embarrassed. 'I'm Detective Lena Adams. I can't tell you how sorry I am for your loss.'
'Thank you,' Dottie managed, her Midwestern twang a sharp contrast to Lena 's soft drawl.
Lena sat opposite Sara and Dottie at the table. She clasped her hands in front of her, drawing attention to her scars again. Jeffrey half expected her to take off her shoes and put her feet on the table.
'I'm sorry…' Dottie began, then stopped. 'I mean, for what happened with you.'
Lena nodded her head once, staring down as if she needed to collect herself. One of the first interrogation tricks Jeffrey had taught the young detective was that silence is a cop's best friend. Normal people do not like si-lence, and invariably they try to fill it. Most of the time, they do this without letting their brain enter the equation.
'And your sister,' Dottie continued. 'She was a lovely person. I knew her from the science fair. Jenny loved science. She was…'
Lena 's chest rose and fell as she took a deep breath, but that was all the reaction she gave. 'Sibyl was a teacher,' Lena supplied. 'She loved teaching kids.'
The room was silent again, and Jeffrey found himself staring at Sara. Strands of her dark red hair had fallen loose from her ponytail and were sticking to her neck. Her glasses were no longer crooked on her nose, they were crooked on the top of her head. She was staring at Lena the way she might stare at a snake, trying to decide whether or not it was poisonous.
Lena asked, 'Do we need to contact your husband, Mrs. Weaver?'
'Dottie,' the mother answered. 'I've already told him.'
'Will he be coming down for the funeral?'
Dottie was quiet, and she fidgeted with a thin silver bracelet on her wrist. When she spoke, she directed her words to Sara. 'You cut her open, didn't you?'
Sara opened her mouth as if to respond, but Lena answered the question.
'Yes, ma'am,' Lena said. 'Dr. Linton performed the autopsy. I attended the procedure. We wanted to do everything we could to make sure Jenny was taken care of.'
Dottie stared from Lena to Sara, then back again. Suddenly, she leaned over the table, her shoulders stooped as if she had been punched in the gut. 'She was my only child,' she sobbed. 'She was my baby.'
Sara reached out to touch the grieving woman on the back, but Lena stopped her with a look. She leaned forward herself and took Dottie's hand in her own. Lena told the woman, 'I know what it's like to lose someone. I really do.'
Dottie squeezed Lena 's hands. 'I know you do. I know.'
Jeffrey realized he had been holding his breath, waiting for this moment. Lena had broken through.
Lena asked, 'What happened with her father?'
'Oh.' Dottie took a tissue out of her purse. 'You know. We weren't getting along. He wanted to do more with his life. He ended up running away with his secretary.' She turned to Sara. 'You know how men are.'
Jeffrey felt mildly irritated, because she was obviously referring to Jeffrey's infidelities. Such was the nature of a small town.
'He never married her, though,' Dottie finished. 'The secretary.' Her lips curved in a slight, triumphant smile.
'My best friend in high school went through this,' Lena began, making the bridge between her and Dottie Weaver more solid. 'Her father did the same thing to them. He just picked up one day and never looked back. They never saw him again.'
'Oh, no. Samuel wasn't like that,' Dottie provided. 'Not in the beginning, anyway. He saw Jenny once a month until he got transferred to Spokane. That's in Washington.' Lena nodded and Dottie continued, 'I think the last time he saw her was over a year ago.'
'What was his response when you told him last night?'
'He cried,' she said, and tears rolled down her own cheeks. She turned to Sara, perhaps because Sara had known Jenny. 'She was so sweet. She had such a gentle heart.'
Sara nodded, but Jeffrey could tell she was uncomfortable with the way Lena was handling the interview. He wondered what Sara had expected after her physical findings last night.
Dottie blew her nose, and when she spoke her words were more punctuated. 'She just got mixed up in this crowd. And that Patterson boy.'
'Mark Patterson?' Lena asked, referring to the boy Jenny had threatened to kill.
'Yes, Mark.'
'Was she seeing him? Dating him?'
Dottie shrugged. 'I can't tell you. They did things in groups, and Jenny was friends with his sister, Lacey.'
'Lacey?' Sara asked. She seemed to realize she'd interrupted the flow, and nodded for Dottie to continue.
'Jenny and I were so close after her father left, more like friends than mother and daughter. She was my anchor through everything that happened. Maybe I was too close to her. Maybe I should have given her more independence.' Dottie paused again. 'It's just that Mark seemed so harmless. He used to cut our grass in the summer. He did odd jobs around the house to earn extra money.' She laughed without a trace of humor. 'I thought he was a good kid. I thought I could trust him.'
Lena did not let her go on this tangent for long. 'When did Jenny start hanging around with Lacey?'
'About a year ago, I guess. They were all in the church together. I thought it was good, but these kids… I don't know. You would think that a church would be a safe place for your child, but…' She shook her head. 'I didn't know,' she said. 'I didn't even know she had ever been with a boy, let alone…'
Lena gave Sara an almost imperceptible nod. Jeffrey saw Sara brace herself as she prepared to deliver the news. 'Dottie, I did examine Jenny last night.'
Dottie pressed her lips tightly together as she waited.
Lena said, 'Jenny wasn't pregnant. That wasn't her baby in the skating rink.'
The mother stared openly from Sara to Lena, then back again. She seemed too shocked to show anything but disbelief.
Sara clarified. ' Lena 's right. She wasn't pregnant, though I can tell you that she was sexually active prior to six months ago.'
Dottie's mouth worked, but no words came. She smiled, finally, interpreting this as good news. 'So, she didn't do it? She didn't hurt the baby?'
Lena answered, 'We don't really know what happened with that yet.' She paused, looking at her hands, this time not for effect. After a few beats, she looked back up at Dottie. When she spoke, her voice was low, her eyes locked on the mother as if Sara were no longer in the room. 'This is just my opinion, ma'am, but from everything I've learned about your daughter, I can't see her doing what she's been accused of.'
The mother's shoulders dropped in obvious relief. She began to cry again, putting a tissue to her nose. 'She was so gentle,' she said. 'There's no way she would ever do this kind of thing.' She turned to Sara for confirmation. 'She was such a good girl.'
Sara nodded again, her smile weak.
