Part 21 (1/2)
”Let's go,” one of the officers said as he helped Homer stand up.
Homer began s.h.i.+vering as the flas.h.i.+ng lights from the squad cars danced around his head.
Chapter Forty-one.
Tia stood up when she heard Serenity screaming. ”Serenity!” she cried out as she ran out the front door. She ran down the walkway to meet her child who fell full speed into her arms. Tia was crying as she put her arms around her. ”Are you okay?”
Serenity trembled as she tried to catch her breath between sobs. She shook her head rapidly.
”Ma'am,” one of the female police officers interrupted, ”we need to get some information from your daughter. Let's go inside.”
Tia held on to Serenity and guided her into the house.
Serenity looked around the living room, suddenly remembering how she'd found her father on the floor. ”How's Daddy?” she asked sadly.
”He'll be fine,” Tia said. She grabbed Serenity's shoulders and looked at her. Her hair was tossed about and the red tips of her bangs were pointed in various directions. ”But are you all right?”
Serenity shrugged.
”What did he do to you?” Tia's grip around Serenity's shoulders tightened. ”Tell me!”
”Nothing!” Serenity shouted. ”He didn't do nothing!”
”Okay, young lady,” the police officer said gently, ”just tell me what happened.”
”I don't know,” Serenity whined. ”I came home and found my dad on the floor. My mom told me to go to Cookie's house but n.o.body was home. So, I went to his house . . .”
”Mr. Woodard?” the police officer asked.
Serenity nodded. ”He told me to come in and he would take me to the hospital, but it was dark in there,” she stopped to catch her breath, ”and then he pulled me in.”
”And then what happened?”
”He made me go downstairs to the bas.e.m.e.nt,” she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. ”And he tied me to a chair.”
”Lord have mercy,” Tia whispered.
”And then what happened?” the police officer probed gently.
”He started talking about crazy stuff, then he turned off the light and went upstairs.”
”What kind of crazy stuff was he talking about?”
Serenity cut her eyes at her mother. ”I don't know,” she said rubbing her forehead. ”I can't remember.”
”Serenity, it's important that you try to remember as much as you can,” the officer said staring hard at her.
”I . . . some stuff . . . he was talking about a woman, and . . . I can't remember,” she said and started crying again.
”Okay, Serenity. We're almost done. Just a couple more questions.” The police officer flipped a sheet of paper over on her notepad.
”Now where were you coming home from when you found your dad on the floor?”
Serenity looked at Cookie. ”Nowhere.”
”Nowhere?”
”Yeah,” she sniffled.
”Serenity, stop lying,” Tia said harshly. ”We already know you planned to meet some boy you met on the computer. Now where were you coming from?”
Serenity glanced over at Cookie who stood helplessly in one corner of the room. ”I told you, nowhere,” she whined. ”I didn't meet him. He didn't show up.”
”But you did go to meet him, right?” the officer asked.
Serenity nodded.
”Then you went somewhere. Just because he didn't show up doesn't change the fact that you still went somewhere, right?”
”I guess.”
Tia sighed and began rubbing the side of her forehead. She was thankful her daughter was all right because she knew the outcome could have been much worse. Homer was 100 percent wrong for what he had done, but there was still the issue of Serenity putting herself in danger by going off to meet someone she didn't know.
The police officers began to wrap up their investigation. ”We'll be in touch shortly,” one of them said. ”We're going to need an official statement from her.”
Tia nodded her head. ”That's fine.”
The other officer gave her a card. ”In the meantime, call if you have any questions or if your daughter comes up with any more information . . .”
”I will,” she said.
”We're going to go too,” Shari said.
Tia gave Shari a hug. She looked at Tony. ”Thanks,” she said.
”Try to get some rest,” Tony told her as he escorted Cookie out after she said good-bye to Serenity.
Tia watched from her door as the three of them walked back toward their house. She closed the door and turned around when she heard Serenity going upstairs. ”Wait,” she said. ”Come back down here. I need to talk to you.”
Serenity went into the living room and sat down.
”So what's going on with you going to meet some boy you met online?”
Serenity lowered her head and began picking at one of her fingernails.