✘ IC TALK TAG QUESTIONNAIRE / INTERVIEW.
you’re not unfamiliar to this. it’s happened a few times since victoria’s disappearance, but this time it feels more critical to the investigation than all of the others. detective evans sighs, pursing her lips, before dragging the metal chair opposite yours back, allowing an eerie creak to fill the otherwise silent space between you two. “ i’m sure you know the drill by now, yes ? i just have a couple more questions i need to get out there before i can let you go. i hope you don’t mind that this conversation will be recorded. ” evans sighs dejectedly, as if she wishes she could retire this case once and for all, and you briefly wonder — does she even care about victoria ? — before she begins.
“ first, please state your name and describe your relationship to victoria winters for the record. ”
she gulped, suddenly feeling as if she was attempting to swallow a lump of dirt and debris instead of her own nerves. “ i, um... tessa scott. tessa penelope scott. victoria and i, uh, didn’t really have much of a relationship. we were friends but i... i wouldn’t say particularly close. she was... ” there was a brief pause, a recollection of sorts. “ she was the type of girl who didn’t pay a lot of mind to girls like me. not that she was mean, ‘cause she wasn’t, but she was just, you know, popular. and i wasn’t. but i’d say, tentatively, that we were friends. ”
“ now, how old were you when victoria went missing in early 2012 ? ”
“ i was thirteen. same age as she was. that’s so young, isn’t it ? that’s.... crazy. i mean, any age to be kidnapped is wrong, but she was so, so young. that’s just... it really puts things in persepective, ” tessa bit her lip, unsure if her anxiety-ridden words were putting a target on her back or if her free thinking and speaking was considered normal by the detective. normal. like any of this could be normal in any capacity.
“ when was the last time you saw or were in contact with miss winters ? ”
“ the night she went missing. we’d been all, um, playing a game, and she said she was going to go out to get some fresh air. that’s it. nothing exciting or special. we all just figured it was typical victoria and she was going out to, like, sneak a cig or something. whatever she did. ”
“ it’s rumored that miss winters was involved with an older boy from a neighboring high school before her disappearance. do you know anything about this ? ”
there was a brief widening of the eyes, perhaps in disbelief, before tessa sunk back in the chair she was perched precariously on. “ um, no, i had no idea. it makes sense but, like i said, we were never close so it’d make sense that she wouldn’t tell me that. how much older ? is this something you’ll be investigating this time around that you didn’t before ? ”
“ do you know of anyone who was on bad terms with victoria, who may have wanted to hurt her ? ”
“ no, definitely not ! victoria was likable. she rubbed people the wrong way sometimes with her attitude but nobody would want to... ” tessa’s voice trembles, her lower lip resembling that of a toddler’s trying not to cry as she avoids the detective’s gaze, rubbing her now - wet nose with the back of her hand. “ nobody would want to h-hurt her. ”
“ walk me through the night victoria disappeared and what you were doing that night. everything you can remember. ”
“ we were playing a game, and then victoria went for her walk, and i had turned in for the night with a nicholas sparks book, i think maybe it was dear john ? no, wait. it was definitely the lucky one. i remember cause when the movie came out and zac efron— ” a throat’s cleared and tessa flushes with embarrassment, babbling apologies about losing track of the story. “ and then about an hour later, spencer busted in my room to tell me victoria was missing. then we all started looking for her. ”
“ does anything strike you as peculiar in the gas station video that has recently surfaced, allegedly starring miss winters ? ”
“ all of it. but mostly, she looks... scared. or weird. not like the victoria i remember. and old, too, but you know, it’s been so long that obviously she’d look older. ”
“ thank you for your cooperation. now, is there any other details you believe we should know regarding the reopened investigation ? ”
“ no, i don’t think so, but... ” tessa picked at the blue polish donning her fingernails incessantly, her cracked lips aching almost as much as her chest. “ if there’s anything else i can do, detective evans, please. i just wanna know she’s.... i wanna know she’s okay. ”
