Tessa nodded, remembering the horrifying details from the medical examiner’s testimony.
“Son of a bitch,” Sam muttered. “I’d like to get my hands on that low-life bastard.”
Again, Tessa nodded. Feeling empty and bereft, she wanted to scream, to run through the streets, asking why? Why my girls?
Why? Why? Why?
They were innocent little children. Thinking of the fear they’d suffered enraged her, but now, with this new revelation, Poppy’s drawings, the wall Tessa had built around her emotions came crashing down. What kind of mother am I? How could I not have known? Her eyes filled with tears, and she let them flow freely. Jill stood behind her, rubbing her shoulders.
“Let’s go downstairs,” Sam said.
Tessa stood and followed Sam and Jill downstairs. She wasn’t sure what to say. The pictures pretty much said it all, she thought as she trailed behind. “I’ll make us some iced tea,” Sam told her.
“Thanks,” Tessa said, then focused her attention on Jill. “I wish I had found that sketchbook. You realize that I could have saved their lives.”
“Stop, Tessa! You’re not helping yourself with those thoughts. I don’t want to go all psychiatrist on you, but this wasn’t your fault, and as much as I hate it, it was probably inevitable. You didn’t know Liam’s background any more than I did, or it seems unlikely that Joel knew that his brother was a pedophile, a sick child molester. If he had known, he would never have allowed him to spend any time around Poppy and Piper.
“Whenever someone learns about something like this, it always comes as a terrible shock, especially when it’s a family member or a close friend. You just don’t think that anyone you know could possibly do anything like this. The people who do these things are totally other people, not your friends, relatives, next-door neighbors. But the fact of the matter is that child molesters do not come with horns on their heads or identification tags that read: CHILD MOLESTER—STAY AWAY. “You are not responsible, Tessa. I want you to remember these words every time you start to think otherwise. You were an excellent mother,” Jill insisted. “And don’t say a word. We will get through this. Together this time, okay?”
“I will try, but I can’t promise,” Tessa told her. “Those pictures—I don’t understand why they weren’t entered into evidence at my trial. Who could have overlooked them? They had ample evidence that Poppy had been molested. It doesn’t add up.”
Sam placed two tall glasses of iced tea in front of the women, who were sitting at the bar. “If these sketchbooks were collected as evidence, we would have known about them during the trial. I doubt that even Michael Chen would stoop so low as to not disclose this kind of exculpating evidence. He’s an ass, for sure, but he does follow the rule of law as much as any prosecutor ever does.
“More importantly, if these drawings had been available to the investigators, I doubt that you would have even been prosecuted. And if he had allowed these drawings to be presented as evidence at the trial, I’m pretty sure your trial would have ended with a not guilty verdict. These drawings would create reasonable doubt in any jury that saw them, especially given the total lack of forensic evidence against you. Lee will jump on this right away.”
“I agree. These drawings should certainly have been considered,” Jill said. “Speaking as someone who has given expert testimony many times, I am absolutely certain that no jury seeing them would convict any woman unless there was overwhelming evidence that she murdered the victims. And the one thing that is certain is that there was no such evidence ever presented. Everything was circumstantial at best and pure fantasy at worst.
“But what I want to know is where were they during the investigation? Tessa, did you take the sketchbooks to San Maribel?”
She shook her head. “I took sketchbooks, of course, but I didn’t take these. The girls always shared their work with me. It’s more than apparent that Poppy hid this particular book away.”
“Maybe,” Jill said.
“What do you mean?” Tessa took a drink of tea. Her hands were shaky, and her stomach churned. She needed to calm herself, so she took a deep breath and released it slowly, just as she had taught herself to do.
“Just what I said. Maybe it was Poppy who hid the drawings, and we’ll never know where, unless we can locate the person who actually packed up her room. Did she have any hiding spots? Most kids do.”
“I don’t understand,” Tessa stated. “What are you trying to say?”
“They weren’t discovered during the investigation. It’s possible that whoever packed up their rooms found the sketchbooks and packed them away without looking at the contents, which would be perfectly normal, and they have been here all this time.” Jill turned to Sam. “Is it possible to locate the person who packed the rooms?”
Sam nodded. “I’ll get Darlene to check. If anyone can find out, she can.”
A loud knock on the front door silenced them.
“Stay here,” Sam said. “I didn’t tell Lee to use the back entrance.”
Tessa and Jill did not speak as they waited for Sam to answer the door.
Praying it wasn’t a member of the press banging on the door, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Lee Whitlow enter the kitchen.
Chapter 15
“Ineed to take this to the district attorney’s office right away,” Lee Whitlow said after viewing the drawings. “Sam, find out who packed these sketchbooks. I’ll want to speak
