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Tom hung up the radio and leaned back in his seat. He’d left the door open and the morning chill mixed with the leftover warmth from within the cab. It was cool and fresh, and he breathed in deeply. Deft, thought Tom, and intimidating as hell. In a matter of minutes, Nick had bolstered Tom’s credibility, established their respective roles, and primed Kate for questioning. No juggling required. Now it was his turn. He needed to interview Kate in front of Nick about his son.
Tom stepped from the cab, closed the door and came to stand in front of Kate and Sheera. He wiped his sweaty palms on his hips and Nick passed him a water bottle. Of course. Nick had noticed his discomfort. Surely, thought Tom, Nick found the situation difficult too if for no other reason than he was handing over the reins. Nick appeared in no way discomfited. Maybe that was a vote of confidence. More likely, a better poker face. Great. Just great.
“Okay,” said Tom. “Let’s get back to the sequence of events. You said there was a man. Did you get a name? Can you describe him?”
“Yes, absolutely,” said Kate, anxious to make amends for misleading them about Sheera’s name. “Matt. He said his name was Matt. He’s about my height, a little older, late 30s or early 40’s, balding, glasses. White, I guess I should say that. He looked normal, you know. Outdoorsy. That’s his pack there.”
“You took his pack?” asked Tom.
Kate twitched. She hadn’t given it a second thought. Not until this moment did it occur to her that she’d stolen it. She confessed. “Yes, I took his pack, everything. It’s all there, all of his stuff. I mean, we ate the food.” Kate dropped her gaze, looking at herself and Sheera as they would see them. “We’re wearing his clothes. I, I used his duct tape. On my ankle.” She felt ill.
Nick touched Tom’s arm lightly. They waited.
“I’d left mine by the stream, back where I found the girl,” said Kate, her eyes darting back and forth between them.
Consistent with Matt’s account noted Tom to himself. Good, a detail corroborated. Nick dropped his hand.
“His pack, he had a lot of stuff. I thought we might need it. I wasn’t really…” said Kate.
Tom held up his hands. “Kate, it’s alright. At some point we’ll need a description of your pack, everything in it, but for now let’s move on. Anything you’d like to add about the man, how he looked?”
“Listen, I hurt him. His face – it will be bruised, cut. I had to get away.” Kate’s breathing became shallower, more rapid at the memory of it.
“He attacked you,” said the ranger, more a statement than a question.
“No, he didn’t.” Kate’s eyes wandered as she relived the moment. “It was the duct tape. As soon as I saw it, I knew. Just like on the little girl.”
“Kate?” said Tom. She had gone quiet.
Kate’s eyes snapped back into focus, looking first to Tom, then Nick. “What kind of person… He seemed so normal. Kind even. I can’t…” Her eyes drifted toward the pond; her voice petered off again.
Kate was reeling. Tom kept his voice calm and steady, pulling her back. “So, it was the duct tape that tipped you off. What else? Did he threaten either of you?”
“I… I didn’t give him the chance. I kicked him, you know, in the groin.” Kate blushed, and then blushed again for blushing.
Tom reassured her that she’d done what she had to. He emphasized that it was important she tell them exactly what happened with as much detail as she could. Kate recounted meeting the man, the splint, the duct tape and the assault. Her version wasn’t identical to Matt’s, perspective always tinged recall, but it was consistent in specifics and sequence. The one exception was the child; in Matt’s story, there was no child.
“Kate, thinking back to the beginning, did the child recognize the man?”
“What? No. She didn’t see him. She was hiding, you know, until I knew it was safe. But then I saw the duct tape and realized it wasn’t safe. Right after I kicked him, I yelled ‘Run’ so she could get away.”
“Just to be clear, you’re saying, the entire time you were with the man, the little girl was hiding out of sight.”
“Yes. That’s right. I really don’t think she saw him. You know. Again. Not since…,” said Kate, turning to Sheera and running her thumb gently across her chin.
“After that first encounter, did you see him again?” asked Tom.
“No. Maybe. There was someone, overnight, in the woods with a flashlight. It could have been him. I don’t know. We never saw who it was.”
