Just Intuition

by Fisk, Makenzi

  "She's not feeling well." There was no need to alarm the girl, who was already visibly agitated, so she lowered her voice. "I need you to get Allie to the clinic and get her leg examined." She was torn between her concern for Allie and her duty to the girl, both of whom had endured hellish ordeals. "She has an animal bite that might be getting infected. Make sure she gets a tetanus shot, and probably rabies too."

  "She got bit? By what?" Zimmerman's eyebrows shot up and he grimaced when he lifted the edge of the bandage on Allie's calf. Erin's eyes flashed to the girl and back. He gave a curt nod. "Right. You get the kid somewhere safe and I've got this."

  Erin stroked Allie's cheek when he carefully folded her into his arms. "Call me as soon as you can. I'll be at the station." Her mouth opened as if to speak but there were no words and she buried her face into Zimmerman's shoulder.

  He carried the stricken woman like a rag doll to his car and helped her into the front. Fingers outstretched, she pressed her hand against the inside of the passenger window. The pressure blanched color from her fingertips before she withdrew it. Behind the ghostly halo of condensation that remained, a myriad of conflicting emotions flickered across Allie's face. She made intense eye contact with Erin before they drove off.

  What is it? What is wrong baby?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  "Would you like a soda?" Erin brushed aside the detritus left over from Lily's fast food meal and held out a can of 7Up.

  After a quick phone call to ensure that Allie was okay, and another to have a Child Advocate attend, they took over an interview room at the police station. Erin activated the video equipment before they started. Through one-way glass, the Deputy Chief and probably a half dozen other curious spectators watched the proceedings.

  "Can I have a Coke instead?" Lily smiled sweetly at Erin and then turned her face to the mirrored window. She puckered brows pathetically above sad eyes. There was a commotion behind the glass as someone sprinted downstairs to the vending machine. Erin offered the 7Up to the plump faced woman serving as Lily's Child Advocate. She looked underpaid, and thirsty.

  Erin answered the light knock at the door and accepted a can of Coca Cola that had been quickly fetched for the girl. She handed it over and Lily cheerfully popped the tab.

  "Did your arm bleed a lot? Did you know that one side of your face is all puffy and red? Did your girlfriend have a seizure? Is she gonna die?"

  Erin self-consciously touched the bandage on her arm. It was a good thing Allie had brought her first aid kit. "Don't worry about that. We're fine."

  "Can I come to your house?" The girl beamed and batted her eyelashes, the effect awkward on a child over five.

  "I'm sorry Lily, but that's not possible. A nice social worker is coming and she will find you a safe place."

  The smile vanished and she looked at her shoes.

  "It's okay. You are going to be okay."

  "Do I get my own TV and computer?" The smile was back.

  "I'm sure every house has those." Puzzled, Erin studied Lily. She'd seen many traumatized kids in her career. Each child's reaction to stress was different, and there were all kinds of ways to compartmentalize emotional pain. Some kids went completely blank and non-communicative, or conversely broke into giggling fits when notified of a major trauma like the death of their parent. She had learned not to read too much into their initial reactions. "Let's talk about what happened first."

  "I told you," the girl snapped. "He did it. He did it all." Lily narrowed her eyes, and her foot thrummed against dense industrial carpeting. "Don't you believe me?" Her advocate squirmed and made a quick notation on a legal pad.

  "Let's take a nice deep breath, okay? Of course I believe you." Erin kept her face neutral. This interview had barely begun and already it threatened to derail. "I need you to tell me what happened."

  The girl cycled through conflicting expressions before her mouth curved upward again. "All right." There was a slight edge to her cheerfulness when it returned.

  "Good," Erin said soothingly. "Now can you tell me what happened?"

  "We went down the river—" Lily began.

  "Let's back up a little and why don't you tell me where you've been for the last week?"

  She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked at her shoes again. There was a long pause before she looked directly into Erin's eyes. "I was under the shed with my grandpa. He made us do it. The bad man made us. We were hiding."

  "Who is the bad man?"

  "The bad man that came to get me and made me go in the canoe. You know. The bad policeman. He killed my grandpa and he hurt the lady and he burned the store."

