AND IF YOU FALL, HOLD MY HAND
Name 🡒 Shiloh Kennedy Cortez
Date of Birth 🡒 May 02, 1999 [20]
Identity 🡒 Nonbinary & They/Them
Hometown 🡒 Sugar Pointe, LA
Has Been in St. Clair 🡒 Entire Life
Currently Living 🡒 Bon Temps
Occupation 🡒 Student at Saints College & Host at Black Angus
Faceclaim 🡒 Sivan Alyra Rose
OOH BABY, IT’S A LONG WAY DOWN
TW - House Fire; Marijuana
1. GOOD AFTERNOON, FIRST OFF I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT THIS IS SIMPLY PROCEDURE. YOU AREN’T IN TROUBLE. WE JUST HAVE SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK, IS THAT ALRIGHT? AND BEFORE WE GET STARTED, HAS ANYONE OFFERED YOU SOMETHING TO DRINK YET? A WATER, COFFEE, OR PERHAPS A CUP OF TEA?
“Yeah, ‘sup?” Shiloh said as the officer greeted them. They were ready to leave and head back to their apartment as they had plenty of assignments to work on, and they really didn’t want to be stuck here for something that was probably going to be a waste of their time. “Sure, I’ll just have a water,” Shiloh answered. “So, I’m definitely not in trouble, right? Because I don’t even have time to get in trouble. Working a part-time job and being a full-time college student means I barely have time to breathe.”
2. OKAY THEN, COULD YOU PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME FOR THE RECORD? IS THAT YOUR BIRTH NAME? ANY ALIASES WE SHOULD BE AWARE OF?
“Yes, my name is Shiloh Kennedy Cortez,” they answered. “That is my birth name and everything. I don’t have any nicknames that I’m aware of? I know some of my friends call me ‘Shy’ but hell if I know why. I’m not shy at all.”
3. NOW THEN, LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR CHILDHOOD BRIEFLY. WHAT WAS GROWING UP LIKE FOR YOU?
“Well, it was pretty fun. I grew up always traveling with my mom and dad, so even though I’m from Sugar Pointe, I honestly spent a lot of time all over the country visiting different family members everywhere. I always loved that,” they answered with a bit of a laugh. There was already a wide smile on their face as they sat there thinking about their busy childhood. Sometimes they missed traveling, but they wanted to focus on their education and be able to travel again one day. “My mom works at the hospital out in Blackburn and my dad works at the bank, but they always preferred the small town life of Sugar Pointe compared to Blackburn. I always remember playing in the fields behind our house and spending all of my time outside every single day …” They trailed off and shook their head. “Sorry. What was the question again? … Oh, right. Yeah, so I guess my childhood was nice. I really enjoyed it.”
4. AND WHAT ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR FAMILY? WERE YOU CLOSE WITH YOUR PARENTS, OR GUARDIANS? ANY SIBLINGS?
“Oh yeah, super close to my parents,” they answered. “No doubt about it. I still visit them every weekend and sometimes they come visit me during the week at my apartment. As for siblings, I know I do have one. I have a half brother somewhere out there from my dad. He’s like ten years older than me though and that’s all I know about him. Never met him because he wanted nothing to do with my dad when he remarried.” They shrugged their shoulders. “I honestly don’t even know his name.”
5. WHAT WAS YOUR HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE LIKE? DID YOU ENJOY IT? DID YOU HAVE A LOT OF FRIENDS, OR WERE YOU MORE OF A LONER? SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN, MAYBE?
"Ha, yeah,” Shiloh laughed. “I just graduated high school and let me say the Sugar Pointe school was so tiny that I can probably name every single person from my graduating class.” They took a sip from their water and leaned back in their seat, enjoying being able to talk about themself. They could honestly do this all day. “Well, I definitely had a lot of friends, but were they close friends? No, not at all. More like people I saw every single day and had to hang out with, but we weren’t super close. Does that make any sense? It’s like, I could easily still talk to these old classmates, but we weren’t super close friends. I only have like two of those.”
6. SO, DID YOU GO TO COLLEGE? IF SO, WHAT FOR AND IF NOT, WHY? WHAT WAS YOUR POST-HIGH SCHOOL LIFE LIKE?
"Well that’s a fuckin’ genius question,” they said. “I literally said at the beginning of this whole thing that I’m currently a college student. I’m currently at Saints College, but I’m working with a few people over at Arcadia College to get a scholarship so I can study there. There’s only so much I wanna do with an associate’s degree, you know, and I’d love to be able to get my bachelor’s. Arcadia is way too expensive though, so I’m working hard for that scholarship money.” They really wanted to get into Arcadia. They knew it was extremely prestigious and they would probably get a lot of weird looks showing up there as a small town person who would never fit in with the high society of Rosemont. They knew they’d turn a lot of heads with their entire personality and clothing options. “But, right now I’m studying computer science. I’ll be getting my associate’s by the end of this school year.”
7. DO YOU HAVE A REPUTATION AROUND TOWN? HOW WOULD YOU SAY OTHERS PERCEIVE YOU?
"A reputation? Hell … I guess?” Shiloh responded, not sure how to answer the question. They had no idea how people viewed them, but they were sure there was something. “I guess … it depends upon who you ask? Some people will know me as that studious nerd who is always focused on school and nerdy shit, but others will know me as the outspoken asshole who will say what I believe and argue with people who are closed minded. I guess some people remember me as a major partier in high school, but I’ve mellowed off since then. I’m too busy to go to parties every night. Now I maybe go to a party … once a month? If even that.”