Unless Nick had lied, Matt was home with him. It could have been someone else but most likely it had been Tom himself. He’d been walking the trails, searching for Kate. He didn’t let himself get derailed by what ifs.
“Kate, think carefully. Was there anything else, other than the duct tape, that made you sure he was the man who…” Tom paused, glancing at the child. “That he was dangerous?”
“Well… I don’t know. No, I guess not. I didn’t know until I saw the duct tape,” said Kate with embarrassment. “But Sheera did. She knew right away. She was terrified.”
Nick again touched his hand to Tom’s arm. His voice quiet but firm, Nick said, “Kate. I thought you said she didn’t see the man?”
“What? No, no she didn’t,” stammered Kate. She paused, wide-eyed, and then her words spilled in a torrent. “But we both heard him. We heard whistling and she became so afraid. Petrified. I was so stupid. She wanted to run away but I thought he could help. I just left her and went to him. Oh my God, I can’t believe I did that.” She turned to the little girl and gathered her into her arms. “I’m so sorry, I should have listened to you.”
Tom looked to Nick who’d obviously noticed too. ‘Listened’. While Kate was still focused on the child, Nick tilted his head toward Kate and tamped the air with flat hands. Tom understood. He needed to explore the inconsistency without overtly challenging her. Tom gave Kate another moment to collect herself, and then picked up the thread.
“Can you tell me, Kate, what did she say?” asked Tom.
Kate just looked at him, not understanding the question.
He asked it again, “You said you should have listened to her. What exactly did she say to you when she heard the whistling?”
“She didn’t say anything. She still had the tape across her mouth.” Kate thought she had made that clear. “I’d managed to get her hands free, but we couldn’t get the tape off her face. Not before he came.” As she spoke, she turned to Sheera and held her gaze. “She did it all by herself while she was hiding. Brave girl.”
After a few seconds, Nick spoke directly to Sheera. “As brave as they come.”
She didn’t look at him, but she didn’t hide.
“As brave as a lion. You know, I hear lions love to roar. Can you roar too?”
No answer.
“Well, if you ever want to roar, you just go ahead. Or talk. Or even whisper. Because we’d like very much to hear anything you have to say. Okay? Anything at all. Like your name. Can you tell us your name?”
She didn’t speak but for the first time she looked directly at Nick and held his gaze.
Nick was the first to look away. “Let’s take a break. Tom and I need to make another phone call. We’ll ask Evelyn to come over, see if there’s anything you need.”
As they headed toward Evelyn’s pickup, Tom commented to Nick. “I don’t think the princess of power is shy. Maybe she can’t talk.”
Nick grunted. “Then why tape her mouth?”
It was hard to argue with that. By then they’d arrived at Evelyn’s pickup.
“Evelyn, I know you’ve been listening. Are you just nosy or do you have something helpful to add?” said Nick.
“She can talk.”
“You heard her?” said Nick and Tom simultaneously.
“Not a peep, but I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m sure she can. Or at least Kate’s sure she can.” When neither man spoke, Evelyn explained. “When Kate introduced herself to me, she waited for the girl to give her name. Kate expected her to. It was only when she didn’t that Kate introduced her as Sheera.”
Kate had said as much during the interview – ‘she doesn’t talk yet’. Behaving as though she could speak backed the claim. Nick wondered what had convinced her.
“Okay, that’s helpful. Anything else?”
“Kate said she just moved to Portland. Didn’t say from where but definitely out of state. The little girl, though, I bet she’s from around here. She’s knows her knots and is very comfortable on boats. I’d guess a fishing family on Vinalhaven, Swans, Mt. Desert, maybe Rockland. Someplace on the water.”
“And the relationship between them?” asked Nick. When Evelyn looked at him blankly, he clarified. “They seem pretty close.”
“Oh. I guess she could be lying, but I doubt there was a relationship before yesterday. But now? That girl trusts Kate completely and I think Kate would do anything to protect her. She already has, hasn’t she? She thought Matt tied her up and she came to her rescue. If that’s the case, she’s not unstable, she’s a hero. Or would be, if she’d been right.”