  "Did he say what happened to your grandpa?"

  "No. He didn't tell me." Lily paused to think. "But I know he killed him by making him drink weird stuff."

  "Your grandfather is not dead. Do you remember when I told you? He's in the hospital and he's going to be okay."

  "But I was so sure…"

  "He really will be okay." What had this poor child gone through? "Would you like to visit him?"

  Lily shook her head. "No, he'll be mad at me."

  "I'm sure he'll be happy to see you." Erin placed her hand over the girl's but she flinched and jerked it away. Okay, fine. Some people don't like to be touched. "How long has the man been coming to your house?"

  "After my mom died." The girl stopped, and her face blanched a lighter shade of pale. "I mean after she ran away." There was another pause while the girl picked at a fingernail. "I made a mistake. I want to start again."

  Erin tilted her head.

  "Actually, my mom ran away to California with a movie star and she's just fine. I don't want to talk about her any more."

  "Okay." Erin frowned and the girl looked at her knees. "Why don't we go back to what happened with your grandpa's beer?"

  "The man came every day and poured the stuff in my dear grandpa's beer." She plucked at a second fingernail. "But he wasn't dying. He only got sick so he had to pour the rest in."

  Erin leaned forward until their knees were nearly touching. Lily inched backward and her chair bumped the wall.

  "Tell me more about that.""

  "I watched him from the window of the shed. I saw him every day."

  "How do you know he was trying to kill him?" Erin scooted forward another couple of inches and the girl's eyes widened.

  "I just know because of how sneaky he was. He always came when no one was home, and—"

  "If no one was home, that means you weren't home. How did you see him if you weren't home?"

  Lily glowered at the floor. "I just know because he was bad. I don't want to talk about it any more."

  Perhaps it was too soon after the trauma for the child to make any sense at all. Nevertheless, Erin filed a mental note to check into the circumstances of her mother's disappearance. She also needed to delve into the nature of the girl's relationship with Derek.

  "Tell me about the fire."

  "The fire? The old lady in the blue car came home and opened the door and—or do you mean the fire at the store?"

  "Why don't you tell me about the lady with the blue car?" Erin's pulse quickened. She was talking about Dolores Johnson! How had she known what car she drove?

  "I don't remember any lady with a blue car. You are making me all mixed up." Lily dug her heels in and pushed back as far as she could.

  "Okay, we'll come back to that." Sensing the kid was ready to shut down, she leaned away and gave the girl breathing room. She would back off that subject, for now. "Do you want to talk about the man?"

  "He brings me a six pack of Budweiser. I mean, he puts it in the shed fridge for my dear grandpa. Sometimes he brings an envelope, and leaves it on the workbench."

  "Is he your grandpa's friend?"

  "No, not really. He just comes and wants to talk to me."

  "What do you talk about?"

  "I dunno. He wants to talk about stupid stuff. Like how am I doing in school, or do I have a boyfriend." She mimick
ed Derek's tone and lifted one corner of her lip in an imitation sneer. She certainly had spent a great deal of time around him and the similarity was unsettling. "Sometimes if I beg, I get a ride in his car." She tilted her eyebrows and made the sad face again.

  "Where do you go in his car?" Erin asked.

  "He gives me a ride home from school when he is not busy." The sad face reverted back to its practiced smile.

  "And he picked you up at the Stop 'N Go the night it burned down," Erin prompted. The quick emotion changes were abnormal, no matter the situation.

  "No, I wasn't even there that night." She dug clenched fists into hips. "The lady at the store lied. It wasn't me!"

  "I was there too. I saw you."

  "Oh yeah." She mulled it over. "But I went home and didn't go back at all. It wasn't me. I didn't even know where she kept the gas can!"

  The alarm bell in Erin's head clanged. Did Derek tell Lily about that?

  "What else can you tell me about the fire?"

  The girl crossed skinny arms and let out an exaggerated sigh. "I don't know nothin' about no fire. I don't want to talk about it."

  "Okay, let's talk about other things. You said the man does bad things to you." Erin needed to tread carefully with this sensitive topic. She avoided using incendiary terms like 'molest' or 'sexually abuse'. "What did you mean?"

