And I did.

PART 5

Deputy Ruiz spoke to me later that afternoon, after the doctor confirmed I could manage a short interview.

She wore ordinary clothes, not her uniform, and introduced herself before asking if I wanted water.

Leah stayed in the room at my request.

Ruiz never began with “Why didn’t you just…” She asked where I had been standing, what my father had said, whether the door had been locked, and what I had been wearing.

She asked whether anything like this had happened before.