Tom thought about what Evelyn said and what they’d heard so far. Everything he’d learned supported what he wanted to believe. Matt was innocent. Kate had rescued Sheera from the wrong man. Did that make her actions any less heroic? He didn’t think so. On the contrary, his estimation of her was growing by leaps and bounds. Likewise of the little girl, her bravery and resilience. She-Ra. A hero, a princess and a case of mistaken identity. All they needed now was the villain. Tom jolted back to the moment.
Nick had asked something. Evelyn was responding. “… Pure conjecture mind you. I offered the girl some Tic Tacs, you know, the candy. She popped them in her mouth and swallowed them. Like pills. At first I thought, poor kid, doesn’t even know about Tic Tacs. But it was so strange. What little kid can swallow pills? I couldn’t swallow an aspirin until I was a teenager.”
Nick and Tom didn’t appear to appreciate the significance of what she was saying. Evelyn rolled her eyes. “Kate said she thought the girl had been drugged. She can swallow pills.” She paused. “Maybe she’d been drugged before.” Another pause. “Drugged often enough to know how to swallow pills?” It was like pulling teeth.
Nick and Tom glanced at each other, eyebrows raised. “Evelyn,” said Nick. “That’s good. Really good. You missed your calling.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes again, but a smile curled at her lips.
“Can you stick around a little longer?” asked Nick. “Kate seems to like you. They might open up to you.”
“You’re asking a lawyer to go talk to your suspect?” said Evelyn.
Nick looked at her with mock alarm. “Now, Ev, don’t go all lawyer on me.”
Evelyn smiled broadly, “Have you advised her of her rights yet?”
Nick grunted. “Maybe you could offer them some water or something to eat.”
Evelyn laughed and went to join Kate and Sheera.
While Nick and Tom spoke with the sheriff, Anne arrived and went directly over to the ranger’s truck.
“Hello, you must be Kate and Sheila” said Anne, smiling at the girl and extending a hand to Kate. The child jerked at the name, clamped her hands to her mouth and looked to Kate pleadingly.
Kate smoothed her hands over the child’s head and gently took her hands into her own. “Actually, it’s Sheera. Sheera Pop,” said Kate. She wiggled the girl’s hands and gave them a squeeze before turning back to Anne. “At least for now. Until a better name comes along.”
It took a moment for Anne to absorb the statement. She apologized to Sheera, introduced herself to Kate and gave Evelyn’s arm a squeeze. Anne was a hugger. Evelyn was not. Over the years they’d worked out this compromise.
Anne placed her medical bag on the open tailgate and piqued Sheera’s curiosity with its contents to help put her at ease. Despite Anne’s easy and light-hearted manner, it still took all three women’s reassurances and Kate’s promise to go first before Sheera agreed to remove her life jacket so that Anne could listen to her heart beat. In this way, Anne managed to conduct a cursory physical on both of them simultaneously. As soon as they were all done, Kate helped Sheera securely zip and snap the life jacket back in place.
Nick and Tom returned not long after Anne had finished and the three went a short distance away to confer. Anne reported that Kate had a badly sprained ankle that required a splint and crutches, but otherwise her injuries were limited to minor scrapes and bruises. She had a splint at the house and thought she could scrounge up a pair of crutches from someone on the island. Otherwise, all Kate needed was soap, ice, Tylenol and rest.
Anne’s report on the child was more detailed. “The irritation around her mouth is a simple contact dermatitis. A little cortisone cream should take care of it. What worries me is what caused it. It’s shape, the sharply delineated edges, and how it extends well beyond her mouth is highly unusual if she’s reacting to something she ate.”
Tom and Nick nodded to one another and Tom told her about the duct tape. Anne blanched, but agreed it certainly fit with what she was seeing.
“She has two sets of recent bruises,” continued Anne. “One on her right arm and the other on the right side of her neck and shoulder. Other than that, a few scratches. Nothing serious,” said Anne.
“That’s it? You’re sure?” asked Nick.
“Pretty sure. Deeper injuries, internal bleeding or… a penetrating trauma can be detected even fully clothed.”
