, and he could read the horror on her face. She couldn’t speak about it. She was pleading with him silently, not to ask her in front of everyone. “alright.” Max said as he motioned for an officer to go and retrieve the box from her car. When Cheryl handed over the keys, Max looked at her and motioned for her to come with him.They two walked down further into the hall, where they wouldn’t be overheard by everyone in the family. “It couldn’t have been easy to come here tonight,” Max said softly as he looked down at the woman.“it wasn’t.” She said softly, “None of them have even tried to see if the kids and I are okay since David went to jail. They have no idea what it is like, but I have a feeling they all will find out.”“Deanna tried to reach you.” Max
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The contents of the box were being taken out and labeled as evidence. As the process would take some time, he looked around the table for the thing already in bags. “Can I?” Max asked as he went to lift one bag up. The officer nodded, and Max lifted it up and began to look at the object in the bag. “What is it?”“Looks like some sort of torture device.” The man said from the other side of the table.“It wouldn’t be the worst he had,” Max said as he began to think of the rooms in the basement that had been lined with them. “This guy was into torture, among other things. He seemed to get off on inflicting pain to his victims.”“I think this is of your wife, Detective.” The officer said as he handed a picture in one of the bags to Max. Max took it and beg
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Max knew they had to be related to her somehow as well though she hadn’t figured that out just yet. The way they looked in the photos was too close to how she looked then and now. This family was giving him a massive headache. Though he never wanted a big case like this one on his shoulders, he was happy he was next to her as she looked up at him and thought the tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. They were still the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. Max knew he could easily stare into them every day for the rest of his life. Even in the overwhelming idea that there was more hidden in the house, she had grown up in, she stood there with a backbone of steel. Though the day’s events were starting to take a toll on her in the way she stood and the completely emotional state she was in.“They will be there in a little bit.” The captain said as he nodded to the pair in the room.
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