  "He's just bad. He did bad stuff to me." She picked up a stray paperclip from the floor and straightened it. "I don't remember."

  "What did he do?"

  "Everything. I don't remember." She pressed one end of the paperclip to the inside of her wrist and scraped it across pale skin. A red scratch appeared, and she smirked at Erin. "Does that scare you?"

  "Please don't do that." Erin spoke softly. "You don't need to be afraid. Did he touch you?"

  Lily raised her chin and peered down her nose. She subtly shook her head. "Yes, he touched me. All over."

  Erin noted the conflict between verbal and nonverbal information. "Can you show me exactly where?"

  "I don't remember. Maybe in his car." She used the paperclip to scratch her wrist again, and a tiny droplet of blood broke the surface. Pale green eyes stared directly into Erin's as she licked it. "You want some?"

  The child advocate gasped and jumped to her feet. The girl grinned but her eyes were hard.

  "That kind of behavior won't work on me, kiddo." Erin gently took it from her fingers and the girl lifted a corner of her lip. The advocate sat, but the tremor in her hands was not missed by Lily.

  "Ha, I made you freak out."

  "Let's get back on track, shall we?" Erin tucked the paperclip into her pocket.

  Lily rolled her eyes and sighed again.

  "I meant, can you show me where on your body." The disparity between the girl's words and body language confused Erin.

  "Oh." She thought again. "Here and here." She squeezed an underdeveloped breast and then her crotch, smiling at the sharp intake of breath from her advocate.

  "When did he do this?"

  "Lots. I don't remember. This is boring."

  The advocate cleared her throat and scribbled on her notepad. Lily's eyes flicked to her and back to Erin. "I just don't like him. I want you to make him go away."

  The interview threatened to morph from a simple interview to a complex interrogation. "Did you ever tell anyone? A teacher at school? Your grandfather?"

  The girl's mouth tightened. "I don't remem—"

  Unexpectedly, the door to the interview room swung open and a dark suited man entered, followed closely by the Deputy Chief. In the entrance stood a stern looking social worker with a tight bun and ill-fitting navy pantsuit.

  "This interrogation is over," the suited man said bluntly, moving between Erin and Lily. The Child Advocate abandoned the can of 7Up and rose abruptly to her feet. She opened her mouth to speak and then shut it. She stared down at her notes.

  "This is not an interrogation," Erin countered, eyeing him sharply. "We are just gathering information. We need to—"

  "I have been retained as Lily's lawyer and I'm telling you that she's done here." He spoke in a terse whisper to the child who left her seat to join the social worker at the door.

  "Do I get my own TV?" Lily asked the woman in the pantsuit. The girl's face pivoted back to Erin and she shuffled out after the social worker.

  The advocate looked from Erin to the lawyer, who deliberately ignored her. He directed his next remarks to the room in general. "In future, the child will not be spoken to by anyone in authority unless I am physically present." He met Erin's bemused gaze. "Are we clear?" He left as officiously as he had arrived.

  The children's advocate cleared her throat, awkwardly gathered her papers and vacated the room right behind him. Erin was left alone with the Deputy Chief. He waved Striker in from just outside the door, and closed it.

  "This has turned into a real cock-up." Deputy Chief Roger Williams was an old school cop, and had worked his way through the ranks to his current position. Graying at the temples, he was a bit paunchy but still solidly built for action. "One of our own behind bars and we can't even talk to the victim." He wiped stubby fingers across bristles on the back of his neck. "I understand you've all had a helluva time, so I'll make it short. Debrief. My office in ten. I saw Z-man coming in the back a minute ago. Bring him too."

  If Zimmerman was back, Allie must be home by now. She needed to call her but instead she was shepherded into the Deputy Chief's office. Zimmerman looked at her furrowed brow and formed a covert circle with his thumb and index finger when they sat down. Allie was okay. She breathed but the worry at the back of her mind still nagged and she would not feel any better until she could actually look into her girlfriend's eyes. She fidgeted in her chair and tapped the armrest with her pen. There was not a day in recent memory that had seemed longer than this one.