Nick and Tom listened intently; the word ‘penetrating’ had the gravity of a black hole.
“I checked for bleeding and tenderness, particularly of the abdomen and below the waist. All negative. Sheera wasn’t raped.”
Tom exhaled audibly.
“That’s not to say she wasn’t molested in another way.”
“But…” Tom’s mouth clamped shut.
Anne told him what he already knew. “Physical abuse doesn’t always leave a mark. Not to mention psychological abuse. She could have been abused for a long time without physical evidence.”
“You suspect that,” said Tom.
Anne backtracked. “Physically, she has some older knocks and scrapes, but bruised shins and scabbed knees are hardly out of the ordinary in a child. A more thorough exam might reveal something, or a careful interview, but I didn’t see any red flags.”
Except for the one across her face, thought Tom. “But…,” he said again.
Nick completed the thought for him. “She doesn’t talk.”
“No. She doesn’t talk. She’s relies on Kate like a savior. She’s using Evelyn’s life jacket as a security object. All perfectly reasonable responses to an acute trauma. But it could also be secondary to chronic abuse, or something else entirely.”
“Something else? You mean, physically, developmentally?” asked Tom.
“What I’m saying is that there are a lot of potential causes for Sheera’s behavior. Without a lot more information we can’t rule anything out.”
“Anne,” said Nick. “We understand you can’t be certain. We’re looking for impressions, likelihoods. It matters to the investigation. To identifying Sheera. To where we look. Medical records, schools, day cares, social services, homeless shelters – they are all potential touchpoints to identifying a child. If Sheera physically can’t talk that has us looking in one direction. Developmental delay another. Chronic abuse another. You get the picture.”
Anne looked to the ground, biting her lower lip, gathering her thoughts. “Alright. Best guess – psychological trauma is keeping her silent. She has vocal cords. She’s developmentally appropriate. She’s engages in her surroundings and is socially aware. When I showed her my kit, she was curious, intelligent.”
“Good. That’s helpful. What about chronic abuse? Neglect?” asked Nick.
“Neglect? I doubt it, or at least not long-term. She’s slim and strong, relatively clean and has healthy looking teeth. Well fed, good hygiene. Her clothes are dirty but they fit her and aren’t threadbare or torn. Her ears have been pierced, her hair’s trimmed, and her nails, they’ve been recently painted. Someone’s been paying attention.”
“So she has a home, family, resources. How has her absence gone unreported?” asked Tom of Nick.
“Her situation may have changed,” said Nick. “Remember, we think she was drugged, possibly more than once. Addiction in the household could have changed everything. Homicide is also a possibility.”
Tom tensed and his hands balled into fists at the realization; murdered parents didn’t call the police. Tom looked to the ground, slowed his breathing and relaxed his hands. After a few breaths, he squared his shoulders and raised his head to see that Nick had been watching him. Tom returned his gaze, his expression calm, focused and determined.
Good, thought Nick. He’d watched many an officer face the responsibility of a major crime for the first time and seen everything from bravado to paralysis. In Tom’s case, it was taking work, but he was maintaining his equanimity. That meant he understood the gravity of the situation but wasn’t overwhelmed by it. Nick gave him an encouraging nod.
“I can test her,” said Anne. Nick and Tom’s attention swung back to her.
“You mean here, roadside? We’re thinking benzodiazepines or opiates, not blood alcohol,” said Nick.
Anne nodded her head in agreement. “No field test yet, but I have a lab set up at home for that very purpose.” At Nick’s look of surprise, Anne explained. “A fisherman, here on the island, was busted for using. He could have lost his license and insurance and with that his boat and livelihood. We found a better solution. He agreed to random drug tests and I was deputized to perform them. All I need is a urine sample.”
“Okay, we should do that, the sooner the better. One last question. Do you think her symptoms point to long term abuse?”
Anne shrugged her apology. “I really can’t say, Nick. Is being gagged and dumped enough? Sure. Does that mean there isn’t more to it? I have no idea.”
Nick patted Anne’s shoulder, thanked her and asked her to join Evelyn, Kate and Sheera for a few minutes.
