Inciting Investigations

Chapter 22

Birdy Anders

Birdy stuck close to Sarah, trying not to let any fear enter her eyes. She was terrified, though, and she was absolutely sure that it showed. She tried to make sure that her shoulders weren’t hunched and her back was straight. Confidence is the key. She had to be confident.

Crash!

The door was kicked down by the police officer in front, and suddenly, they were all moving in. She wasn’t sure why she was allowed to be here when all that she’d done is give a tip, Sarah had even done most of the actual researching and piecing together, really.

Nonetheless, here Birdy was, stomping into the small house that was supposed to hold the person who had kidnapped and fake murdered her brother along with Sarah’s brother. She had been acting all tough before when finding him seemed so far away, but now that they were so close, she realized that she wasn’t ready. No, no, she really wasn’t ready.

How could she come to face that monster? What was she supposed to say? Was she just supposed to go up to him and throw a good punch? That sounded like a good idea in her head, but realistically, that would just end up with her getting detained as well. Which wouldn’t be good.

They came closer to the last door in the house that they hadn’t been in and walked in. There was a man on the floor getting handcuffed by an officer and pulled up into a standing position. Birdy wasn’t surprised to see a man that she had never seen before, until Sarah gasped.

Then, Birdy realized that she had seen him before, in some very bloody crime scene photos. After that, she realized why Sarah had gasped in the first place. It clicked in her head.

This was Jacob Hensen.

Going into this, Birdy had thought that Sarah would have to hold her back from going up and punching Tempest right square in his stupid face. She did not expect that she would be holding back Sarah from going up and hugging Tempest right around his stupid body.

“Wait, wait, wait, Birdy Anders?” His voice held an accent now. “Whoo-hoo, I haven’t seen you in a while. I guess you got your brother’s attractive genes.” He looked her up and down before letting out another whistle. The police officer, who didn’t speak English, had obviously gotten enough from the situation to be upset because he suddenly tightened the handcuffs greatly. Which made Jacob let off a very high-pitched wince of pain.

His eyes widened when he actually saw Sarah, and she looked him dead in the eye. She seemed a bit disgusted by his comment but still relieved to just see her brother alive for a second.

Then, it clicked in her head as well, and her face dropped. Her smile disappeared, and her eyes began to fill with tears. But she still couldn’t accept the truth, so she asked him, “What happened?...” Her voice wobbled, and for some reason, it broke Birdy’s heart to hear that.

Then, a rush of voices happened between the three of them.

“I can explain.”

“Sarah, he’s Tempest.”

“No, he’s not.”

“If you’ll give me a minute.”

“Yes he is. You have to accept it.”

“No, no, no, no…”

“Seriously.”

“Sarah, it’s true.”

“Just listen to me, SarBear.”

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!”

Her scream echoed around the room with all its emotion. The officers, all of them knowing no English or very little, looked confused about what was happening between the three of them.