  True to his word, the Deputy Chief kept the debriefing short. Zimmerman and Striker talked about their boat catastrophe and their trek through the swamp. While they told their version of events, both men subconsciously scratched mosquito bites on legs and arms. They'd been picked up by a fisherman who had nearly run them over on the forestry road in his haste to get home before the storm. First thing this morning, they'd gone out in the ranger boat. Striker revisited his interrogation and the supposition that Derek was not entirely forthcoming.

  Erin gave a condensed version of her events, minimizing some parts and leaving others out altogether. She didn't feel the need to expose Allie's gift, nor was she willing to detail their shared emotional anguish over Fiona's death. Their accounts were taken at face value, with written reports to be submitted within forty-eight hours.

  When the debrief ended, Erin fled from a never-ending series of questions from coworkers. She finally bailed out the back door of the station and made her way to the parking lot. Her Toyota still sat right in front of the security camera. It seemed a lifetime since she'd ridden to her parent's place in Zimmerman's truck. In retrospect, the total destruction of her dad's fishing boat seemed a trivial matter.

  "My God, girl! You are hard to get a hold of!" Kathy Banks caught her by the sleeve like a scolding parent. "I need to talk to you!"

  "I'm sorry, Kathy." Exhausted, Erin blinked back salty tears. "It's been so crazy. I need to get home. I'm in a hurry. I can call you tomorrow after I've had some sleep. Promise."

  "No. You can rest when you're dead," Kathy said with a smirk. "This is important."

  Erin sighed.

  "You need to know what I found."

  "Did you get a hit?" Her interest piqued. Had there been a criminal fingerprint identification?

  "I developed partial prints on the beer cans from the Dolores Johnson case. The ones you gave me 'off the books'." Erin nodded and Kathy continued. "I also obtained prints from that beer bottle and the unlabeled dark glass bottle you seized with the warrant on Gunther Schmidt's property. They are all from the same suspect!"

  "Who is it?" This would tie both crimes together with o
ne culprit. Erin's heart leapt into her throat.

  "The fingerprints were not identified," Kathy said and Erin's hope plummeted. As a police officer, Derek's prints would have been in the system. So, not Derek. Erin's head spun. "I need to tell you the rest. Those prints are small and have quite a fine ridge pattern."

  "What does that mean?"

  "The person who left those fingerprints does not have a criminal record, and they are most likely not from an adult male." Gunther did not leave the beer cans behind Dolores' house either. "You are looking for a child, or a small woman."

  A child. A small woman. She remembered the window in Gunther Schmidt's shed. It must have been seven feet off the ground. Without a ladder, there was no way Lily had watched Derek through that window. The girl was not confused. She was lying.

  Erin's disoriented brain snapped fast forward. But Derek had confessed. Why? Was he really a demented child molester, or was something else missing? She remembered Allie's reaction when she'd touched Lily, and the halo of her handprint on the window glass when she was driven away in Zimmerman's car. It wasn't an infection making Allie collapse. It was a powerful force overwhelming her with the truth.

  "What about the duct tape?" Erin remembered the most damning evidence yet. Beer cans in the weeds behind Dolores' house were only circumstantial. The same went for the bottles at Gunther's. Lily had legitimate access to the property and those might all be explained away by a competent lawyer. The duct tape was used only by the assailant who bound and gagged Gina. That could clinch it. "Whose prints were on the duct tape from the Stop 'N Go?"

  "Bad news there, I'm afraid." Kathy clenched her jaw. "Dave seized that evidence, remember? He should have used Gentian Violet, which does a good job of revealing prints on the sticky side of tape, but he apparently stuck the whole wad into the cyanoacrylate fume cabinet. After three days, when the C.A. had overdeveloped and obscured everything, he backtracked with another chemical process. By the time he did what he should have in the first place, any prints he might have found were obliterated."

  "He fucking what? Fuck—"

  "I'm so sorry, Erin," Kathy said. "I'm all swore out on that whole thing too. If it's any consolation, the brass is aware of his screwup and he's been suspended from lab duties. They're actually thinking of transferring him out of the unit but they don't have anyone ready to transfer in. His biggest mistake is when he hid the evidence and tried to cover it up. On a case like this, he should have reported it right away."