Nick and Tom moved a little further away to be sure they were out of earshot. Nick spoke first. “I know what you’re thinking. I’ll slow you down.”
This is not what Tom had been thinking. He’d been thinking of painted fingernails, Tic Tacs, gags and homicide: the things he missed, or saw but didn’t appreciate, the possibilities he hadn’t dared to consider. He was thinking that the gaggle of women in the back of his truck were better at this than he was. That Nick would be a hindrance? Definitely not that.
“Actually, I was wondering whether Evelyn would take in Kate and Sheera?”
It was Nick’s turn to be startled. Evelyn? Open her home and play nursemaid? He couldn’t imagine it. Nor did it make sense.
“Tom, think it through. What are the priorities? Who needs to be where?”
Tom thought it through. It would be an hour or so before the sheriff’s team arrived. They’d need a crime scene to investigate and people to interview. He needed to be in the park, Kate and Sheera needed to be in town.
“Anne should take them. She could attend to their needs and administer the drug test. Investigators would have easy access and Kate wouldn’t run into Matt if they interviewed her at Anne’s house,” said Tom.
Nick suspected Tom didn’t know how right he was. Matt was the only person Anne would turn away from her doorstep. “Evelyn should go with them. She’s established a connection and she can help out with logistics – crutches, spare clothing, whatever comes up. Safer too,” said Nick.
“Safer?”
“You haven’t seen Matt. It’s impressive.”
Tom raised an eyebrow.
“Minute risk, I agree, but not zero. It’s prudent until we know more.”
“Okay, Anne and Evelyn take charge of Kate and the girl. That frees me up to get in the woods. Secure the crime scene. Follow the tracks in and out. What about you? Will you meet the sheriff’s team at the landing?”
“I’m coming with you,” said Nick.
Tom remembered Nick’s comment. “You will slow me down”.
“Maybe, in the short term. Long term, you have to go slow to go fast,” said Nick.
“Minutes could matter. Hikers will be out on the trails. Whoever did this could still be on the island. The faster I secure the scene and track his movements, the better.”
“This is going to get very complicated, Tom. I know the routine, the players, who has the resources, and how to bring them to bear. You lead the way, tell me what you’re seeing, and I’ll get all the ducks in a row. Mismanagement and miscommunication. Bureaucracy and turf. That will slow you down a lot more than having me gimp along by your side.”
Tom ran his eyes over Nick, head to toe. “You had a good breakfast?”
Nick slapped his shoulder. They headed toward the trucks to set the wheels in motion.
Evelyn drove Kate and Sheera to Anne’s house. It had been Sheera’s pick: Anne’s old but none the worse for wear Subaru, replete with a backseat, door handles and seatbelts, or Evelyn’s wreck of a pickup that had none of those things. Kate almost protested but instead shrugged; at least Sheera still wore the life jacket. It was an absurd thought and Kate giggled. Evelyn looked at her quizzically which Kate dismissed with a wave. Evelyn touched two wires to jump start the truck, prompting more giggles from Kate. Once the truck roared to life, Evelyn sat back and looked at her expectantly.
“It’s nothing” said Kate. “I’m fine.” Kate wasn’t sure what she was. Punchy? Delirious? Whatever she was, it wasn’t fine. Evelyn must have figured that out for herself because she dropped it, put the truck in gear and pulled onto the road. Kate sagged into the mercy of the moment, grateful to have nothing demanded of her.
The short and bumpy ride passed in silence. Sheera fingered the Mardi Gras beads she’d found spilling from the ashtray. Kate, limp and half lidded, watched the rearview mirror swing back and forth like a hypnotist’s pendulum. She had never felt so dull and heavy, as if her life’s blood had been replaced with lead. Arriving, mounting the steps, entering the house, even changing into the clothes Anne had handed her, went virtually unnoticed by Kate. It wasn’t until they needed to pee in a cup, a task for which the child needed assistance and for which everyone had looked to her expectantly, did Kate emerge from her trance. The half empty mug of dark roast and heavily sweetened coffee she held in her hand had also helped.