8. CAN YOU HELP ME UNDERSTAND YOUR PERSONALITY? WHAT ARE YOU LIKE, BOTH ON THE SURFACE AND DEEP DOWN? WHAT ABOUT IN PUBLIC VERSUS IN PRIVATE?
"Hmm… interesting question,” Shiloh said, tapping their finger against their chin as they thought about it. “Don’t know. Who are any of us, you know? We’re all completely different people in the world, and why would I want to tell you about who I am in private? On the inside?” They shrugged their shoulders. “You should have already figured out my public personality already though. Chatty, fun, no nonsense, ready to say whatever I want, super smart, really exciting. All of those things.” Shiloh laughed. “Okay, okay. I guess my private personality is that I really can be very private. I’m the kind of person who can talk a lot and say a lot, but you’ll never really know who I am.”
9. LEADING OFF OF THAT, WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR GREATEST STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES?
Shiloh frowned, thinking hard about this question. They weren’t sure how to respond to this one especially. “Hm…” They couldn’t seem to think of one strength about themself. Honestly, not a single one. Meanwhile, a bunch of weaknesses kept popping into their head, but they were not about to discuss that with a random cop. “One strength is my intelligence and one weakness is my stupidity.” They laughed and drank their water.
10. A BIT HEAVIER, I KNOW, BUT I HAVE TO ASK IF ANYTHING HAS HAPPENED TO YOU PERSONALLY IN YOUR LIFE THAT DRASTICALLY CHANGED YOU AS A PERSON?
"No,” Shiloh answered without even thinking about it. Even if something had happened, they weren’t able to tell this cop about it. They immediately thought of the last time they had went to San Carlos for the funeral of their grandparents who died in a house fire, and that was something that had changed them so much. They had always been very close to their grandparents, but after their death, they had absolutely no idea what to do anymore. Shiloh used to always call them in between classes to talk about life there and see how they were doing, and now Shiloh felt empty without them in their life. “No, I can’t think of anything.”
11. AND OF COURSE, I HAVE TO ASK, WERE YOU IN TOWN BETWEEN ‘96 AND ‘99 WHEN THE ORIGINAL DROWNINGS OCCURRED? DID YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW ANY OF THE ORIGINAL SEVEN VICTIMS? WHAT WAS YOUR LIFE LIKE DURING THOSE TRAGIC YEARS? WHAT WAS THE AFTERMATH?
"Are you serious?” Shiloh asked with a laugh. “Um, no.” They laughed again. “I mean, I guess I was in town for the last two in ‘99, but I was like a couple hours old for the first one and a few months old for the last. Fun fact, I was born the same day as the Russian lady. That I’ll always remember because people always remind me about it on my birthday.” They shook their head, deciding that would be enough of an answer.
However, what they were not going to say was their relationship to one of the victims. Cortez was certainly a common surname, but they weren’t sure how to explain their uncle Ryan Cortez was the second victim. He had never lived in the area and had been there for a con, and he and her father were not super close at the time, so they probably didn’t have any idea that the other was in the area at all. Obviously, he had died long before Shiloh was born, but she often heard her father talking about his brother and how he wished they had been closer and had a better relationship with each other. That was all Shiloh knew though – they had absolutely no other information about their uncle except that he was murdered and was a conman.
12. THAT SAID, DID YOU KNOW EITHER DARYLL BORDELON OR GEORGIANA MEARS PERSONALLY? IF SO, WHAT WAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO THEM? HOW MUCH HAVE THEIR DEATHS AFFECTED YOU?
"I’m way too young to know either of them,” Shiloh answered honestly. “I’d heard people talk about Daryll and it’d be impossible to not have heard of Georgiana, but that’s about it. I don’t know anything else about either of them.”
13. LASTLY, WHERE WERE YOU ON THE NIGHTS OF MARCH 9TH AND JULY 23RD AND IS THERE ANYONE THAT CAN CORROBORATE YOUR WHEREABOUTS?
"March 9th I was at work late. I didn’t get done until around 11 pm when the last patron at Black Angus finally left,” they said. “You can check my timecard and all that.” They shifted in their seat and took a final sip of their water. “July 23rd … I don’t know. Probably had locked myself up in my apartment and was focusing on my summer course. I specifically remember the 9th though. It had been such a long night and then it was all over social media about Daryll.” They shrugged their shoulders. “Hope that’s helpful for you though.” As soon as they were told they could leave, they nodded their head. “Ugh, finally. I’ve got so much work to do.” They stood up and left the room to hurry back to their apartment after what felt like an extremely awkward situation.
TO THE BOTTOM OF THE RIVER
Shiloh was at a party in a small cabin by La Reine Bayou, and they hadn’t been drinking but had been smoking a little bit of weed. While they were sitting on the porch eating popcorn and listening to the sound of the music thumping from inside the cabin and also hearing the animals in the woods, they noticed Gigi leaving the cabin and walking out into the woods with someone else. Shiloh had barely recognized Gigi and certainly didn’t recognize the other person, so they went back to munching on their snack and looked the other way. When Gigi’s body was found seven days later, Shiloh couldn’t help but wonder if they were one of the last people to have seen her alive. They’ve been trying to decide if they should tell the police what they saw, but they don’t want to get in trouble for smoking marijuana. They’re also not completely sure if they actually saw Gigi leaving with someone. It could have honestly been anyone and they wouldn’t know because they weren’t exactly sober. Maybe one day they’ll tell someone what they saw.
