Safe and Sound

I was home sick, Thursday and Friday. My sinuses have become infected (again) and I have a Rudolph nose from blowing so often.
I meant to stay in bed Friday, but at 6:15 a.m. someone was knocking on our front door. I thought it might be the neighbor because she's had problems in the past and we've told her to come to the house if/when she needs a place to stay. She's never taken us up on that offer.
I answered the door to find a detective and two police officers on my front porch. They asked me if I'd heard anything last night with my neighbors. I told them I had been pretty doped up with NyQuil and hadn't heard anything, but that my dogs hadn't barked either. I told them that at 7:00 p.m., when I'd gone to the store get my prescription, my neighbor (Veronique) and her boyfriend (Charles) were fighting in the front yard...yelling and calling each other names, but that they fight like that frequently.
Our houses share a driveway, and Charles drives a big white truck that he parks in the driveway. He has a home some two blocks away. He was in jail through the holidays for assault on his ex-wife's boyfriend. (I know, I know)
So I told the police that when I left at 7:00, a big black suburban like vehicle pulled up in front of the neighbor's house and Charles got in it...I didn't actually see him get in because I was getting into my own car to leave, but by the time I backed out of the drive way, he was gone and so was that truck. His big white truck was still in the driveway. I waited for my prescription for a while, but got home around 7:30. When I got home, the white truck was gone and there was no more commotion. I went to bed around 10:00 and that was the end of it until 6:15 a.m.
The police asked a series of questions and told me that Veronique was missing.
I was curious but didn't want to be too obvious that I was curious, so I kept peeking out my windows, watching the police come in and out of her house. The Crime Lab came in with big bags and the police tape went up round her front yard and part of our shared driveway.
By this time, I'd read online that at 2:00 a.m. she had pushed the panic button on her alarm panel and told the dispatcher to send the police, but when they got there she was nowhere to be found, but her purse was in the house. I peaked out the window again and found that there were even more police cars...I counted eight and the news vans were beginning to arrive. It was shocking...and I kept thinking - I need to get rest. I'm sick! But I couldn't rest.....no where near it.
Around 9:00 there was another knock on the door and there stood a reporter. Keep in mind, I'm sick...coughing...hacking, sniffling and blowing my nose constantly and they want me to do an interview about my neighbor. Aside from the fact that I don't want to be on the news not knowing shit about my neighbor (which, by the way, I don't) I didn't want to be on the news period...healthy, sick...I doesn't matter. I've seen who they get quotes from and I don't want to be that person.
AND, Although it sounds like I know a lot about her, I really don't. We don't talk. She runs in the house whenever we pull into the driveway. She's friendly enough if you can get her to talk to you, but that's a rare occurrence. She has a lot of drama going on...and we over hear most of it, which is how I know anything about her.
So the reporters are wanting to know what I know about this incident (no more than they), and if I heard anything (nope) and do I think that Charles kidnapped her (?)...I told them I couldn't speak to that because I just don't know. He doesn't seem like the type but you never know.
OH, and did I mention that last year around this time, an exboyfriend of hers held her hostage in her own home for 8 hours? He wasn't anybody I'd ever met (or met since) but when I saw her the next day, she'd clearly been beat up...black and blue everywhere. It's one of the only times she and I really spoke with more than just the hello's of neighbors. We had cried together and hugged and I had told her that we have a spare bedroom if she ever needs to find safety - and we have dogs. She had thanked me. A few weeks later she began dating Charles. She was obviously pretty messed up after the hostage situation...she lost a ton of weight, and she wasn't even pleasantly plump to begin with, so she has become very gaunt.
All this time, we've seen police at her house from time to time and many detectives have knocked on our door asking when we'd seen her last. She is gone for days at a time, staying at Charles's house. Many times she is home but won't answer the door and leaves her car elsewhere so that nobody knows she's home.
Anyway, I didn't tell the reporters any of that information and I could tell they were disappointed by my answers...I didn't sensationalize it enough, I guess. I was relieved to see Veronique's brother walk up and quickly pointed the reporters in his direction. I went inside the house and this time, there was no peaking through the windows.
Around 10:55, I over heard that they had found her. They later divulged that she had hidden in her shelf basement under some blankets. She was so scared that she wouldn't come out until the police showed their ID. About 10 minutes later, the news trucks pulled away with a news story that had died pretty quickly.
I have a hard time understanding how one can ask for the police and then hide from them for eight hours. She had no idea there had been that kind of response and she was pretty embarrassed. She has locked herself in her house again and I doubt we'll see her until Monday or Tuesday.
Here are two pictures I took with my cell phone out one of my front windows:
(her front yard)

(looking more toward the road)